Counseling and Development: International Perspectives A Description of Career Development Services Within Canadian Organizations Kerry Bernes and Kris Magnusson This study explored the scope and nature of career development services within organizations. One human resource/personnel department representative in each of the 30 largest organiza- tions in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was interviewed. The Career Development Questionnaire provided the framework for the structured interviews. Participants outlined their conceptuali- zations of organizational career development, described the outcomes organizations hoped to achieve through the use of career development services, listed the services provided by their organizations, and rated the effectiveness of each service. Although the descriptions and the intended outcomes for career development services were consistent, specific services were not aligned with specific goals. This finding highlighted the need for practitioners to ensure they align services with their goals and for researchers to evaluate the effects of career development services on the basis of their specific intentions. Overall, results suggest that career development within organizations is still practiced in a part-time and informal manner P roviding career development services is one way in which organizations may prepare for an increasingly competitive fu- ture. Abdelnour and Hall (1980) stated that organizations can no longer afford to squander valuable human resource assets because employee development leads to corporate development. The conti- nuity and success of anorganization depends, to a great extent, on its ability to attract, evaluate, develop, use, and retain well-qualified people. Consequently, there is increasing pressure on organizations to provide well-organized and well-administered human resource and career development services. Most efforts to study the scope of career development services in organizations were conducted in the United States between the years 1979 and 1985 (Abdelnour & Hall, 1980; Cairo, 1983; Griffith, 1980, 1981; Gutteridge & Otte, 1983; Levine, 1985; Walker & Gutteridge, 1979). These studies have suggested that only about 25% of all em- ployees have been offered career development services by their employers. However, the studies cited suggest that there is wide- spread acceptance of the value of career development activities and that, in the years to come, more and more organizations will be re- quired by various internal and external pressures to develop and ex- pand career development services (Gutteridge & Otte, 1983). An acknowledgement of career development as a lifelong process has led some organizations to begin to offer services designed to enhance the careers of their employees. By providing career devel- opment services, organizations believed they would benefit from a better trained and more productive workforce. A variety of models have been proposed to conceptualize organ- izational career development. Leibowitz and Lea (1986) described career development systems as integrated services and procedures that meet the needs of both individuals and organizations. Services meet- ing individual needs are referred to as career planning (e.g., career planning workshops, teaching of advancement strategies), whereas those related to organizational needs are termed career management (e.g., performance appraisals, management succession, and replace- ment planning). Griffith (1980, 1981) added a third component called life planning to the description of organizational career development provided by Leibowitz and Lea (1986). The incorporation of life planning services (e.g., family and marital counseling, alcohol and drug counseling) as a component of organizational career development represents a ho- listic view of career development that emphasizes the interrelation- ships between the work role and other life roles. Schein (1978) and Hall (1986) provided models to describe the comprehensive linking of individual career planning and organiza- tional career management. Schein’s thesis is that optimal matching of individual and organizational needs results in organizational ef- fectiveness and individual career satisfaction. This view is supported by Hall, who stated that it is in the best interests of the organization to support and facilitate individual career planning and development. Although Hall suggested that individuals are in control of their own careers, he believed organizations can help employees to plan their careers by providing appropriate services and resources. Our current project explored the scope of career development ser- vices in organizations by examining the services provided by the 30 largest private and public sector organizations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Specifically, the study had four purposes: (a) to determine how organizations in Calgary conceptualize career development for employees, (b) to identify the organizational goals of career devel- opment services, (c) to determine the range of services offered, and (d) to assess the participants’ perceptions of the efficacy of the services. METHOD The population for this project consisted of all private and public sector organizations in the city of Calgary, Alberta. Two criteria for Journal of Counseling & Development • July/August 1996 • Volume 74 569