Theories of Career Development, Lecture notes of Career Counseling

Download Theories of Career Development and more Lecture notes Career Counseling in PDF only on Docsity! 5. Career Development 1. Theories of career development Although many theories have been presented to explain how career development occurs; five theories are most influential today. These are the theories of Donald Super, John Holland, Linda Gottfredson, John Krumboltz and Mark Savickas. Other theories have historical value and newer ones are introduced regularly. Some of the theories presented in the section on Human Growth and Development also have implications for career development such as that of Erikson and Levinson. 2. Classification of career theories: Actuarial and Developmental Actuarial: theorists from this perspective focused on some 'structure' of the individual such as needs, traits, interests, etc., and designed a theory of how career development occurs from that basis. Examples of actuarial theories are: trait-factor and needs-based theories. Developmental: theorists from this perspective viewed career development as occurring over time, usually through stages. This process of career development could include various 'structures' such as self-concept and need. 3. Donald Super (developmental approach to careers) Super preferred a broad self-description and labeled himself a differential­ developmental-social-phenomenological psychologist. Evolving over time, his Early Super His early conception of career development (1950's and 1960's) included vocational development stages and vocational development tasks. The vocational development stages are:  Growth (birth to 14-15). Development of capacity, interests and self-concept.  Exploratory (15-24).Tentative choices made.  Establishment (25-44). Trial (in work situations) and stabilize. d.Maintenance (45- 64). Continual adjustment process.  Decline (65+). Preretirement, work output issues and retirement. He later changed decline to disengagement. According to Super, self-concept was implemented in choice of career. He identified the concept of career maturity and later renamed it career adaptability to make it less age-related. Super also identified five vocational development tasks. These are:  Crystallization (ages 14-18)-formulating a general vocational goal through awareness.  Specification (18-21)-moving from a tentative to a specific vocational choice.  Implementation (21-24)-completing training and entering employment.  Stabilization (24-35)-confirming a preferred choice by performing the job.  Consolidation (35+)-becoming established in a career; advancing; achieving status. The ages of Super's stages and tasks no longer apply because some people have gaps in their employment (careers) and recycle. This model was initially focused primarily on white, middle-class, college-educated males. Super recognized that we can repeat or recycle through these developmental tasks. Later Super By the 1970's, Super viewed career development as more holistic, that is, involving more of the individual than just the job or career. He presented the concept of life-career rainbow which included the life span with its major stages and life space which consists of the roles we play. The nine major roles we play in life are: Child Student Citizen, Spouse Homemaker Parent, Worker Leisurite Pensioner. Roles are played out in four theaters which are: Home community school and workplace. Super developed the Archway Model as a graphic representation of the many determinants that comprise one's self-concept. One pillar of the archway represents the factors and variables within the individual that influence career development such as needs, aptitudes, interests and achievements. The other pillar includes external factors such as family, community, and labor market. At the top of the arch between the two pillars is the Self of the individual. Super is responsible for the Career Pattern Study which examined the vocational behavior of 9th graders all the way into their 30s. Those adolescents who were career mature and achieving in high school tended to be more career mature and successful as young adults. 4. John Holland (a typology) Although much of Holland's theory is actuarial or structural in approach, he goes to considerable lengths to explain how types develop. Furthermore, types provide the energy and motivation to do certain things, learn certain skills, associate with particular people, and avoid other skills as well as people. To Holland, career choice is an expression of personality. We choose a career based on the stereotypes we hold about different jobs or careers. Holland identified six modal personal orientations (personality types) which developed based on genetic factors, environment, and parental influences. Holland's six styles or types are:  Realistic: aggressive; prefers explicit tasks requiring physical manipulation; has poor interpersonal skills. Examples: mechanic, technician.  Investigative: intellectual; prefers systematic, creative investigation activities; has poor persuasive and social skills. Examples: chemist, computer programmer.  Artistic: imaginative; prefers self-expression via physical, verbal or other materials; dislikes systematic and ordered activities. Examples: artist, editor. 7. Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, and Herma These developmentalists first presented their theory in 1951 and believed occupational choice progressed through three periods:  Fantasy (birth to 11). Play becomes work oriented.  