Career development theories offer differing perspectives on how to view the individual developmental needs, organizational fit, and the career counseling process. Theories are used to help individuals find meaningful work that aligns with their traits, personality types, interests, values, and cultural contexts. As theories developed over time, they have shifted the focus from matching basic aptitudes and
interests with job requirements to emphasizing the importance of finding satisfaction and meaningful work as integral to lifespan development. To further explore the significance of meaning in career development, meaning-centered theories also highlight the importance of finding meaning in one’s life and career. No one theory is superior to the others; however, some of the common theories have gain acceptance because of their usability and/or empirical support. The following are some highlights
of several career development theories. Click on the links below to take you to a brief overview of the theory: General Theory Applied to Career Development Trait and Type Theories Developmental, Learning, and Transition Theories Postmodern Approaches to Career
Development Although this theory is not a career theory in particular, the basics of Abraham Maslow’s (1940s) Hierarchy of Needs model helps explain how we are motivated by certain needs. Maslow broke these down into five needs. When the lower level needs are met, we can work on the higher needs but those basic survival needs must be met before moving up the pyramid that he designed to
signify and individual’s needs. His five levels of needs include: Understanding what needs a person has met can help a career counselor know where to start. For someone who needs their basic physiological needs of food and a place to live, helping them get any job and/or unemployment funds may be more useful than exploring their dream career. However, for an individual who has all of the lower needs met, they may be able to take more time to find a
career with meaning that provides them personal growth and fulfillment. The Trait and Factor Theory (Parsons, 1909) is focused on identifying the characteristics of the individual (i.e., traits) and the environment or job requirements (i.e., factors) so job seekers can find a career that closely aligned with their personal characteristics (Chartrand, 1991; Sharf, 2006). Parson’s process of matching an
individuals’ traits with occupational factors included a component of self-knowledge; The popularity of this theory began to fade
in the 1950s as newer theories emerged and expanded on Parson’s basic trait and factor concepts. However, Parson’s contribution to career development and vocational psychology is still acknowledged today (Chartrand, 1991). The Myers-Briggs Type theory focused on personality types and originated from its basis in structural personality theory; it was later adapted for use in career development (Chauvin, Miller, Godfrey, & Thomas,
2010). The foundation of this theory began in the 1920s, when Katharine Briggs became interested in Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types. For the next 20 years, she continued to observe and classify people into categories. Her daughter, Isabel Myers, joined her work in the 1940s and together they developed the Myers-Briggs Type Theory which used personality types to categorize human behavior (Myers, 1987). The theory identifies a scale of four dichotomous dimensions that describe
characteristics of an individual’s personality. Individuals fall somewhere on a scale between the opposing variables for each of the four dimensions (Myers & Myers, 2004):
Each dimension had a midpoint of zero and an extreme preference score of 30. Based on the scores for each dimension, individuals’ personality types were identified with a four-letter code (e.g., ENFJ) that included the preferences toward each dimension. For example, an ENFJ type would have MBTI scores that fell on the extraversion, intuition, feeling, and judging ends of the dimensional scales. Although the four-letter code may be helpful in understanding their preferences of those dimensions, the degree to which individuals fall on one end of each scale also identifies the strength or clarity of those preferences. For example, on the extraversion-introversion dimension, an extraversion score of 28 would indicate a much stronger extraversion personality type than someone who had a score of 5. The lower score, or score closest to the midpoint, might indicate more of a balance between extraversion and introversion preferences. In addition to identifying personality types, the MBTI was later expanded to include a list of occupations held by people with various personality types (Myers, McCaulley, Quenk, & Hammer, 1998), making it a useful career development tool to aid in matching individuals with a suitable career choice. For individuals with high scores indicating an extreme preference in each dimension, this career tool may provide a clear approach to career development. However, for individuals who have lower, or more balanced scores, their personality type may identify only some of their ideal career options. For example, the ENFJ type who scored high on the extroversion and other scales would most likely prefer the ENFJ-related occupations; whereas, the ENFJ type who scored lower on the extroversion scale, may have a more balanced score between both extroversion and introversion preferences. Therefore, they may consider looking at the INFJ occupations as well to identify interests that may suit their personality. This approach would apply for any of the dimensions where an individual had a more balanced score. Although this theory was not originally designed for career development, the availability to easily match personality types with relevant occupations makes the MBTI popular in college. Interests: Vocational Personalities and Work Environments TheoryAlso known as Vocational Choice Theory, John L. Holland (1966, 1997) theorized that matching people to their jobs was key, yet he emphasized the importance of the individuals’ personality (i.e., interests) in their career choices. He suggested that career success and satisfaction hinge on finding a job that aligns with one’s personalities more than other characteristics. Holland’s Theory of Types evolved through a series of research studies throughout the 1960s and is one of the most researched and widely used career theories today. Holland began by categorizing careers into six major types and examined the people who chose jobs within each category. From his observations, he proposed six types (RIASEC) that described both the personality styles and work environments that provided the best person-job match. These types include:
