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CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORIES.
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Discusses individual psychology and sociology in analyzing how individuals define their place in society through their careers.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses individual psychology and sociology in analyzing how individuals define their place in society through their careers. Cites difficiencies in both disciplines. Counseling individuals to determine their occupational goals. Objective of achieving social justice for groups of workers. Impact of employment-related laws. Values-based approach to career planning.
Paper Introduction:
Although the dominant theories of career development bring together individual psychology and sociology--the individual's career is a principal method of defining his or her place in society and in life--there are certain features of these theories that expose their deficiencies as both sociology and psychology. Consider the recourse that both Zunker (1997) and Lowman (1991) have to the Holland six-factor typology, also called the Holland Occupational Classification System, in organizing their explanation of hands-on, utilitarian, practical application of career-development theory to counseling of would-be employees and consultation for would-be employers. It sounds so simple and straightforward to explain career development by way of a range of discrete--though sometimes overlapping and converging--attributes of those who have careers. Accordingly, indiv
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Organizations have apparentlyaccepted the inevitability of the spillover effect of social change intochanges in this area. In that regard, one of the most significant features of socialdevelopment in the US in the 2 th century has been the emergence ofprograms and policies aimed at achieving social justice for entire groupsof workers and others who over the course of American history have beensocially, economically, and politically marginalized and disenfranchisedbecause of the inequitable distribution of social and economic benefits ofindustrial production. (1991). But existing theory does not appearto have accounted for an inescapable inference drawn from existing theory:that it would be unfriendly of a career counselor not to caution Hispanicmales or African American women that they may face a inordinate amount ofresistance to membership in the career-satisfaction club because dominant-culture norms are so powerful in the US industrial complex. It may well be the case, too, that, as Zunker suggests(1997, p. Lowman, R.L. In that regard, citing Holland fortheoretical support, Lowman declares the masculinity and femininity areimportant variables for career assessment "because sex differences inpreferences for various occupational groupings clearly exist and appear topersist despite major changes in the sex composition of many professions(1991, pp. Diversity And Women's Career Development. H.S. Thatsituation can only be aggravated in a culture that, as Zunker explains inciting research to the effect, (1997, p. Having cited a raft of research that supports this idea,Lowman explains that there are sex differences for career-assessmentpurposes, though he cautions that counselors must be careful to "changemeasures of masculinity and femininity to reflect changes in society" (p.169. (1984, Spring). A. 118). 86). E. It sounds so simple and straightforward to explain careerdevelopment by way of a range of discrete--though sometimes overlapping andconverging--attributes of those who have careers. (1981, Spring). 81). 374). Clinical practice of career assessment: Interests,abilities, and personality. Additionally, Lowman says that "in principle," careerpreferences between males and females tend to break down along these lines:|MASCULINE |FEMININE ||Realistic |Artistic ||Investigative |Social ||Enterprising |Conventional |Lowman says that this breakdown owes something to cultural stereotypes butalso says that (for example) women "can embody the masculine stereotype aswell as men" (1991, p. All such developments inevitably influence Zunker cites the values-based approach to career planning, which, asthe term implies, "assumes that human functioning is greatly influenced andshaped by a person's value orientation" (1997, p. But he concludes that the broad constructs are as"typically" measured valid and relevant, distinguishing as they do betweendominance and self-assertion on one hand and personal warmth and nurturanceon the other. 1 6), the current industrialstructure is one in which "career transitions [are] in turbulent times.What is being referred to are the vast changes in work environments and inwork requirements," such as the technology-driven transformation of jobduties. Zunker, V.G. The focusof the essays in Diversity is on sex roles, but socialization, or theprocess whereby individuals learn where their place in society can be (orcannot), works forcefully on all who are not members of the dominant socialculture, to the effect of explaining to them not so much what careeroptions may be as may not be available to them. The new business paradigm stresses leadership, and some of its tenets emphasize social responsibility, preservation of societal freedom, adaptability to change, increased investment and ownership values, and knowledge of workers (Schneider, 1985, 16-17). Also, women