Career Management, Developmental Theories - Coursework Example

The paper "Career Management, Developmental Theories" is an outstanding example of management coursework. Career management is an investment that is made on a regular basis in order to achieve a greater return in the end. Management of the learning processes and the maintenance of relationships are two major factors constituting it. For carrier choice there have been formulated some theories, they work as road maps in guidance of career development. Primarily the theories were of the career-focused ones. These outlined the workplace of an individual for instance and this evolved into the trait and factor theory. Development of all these led to the resultant person-environment theories. The theories then started shaping and stressed more upon the process of career development and thus were termed developmental theories.

Career Theories

In this section, a discussion of the three theories is presented. The others are given in Appendix B.

Holland Theory:

This theory was shaped in 1909 by Frank Parsons. His model was based on the understanding of an individual’s specific requirements in the attainment of a job. It has further to this day found a basis of forming other theories especially true is in the case of career education models. Holland’s Theory is an example of the Trait and Factor Theories. This was formed in 1997. He based his theory assuming that in making a choice it is the personality of the individual which affects it, the individual's interests are also a reflection of one’s personality. The professions bear certain moulds and often we label some as being stereotypical like a typist would be dull with glasses etc. And lastly, he was of the thought that an individual chose a certain profession because of the values attached or associated to it and by which he could himself relate. He further labelled individuals of being the following types, RIASEC:

Holland Orientation

Personality Description

Realistic R

The materialistic, concrete and emotionally stable people. They are the ones that choose technical and skilled jobs.

Investigative I

The intelligent, persistent and prefer scientific tasks.

Artistic A

These were the impulsive, feminine, submissive types that sought to for expression art form.

Social S

The individuals who like company and were good with people. They are the cheerful talkative lot.

Enterprising E

The dominant and the adventurous kinds who are both aggressive and confident. Such individuals desire to be recognized

Conventional C

Individuals desirous of being approved of by society. The neat habit, correct and sociable people fall in this category.

Holland also observes that there are similar categories of occupations for these different types of people. The types of the different personalities of the individuals in them formed in a pattern which is the hexagonal model.

Furthermore, a three-lettered code which is the Holland Code is used in describing an individual’s personality. The understanding of this code is enhanced by Holland indicators. The first indicator or diagnostic tool is the Congruence which is a measure of the individual’s personality in regards to his work environment. We would call the instance of the highest level of congruence where the three-letter code is the same in work as well as for the personality. Hence if this is the case then the individual will have the highest level of satisfaction as well.

The second indicator is the consistency which is as stable as when the two letters of the code are closer together of the hexagon model. Hence by this standard the more, the consistent property is in a person’s personality the more the individual is clear about the choice of his/her career. For such an individual it becomes much easier a task in choosing a career as the goals are clearer. Then is the differentiation indicator which nominates the individual's interests. An individual who gets a high score of the code on the hexagonal model of Holland would be termed as an individual who is of the differentiated type. Thereby such an individual would make choices for himself much more easily. The last indicator is the Identity which is a measure of the person’s interests, talents and goals. Because of these attributes, it has some semblance with consistency and differentiation.