ch. 4

Question 1

Pioneers in work adjustment theory

Answer 1

René Dawis and Lloyd Lofquist

Designed to provide improved rehabilitation services for vocationally challenged clients.
Originally designed to meet the needs of vocational rehabilitation clients.
Is now applicable to adults who want to make career choices or those who are experiencing work adjustment problems.

Question 2

Definition of Work Adjustment Theory (pg. 94):

Answer 2

A continuous and dynamic process by which a worker seeks to achieve and maintain correspondence with a work environment.
It is indicated by the length of time, or tenure, on the job.
Consists of 18 propositions and corollaries.

Question 3

What are the two major components for the prediction of work adjustment (pg. 94-95)

Answer 3

Satisfaction and Satisfactoriness

Question 4

Satisfactoriness

Answer 4

Refers to the employer’s satisfaction with the individual’s performance.
Concerns the appraisal of others, usually supervisors, of the extent to which an individual adequately completes the work that is assigned to him or her; it also is of interest to industrial and organizational psychologists.

Question 5

Satisfaction

Answer 5

Refers to being satisfied with the work that one does, which is related to life satisfaction and general well-being.
The extent to which an individual’s needs and requirements are fulfilled by the work he or she does.

Question 6

What is a key indicator of work adjustment

Answer 6

Satisfaction is a key indicator of work adjustment.
It is important because the individual must be satisfied with many aspects of the work, such as salary and type of work task.
The work environment must satisfy the individual’s needs, and the employee must have the requisite skills to meet the job’s needs.
Different aspects of job performance are indicators of work adjustment:
Amount of turnover, absenteeism, tardiness on the job, devotion to a job, job morale, and productivity on a job.

Question 7

Work Adjustment Theory and Trait and Factor Theory

Answer 7

Work adjustment theory is a specific example of general trait and factor theory in that it makes use of clearly defined concepts and follows an articulated theoretical model.
Consistent with trait and factor theory, measurement of values and abilities is crucial to the understanding of work adjustment theory.

Question 8

what are the steps in work adjustment theory

Answer 8

step 1 - Assessing Abilities, Values, Personality, and Interest
step 2 - Measuring the Requirements of Occupations
step 3 - Matching Abilities, Values and Reinforcers

Question 9

What are the step 1 assessments utilized for identification of abilities, values, personality, and interests (pg. 96)

Answer 9

Dawis and Lofquist (1984) see interests as an expression of abilities and values, their focus is on ability and value assessment.

Question 10

Abilities:

Answer 10

Dawis and Lofquist define abilities as “reference dimensions of skills.
Viewed as encompassing aptitudes, which are predicted skills, in contrast to acquired skills.
Ability test measure factors common to many skills.
General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) is an example of a measure of ability.
it’s predictive validity and its use with the O*NET are examples of current research and development.
The GATB is the most practical because of the information it provides for counselors to use in matching jobs with an individual’s abilities and values.
It incorporates abilities required for many jobs and measures a broader base of abilities than many academic aptitude tests.

Question 11

What values are identified in the MIQ

Answer 11

Achievement, comfort, status, altruism, safety, autonomy

Question 12

Values:

Answer 12

Values represent a grouping of needs.
The Minnesota Importance Questionnaire is a measure of needs.
A 20 need scales of the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ) characterize important work-related concepts.
Using the statistical technique of factor analysis, Dawis and Lofquist derived 6 values from the 20 needs (see table 4.1 on pg. 98).
Values are clustered with their opposites: achievement is negatively related to comfort, status is very different from altruism, and safety is negatively related to autonomy.

Work values appear to be a slightly better predictor of job satisfaction than interests.

Question 13

Achievement

Answer 13

is reflected in the need to make use of one’s abilities (ability utilization) and to do things that give one a sense of accomplishment (achievement).

Question 14

comfort,

Answer 14

Included in the comfort values is a variety of needs dealing with specific aspects of work that make the job less stressful for the worker.

Question 15

status,

Answer 15

How one is perceived by others and the recognition one gets are the emphasis gf the status value.
Status can be attained by an opportunity for advancement; recognition for the work that one does; or, more generally, prestige (social status) that comes from being important in the community.

Question 16

altruism,

Answer 16

How one can help or work with others.

Question 17

safety,

Answer 17

It reflects the importance of orderliness and predictability.

Question 18

autonomy

Answer 18

Working and/or making decisions on their own.

Question 19

What are the four characteristics of personality styles, and how do they influence the client and counselor with personality and occupational considerations

Answer 19

Personality style is concerned with how an individual with particular abilities and values interacts with his or her work situation.
Celerity:
Is concerned with the speed with which one approaches tasks.
Pace:
Is concerned with the effort one spends in working.
Rhythm:
Is the pattern of one’s effort or pace.
Endurance:
Is concerned with how long one is likely to continue working at a task.

Question 20

What are ability and value patterns in step 2

Answer 20

Ability Patterns:
The important abilities that are required for a vast variety of jobs.
Enables an individual to assess whether he or she ahs abilities similar to those successful people in a given occupation.
Value Patterns:
Patterns to assess how much an occupation reinforces the values of individuals.
Using information about value patterns helps counselors to see how the values of their clients match the values that are met or reinforced by a large number of occupations.

Question 21

What assessments or resources are utilized to assist the counselor and client in identifying these patterns

Answer 21

The methods to measure the abilities and values needed for many occupations are by averaging the scores on the GATB and MIQ.
Dawin and Lafquis also developed the Minnesota Job Description Questionnaire (MJDQ) to assess how much an occupation reinforces the values of individuals.

