CAREER DECISION-MAKING APPROACHES

Two categories of decision making models

Descriptive Theories - describe or explain the choices that an individual makes when deciding on career choices; usually based on adolescent or adult decision making. Example: spiritual approach – life and career are related

Prescriptive Theories - focus on the ideal approach to decision making; originate with psychological decision making theory or observations of cognitive decision making processes
Example: Peterson et al.’s cognitive information processing approach



A SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE IN DECISION MAKING

See work as a place where one’s spirit can be nourished and person can develop self
Spirit – an essential principle that gives life to physical being
May or may not include a religious point of view

Lifecareer Theory (Miller-Tiedeman)
Sees each person as his own theory maker
You are not looking for a career, you have one¼life is our career
By trusting inner wisdom that comes from your intellectual ability, previous experiences, and intuition into past experiences, you can experience your career
Lifecareer is the dynamic lived-in-the-moment process defined by each person in individual moments
The client decides what works and what doesn’t, not the counselor

Personal and Common Realities
Reality concerns the awareness of one’s career decision-making
Personal reality - an individual’s sense of what is right
Common reality - what others say the individual should do

Spirituality
When individuals experience the wholeness of living; spirituality develops
Seven themes that people can use to better understand their lives and the career decisions that are a part of their lives
Change - when change occurs by chance, it is called synchronocity; can be internal or external; many feelings and emotions
Balance - seek balance; it is natural to maintain balance between work, play, and other activities
Energy - needed in order to bring about change and balance in one’s life; many sources of energy (from others, from self, etc.)
Community - 3 types: (1) communities of companionship – immediate and extended family, close friends, (2) communities of culture – neighbors, classmates, coworkers, (3) cosmic community – those which concern large ideas, such as environment, poor, etc.
Calling - finding one’s ideal work
Harmony - finding the work that will bring about a true sense of appreciation and understanding
Unity - to believe in unity is to trust the universe

A Spiritual Approach to Career Counseling
May seem vague and unclear
Suggestions that can be used by counselors when using Lifecareer Theory
Let client know their career is their life
Client knows what’s working and what’s not; emphasize personal reality
Clients should learn from their experiences and to assess their experiences
Do not let tests and inventories interfere with students’ exploration of educational or occupational opportunities
Help clients set intentions without placing restrictions on them
Be enthusiastic
Help clients become more self-aware


A Holistic Approach to Life Planning - Hansen
Task 1: Finding Work that Needs Doing in a Changing Global Context
Task 2: Weaving our Lives into a Meaningful Whole
Task 3: Connecting Family and Work
Task 4: Valuing Pluralism in Individuality
Task 5: Managing Personal Transitions and Organizational Change
Task 6: Exploring Spirituality and Life Purpose



A COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH

A cognitive approach to choosing careers and making career decisions
Peterson et al. – tried to help individuals understand the way that they think and how that influences their career decision making

Assumptions of a Cognitive Information Processing Approach
Prescriptive point of view - prescribe or suggest ways that individuals can think about career decision making that will improve their ability to make good career decisions

Four assumptions:
1. Both affect and cognitive processing are important components of career decision making.
2. Individuals not only need to know about themselves and the world of work, but also information about thinking and how it affects decision making.
3. Information about self and the world of work is constantly changing.
4. By improving one’s information processing capabilities, clients can improve their career problem-solving abilities.

The Pyramid of Information Processing
Based on Sternberg’s approach to understanding human intelligence; Three basic components: knowledge domain (knowing oneself and knowing about world of work), decision-making skills domain (learn how to make decisions), and the executive processing domain (become aware of how their thoughts influence their decisions)

Self-Knowledge - to learn about themselves, people must both interpret events and reconstruct them; comes from information about previous school performance, previous work, etc.
Occupational Knowledge - people acquire information about the educational system and occupations throughout their lives

Decision-Making Skills - the capabilities that enable people to process information about themselves and occupations is referred to as generic information processing skills; these skills are Also known as CASVE:

Communication – when people get input from within themselves or from the environment, the communication process begins
Analysis – examining the self-knowledge and occupational knowledge domain
Synthesis – when information is analyzed, then people can pursue courses of action; synthesizing information through elaborating or crystallizing what they have analyzed
Valuing – the client evaluates or values possible actions or career directions
Execution – once choices have been evaluated or have undergone the valuing process, then a plan or strategy can be formulated to implement the choice

The Executive Processing Domain – top section of pyramid; refers to higher order functions
Three major ways of decision making
Self-Talk - internal messages that we give ourselves about career choice and other issues; can be positive or negative
Self-Awareness - individuals can be more effective problem solvers when they are aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it
Monitoring and Control - people can monitor the way in which they go through the CASVE process and control how much time they give to each of these stages or phases

Career Decision Making
Decided
Undecided
Being reluctant to acknowledge it

The Career Thoughts Inventory
Three scales:

Decision-Making Confusion - indicates the difficulty that individuals have in initiating or sustaining career decision making; relates to difficulties involved in CAS steps of CASVE
External Conflict - difficulty in balancing one’s own views of information about self and occupations with the views of others; relates to V in CASVE
Commitment Anxiety - fear or anxiety that comes with the difficulty in implementing a career choice and addressing problems in moving from the valuing stage to the execution stage

Career Thoughts Inventory Workbook – includes five sections


Seven-Step Service Delivery Sequence
Seven-step approach to cognitive information processing
Represents a structured model of career counseling that is more organized than most
1. Initial Interview – information is gathered about client’s career problem; rapport; CASVE explained
2. Preliminary Assessment – screening instrument (e.g. Career Thoughts Inventory) is given and readiness for counseling is assessed.
3. Define Problem and Analyze Causes – problem is clarified and defined so that goals can be developed
4. Formulate Goals – together form goals; Goals become basis for Individual Learning Plan (ILP)
5. Develop Individual Learning Plan – together develop an ILP that lists the activities that are to be completed by the client in order to achieve her goals
6. Execute Individual Learning Plan – with counselor’s help, clients follow through on the ILP which is integrated with the CASVE cycle
7. Summarize Review and Generalization – after client has completed ILP, together discuss progress towards reaching goals



THE ROLE OF OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION

Spiritual approach - Not only use libraries but use job experience and discussions with others
Cognitive Information Processing Theory - Occupational information is at the base of the pyramid of information processing
Analysis and synthesis refers to weighing occupational information


THE ROLE OF ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS

Spirituality approach - clients rely on their own view of assessment results; counselors use non-technical terms to describe limits of assessment
Cognitive Information Processing Theory - Find assessment to be helpful (self-knowledge domain)
Career Thoughts Inventory can be used as a measure of readiness for career decision making


APPLYING THE THEORIES TO WOMEN AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE POPULATIONS

Spiritual approach - awareness of wide cultural differences in spiritual view of clients
Attend to not letting societal norms pressure client
Cognitive Information Processing Theory - CASVE is a Western or scientific point of view
Attend to prejudice and stereotyping
Cultural group membership is an opportunity to networking and mentoring


COUNSELOR ISSUES

Spiritual approach - Focus on internal decision-making process
Be aware of different approach to decision-making fo counselor and client
Avoid “shoulds”, attend to client’s personal reality
Cognitive Information Processing Theory
Avoid too much structure
Consider seven step delivery model Decide whether or not to assess career readiness