are hindered in developing self-efficacy when they find themselves in work environments that are less responsive to women than to men and that do not equally reward their accomplishments (Zunker, 1997, p. 165). Plainly, this is not the case with the US labor market, a fact thathas been well recognized in the literature of the human-resource-managementtrenches. Such normsappear to have been little acknowledged, less exposed, still less critiquedin the vast majority of career-development theory that informs day-to-daypractice of the discipline. Zunker cites the growing trend for more open discussion of the effectsof group characteristics on the career development of individuals withinvarious groups--men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, racialgroups. The use of codesenables systematic scoring of results of testing for vocational interestsand correlation of kinds of work, also coded, with those interests. This suggests that industrial operators recognize that commerce existswithin and not apart from the culture at large, though that does notnecessarily mean that increased emphasis on interpersonal aspects within anorganization results inevitably in a completely fair and just operationalframework. The powerand reach of social organization, as well as the fact that suchorganization appears to be by and large uninterrogated by major career-development theoreticians and practitioner models, is troubling. Two things must be noted about the foregoing typology. E. (1985, November). Crucial issues for public personnelprofessionals. Apart from the fact that the concept of affirmative action hasbeen under fire from the highest of legal quarters for some 2 years (e.g.,see Kandel, 1981), there is a more pressing difficulty of residual socialprejudice that may be said to hinder the career development of individualswho are members of groups historically subject to discrimination. His advocacy of "sustained action" for the public-sector employers tomeet the responsibility of these issues suggests a recognition of the needto address changes in the workplace that will come about because of changein the society itself. That would appear toprovide career counselors with a mechanism for acknowledging humandifference and with a way of interpreting career motivation and behavioramong individuals from a wide variety of cultures. He also refers to social-learning theory and self-efficacy theory,which has made available the observation that (for example): women who believe they are incapable of performing certain tasks (low self-efficacy) limit their career mobility and restrict their career options. Much the same argument can be made if, for women, the term racialminorities is substituted. He also acknowledges that controversysurrounds the male-female "construct" and that there is a view that it istoo one-dimensional. [T]he paradigm of human resources in American businesses is shifting from just an emphasis on profit to an emphasis on people, society, and profit. Indeed, the society need not even be egalitarian instructure if its political, ethical, and moral values are shared by all(who would presumably know and accept their place on the hierarchy). Although the dominant theories of career development bring togetherindividual psychology and sociology--the individual's career is a principalmethod of defining his or her place in society and in life--there arecertain features of these theories that expose their deficiencies as bothsociology and psychology. Consider the recourse that both Zunker (1997) andLowman (1991) have to the Holland six-factor typology, also called theHolland Occupational Classification System, in organizing their explanationof hands-on, utilitarian, practical application of career-developmenttheory to counseling of would-be employees and consultation for would-beemployers. The arbitrariness andfluidity with which the attributes can be discussed may also be easilyexposed: Are wheelchair-bound women who must be realistic about theirphysical frailty vis-à-vis firefighting as an occupational choice to beconsidered somehow qualitatively different from their male wheelchair-boundcounterparts? Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole. What remains unstated is that the culture of employment hastraditionally devalued attributes associated with femininity, oralternatively, has traditionally devalued female participation in valuedlines of employment reflecting valued attributes. This whole line of thought points up fundamental problems in thefailure to interrogate presumptions about the structure of society and thecareer aspirations and psychological characteristics informing individualcareer choices. After all, a good career counselor could set about a projectof facilitating choice for individual clients but very quickly run upagainst a wall if the venue for exercising that choice resists hiring (say)African Americans or Latinos, irrespective of individual interests andambitions. Washington, D.C.: American PsychologicalAssociation. This would appear to be a helpful starting point fordeveloping satisfactory career objectives and psychologically appropriatework experiences for virtually any person. Accordingly, individualcareerists are said by the Holland typology to have orientations orinterests that are more or less (or as it were more and less) artistic,investigative, realistic, conventional, enterprising, or social (Zunker,1997, p. Why women don't persist in their high