Career Development Flashcards
Frank Parson
Trait and Factor Theory (A Matching Theory)
- Trait and Factor theory is a three-part model developed by Frank Parsons and was first published in his book Choosing a Vocation (1909). Parsons is generally
recognized as the “father of guidance.” - His three-part model asserts that:
individuals must initially acquire a complete understanding of their own personal traits; that is, their particular characteristics and attributes including
their strengths and weaknesses
individuals must ascertain the factors involved in a particular occupation; that is, what is needed attribute-wise for success
individuals must use “true reasoning” in examining these traits and factors in order to make correct choices and good decisions - Trait and Factor Theory is sometimes referred to as a “matching theory” due to the desired results being a match of traits and factors.
Personality career and vocational theory
HOLLAND
- Holland’s theory is sometimes described as structural-interactive because it links various personality characteristics and corresponding jobs. It assumes that the
individual is a product of heredity and environment:
a. The choice of an occupation is an expression of personality
b. Members of an occupational group have similar personalities and histories of personal development
c. Members of an occupational group will respond to many situations and problems in similar ways
d. Occupational achievement, stability, and satisfaction depend on congruence between personality and job environment
HOLLAND
The preferences indicated by the six personality types and their relationships to pertinent occupation examples are as follows:
Realistic (R) – activities that involve explicit, ordered, or systematic manipulation of objects, tools, machines, or animals, such as a surveyor or mechanic.
Investigative (I) – observing, creative investigation, systematic, and symbolic concepts, such as a chemist or physicist.
Artistic (A) – ambiguous, free, unsystematized activities that include manipulation of physical, verbal, or human materials to create art forms or products, such as a graphic artist or writer.
Social (S) – manipulation of others to inform, train, develop, cure, or enlighten, such as teacher or counselor.
Enterprising (E) – manipulation of others to attain organizational goals or economic gain, such as political scientist, salesman, or executive.
Conventional (C) – explicit, ordered, systematic manipulation of data, such as an accountant or clerk.
Holland’s theory (1973) has had a great impact on the career counseling field despite criticism of its being too simplistic. He has developed three instruments in use by
career counselors:
Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI)
Self-Directed Search (SDS)
Vocational Exploration and Insight Kit (VEIK)
Roe’s theory was based on two major personality theories:
The work of Gardner Murphy and Maslow’s concept of needs
Roe saw vocational choice as heavily affected by the child-rearing practices used while the individual was developing. She noted three different practices:
a. Emotional concentration on the child – overprotecting and at the same time over-demanding behavior which makes the child dependent on parental approval
for need gratification.
b. Avoidance of the child – emotional rejection of the child as well as physical neglect, prompting the child to look to non-persons and objects for gratification of needs.
c. Acceptance of the child – incorporating of the child into the family unit as an equal and encouraging independence and interest in occupations that balance
personal and non-personal interests.
Roe was the first to categorize jobs into eight fields and six levels within each of those fields. The eight fields are:
(1) service (5) outdoor
(2) business contact (6) science
(3) organizations (7) general culture
(4) technology (8) arts and entertainment
Roe’s six levels are:
(1) professional and managerial (4) skilled(independent responsibility)
(2) professional and managerial (5) semiskilled
(less independence or fewer responsibilities)
(3) semiprofessional and small business
(6) unskilled
Krumboltz, Mitchell, and Gelatt (1975) identified four factors that influence career decisions:
1)Genetic endowment and special abilities such as: race, sex, physical appearance.
2) Environmental conditions and events such as: number and nature of jobs, neighborhoods and community influences.
3) Learning experience such as
Instrumental Learning Experiences (ILEs) in which antecedents, covert, and overt behavioral responses and consequences are present
Associative Learning Experiences (ALEs) in which the learner pairs a previously.
4) Task approach skills such as problem solving skills.