Tentative (11-17). Four stages in this period are: interest, capacity, value, and transition.  Realistic (17+). Three stages in this period are: exploration, crystallization, and specification. The Ginzberg group based their early theoretical formulation on a small group of middle-class males who supposedly had freedom of choice in occupation. Decision making was important and was influenced by adolescent adjustment patterns. Later, Ginzberg agreed that occupational decision making was a lifelong process. Their theory stimulated further research. Super, for example, found many concepts in the Ginzberg et al. theory useful in the formulation of his own career development theory which he presented a few years later. 8. Ann Roe (needs approach) Roe believed that genetic factors, environmental experiences, and parent-child relations influenced the needs structure each child developed. Parental influences and early childhood experiences were viewed as major determiners. Later, occupational selection would be a function of those needs. Roe believed that careers were chosen to meet needs through either person oriented or non-person oriented occupations. This part of the theory was not well supported by research. Roe developed a field-by-level classification of occupations. She identified: Six levels: 1. Professional and managerial (highest level) 2. Professional and managerial (regular) 3. Semi-professional and managerial 4. Skilled 5. Semi-skilled 6. Unskilled Eight fields: 1. Service 2. Business contact 3. Managerial 4. General cultural 5. Arts and entertainment 6. Technology 7. Outdoor 8. Science The last three contained the non-person oriented occupations. Robert Hoppock was also a needs-based career theorist. He identified a number of hypotheses which addressed the role of needs in choosing, changing and being satisfied with career. 9. Tiedeman and Miller-Tiedeman’s decision-making model Tiedeman (with O'Hara) believed that career development occurred as part of cognitive development as one resolved ego-relevant crises. For them, career development paralleled the eight psychosocial stages identified by Erikson. Tiedeman saw life decisions and career decisions as integrally related. Career decision making is a continuous process consisting of two phases, anticipation or preoccupation, and implementation or adjustment. Anticipation or Preoccupation includes the following phases:  Exploration  Crystallization  Choice  Clarification The phases of Implementation or Adjustment are:  Induction  Reformation  Integration Later, Tiedeman (with Miller-Tiedeman) emphasized the importance of the individual in the decision making process. The personal reality (I-power) of the individual was at the center of this potential for self-improvement and subsequent self-development. Through a continuous process of differentiating one's ego development, processing developmental tasks, and resolving psychosocial crises, career development takes place. 10. Cognitive information processing and career development Reardon, Lenz, Sampson & Peterson (2008) presented a theory of career development based on cognitive information processing (CIP). A procedure for solving career problems was developed based on a series of assumptions which emphasize cognitions, information, and problem solving. This sequential procedure, summarized as CASVE, involves the following processing skills:  Communication: identifying the career-related needs of the client.  Analysis: identifying the problem components and placing them in a conceptual framework.  Synthesis: formulating courses of action or alternatives.  Valuing: judging each action as to its potential for success or failure and impact on others. This is a prioritizing process.  Execution: developing plans and implementation strategies. 11. Social cognitive theory and self-efficacy Many concepts are based on Bandura's social learning theory. A cornerstone of that theory is self-efficacy which postulates that an individual's expectations will influence whether a behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how persistent the individual will be in the face of barriers. In short, self-efficacy theory is an individual's belief that he or she can perform some task or be successful in some endeavor. In the career domain, these beliefs will influence choice, performance and persistence. Nancy Betz and Gail Hackett, and others, believe these concepts explain gender differences in career choice. Society empowers males, through expectations, to pursue a wider range of occupations than females and this may help explain why more men pursue math and science majors and careers. Personal agency reflects an individual's ability and power to achieve objectives. Self- efficacy can be strengthened through learning experiences such as:  personal performance accomplishments  vicarious learning  social persuasion  physiological states and reactions The career counselor can structure these learning approaches to increase a client's self-efficacy. 