Life & Career Planning

7/31/2019 Life & Career Planning

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Life and Career Planning

Satishchandra Kumar

Department of Applied PsychologyUniversity of Mumbai


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1. Career Orientation Inventory

Career Anchors

Based on a longitudinal study of MIT Sloan

School alumni

Instruction to do the inventory

Scoring

Interpreting


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1. Career Orientation Inventory

Edgar Schein provided the concept of Career

Anchors

He gave 8 basic career anchors

Career Anchor as the pattern of self-perceivedtalents, motives and values which serves to guide,

constraint, stabilize and integrate the persons career

and which tends to remain stable throughout the

persons Career.


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Schiens Career Anchors:

1. Technical/Functional Competence

2. General Management Competence

3. Autonomy/Independence

4. Security/Stability5. Entrepreneurial Creativity

6. Service/Dedication to a Cause

7. Pure Challenge

8. Life Style


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1. Technical/Functional Competence: The Primary concern in this area is the actual technical or

functional content of the work being done.

The self image of people in this group is tied up with theirfeeling of competence in the particular area they are in.

They are therefore not interested in management per se,though they will accept management responsibility withintheir technical or functional area of expertise.

But it is the area of work that really turns them on andcareer growth means continued advancement with that

work area only.


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2. General Management Competence:

The anchor is a combination of threecompetencies:

a) Analytical Competence: The ability to identify,

analyze and solve problems under conditions ofincomplete information and uncertainty.

b) Interpersonal Competence: The ability toinfluence, supervise and lead people at all levels ofthe organization toward the more effectiveachievement of organizational goals.


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2. General Management Competence:

c) Emotional Competence: The capacity to be

stimulated by emotional and interpersonal crisesrather than exhausted or debilitated by them, the

capacity to bear high levels of responsibility without

becoming paralyzed and the ability to exercise

power without guilt or shame.


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3. Autonomy/Independence:

The key motives for this anchor are freedom fromorganizational constraints in order to pursue professional ortechnical/functional competency.

Organizational life is experienced as too restrictive,

irrational and/or intrusive into ones personal life. There is a need to be on your own setting your own pace,

schedule, lifestyle and work habits.

There is little conflict about missed opportunities forpromotions and little sense of guilt or failure about not

aspiring higher.


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4. Security/Stability:

People anchored in security tend to do what isrequired of them by their employers in order tomaintain job security, a decent income and a stable

future in the form of a good retirement program,benefit etc.

These people will, more than others, accept theorganizations definition of their career and willhave to trust the organization to the right thing by

them.


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5. Entrepreneurial Creativity:

This anchor is characterized by the overarching need to build

or create something that is entirely your own product.

People with this anchor find that none of the other anchors

completely matches with their key motives and values, butthat there is a degree of overlap with several of the anchors

i.e. Autonomy, managerial competency, freedom to exercise

special talents and a desire to build wealth for security.


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6. Service/Dedication to a Cause:

The people in this group feel the need not only to

maintain an adequate income, but to do something

meaningful in a larger context.

They are actively service oriented and interested in

careers that provide solutions in areas such as

product safety, overpopulation, discrepancy

between rich and poor and the environment.


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7. Pure Challenge:

People in this group define their careers success

by overcoming impossible odds, solving theunsolvable problem, winning out over the

competitors.


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8. Lifestyle:

These people want and need to integrate theirpersonal and family concerns into their career.

They look for an integration of work play/social life

People who anchor in lifestyle also value theirautonomy and have in many cases also a highconcern for independence.


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Part C: Career Anchors

Do You know what your life goals are?

What motivates and directs your work?

If you ask yourself these questions, wouldnt itmake your career choices much easier?

Dr. Edgar Schein wrote a Career Assesment bookentitled Career Anchors:Discovering your realValues

In this book he states that everyone has one

dominant Anchor and motivator, as it relates towork.


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Schien from his research experience says that not

everyone has the same ambitions in work

Some people are very content to have a quiet,

uneventful job, while others thrive on constant

change and excitement.

In short, we are all different, and our motivators are

an internal barometer of who we are and what we

want.