These four types of influences and their interactions lead to three types of outcomes:
a. Self-Observation Generalizations (SOGs) are overt or covert statements evaluating one’s own actual or vicarious performance in relation to learned standards
b. Task Approach Skills (TASs) are cognitive and performance abilities and emotional predispositions for interpreting, coping with, and predicting the environment
c. Actions or Entry Behaviors are overt steps in career progressions (applying for a job, changing a college major)
Developmental/Life Span Career and Vocational Theory
Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, and Herma
investigated upper middle-class, white, Protestant, and Catholic populations, identifying three major periods in the career choice process: Fantasy (0 - 11 years) Tentative (11 - 18 years) Realistic (18 - into the 20s)
Developmental/Life Span Career and Vocational Theory
Super
Concept of career maturity
His model presents a longitudinal, developmental
approach rather than a one-time choice, also referred to as career maturity
Super
Lifespan
He has formulated life stages and the tasks that comprise them as follows:
1) Growth
2) Exploration
3) Establishment
4) Maintenance
5) Decline
Super:
Stage 1: Growth Life Stage Tasks (birth to 14 years)
Develop a picture of the kind of person one is and of the world of work and an understanding of the meaning of work
Three Substages:
Fantasy (4 - 10 years) – Needs are dominant; role-playing in fantasy is important.
Interest (11 - 12 years) – Likes are the major determinant of aspirations and activities.
Capacity (13 - 14 years) – Abilities are given more weight and job requirements are considered.
Super
Stage 2: Exploration Life Stage Tasks (14 – 24 years)
Implementing a vocational preference, developing a realistic self-concept, and learning more about various opportunities
Three Substages:
Tentative (14 - 15 years) – Needs, interests, capacities, values, and opportunities are all considered; tentative choices are made and tried out in fantasy, discussion, courses, work, etc.
Task: Crystallizing a vocational preference
Transition (18 - 21 years) – Reality considerations are given more weight asthe person enters the labor market or professional training and attempts to implement a self-concept.
Task: Specifying a vocational preference
Trial (with) Little Commitment (22 - 24 years)
A seemingly appropriate occupation having been found, a first job is located and is tried out as a potential for life work. Commitment is still provisional, and if the job is not appropriate, the person may reinstitute the process of crystallizing, specifying, and implementing a preference
Super
Stage 3: Establishment Life Stage Tasks (24 – 44 years)
Finding opportunity to do desired work, learning to relate to others, consolidation and advancement, making occupational position secure, and settling down into a permanent position
Two Substages:
Trial-Commitment and Stabilization (25 - 30 years) – Settling down. Securing a permanent place in the chosen occupation may prove unsatisfactory, resulting in one or two changes before the life work is found or before it becomes clear that the life work will be a succession of unrelated jobs.
Advancement (31 - 44 years) – Effort is put forth to stabilize, to make a secure place in the world of work. For most persons, these are the creative years. Seniority is acquired; clientele are developed; superior performance is demonstrated; qualifications are improved.
Super
Stage 4: Maintenance Life Stage Tasks (44 – 64 years)
Having made a place in the world of work, the concern is how to hold on to it. Little new ground is broken; continuation of established pattern. Concerned
about maintaining present status while being forced by competition from younger workers in the advancement stage.
Tasks: Accepting one’s limitations, identifying new problems to work on, developing new skills, focusing on essential activities, and preservation of achieved status and gains
Super
Stage 5: Decline Life Stage Tasks (age 64 and up)
Developing non-occupational roles, finding a good retirement spot, doing things one has always wanted to do, and reducing working hours
Two Substages:
Deceleration (65 - 70 years) – The pace of work slackens, duties are shifted, or the nature of the work is changed to suit declining capacities. Many men find part-time jobs to replace their full-time occupations.
Retirement (71 years and up) – Variation on complete cessation of work or shift to part-time, volunteer, or leisure activities
Super’s Life Roles
Super (1980) depicts life span, life-role development through the life-career rainbow, which presents:
a. Six life roles:
(1) Child
(2) Student
(3) Leisurite
(4) Citizen
(5) Worker
(6) Homemaker
b. Five life stages:
(1) Growth
(2) Exploration
(3) Establishment
(4) Maintenance
(5) Decline
Super’s Career Maturity
Career planning – How much an individual thinks that he or she knows about these activities, not how much he or she actually knows.
Career exploration – Differs from career planning in that career planning concerns thinking and planning about the future, and career exploration deals with use of resources; taken, together Super calls them career development attitudes.
Schlossberg
Schlossberg’s (1984) theory primarily focuses on adult career development with five propositions:
She defined the career transition process as changes that take place over time, for better or worse. She enumerated 4 distinct types of career transitions:
- Anticipated Career Transitions – events that will happen in the life span of most individuals, such as marriage.