12. Constructivism and contextualism The constructivist approach suggests that individuals construct their own reality or truth through their own way of organizing information. This becomes a very subjective phenomenon and focuses on how individuals extract meaning from their present situation. Contextualism implies that career development is a constant interplay of forces within the individual, within the environment, and the interaction between the two. One cannot separate (remove) individuals from their environments (context) and the individuals' perceptions and information organizing processes create their reality. The goal for the career counselor is to encourage the client to make meaning of his or her situation. Because context is so important, unraveling (dissecting) events into very small pieces may be counterproductive and reduce the possibility for constructing personal meaning. The focus of attention is actions which are cognitively and socially based. These actions are viewed from three perspectives: the behavior which occurs, the internal state (affect), and their social meaning. 13. Mark Savickas Savickas is a proponent of a postmodern career counseling approach based on career construction theory. The career counselor is not viewed as the expert with infallible scores from inventories but rather as an active agent in assisting career clients to make sense of their life and work in order to be successful and satisfied. Recently, Savickas presented the concept of life design as a paradigm for career intervention. In this paradigm, individuals construct careers through identifying and presenting small stories 21. Career development Career development is a lifelong process in which we develop values, skills, interests, and knowledge of the world of work. In this process, we also make decisions and implement these decisions through education and work. 22. Career-related definitions  Job: one person in one position doing a set of tasks.  Occupation: a definable work activity found in many locations (e.g. counseling, welding).  Career: a series of jobs and occupations one does (narrow).  Career: the education, training, work experience, and related professional activities associated with one's occupation (middle).  Career: all of the work and other life roles one engages in (broad -from Super).  Lifestyle: refers to the person’s orientation and preference in regard to career, family, leisure, place of residence, work climate, and overall style of life. 23. Portfolio and encore careers Portfolio career: Refers to the fact that many workers are engaged in more than one line of work at the same time. These jobs may or may not require similar skills. Encore career: For a number of reasons, many retired individuals by choice or necessity are returning to work. Typically, they do not go back to their pre-retirement employer and thus do a "work encore" in some other kind of employment. 24. Compensatory versus spillover theory of leisure Leisure includes periods of time in which an individual engages in activities or pursuits chosen freely such as relaxation, hobbies, sports, travel, and other outdoor or indoor activities. Do you compensate (in terms of using skills, abilities, interests) for what you cannot do on the job -so you do very different things off the job? Does what you do on the job ‘spillover’ into your leisure-so you do the same kinds of activities, using the same skills? 25. Career guidance and career counseling Career guidance: assists individuals in understanding and acting upon self-knowledge and knowledge of opportunities in work, education, and leisure, and to develop decision-making skills. Career counseling: the emphasis is on career development of an individual with special attention to values and attitudes, in a dynamic environment with a focus on self- understanding, career information, and career planning and decision making. 26. Personal versus career counseling Most professionals believe that career counseling is personal counseling. Clients are holistic with problems and concerns that are multifaceted and overlap in several domains of life including home, work, and family. 27. Career counseling process 1. Establish a relationship As with all counseling, career counseling is built upon a relationship between a career counselor and a client. In addition to helpful personality characteristics of the counselor, certain conditions experienced by the client in career counseling will facilitate sharing of issues with the career counselor. 2. Problem identification As a result of this sharing, the career counselor and client should develop a better understanding of the issues or problems confronting the client. Without this information, career counseling will lack direction and focus. 3. Assessment Assessment is a continuous process and occurs from the moment the career counselor meets the client. Assessment might include the use of standardized and non- standardized instruments. Some level of assessment continues until termination. 4. Provide information This step of the career counseling process relies on the career counselor as expert to provide pertinent information. The focus here is in informing the client of possibilities , opportunities, and resources helpful in addressing her or his specific career problem. Often, much of this information can be gathered by the client with appropriate direction, rather than given to the client. 