Understand Careers -Career Theories

Introduction

Career development theories are a significant part of planning careers. The theory of career development is the study of ways of improving a person's professional growth, job satisfaction and career path. Identifying and determining your strengths, weaknesses and values is possible when understanding career development theory. Career development can be defined as a lifelong process of experiences that aims to gather and process information about ourselves, alternatives to job and educational paths, and lifestyles. Career development can be seen as the process in which people learn about themselves and the world of work around them, and their role within it.

Career development theories

The five most commonly used theories in career development are referred to as the Big Five Theories. These are:

- Theory of Work Adjustment by Lloyd H. Lofquist and René Dawis.

- Theory of Career Choice (RIASEC) by John Holland.

- The Self-Concept Theory by Donald Super.

- Theory of Circumscription and Compromise by Linda Gottfredson.

- The Social-Cognitive Career Theory by Albert Bandura.

The Theory of Work Adjustment by Lloyd H. Lofquist

This theory looks at the relationship between an individual and their job environment. The Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA) was originally created to be used as a guiding framework as part of a research programme in the field of vocational psychology, and it is still used extensively in this area.

It is believed that when a person's abilities — that is, their skills, qualifications, attitude and knowledge — closely match the requirements of the job and the organisation, the higher the likelihood that the person will perform better at their job, and the higher the chance that the employer will be happy with the employee.

At the same time, it is believed that when the rewards associated with a job or organisation closely match the values or goals the individual is chasing or trying to achieve through their job, the more likely they are to view their employment as satisfying. People seek to satisfy six key values. These are:

- Achievement — looks at conditions that encourage accomplishment and progress.

- Comfort — looks at conditions that encourage less stress.

- Status — looks at conditions that provide recognition and prestige.

- Altruism — looks at conditions that foster harmony and service to others.

- Safety — looks at conditions that establish predictability and stability.

- Autonomy — looks at conditions that increase personal control and initiative.

The Theory of Work Adjustment also acknowledges that at times the relationship between the individual and the job environment may not be perfect. Sometimes candidates choose the wrong career field, or sometimes an employer chooses the wrong person for the job. Sometimes a relationship between employee and environment may start out well but later becomes toxic. Other reasons could be that people's skills change over time, and they could outgrow the job or role, or an individual's priorities may change.

The Theory of Career Choice (RIASEC) by John Holland

In the theory of career choice, it is believed that our careers are determined by the relationship between our environment and our personalities. This theory states that we want to be in a job surrounded by people who are like us. In Holland's career-choice theory (RIASEC), the theory holds fast to the belief that when we choose a career, as humans we opt to be in jobs with people who are either like us or similar to us. The career-choice theory postulates that we, as people, will search for a job environment that will allow us to use our abilities, talents and skills, and enable us to freely show our values and attitudes while tackling issues or roles that we deem enjoyable. This theory suggests further that our behaviour results from the interaction between our personalities and our environment.

The career choice theory is focused on the concept that most people will fit into one of six personality types (RIASEC). These are:

- Realistic — this type refers to people who mainly work with their hands, making and fixing things, and who like to work outdoors.

- Investigative — this type refers to people who like to discover and research ideas, observe and experiment.

- Artistic — this type refers to people who like to use words, art, music or drama to communicate, create and design things.

- Social — this type refers to people who like to work with people, teach, train and inform.

- Enterprising — this type refers to people who like meeting people, leading, talking and influencing others.

- Conventional — this type refers to people who like to work indoors, in tasks that involve organising, following procedures, working with data and planning events.

The Self-Concept Theory by Donald Super

The term self-concept refers to the idea or image we have of ourselves, or how we see ourselves. An important question to ask is how this self-concept forms, and how it changes over time. This image that we create of ourselves develops in several ways over the years. Still, a major influence or contributing factor to the development of our self-concept is based on the interactions we have with important people or figures in our lives.

