Section 3. Supplementary reading. Exercise 1. Read and translate.

Exercise 1. Read and translate.

Career-Related Myths.

Many myths related to career planning and advancement are held by employees. Frequently, such myths are misleading and can inhibit career planning and growth. The purpose of this section is to explore these myths and provide evidence disproving them.

Myth 1: There is always room for one more person at the top. This myth contradicts the fact that the structures of the overwhelming majority of today's organizations are shaped like a pyramid, with fewer positions available as one ascends the pyramid. Adherence to this myth fosters unrealistic aspirations and generates self-perpetuating frustrations. There is nothing wrong with wanting to become president of the organization; however, an individual must also be aware that the odds of attaining such a position are slim. For example, General Motors Corp. has approximately 748,000 employees and only one president. The major lesson to be learned from Myth 1 is to pick career paths that are realistic and attainable.

Myth 2: The key to success is being in the right place at the right time. Like all the career-related myths, this one has just enough truth to make it believable. One can always find a highly successful person who attributes all his or her success to being in the right place at the right time. People who adhere to this myth are rejecting the basic philosophy of planning: that a person, through careful design, can affect rather than merely accept the future. Adherence to Myth 2 is dangerous, because, it can lead to complacency and a defeatist attitude.

Myth 3: Good subordinates make good superiors. This myth is based on the belief that these employees who are the best performers in their current jobs should necessarily be the ones who are promoted. This is not to imply that good performance should not be rewarded, for it should. However, when an individual is being promoted, those making the decision should look carefully at the requirements of the new job in addition to the individual's present job performance. Flow many times has a star engineer or salesperson been promoted into a managerial role, only to fail miserably? Similarly, outstanding athletes are frequently made head coaches, and everybody seems surprised when the former star fails in this job. Playing a sport and coaching require different talents and abilities. Because someone excels at one job does not mean that he or she will excel at all jobs.

Myth 4: Career planning and development are functions of the human resources de­partment. The ultimate responsibility for career planning and development belongs to the individual and not to the human resource department or the individual's manager. Personnel specialists can assist the individual and answer certain ques­tions, but they cannot develop a career plan for the person. Only the individual can make career-related decisions.

Myth 5: All good things come to those who work long, hard hours. People guided by this myth often spend 10 to 12 hours a day trying to impress their managers and move ahead rapidly in the organization. However, the results of these extra hours on the job often have little or no relationship to what the manager considers important, to the person's effectiveness on the job, and (most important in this context) to the individual's long-range career growth. Unfortunately, many managers reinforce this myth by designing activities "to keep everyone busy."

Myth 6: Rapid advancement along a career path is largely a function of the kind of manager one has. A person's manager can affect an individual's rate of advancement. However, those who adhere to this myth often accept a defensive role and ignore the importance of their own actions. Belief in this myth provides a ready-made excuse for failure. It is easy and convenient to blame failures on one's manager.

Myth 7: The way to get ahead is to determine your weaknesses and then work hard. To correct them. Successful salespeople do not emphasize the weak points of their products; rather, they emphasize the strong points. The same should be true in career planning and development. Individuals who achieve their career objectives do so by stressing those things that they do uncommonly well. The secret is to capitalize first on one's strengths and then try to improve deficiencies in other areas.

Myth 8: Always do your best, regardless of the task. This myth stems from the puritan work ethic. The problem is that believers ignore the fact that different tasks have different priorities. Because there is only a limited amount of time, a person should spend that time according to priorities. Those tasks and jobs that rank high in importance in achieving one's career goals should receive the individual's best effort. Those tasks that do not rank high should be done but not necessarily with one's best effort. The idea is to give something less than one's best effort to unimportant tasks in order to have time to give one's best effort to the important tasks.

Myth 9: It is wise to keep home life and work life separated. An individual cannot make wise career decisions without the full knowledge and support of the spouse. Work­ing husbands and wives should share their inner feelings concerning their jobs so that spouses will understand the basic factors that weigh in any career decisions. A healthy person usually has interests other than a job. Career strategy should be designed to recognize and support, not contradict, these other interests. Career objectives should be a subset of one's life objectives. Too often, however, career objectives conflict with rather than support life objectives.