Question 22

What does combining ability and value patterns do for the counselor and client, and what resources are available to interpret these patterns

Answer 22

Combining ability and value patterns give the counselor view of important information about the client.
The combined data were used to create the Minnesota Occupational Classification System (MOCS).
Used to assess individual abilities and values and those found in occupations (see table 4.4, pg. 104).
Through the MOCS, the individual and occupational patterns are matched.

Question 23

How does step 1 and step 2 relate to the overarching theory of Trait and Factor

Answer 23

It measures the individual’s abilities and the values found within occupations.
Combines this information and assess which occupation (and its values) match best with the individual (and his/her abilities).

Question 24

What does the counselor do in step 3

Answer 24

Attempts to increase the likelihood of the client’s future job satisfaction and satisfactoriness.
The counselor is trying to find an occupation that is appealing to the client in the moment and that will lead to long-term satisfaction or job tenure.

Question 25

What is adjustment style, flexibility, activeness, and reactiveness refer to

Answer 25

Adjustment style:
How an individual relates to the occupational environment.
Flexibility:
The ability of an individual to tolerate unpleasant or difficult aspects of the job.
When individuals are faced with unpleasant or difficult work situations, they may react in the following ways:
Activeness:
An individual trying to change the environment.
Example: individual chooses to confront a supervisor to try and resolve discomfort at work.
Reactiveness:
An individual making a change in themselves.
Example: individual choosing to ignore the supervisor and place their attention elsewhere.

Question 26

What resources is utilized to assist the counselor and client match the identified patterns

Answer 26

The counselor has 3 tools available to them:
The Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ) report form.
The General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB)
The Minnesota Occupational Classifications System (MOCS)
All can be helpful in identifying occupations for clients to explore further.

Question 27

What are possible solutions for problems when assessing clients and reinforcer patterns

Answer 27

Assessing the discrepancies between the values and abilities of the individual and the ability and reinforcer patterns of the job.
Further understanding the reinforcer patterns of work, the client may be able to improve his or her satisfaction level.
Make changes in the work itself so that the reinforcer patterns are altered.
The individual can look for reinforces outside the work environment.
Finding hobbies and part-time or volunteer work.
Changing jobs (if none of the options above work).

Question 28

What are considerations for both counselor and client regarding retirement

Answer 28

There is relatively little organized information about retirement activities
As individuals age their physical abilities change as well.
Financial needs of individual must be assessed because the need for earning income may continue.
Retirees may not be able to move from their current location to take advantage of a variety of community activities, hobbies, and part-time or volunteer work.
There are far more constraining factors in retirement counseling than in career decision-making counseling or job adjustment counseling.

Question 29

What is the task of both the counselor and client

Answer 29

To identify environments that will match the individual’s needs and abilities.

Question 30

What does the research support regarding gifted adolescents

Answer 30

That the concepts of satisfaction and satisfactoriness, which are crucial to work adjustment theory, can be applied to the educational adjustment and achievement of 13-year-old gifted students.
It was found that the theory of work adjustment helpful in understanding the educational and vocational choices of these talented students.
Believed to be because work adjustment theory considers abilities (satisfactoriness as measured by educational achievement measure) and preferences (satisfaction as measured by interest and values inventories).

Question 31

What assessments are extremely important in work adjustment theory and how do they reflect Trait and Factor theory

Answer 31

The Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ)
Is the one most likely to be used by counselors.
The Minnesota Job Description Questionnaire (MJDQ)
The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)
The Minnesota Satisfactoriness Scales
A Biographical Information Form
*These assessments are important for measuring an individual’s traits and matching them with information about occupations.

Question 32

How does a counselor and client benefit from the use of these assessments

Answer 32

The assessments help the counselor group the importance of the client’s needs and the degree to which they are being satisfied.
The assessments allow the client to measure their traits and identify which occupation is the best fit.

Question 33

What are the comparable occupational resources when gathering occupational information

Answer 33

The MIQ
The GATB
The Minnesota Occupational Classification System
Lists more than 1,700 occupations
Dictionary of Occupational Titles
Lists definitions of 12,000 occupations
O*NET
Is the most current and used by most counselors
MOCS
Lists 1,769 occupations

Question 34

What does the research say about work adjustment theory when applying it to women and culturally diverse client populations

Answer 34

Though women have been found to score higher in some needs, and fewer in others, than men, there are few differences between genders.
Work adjustment theory can be applied to discrimination experienced by homosexual men and women as well as heterosexual women.
It predicts the job satisfaction of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, despite discrimination that they may experience in their workplace.
It can be applied to people living with HIV/AIDS.
Gender, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, and disability status are seen as inaccurate and unreliable bases for estimating the skills, abilities, needs, values, personality styles, and adjustment style of a particular person.

Question 35

What are some counselor issues one needs to be aware of when working from a work adjustment perspective

Answer 35

Lafquist and Dawin believed that it is necessary for the counselor to identify basic abilities and reinforcers within himself or herself and the client, so that effective counseling can take place.
The counselor also must have awareness over their own values and needs, to understand their effect on the client.
It is important for the counselor to adapt to the environment of the client so that the client’s needs can be met.
The counselor must have knowledge about his or her needs and response requirements, so that they can suspend, when necessary, his or her own needs to meet those of the client.