Holland's Theory about Human Nature and Job Seeking - Article Example

Holland’s Theory Personality of human being is a result of his emotional, mental, environmental and physical aspects. His personality plays a great role in determining what suits him in different aspects of his life such as job, marriage, social position and his interactions with his friends and family. Different people have different personalities and behavior patterns, and hence they are compatible with different people, places, activities and jobs. Work is one such important aspect of life where compatibility is extremely important. If a person is not happy with what he is doing for earning his living, then it could lead to frustration, depression and failure. This is the reason why a personality inventory test becomes important before taking a decision regarding which career to choose. John Holland ( 1997) has developed a test based on his theory of vocational choice and congruency. This theory is widely used and at the same time, criticized by many. However, Holland’s theory of personality and vocation has survived both, the criticism from the psychologists and the researchers and the changes in the behavior and the thinking patterns of people that modern life has brought. John Holland has developed a theory that says that the people of a particular personality are suited to a particular job. And not just that, but when people having similar personalities work together in a personality suitable environment, it leads to a creation of a very positive, creative and productive relationship and work place. To understand the essence behind the theory of Vocation and Congruency, we will take a look at the three important components of his theory. They are 1) Personality Types, 2) Envronment Types and 3) Holland’s Hexagon. ( Holland’s Theory) 1) Holland’s six Personality Types : John Holland says that people personality can be divided in six types according to their nature, thinking pattern, likings and behavior patterns. The six personality types are Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional. This types are defined on the basis of their natural inclinations. a) Realistic Personality Type : The name in itself suggests that people who fall under this category of personality type like to be in touch with ‘reality’. Rather than indulging in work that needs thinking or imagining, they enjoy working with tools, machines, plants, animals, mechanical drawings etc. The activities that encourage them to be practical and realistic are the activities that they like involving themselves in. They like to think themselves as realists who focus on practical ideas. People having this personality type are happy in the job that encourages practicality and realistic approach of thinking. b) Investigative Personality Type : people who fall under this category of personality type like to think, investigate, brainstorm and solve the intricate problems of math and science. Intellectual challenges motivate them a lot and they get pleasure in methodical, precise and scientific way of thinking. They like to think themselves as precise and analytical people. They enjoy the jobs that allows them to investigate, think and solve different sorts of problems. The natural bent of mind of people having investigative thinking shows that they are not ‘social’ in their behavior and would rather prefer to be with themselves and work alone. They avoid excessive social contacts and professions that need social interactions. c) Artistic Personality Type: People with artistic bent of mind come under this category. People with Artistic personality type are those who enjoy creativity and self expression through different forms like drama, music, writing, craft, drawing and singing. They do not like to do the same thing again and again and always seek variety and change in their work. Because of their artistic nature, they are quite independent people. They like to be original and creative in their work. So obviously the career that suits them is where they get an opportunity to express their creativity and also get a freedom of being original. They usually do not like order and precision. d) Social Personality Type People having a Social Personality Type love being with people. They enjoy human contact and human interactions. Anything related to human beings and any job that involves interactions with different sort of people is a right job for them. They usually don’t like to work with machines and animals. Because of their desire to be helpful and friendly, they usually are happy in professions like counseling, teaching, nursing, customer care etc. e)Enterprising Personality Type: People from this personality type are natural leaders. They like to be in a leaders position and like selling ideas and products. They are extrovert and like driving people to do certain things and motivate them. They can persuade people into buying their opinions and ideas. Sitting at one place and concentrating on one thing is not what they like. Enterprising personality type people are people who like to move around and make things happen. f) Conventional Personality Type: People falling in this Personality Type love structure and order. They like to with order and numbers in orderly way. They value success in business and like planning and carrying out plans. Systematic and orderly actions and work make them happy and satisfied. 2) Holland’s six Environment Types: a) Realistic Environment Types: This type of environment is created by the dominant presence of people having Realistic Personality Type. More people of Realistic Personality Types work together in this environment and have less people from other Personality Types. An example of this sort of environment can be a a mechanical department in a car industry. b) Investigative Environment Types: An environment where people need to do the research and investigative sort of work is an Investigative Environment Types. People of Investigative Personality Types are more in number at these places than of other personality types. People with investigative bent of mind create Investigative Environment. c) Artistic Environment Type: This sort of environment is created when people having artistic personality type have a dominant presence. This environment has more number of artistic people than people from other personality types. An example can be a dance troupe working together. d)Social Environment Type: People having Social personality types work together and hence this environment is created. You will find more number of people having Social personality types here than other personality types . e) Enterprising Environment Type: Environment which is dominated by people having Enterprising personality types is the Enterprising Environment. And hence this sort of environment is usually is full of highly motivated, energetic and ambitious people. f) Conventional Environment Type: People having Conventional personality types are more in number than any other personality types and hence it is the environment that needs people to work with numbers, plans and orderly settings. John Holland has created a theory of vocation and congruence to show that if people having a particular personality type work in an environment that is compatible to his personality type, then he will be happy, satisfied and content with his jib and his life altogether. He has also explained that people having same personality