Self-concept can be further defined as a personal view or image of ourselves — our behaviours, talents, abilities and characteristics — the picture we hold of ourselves as a person in our mind. An example of the beliefs one can hold about oneself includes beliefs such as "I am a good friend" or "I am a generous person". These beliefs form part of the overall self-concept. The main point of this theory is being able to identify the roles a person may have at any point in their life cycle. An excellent example of these different roles is that of a working woman, who can be a manager, a wife, a mother and a student, all at the same time. This theory looks at how these roles' priorities change, and how they control a person's motivation.

It was suggested that there are six domains related to self-concept:

- Social — this looks at our ability to interact with other people.

- Competence — this looks at our ability to meet our basic needs.

- Affect — this domain looks at our awareness of emotional states.

- Physical — this looks at our feelings about our looks, fitness, health and appearance.

- Academic — this domain looks at our success or failure in school.

- Family — this domain looks at how we function within our family unit.

Theory of Circumscription and Compromise by Linda Gottfredson

In Gottfredson's theory, she attempts to answer the question, "Why do we choose to do what we do?" According to the theory of circumscription and compromise, the answer can be found by first learning to understand how our self-concept develops. This is then followed by how we eliminate certain job choices or alternatives that do not match our self-concept. This process is called circumscription. Lastly, we look at the options that are left, and compromise based on certain measures or standards.

Defining our self-concept

Humans are very complex beings. We possess a myriad of traits, such as various interests, skills, talents, beliefs and personalities. It is believed that these traits are a result of our environment, culture, experiences, close relationships and our genetic makeup. If so many factors define our identity, to what degree are we truly in control of defining who we are?

Gottfredson points out that, on the one hand, the environments we share with others strongly influence our interests, skills and attitudes. On the other hand, our genetic makeup allows us to remain active creators within those constraints.

Therefore, it can be said that our experiences, genetic makeup and environments all surround the process of circumscription (limiting or restricting), in which we reject job choices that conflict with our concept of self.

In Gottfredson's theory of circumscription and compromise, the process of elimination or rejection is guided by the most important parts of our self-concept. The self-concept appears at different developmental stages.

Another major process of this theory is the process of compromise. The compromise process is a complex process and looks at how an individual will compromise something of interest. This is done to maintain a better degree of correspondence with that individual's preference for prestige. An example would be landing a dream job; however, the commute is a two-hour drive. The individual compromises here, knowing the drive will be taxing, but the offer of a prestigious new job and title outweighs the compromise.

The Social-Cognitive Career Theory by Albert Bandura

The Social-Cognitive Theory is a learning theory. This theory postulates the idea that people learn by watching what other people do, and suggests that one has to understand human thought processes to understand one's personality. This theory is unique in that it provides an outline (framework) to help us understand, predict and change human behaviour.

This theory stresses the importance of observing and emulating the behaviours, reactions and attitudes of others. The social learning theory looks at cognitive and environmental factors, and how they interact and impact behaviour and human learning.

In the social learning theory, Bandura agreed with other behaviour theories; however, he added two more important ideas:

- His first idea was that a process of mediation occurred between stimuli and a response.

- The second idea was that human behaviour is learned by observation from the surrounding environment.

The theory of social learning is an interesting theory, as Bandura, in addition to agreeing with other learning theories, proposed that learning could also occur by simply observing others. His theory is unique, as Bandura added a social element to learning theories. This is known as observational learning. This observational learning is unique and can describe a wide range of behaviours, including behaviours that other theories cannot explain.

There are three main ideas in the social learning theory:

- First, the concept that humans can learn by observing.

- Second, the idea that our internal mental states are a crucial part of the learning process.

- Lastly, the theory accepts that it does not necessarily mean that a change in behaviour will occur because something can be learned.

Conclusion

As noted above, there are several incredible career development theories and models that can be used in the field of career development. Each theory has its own unique take and perspective, and each is worthy of consideration for its own merits.