Exploring Career Pathways Within an Organization Based on the Assessment of Prior Experiences

Abstract

“People are our most valuable resource” is a statement championed by organizations both large and small. It would therefore stand to reason that great care should go into crafting a career progression that aims to maximize the development of employees. Yet current research shows there is minimal consensus on how to effectively manage human capital in the sense of assessing the experience gained during a position, and using that assessment to guide an individual’s next career movements. The question asked in this thesis is whether a model based on observable tasks expected to occur in a position has any meaningful difference from a model based solely on time in a position. To answer this question a model representative of a system currently in place is constructed and different scenarios are tested by changing the decision criteria that govern the career progression of individuals within the chosen organization. Our exploration uses the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer community as a framework for modeling and the analytic hierarchy process to systematically evaluate positions based on experiences gained through specific tasks. Results from this effort support the idea that considering the observable tasks expected to occur in a position may help better develop individuals in key leadership attributes.