- Unanticipated Career Transitions – events that are not expected such as being fired or transferred.
- “Chronic Hassles” – situations such as a long commute to work.
- Non-events (events that don’t happen) – such as a promotion that doesn’t happen.
Conflict Model
Janis and Mann (1977) have suggested four defective patterns of decision-making:
- Unconflicted adherence – The individual simply denies any serious risks from current course of action.
- Unconflicted change to new course of action – The individual simply denies any serious risks in making a decision or change.
- Defense avoidance – The individual avoids anything that might stimulate choice anxiety or painful feelings and gives up looking for a solution.
- Hypervigilance – The individual becomes extremely emotionally excited as the time constraints of decision making are made more pressing.
Sources of information
A. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)
The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), continuously updated and published bythe U.S. Department of Labor, contains information about approximately 22,000 jobs in
nine categories. All jobs are designated by a nine-digit number. The first digit refers to one of nine occupational categories. The next two digits indicate one of 82
occupational divisions. These are then subdivided into 549 three-digit occupational groups. The middle three digits of the nine-digit code number refer to worker traits.
The final three digits indicate the alphabetical order of titles within the six-digit code groups. It is now on-line at: http://www.dictionary-occupationaltitles.net/.
B. The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH)
The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), published by the U.S. Department of Labor, lists over 800 of the most popular careers along with resources that provide
additional information. It forecasts the employment growth phases for these careers.
C. The Guide for Occupational Exploration
The Guide for Occupational Exploration published by the U.S. Department of Labor utilizes three-digit codes somewhat similar to the first three digits of the DOT code.
The difference is that these codes are more related to the interest requirements of the occupations than are the DOT codes. The Guide for Occupational Exploration lists 12
basic interest areas and occupations in 348 subgroups with the DOT code given for each code or occupation in the subgroup.
D. Enhanced Guide for Occupational Exploration
The Enhanced Guide for Occupational Exploration uses a three-digit code, but codes are more related to the interest requirements of occupations.
Standard Occupational Classification Manual (SOC)
This more complex manual clusters jobs by similar work functions rather than by interests. There are four levels of classification:
a. division
b. major group
c. minor group
d. unit group
Computer Software
The most popular computer software programs dealing with career choices are:
DISCOVER II CHOICES SIGI PLUS CVIS GIS ISVD ECES
Computer-Assisted Career Guidance (CACG)
A. CACG systems are rapidly becoming a core element in the delivery of career and educational guidance service in the U.S. Trends in CACG system development include:
- Increased diversity of systems.
- Increased availability of information within the systems.
- Greater potential for integrating CACG systems with existing career guidance services and programs in different types of organizational settings.
- International and non-English-language versions of the systems.
Women in the workplace
Factors affecting women
- Tokenism – The low proportion of one sex in a workplace dominated by the opposite sex. Efforts to change the composition of the workforce
have centered on legally removing discrimination barriers and on changing the career aspirations of women. - Stereotypes – Restriction of individuals to traditionally defined male and femaleappropriate careers.
Efforts to eliminate this barrier have been notably unsuccessful to date. - Lack of role models
- discontinuities
- Dual roles
- Dual Career Families
- Self- efficacy
Dual Career Families
are families in which both man and woman are wage
earners.
a. Rapoport and Rapoport (1971) describe an identity tension line, a point beyond which the violation of sex-role socialization becomes uncomfortable for the individual, both male and female.
b. In general, the higher the status of woman’s occupation, the more she expects her spouse to assume the shared burden of household tasks and parenting.
The benefits of a dual-career marriage have been enumerated by Wilcox- Matthew and Minor
Feelings of self-worth, accomplishment, and control
More roles in which to define success
Marital solidarity
Higher standard of living
Child-care support policies in some employing organizations
More egalitarian roles
Types of Sexual Harassment
Gender harassment – verbal remarks and non-touching behaviors that are sexist in nature
Seductive behavior – inappropriate sexual advances, attempts to discuss sexual interest or the person’s sex life
Sexual bribery – sex for a raise, higher grade, or for a promotion
Sexual coercion – threatened punishment (firing, demotion, failing the course) and then coercing sexual activity
Sexual assault – forceful attempts to touch, grab, kiss, fondle, etc.