type get along with each other better than they get along with people having a different personality type. John Holland has coined a word ‘congruence’ to describe the relationship between people having same personality types. He says that if people having same personality type work together in group, they create a very satisfied, productive and creative environment ( Ferguson 2000). And not just that but when a person having a particular personality type work in an environment where people of his personality type are more in number, then it leads to success and satisfaction. Therefore, he says that it helps to get to know your personality type before making a career choice. Because if a career choice is made according to the personality, then t leads to success, stability, growth and happiness. However, this theory has not gone well with some of the researchers and psychologists. They say that Holland’s theory has missed out on many aspects of environment and behavior pattern of a person. Let us take a look at some of the points on which Holland is criticized. Criticism of Holland’s Theory of Vocation and Congrunce. ( Arnold 2004) 1) It is said that the compatible environment does not always lead to satisfaction. When Holland talks of compatibility between personality and environment, he is trying to measure the both with a set of scores. However, the environment is a dynamic thing and so is the behavior. For e.g. if people experience little variety in their work, it might help to sustain their interest in work, but at the same time if the variety is increased, then it might lead to lack of focus and concentration. And this hampering of performance due to the behavior patterns in the environment ( even if it is an environment similar to the personality type) is definitely not congruence. And so the relationship between the personality type and the environment type loses its meaning as both the aspects are ever changing. 2) According to Holland, occupation is the only thing that dominates people when they work. But it is not so. People take decision on the basis of values and activities of an organization. People are highly motivated by the values and ethics they believe in. So even if they get to indulge in the occupation of their choice, there are chances of them getting dissatisfied and unhappy if the values and the ethics that an organization practices are against their belief. This shows that there are other factors than the personality and environment that plays a role in creating a happy work life. 3) People can change their environment. This means that of people are not finding their environment and their work compatible, they can make changes in the environment in such a way that it compliments their personality and working patterns. So even if the congruence is not present, it can be developed by making changes. Doubts were also raised regarding the validity of the theory with different gender and culture ( Brown and Lent 2004, 32). Critics have also pointed out that different cultural influences can create a possibility of either not having all the six personality types or maybe have more than six personality types. Also, there are many changes in human being that takes place during his developmental stages. And according to some Zunker (1944), is overlooked in Holland’s theory. It was said that he has concentrated on factors that influence career choice rather than the developmental process that leads to career choice (McMahon and Patton, 2006. 34). However, Holland’s theory of vocation and congruence has still survived and it is because he has done a continuous revisions on it and according to the changing time, have revised his theory (McMahon and Patton, 2006. 34). Hackett , Lent and Greenhaus (1991) has described Holland’s theory as “simple and eminently practical”. Holland’s theory has been subjected to more research, experiments, criticism and analysis than any other ( Brown and Lent 2004 38). And surprisingly, the experiments carried out have concluded that there is an immense practical sense in Holland’s theory. Even though there might be changes in the environment and the behavior patterns of people, people usually have a tendency to react and choose things according to their personality types. This holds true no matter what changes occur in the environment. More number of studies carried out to see if there are just six set personality types in human beings as described by Holland, have concluded that there exists the limited six set as they were not able to find other personality type. The real test of the Holland’s Vocation and congruence theory was when the application of the theory was challenged with people from different cultural background. However, the theory proved its universality when the studies showed that the Holland’s theory is valid even when applied to people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This was particularly true with the people coming from Asian ethnic background. Evidence that examined the career interventions using the instruments and principles described in the theory have strongly supported the strength, meaningfulness and the practicality of the theory. This proved that the Holland’s theory is not just a ‘theory’ but also has an essence which makes it possible to use it in counseling practice. John Holland, through his theory has emphasized that the personality of a man and his environment has great impact on each other. He says that people like to be around people who have the same personality types. People choose their careers and jibs in such a way that they get an opportunity to be people who have similar tastes and interest as they do. And when this happens, it is said that a person has made a choice that leads to ‘congruence’. However, if a person does not make a choice according to his personality type, then he becomes unhappy and dissatisfied. He is not able to work with people who share similar interests and this leads to frustration and failure. And this is what is called as ‘incongruence.’ Incongruence can be resolved by making certain changes in life, like changing jobs, changing the behavior pattern and changing the perception of things happening around. (McMahon and Patton, 2006). However, it is better to make a choice of career and profession in such a way that it leads to ‘congruency’ rather than making changes later on. And that is the reason John Holland has devised a test that helps people in understanding their personality type and hence choose an environment and job according to their personality type. This will lead to a happy, satisfied and successful work life and hence also a happy and content personal life. References M. and Patton., W. (2006) Career development and systems theory: connecting theory and practice. Sense Publishers. Brown. S. and Lent., R. (2004) Career development and counseling: putting theory and research to work, John Wiley and Sons. Arnold, J. (2004). The congruence problem in John Hollands theory of vocational decisions, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. Retrieved on May 1, 2009 from http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-242997/The-congruence-problem-in-John.html Ferguson., I. ( 2000). Hollands Theory Discussed Retrieved on May 1, 2009 fromhttp://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/foundations_of_psychology/48558 Holland’s Theory. 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