school careeraspirations. Women can't bank on affirmative action.Perspectives:_Civil_Rights_Quarterly, 13, 1 -16. The realities of socialorganization must thus be seen as a mechanism of social marginalization,yet if one key objective of career counseling is to do nothing more thanshow minorities and women their way to the margins of career satisfaction,thank you, then a stranger could be forgiven for wondering where theethical construct (not to say backbone) of the discipline lies. But that is where a second thingis to be noted about the foregoing typology: its arbitrariness. It does not necessarily give a sufficient account ofthe role that the culture of human-resources development--the industrialemployer pool--plays in functioning as the venue in which career objectivesare pursued. References Farmer, H.S. That is because no assertion of psychological types can credibly andsatisfactorily correlate with career goals except in a homogeneous andthoroughly egalitarian society, in which the values and culturalassumptions of that society are not only shared but also endorsed by allwho inhabit it. What remainslargely uninterrogated is whether the attributes of the six-factor typologyare themselves beyond validity scrutiny. Indeed, when females orminorities reach places on a dominant-culture ladder that have beentraditionally assigned to majority-culture males, the individuals in thosepositions have been subjected to social criticism or ostracism or otherwisehave been socially stigmatized for their very achievement. 119). 5th ed. Farmer (Ed.).London: Sage, 1997. Newland identifies a number of "current personnelissues" that are likely to have importance for the balance of the twentiethcentury: "cost limitations, alternative service delivery, labor relations,productivity and performance, and legalism and staffing" (Newland, 1984, p.22). Newland, C. The proliferation of employment-related laws has influenced thecharacter of career development to the degree it has legislated sanctionsagainst discriminatory hiring practices. It appearsto be missing from the workaday structures of career counseling that aimsto pigeonhole the individual client in most likely or most appropriate, orthe good-enough job prospect that might be available to him or her,irrespective of aptitudes or interests. As Lowman (1991) indicates, people may have interests that areincongruent with their employment. 441), career counselors in a multicultural context should be opento worldviews different from their own. (1997). But that still does not get to the fact that the focus in careercounseling is so sharply aimed at shaping individual employment behavior toconform to the vocational taxonomy of the dominant culture. But understanding howvalues emerge and are adopted and the impact that this has on pursuit ofemployment opportunities keeps the focus of career counseling solely on theprospective employee. To be sure, Holland's theoryseeks to account for that state of affairs with the label "realistic," butit is difficult to see what millions of (female) secretaries have been fordecades and decades if not realistic--a male(!) attribute in Holland'sformulation--about their opportunities for corporate advancement throughthe glass ceiling. 28-9), involve the creation ofa range of subsidiary characteristics that become increasingly precise intheir description of the vocational interests of people. Individuals who exhibit interest in occupationsthat are classified according to Holland's scheme are meant to helpcounselors "aid individuals in determining occupational goals" (Zunker,1997, p. Schneider, W. Career-development theory that seeks to get at how the individual willrespond to the options available in the culture fails as an authenticallylegitimate form of psychological counseling to the degree it fails to offera sufficient critique of the social barriers, or as it were socialrealities, that will determine career options. In that regard, the collection of essays inDiversity and Women's Career Development (Farmer, 1997) expose the factthat, for example, what has been characterized as Holland's genderblindness must be seen as a proxy for gender bias specifically andprogrammatically because the issue of socialization has by and large beensuppressed in the greatest part of career-development research. Or is their realism really a form of acquiescence inconventional (feminine) behavior? (1997). Zunker acknowledges research showing the existence of such barriers toemployment opportunities as the glass ceiling, the name given to "subtleattitudes and prejudices that have blocked women and minorities fromascending the corporate ladder" (1997, p. Career counseling: Applied concepts of lifeplanning. The impersonality of coded correlations between interests and jobtypes, however, does not capture the content of the types that Holland setsforth. The first isthat it appears to have been adopted by the US government in its guide tooccupational experience. 164-5). Public Personnel Management, 13, 15-46. Paradigm shift in human resources.Personnel Journal, 64, 14-18. Kandel, T. If thatseems an inappropriate characterization of the Holland system, it may beuseful to explore features of the system that point to such an evaluation.It comprises adjectives that characterize human attributes, and itsmethodological details, as Lowman explains in his guidebook for clinicalcareer-development practitioners (1991, pp.
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