Myth 10: The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Regardless of the career path the individual follows, another one always seems a little more attractive. The fact is, however, that Utopia docs not exist. More than likely, the job that John Doe holds involves many of the same problems that every working person might face. As the individual assumes more and more personal responsibilities, the price of taking that "attractive" job becomes higher in terms of possibly relocating, developing a new social life, and learning new duties. This is not to say that job and related changes should not be made - however, one should avoid making such changes hastily.

Myths Held by Managers.

In addition to the previously described myths held by employees, management personnel often hold certain myths related to career planning. Some of these are described below. It will raise expectations. Many managers fear that an emphasis on career planning will raise employee expectations to unrealistically high levels. Career planning should do just the opposite. It should bring employee's aspirations into the open and match their skills, interests, and goals with opportunities that are realistically available. We will be overwhelmed. This myth is based on the fear that employees will deluge their managers for information about jobs in other parts of the organization and that employees will expect the organization to provide them with a multitude of career opportunities. While this fear is very realistic in the minds of many managers, it is basically unfounded. Our managers will not be able to cope. Management often becomes concerned that introducing career planning will place their managers in a counseling role for which they are ill prepared. While coaching and counseling should be an important pan of any manager's job, the key to career planning is to place the responsibility primarily on the employee. We do not have the system in place. This myth is based on the belief that before the organization can introduce career planning, it must first put in place a whole series of other human resource planning mechanisms, such as job posting and succession planning. In actuality, many organizations have implemented successful career-planning programs with few formal mechanisms beyond the basic requirement of providing employees good career-planning tools.

Exercise 2. Translate into English.

Вверх по служебной лестнице.

Американский менеджмент отличается от восточного и европейского особой демократичностью. Считается вполне естественным, если мелкий служащий записывается на прием к боссу и высказывает ему свои соображения по улучшению работы фирмы. В американских фирмах перед сотрудником открываются самые широкие возможности для самореализации. Скорость продвижения по служебной лестнице довольно высока. Чтобы карьерного роста не произошло, работник сам должен всячески ему препятствовать. Для каждого сотрудника составляют план работы на год. Предполагается, что после завершения этого периода он должен быть переведен на более высокую должность. В европейских и японских компаниях такой план не составляется. Все, что требуется от сотрудника – не проявлять свои таланты, а прилежно и аккуратно работать. Желание выдвинуться будет пресекаться и может привести только к одному: увольнению. Несмотря на то, что в американских компаниях самый высокий уровень заработной платы, топ менеджеры чаще всего используют нематериальные формы стимулирования сотрудников. Вместо выплаты премии к празднику, устраивается вечеринка в престижном ресторане или организуется выезд за город, что способствует сплочению коллектива.

В японских компаниях корпоративная культура построена абсолютно по-другому. Бизнес там в основном семейный. Именно поэтому главный критерий оценки специалиста – преданность компании как семье. Начальник для подчиненного – учитель и наставник. Ему нельзя возражать и советовать. Не следует также выходить за рамки должностных обязанностей. Руководящие посты обычно занимают японские или корейские менеджеры, поэтому специалисту другой национальности сделать карьеру необычайно сложно. Продвижение работника по служебной лестнице возможно лишь в случае увольнения или смерти вышестоящего сотрудника. Даже небольшого повышения можно ждать от 6 до 15 лет.

Немецкие топ менеджеры предпочитают не покупать, а «выращивать» персонал, и поэтому достаточно редко подбирают сотрудников через кадровые агентства. Если немецкой компании требуется сотрудник с опытом работы, то немаловажно, чтобы до этого кандидат не часто менял работу – это свидетельствует о его стабильности и надежности. Руководители ценят в работниках спокойствие, уравновешенность, лояльность к компании и отсутствие ярко выраженного стремления к карьере. Чтобы продвинуться по служебной лестнице, требуется от трех до пяти лет.

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