Assignment: Theories of Career Development

Part I

Theories of Career Development

This chapter reviews 9 theories.
Grouped according to Gelso and Fretz (2001):

Trait-oriented

Social learning and cognitive

Developmental

Person-in-environment

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Theories of Career Development

Initially vocational psychology focused on using assessments for job placement.
Beginning in the early 1950s, the field began to include other factors:

Self-concept

Self-knowledge

Developmental issues

Theories of Career Development

Theories have been criticized.

Vague about how to use findings

Out of touch with what practitioners need – a more direct link between theory and practice

Theories of Career Development

What is a theory?
What a theory is not
Theories can help us with guidelines for counseling.

Trait-Oriented Theories

Embedded in Parson’s paradigm
Individuals are attracted to occupational environments that meet their personal needs and provide them with satisfaction.
Include:

Trait-and-factor

Peron-environment-correspondence

John Holland’s typology

Trait-and-Factor Theory

Parsons (1909) maintained that vocational guidance is accomplished by:

Studying the individual

Surveying occupations

Matching the individual with the occupation.

This process is called trait-and-factor theory.

Trait-and-Factor Theory

Parson’s three-step procedures may at first glance be judged to be completely dominated by test results.
Brown, Brooks, and Associates (1990) argued that advocates of trait-and-factor approaches never approved of excessive use of testing.
Test results are only one means of evaluating individual differences (Williamson, 1939).

Trait-and-Factor Theory

Sharf (2002) summarized the advantages and disadvantages of trait-and-factor theory.

It is a static theory rather than a developmental one.

The following assumptions also raise concerns about this theory:

There is a single career goal for everyone.

Career decisions are primarily based on measured abilities.

Trait-and-Factor Theory

Prediger (1995) suggested that person-environment fit theory has enhanced the potential for a closer relationship between assessment and career counseling.
Prediger suggested a similarity model, designed not to predict success or to find the “ideal career,” but to provide a means of evaluating occupations that are similar to people in important ways.

Practical Applications

Major role of early approaches = diagnosis.
Contemporary practices expanded the use of test data.

Example

Holland’s typology

Instead of predicting success in particular career, the counselor interprets test data and informs client of similarities to workers in particular careers.

Person-Environment-Correspondence (PEC)

Previously referred to as the theory of work adjustment (TWA).
The theory of work adjustment and person-environment-correspondence counseling (Dawis, 1996) involve workplace reinforcers that can lead to job satisfaction.

PEC Theory

Work is more than step-by-step task-oriented procedures.

Work includes human interaction and sources of satisfaction, dissatisfaction, rewards, stress, and many other psychological variables.

Individuals seek to achieve and maintain a positive relationship with their work environments.

PEC Theory

According to Dawis and Lofquist, individuals bring their requirements to a work environment, and the work environment makes its requirements of individuals.
To survive, the individual and the work environment must achieve some degree of congruence (correspondence).
To achieve this agreement, the individual must successfully meet the job requirements, and the work environment must fulfill the individual’s requirements.

PEC Theory

Examples of occupational reinforcers:

Achievement

Authority

Advancement

Coworkers

Activity

Security

Social service

Status

Variety

Lofquist and Dawis (1984) found a strong relationship between job satisfaction and work adjustment.

PEC Theory

Implication of the theory of work adjustment:

Job satisfaction should be evaluated according to several factors.

Job satisfaction is an important career counseling concern but does not alone measure work adjustment.

Job satisfaction is an important predictor of job tenure.

PEC Theory

Implications of the theory of work adjustment:

Individual needs and values are significant components of job satisfaction.

Individuals differ significantly in specific reinforcers of career satisfaction.

Career counselors should consider the reinforcers available in work environments and compare them with individual needs of clients.

PEC Theory

Career counselors use occupational information to assist clients in matching individual needs, interests, and abilities with patterns and levels of different reinforcers in the work environment.

A worker’s attempt to improve his or her fit within the work environment is referred to as work adjustment.

Practical Applications

Depends heavily on client assessment.
Major concern = abilities/skills and values
Presentation of assessment information should be tailored to client’s abilities, values, and style.

Highly verbal Verbal presentation

High spatial ability Graphic presentation

Work adjustment in today’s society

John Holland:
A Typology Approach

According to John Holland (1992), individuals are attracted to a given career by their particular personalities and numerous variables that constitute their backgrounds.

John Holland:
A Typology Approach

Career choice is an expression of, or an extension of, personality into the world of work followed by subsequent identification with specific occupational stereotypes.
Congruence of ones’ view of self with occupational preference establishes what Holland refers to as the modal personal style.

Holland’s Modal Personal Styles and Occupational

Assignment: Theories of Career Development