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1. Technical/Functional Competence:

Enjoy using core skills, skills dont have tobe technical in nature;

Can be a human resources worker or asecretary and enjoy using the skills neededfor those position;

Motivated by learning new skills and

expanding current knowledge base


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1. Technical/Functional Competence:

Type of work: What turns these types on is the exercise of their talent:

Satisfaction with knowing concepts

If it is not a challenge, technical/functional types feel boredand or demeaned

Content of actual work more important than the context of thework.

In other words, it is the actual work they are concerned with

not the organization or the overall mission of their work;teaching and mentoring offers opportunity to demonstrateexpertise.


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2. General Managerial Competence:

View specialization as limiting

Primarily want to manage or supervise people;

Enjoy motivating, training, directing the work ofothers;

Enjoy authority and responsibility;

And when someone strips of control it is

demotivator


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2. General Managerial Competence:

Thrive in 3 areas of competence: Analytical,

Interpersonal/Intergroup and Emotional.

Type of Work: High levels of Responsibility, varied, integrative,

leadership.


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Need and Want control over work and want to be recognizedfor achievements;

Cant tolerate other peoples rules or procedures;

Need to do things their own way;

Independent consulting and contract work would be a good fitfor these people;

Want to be left alone to do their work;

Just give them instructions on what you want;

When you want it and let them go to it!


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Type of Work:

Seeks Autonomous Professions such as

Consulting, Teaching, Contract or Project Work, oreven Temporary work; Part or Full-Time

acceptable.


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Safe, Secure, Predictable are buzz words;

Motivated by calmness and consistency of work;

Dont like to take chances and are not risk-takers;

Stable companies are best bets; Strive for predictability, safety, structure, and the knowledge

that the task has been completed properly;

Unused talents may be channeled outside work


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Type of Work:

Stability and Predictability are key;

Emphasis on context of job rather than content orwork (in other words, pay, benefits, work

environment most important).


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Like the challenge of starting new projects or

businesses,

Have lots of interests and energy;

And often have multiple projects going at once;

Different from autonomy in that the emphasis is on

creating new business;

Often pursuing dreams at early age


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Type of Work:

Strong need to create something new;

Bored easily;

Inventions;

Restless;

Constantly seeking new creative outlets


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6. Service/Dedication to a Cause:

Motivated by Core values rather than the workitself;

Strong desire to make the world a better place

Type of Work: High Concentration of Service oriented professions,

Motivated by pursuit of personal values andcauses.


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7. Pure Challenge:

Strongest desire is overcoming obstacles;

Conquering;

Problem-Solving;

Competition: Winning; Constant self-testing;

Single minded individuals.

Type of Work: Careers where competition is primary.


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8. Life Style:

Have a high need to balance work and the rest of

life;

Enjoy Work, but realize that work is just one of

many parts of life that are important;

Subscribe to philosophy of Work to live rahter

than Live to work.


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8. Life Style:

Type of Work:

Careers must be integrated with the rest of life

flexibility;

Desire to work with organizations that accept and

promote balance;

Some individuals unwilling to relocate for reasons

of life balance


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Life Goals Exercise

Herbert A Shepard is the author and originator of

these exercises:

I First Phase:

A. Draw a straight horizontal line from left to right to

represent your life span. The length should

represent the totality of your experience and future

expectations.

B. Indicate where you are now


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Life Goals Exercise

C. Prepare a life inventory of important Happenings

for you, including the following:

1. Any Peak experiences you have had.

2. Things which you do well

3. Things which you do poorly

4. Things you would like to stop doing

5. Things you would like to learn to do well

6. Peak experiences you would like to have


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Life Goals Exercise

7. Values (e.g. Power, Money etc) you want to achieve.

8. Things you would like to start doing now

D. Discussions in subgroups

II. Second Phase:

A. Take a 20 minutes to write your own obituary

B. Form Pairs. Take 20 minutes to write a eulogy ( speech orwriting in praise of person etc or funeral oration) for yourpartner

C. Discussions in subgroups.


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Life Goals Exercise

III. Third Phase:A. Imagine that today is the last day of your life and you are lying

on your deathbed.

B. Ask 5 questions:

1. Did I dream richly ?

2. Did I live fully?3. Did I learn to let go?

4. Did I love well?

5. Did I tread lightly on the earth and leave it better than I foundit?

These questions I hope will cause you to go deep and

become more philosophical about what truly comes in yourlife.

Most people dont discover how to live until its time to die.

But by then its too late.

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Life & Career Planning