5. Decision making In the career counseling process, decision making usually follows.With the help of the career counselor, the client has identified the problem, participated in the assessment process, and has gathered and been given information. Decision making is next. 6. Implementation and follow-up The career decision made in the previous step in the career counseling process is implemented. This will be highly idiosyncratic depending upon the individual, her or his circumstances, and the educational, employment, or other opportunities found in the environment. Follow-up with the client should occur as agreed upon. 28. Career counseling and individual differences Career counselors must be sensitive to the unique characteristics presented by each client. They must fight the natural tendency to stereotype a client because he or she comes from this ethnic group, has that disability, etc. Diversity includes such dimensions as gender, socioeconomic status, age, and spirituality, as well as ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation. Career counselors must be committed to self- reflection, and aware of the personal, social and occupational oppression that many individuals have experienced. This section identifies some major categories of individual differences and outlines some issues and characteristics about which counselors should be sensitive. Adults in career transition  identify issues; values and needs may be changing  skills may be obsolete; retraining considered  physical capacities may be changing  family structure; empty nest issues  leisure, lifestyle, pre-retirement issues  may lack information resources and job-seeking skills Cultural diversity  the career counselor must be sensitive to the various contexts (individual, family, culture) of the client  perceptions of power, work, time, and counseling will vary across cultures  the career counselor must be sensitive to and respect the extent to which a client comes from a collectivistic versus individualistic cultural framework  career counseling effectiveness is enhanced as the counselor uses procedures/techniques and defines counseling goals consistent with cultural values and experiences  since much of what defines a culture is learned, level of acculturation signifies the extent to which an individual has learned and adopted the beliefs and world- view of another culture  to understand a cross-cultural client, the career counselor must be aware of the historical and socio-political environment that has influenced that culture  discrimination and stereotyping characterize what many individuals of cultural groups experience in the labor market  individuals from minority groups are characterized as possessing less vocational information than majority group members  counselors must encourage and support the consideration and entry of individuals in occupations nontraditional to that cultural group People with disabilities  most disabilities are not perceptible  functional limitations and the person's adjustment to them need to be determined  self-concept and social/interpersonal skills should be assessed  independent living/coping skills may be an issue  counselor advocacy role with potential employers may be necessary  state vocational rehabilitation services offer specialized assessment and placement  counselors must know the "American s with Disabilities Act" provisions and job accommodation possibilities Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered  for many gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered, a major conflict is whether to 'come out' and the potential repercussions on the job  discrimination by some employers (especially for certain jobs such as caretakers and teachers) is still very strong  iii. many employers do not recognize same-sex partners for benefit purposes  there is no federal law addressing employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity Military Careers (todaysmilitary.com) 34. O*NET (online.onetcenter.org) O*NET (Occupational Information Network) is a free comprehensive data base of worker attributes and job characteristics. Its three major components are: Find Occupations, Skills Search, and Crosswalk. It replaces the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. A number of assessment and career exploration tools have been developed. These include:  Ability Profiler  Interest Profiler  O*Net Computerized Interest Profiler  Work Importance Profiler  Work Importance Locator 35. Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) Although the O*Net system has replaced the DOT, it is still available. About 12,000 different jobs are defined. There are a total of over 20,000 different titles of jobs in this U.S. Department of Labor document. The DOT contains occupational descriptions including duties, tasks, and tools used. Each occupation has a nine digit code number. The first three digits identify the general category, division, and group of occupations. The middle three digits represent data-people-things. The lower the number (zero is lowest) the greater the involvement of that job with data, people or things. 36. Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) (www.bls.gov/oco/) This is a national document published by the U.S. Department of Labor. It is current (published every two years) and contains job trend data, employment projections for the next ten years, jobs of the future, occupational information, salary data, etc. It is the document most used by career counselors as determined by a national survey. 37. Hidden job market It is estimated that approximately 80% of jobs are not advertised or generally known. These jobs are most apt to be identified through networking. Most employers now list position vacancies on their websites. Failure to examine these employer websites will decrease valuable job-hunting information. 