Calculus. Holland was intentional in visualizing the relationship within and between types.The closer they were to each other, the more closely they resembled each other. Consistency. Holland recognized that individuals rarely fell into only one type, but rather a combination of types. He found these combinations were typically in consistent patterns; therefore, his order of types was intentional. He created a hexagon model and placed a type on each corner, with a specific order of the types around the hexagon (i.e., R-I-A-S-E-C). The adjacent types (e.g., A-S) were considered consistent whereas the types listed opposite from one another (e.g., A-C) were considered inconsistent (Holland, 1997; Brown, 2007). Congruence. The combination of types indicated the most important elements for an individual to consider when making a career choice that would be congruent with their personality . For example, an individual’s assessment results may include a two or three-letter code indicating the areas that aligned most with their interests (e.g., S-A-I: Social-Artistic-Investigative). While the first letter indicates their primary interest, the other letters indicated an elevated interest that may help guide them as they narrow their career options. Additionally, many occupational classifications were described with a multiple type code, and could help an individual identify careers that fit their two or three-letter code (e.g., College Instructor is classified as S-A: Social-Artistic; Holland, 1997). Differentiation. Holland also believed that individuals were more certain of their interests if their scores were well-differentiated. For example, if an individual’s three-letter type was S-A-I, a well-diferentiated score would include high scores on the first 2-3 letters and low scores on the other types. An undifferentiated, or flat profile, indicated that the scores across all types were similar. Holland believed that individuals with differentiated scores were ready to make a career-related decision; those with flat scores were not ready to decide because they were unclear about their interests. Holland’s Theory of Types is still widely used in career counseling centers today and a number of instruments (e.g., Strong Interest Inventory, Self-Directed Search, Vocational Preference Inventory) are available to help individuals match their personalities with potential occupational choices (Brown, 2007). Work Adjustment TheoryThe Work Adjustment Theory (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984) evolved from 35 years of research with vocational rehabilitation clients. Sharing similarities with other trait and type theories, the Work Adjustment Theory follows the basic steps of assessing the individual’s characteristics, determining the requirements of the job, and then matching the two. Additionally, Dawis and Lofquist made several basic assumptions in their approach:
Dawis and Lofquist (1984) believed that to achieve satisfaction, individuals would choose careers they thought would fulfill their needs and organizations would select individuals for the same reason. They felt this was important to job success and incorporated the measure of satisfaction and satisfactoriness into their theory as significant determinants in work adjustment.
The congruent match between an individual’s traits (i.e., skills, aptitudes, and personality) and the job’s requirements could predict satisfaction for both the individual and employer. In addition to the basic assumptions of their model, Dawis and Lofquist made 18 propositions based on the idea of predicting successful work adjustment, making this theory more complex than the others. Several instruments are available to measure satisfaction, satisfactoriness, needs, and aptitudes such as the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire and Minnesota Satisfactoriness Scales; however, this theory is not commonly used today. Perhaps the complex nature of this theory, length of instruments, and popular use of other theories has limited its wide use (Brown, 2007). However, this theory lends support to the rationale that success, satisfaction, and meaning will most likely exist when there is a positive match between an individual’s traits and organizational factors. Developmental, Learning, and Transition TheoriesSuper’s Life Span, Life Space TheoryDonald Super (1953) developed this leading career developmental theory addressing individual’s self-concept, life span, and life space: Self-concept. Super proposed that individuals are a blend of how they see themselves, how they want to be seen, and how they think others view them. This self-concept helps them identify their career goals and plans. Life Span. As people progress through life, Super suggested that they go through developmental stages across their entire lifespan. He broke these down into five stages:
Life Space. As individuals are a part of a variety of “theaters” (e.g., home, work, school, community), they have a variety of life roles (e.g., son/daughter, student, worker, spouse/partner, homemaker, parent, leisurite, citizen) in which they live out their lives. These roles play out in different stages of life. For example, someone might be a student from the time they enter school until graduating college. They may decide to go back to school later in life for additional training and pick up that role again. Super developed the Life-Career Rainbow to depict the life roles across one’s lifespan. Theory of Circumscription and CompromiseLinda Gottfredson (1981, 1996) view career choice as a process rather than an event. She developed her theory to explain why individual’s vocational expectations vary by sex, race, and social class and focused on the cognitive development of children (Gottfredson, 2002; Swanson & Fouad, 2015). Circumscription is the process by which children eliminate unacceptable occupational choices. This is described in four stages based on an increasing age and developmental abilities of abstract thinking:
Compromise is the process by which individuals accept less attractive occupational choices because of the inaccessibility to desired ones. Happenstance Learning TheoryJohn Krumbolz (2009) applied Bandura’s (1986) social learning theory to career development and believed that the primary role of career counselors was not to find an individual a job but to help them create a more satisfying life. As our lives and careers move forward at a quick pace, it is impossible to plan for each event. Therefore, he termed happenstance to describe remaining open and exploratory while unexpected events happen. He outlined several basic beliefs of his theory:
Krumbolz suggested getting clients engaged in their career development using the following steps:
Schlossberg’s Transition TheoryNancy K. Schlossberg (1989) describes transition as an event (e.g., getting a job or being promoted) or nonevent (e.g., not getting the job or promotion) that result in a change of roles, routines, or relationships. She proposed the 4-S model to describe the four parts to transition:
Postmodern Approaches to Career DevelopmentHackett & Betz (1981) and Lent, Brown, & Hackett (1994) also focuses on the personal constructions people place on events as they related to career development. Individual and environmental factors are considered but this theory also hypothesizes the following:
When individuals have low self-efficacy beliefs or expectations, it will be challenging for them to meet their goals (NCDA, 2012; Gysbers, Hepner, and Johnston, 2014) Cognitive Information Processing TheoryResearchers at Florida State University (Sampson, Lenz, Reardon, & Peterson, 1999) conducted extensive research in developing this theory. This theory focuses on the way people think and how these thought patterns affect their career decision making. They look at three factors:
They provide several steps to help direct a career intervention (NCDA, 2012):
Integrative Life Planning TheorySunny Hansen’s (1997) Integrative Life Planning theory incorporates the identification of meaning as vital in the process of career development. Hansen’s (2001, 2002) approach evolved over 35 years of experience working in the areas of career development and counseling. She considered the impact of careers, communities and families on individuals, and focused on the cultural context for life changes. Six critical life tasks connecting the important life concepts for individuals grew from her observations and included:
Hansen’s six critical life tasks, point to her belief that the search for meaning and connection may become essential in one’s life. By exploring one’s life purpose and meaning in context with the other critical tasks, and by incorporating personal values into work, one can create a career and life that is more meaningful (Hansen, 2001; Sharf, 2006). Constructivist ApproachesPostmodern approaches began emerging (1989). Key concepts around constructivist counseling include: Constructivism: knowledge is constructed about oneself, others, and their world through their own ideas, beliefs, and experiences; it does not reflect actual reality. Social constructionism: individual’s knowledge and beliefs about self and others is understood in relation to social or other external forces Career Construction Theory & Life DesignThe career construction theory (Savickas, 2005) is built on Super’s theoretical framework with an additional focus on making meaning through a narrative approach. This theory goes beyond scores on assessments and encourages counselors to consider an individual’s story including their context, with whom they interact, and how they derive meaning. Key concepts around this theory include: Self-construction: individuals develop from childhood where they first begin as actors, then agents, and finally authors of their lives and careers. Career adaptability: evolved from Super’s concept of career maturity; it involves assessing the concern, identifying the developmental tasks, and exploring skills, and resources needed to resolve the tasks. Four dimensions of career adaptability include:
Life themes that guide career choices address why people make their career choice, what personality types might fit with a particular career, and how the individual can adapt to their career choice (Swanson & Fouad, 2015). Chaos Career TheoryUnlike traditional predictive models of career counseling, this theory addresses the current realities of career decision-making including complexity, change, constructivism, and chance. Pryor and Bright (2011) described patterns of behavior to respond to life challenges using the concept of attraction. Attraction describes how individuals organize the self and then maintain or sustain it when change occurs. It is divided into four types of attractors:
Spirituality is integrated into career development with this theory recognizing five dimensions for consideration:
Shiftwork describes the changes that occur to reconfigure a system. Chaos theory helps a client embrace uncertainty and change through 11 phase shifts from prediction to trust as faith (Gysbers, Heppner, & Johnston, 2014). Strengths-based ApproachThis approach changes the focus from the problem and deficits to the resources and strengths (Schutt, 2007). This approach is client-led, empowerment focused, and future-orientation. Value-based Career Decision MakingBrown’s (2002) approach focuses on the importance of values in career decision making. Finding a job that aligns with one’s values can lead to greater job satisfaction. ReferencesGottfredson, L., S. (2002). Gottfredson’s Theory of Circumscription, Compromise, and Self-Creation. In D. Brown, Career Choice and Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Gysbers, N. C, Heppner, M. J., & Johnston, J. A. (2014). Career Counseling: Holism, Diversity, and Strengths (4th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Counseling Association. NCDA (2012). Facilitating Career Development: An Instructional Program for Career Development Facilitators and Other Career Development Providers (3rd ed.). Broken Arrow, OK: National Career Development Association. Swanson, J. L. & Fouad, N. A. (2015). Career Theory & Practice: Learning through Case Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. What are the three parts of career construction theory?constitute the three main components of the career construction theory: life themes (why), professional personality (what) and career adaptability (how).
What are career constructs?Career construction theory, simply stated, holds that individuals build their careers by imposing meaning on vocational behavior. Personality types and developmental transitions deal with what a person has done and how they have done it.
What are career Counselling theories?In a nutshell, the theory is applied to how people make career decisions and use problem solving skills in career decisions. This theory is very cognitive and rational in nature and rests on the assumptions that people make career decisions as a top down process.
What is career decision making theory?The theory of career development seeks to help individuals identify their potential vocation by helping them consider their talents, shortcomings, opportunities, and threats. It also focuses on where, why, and for what reasons career counseling, education, guidance, and other career interventions are needed.
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