Myths Held by Employees'.
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 have fewer positions available as one progresses up the organization. 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 most also be aware that the odds of attaining such a position are slim. For example, General Motors Corporation has several hundred thousand employees and only one president. The major lesson to be learned from myth I 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 of 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 those employees who are the best performers in their current jobs should 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. How 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 that job. Playing as sport and coaching require different talents and abilities. Because someone excels at one job does not mean she or he will excel at all jobs.
4: Career Development and Planning Are Functions of Human Resource Personnel The ultimate responsibility for career development and planning belongs to the individual, not to human resource personnel or the individual's manager. Human resource specialists can assist the individual and answer certain questions, but they cannot develop a career plan for him or her. Only the individual can make career-related decisions. Myth
5: All Good Things Come to Those Who Myth 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. or (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 as Career Path Is Largely a Function of the Kind of Manager One Has A manager can affect a subordinate'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 Theta Successful salespeople do not emphasize the weak points of their products; rather, they emphasize the strong points. The same should be true in career development and planning. Individuals who achieve their career objectives do so by stressing those things they do uncommonly well. The secret is to first capitalize on one's strengths and then try to improve deficiencies in other areas.
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 d,one, but not necessarily with one's best effort. The idea is to give something than one's best effort to unimportant tasks in order to have time to give one's best effort to the important ones.
Myth 9: It Is Wise to Keep Home Life and Work Life Separated An individual cannot make wise career decision without the full knowledge and support of his or her spouse. working wives and husbands should share their inner feelings concerning their jobs so that their 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. However, utopia does not exist. More than likely, the job John Doe holds involves many of the same problems every working person might face. As individual assumes more and more personal responsibilities, the price of taking that "attractive" job becomes higher in terms of possibly having to relocate, develop a new social life, and learn new duties. This is not to say that job and related changes should not be made; however, one should avoid making such changes hastily