38. Outplacement Counseling This is career counseling provided to workers of an organization who are to be terminated. Outplacement counseling might include assessment, career counseling, job seeking skills development, and job placement assistance. 39. Retirement Counseling Individuals who retire may transition to a number of new and different roles. Some of these individuals may find that their circumstances do not allow them to continue retirement and may be forced to return to employment of some kind. Retirement counseling assists individuals in their transitions including the examination of their circumstances, options, fears and possibilities which will prevail following employment. This might include addressing family, home, leisure, employment, social, medical, financial and legal concerns. 40. Career Education Originally career education was a strategy of infusing career development concepts into existing kindergarten through high school curricula. Ken Hoyt, a long-term leader in the career development field, was closely associated with this concept. Goals of career education were:  Career Awareness (elementary level)  Career Exploration (middle or junior high level)  Career Orientation (high school level)  Career Preparation (high school level) Career education promotes career awareness and development concepts with school children via classroom activities, guest speakers, field trips, internships and part-time employment for older students. 41. Displaced homemaker and dislocated worker A displaced homemaker has traditionally been a woman who is a former homemaker whose children may be in school or gone. She is looking for employment and may be divorced or widowed. Issues for her may include lack of information about the labor market, poor job­ seeking skills, no support system, and shaky self-concept. Dislocated worker is anyone who becomes unemployed because of obsolete or no longer needed skills, downsizing, rightsizing, company relocation, shutdown, or high unemployment. 42. Dual-career (job) or dual-earner couples Many individuals work but do not have careers in the traditional sense. However, they have ‘jobs’ and are wage-earners. Potential conflicts for dual-career or dual-earner couples are:  home and children chores are not equitable (asymmetry of roles)  whose job takes precedence if a career move is offered c.time for leisure  the woman may make more money than the man Identity tension line: This refers to the comfort area each sex has based on sex role socialization. Going beyond (doing opposite sex chores) may create tension. Most current research indicates that when the woman becomes the second earner, she typically maintains the majority of her original household and children chores in addition to her new job. 43. Family and gender issues A variety of family issues influence the workplace:  Families are forming later and fewer children are the norm.  Single heads-of-household are common and, in part, reflective of the high divorce rate.  The "traditional" family of father working and mother staying home to care for children is no longer the norm.  The acceptance of cohabitation before/instead of marriage has delayed or precluded marriage. Gender issues  The number of women in the labor market is nearing 75 percent of all working- age women. Many of these women work part-time.  Women make up about 47% of the workforce. More men than women lost their jobs in the recent recession.  Women earn between 70% and 80% of what men earn with greater wage equality among younger workers .However, more women than men work in part- time jobs which pay less.  Women are earning more undergraduate and master's degrees than men and nearly as many degrees as men in law and medicine.  Women still assume primary responsibility for children as well as taking care of sick and elderly parents.  'Glass ceiling' refers to the set of restraints, typically imposed by men, which impact women's (or any other group's) ability to move up the career ladder within an organization. In career counseling, family and gender issues must be addressed. Research evidence suggests that family patterns and relationships are carried into the workplace. Family of origin issues are sometimes expressed in occupational choice and workplace behavior. An occupational family tree or genogram may be used in career counseling. Career couples counseling may be appropriate at times. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) covers employers with 50 or more workers. This federal law provides up to a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12 month period. It may be taken by a new parent or to care for an immediate family member who is ill. 44. Other workforce trends 1. Issues with economy: Even with the official national unemployment rate (those seeking work) between 5 and 6 percent, millions of additional workers are unemployed because they have become 'discouraged,' and are no longer seeking employment. One consequence of the uncertain employment situation is the increase in worker stress. The demand for employee assistance services by workers has increased many fold over the past few years. 2. Occupational changes: B. ahead of expectations. C. behind expectations. D. not in any of Super's stages. 6. In her career development theory, Linda Gottfredson identified four stages of development experienced by children. During the second stage, children begin to rule out some jobs as not appropriate for them. This stage is characterized by an orientation of children to A. sex roles. B. internal, unique characteristics of self. C. size and power. D. social valuation. 