Career Management in the Knowledge-Based Organizations

Introduction

Career management, one of the most important elements in human resource management, has a great impact on organization (Yahya, Othman, & Meruda, 2004). Organizational career management (OCM) can be recognized as a way of attracting and retaining high performers because they will believe that their employability is being maintained; and opportunities for high performers within the organization are likely to be good (Lewis & Arnold, 2012). More interorganizational mobility by white-collar individuals has been one result of the change in the psychological contract between white-collar employees and their employers (Kambourov & Manovskii, 2008). This change has been interpreted as having significant impact on both organization and individuals about careers (Cascio, 2000). Furthermore, this impact of interorganizational mobility has become even more important as transitions of all kinds have increased (Power, 2009).

The literature on career-related underemployment (Maynard, Joseph, & Maynard, 2006) described the major objective descriptors of underemployment as lower hierarchical level in the new job (Buss & Redburn, 1983), lower wages (Zvonkovic, 1988), and less use of knowledge and skills (Clogg, Sullivan, & Mutchler, 1986). Work knowledge and skills are evolving much more quickly than in the past. Garavan (1990) stated that the major elements of an effective career management are the involvement of line managers, the use of human resource specialists as consultants, skill assessment activities, support from top management, the creation of the learning organization, and the feedback of career progression. Knowledge bases are useful in enhancing decision-making process as expert knowledge can be effectively captured and utilized (Chan, Lam, & Wong, 2014). Mahdavi et al. (2014) indicated that new knowledge obtained from knowledge development program is the result of creative achievements in modern organizations.

This article aims to bridge the gap in the literature on the thorough literature consolidation of career management in the KBOs. The extensive literatures of career management provide a contribution to practitioners and researchers by describing the current issues and trends with career management in order to maximize the impact of career management in the KBOs.