7. In general, women earn about 75% of what men earn for a variety of reasons including their entry/re-entry pattern in the labor market, discrimination, and because the types of jobs most of them hold pay less. Which of the following statements is most accurate? A. The glass ceiling is more of a barrier now than in the past. B. The percentage of the labor force composed of women continues to increase dramatically. C. There are fewer women than men in service-related occupations. D. In terms of income, younger women compare more favorably with younger men than do older women compared to older men. 8. An elementary school counselor is designing a career development program to be implemented during the next school year. One of the student competencies the counselor would like to address at the elementary school level is A. skills in making career transitions. B. deciding on a career. C. knowledge of the importance of the self-concept. D. skills to locate and interpret career information. 9. Awareness by career counselors of the cultural values and environment of minority group members they counsel will make such counseling more effective. Which of the following is NOT true in regard to ethnic groups in this country? A. minority group members are likely to experience discrimination and prejudice In employment. B. The concept of 'last hired, first fired' often applies to minority group members. C. The absence of role models encourages minority group members to accept non- traditional employment. D. There is a sense of wariness and distrust by minority group members of new employment and training programs. 10. Client: ''I'd like to go to college and become a teacher but my folks don't think I would make it." Counselor: "Why do they believe that?" Client: "They didn't go to college and think my writing isn't good enough. I guess they’re right." Counselor: "Let's talk about this for a minute. I'd like to challenge your ideas about college and writing, and your belief that you couldn't make it." This counselor is probably implementing career concepts from the_______ theory A. trait-factor B. Krumboltz C. Roe D. Bolles 11. A collectivistic, group-oriented value system is most likely to explain career behavior of A. young European immigrants. B. older Native American and Asian American workers. C. middle-aged white males. D. young and professionally trained white women. 12. Parsons developed a career counseling approach which consisted of studying the individual, surveying occupations, and matching the person with an occupation. This approach became known as A. field and level. B. process and content. C. data and prediction. D. trait and factor. 13. During high school and for two years after, Juan has been employed in many jobs. However, eventually something happens and he is terminated by the employer. Although his attendance and work habits are poor, Juan believes that he is being discriminated against. In seeking a career counselor, Juan might benefit most from one who approaches clients from a A. trait-factor perspective. B. developmental perspective. C. needs-based perspective. D. social-learning perspective. 14. In career counseling, many clients have misconceptions about the purpose of assessment, such as: tests will tell them 'what to be' or 'what to do.' Which of the following statements is most accurate? A. Assessment should move from a trait-factor 'square-peg' approach to increasing personal information to support decision-making using all information. B. Inventories should be used primarily to clear up differences between interests and abilities. C. Vocational inventories' validities and reliabilities are not important as long as the tests encourage exploration on the part of the client. D. Inventories of career maturity are commonly used to supplement the information gained through the use of other career tests. 15. Changes in technology in the world of work have been increasing during the past 1hirty years and will continue. The results of this technological change have not always been positive and have resulted in the dislocation of many workers. This phenomenon has become known as A. third world ascendancy. B. worker job obsolescence. C. economic recession. D. temp labor force market. 16. “Asymmetry of roles’ and 'identity tension line' refer to A. dual-career couples. B. displaced homemakers. C. dropouts. D. midlife crisis. 17. Working with adults, a career counselor believes that clients will be more satisfied on the job if their personality type is similar to the 'personality' type of the work environment. According to Holland, this phenomenon is called A. differentiation. B. congruence. C. calculus. D. consistency. 18. A college counselor works with many students in the process of changing majors. Some information which is important to this process is occupational trends and projections. On a national level, the document providing such information is A. Occupational Outlook Handbook. B. Dictionary of Occupational Titles. C. Journal of Employment Counseling. D. Guide for Occupational Exploration. 19. Career counseling with culturally diverse clients argues for certain awareness on the part of the White counselor. Which of the following is NOT an issue of concern? A. The client's sense of being a part of an individualistic vs. collectivistic culture. B. Perceptions of power, work, time, and value of counseling vary cross cultures.