Career-Sociology-Theories Analysis - Essay Example

? Career/ Sociology/ Theories Case study plan The two interviewees in this case study will be Ms. Jane Wanaguskinner and Mrs. ParkerJoylin. Ms. Jane is a young woman aged 24 years while Mrs. Parker is an old woman aged 45 years old. Ms. Jane has recently graduated with a bachelor degree in Economics from University of Bangkok Metropolis in 2011. Jane is a resident in Bangkok, and self-sponsored student by her parents. She managed to complete her degree course with a second class upper and has for the past 10 months actively looking for a job. Being an energetic and passionate student, and her parents seeing her getting wasted in Bangkok, her parents decided to take her to Australia to further her academics by doing a master’s program in Economics. On the other hand, Mrs. Parker resides in Australia and owns a bakery of her own in Sidney city. Parker is a local resident in Australia, schooled in Sidney and graduated from Macquarie University with a first class honours in Food science. Her bakery business has been a success for the past 13 years. In addition, she has expanded a lot and even gets to fly in and out of the country occasionally for official businesses and vocational trips. Parker is passionate about her work and admits to have dreamt of one day becoming a top chef in Australia. She also admits to have been driven into bakery as a long standing tradition of their family who has been for the past 50 years involved in the business. Case study Analysis The purpose of analysis of the case studies is majorly to explore some of the differences in career decision making processes plus career influences of the two interviewees. There are often many factors which influence career and several theories exist to explain that. According to Wendy 2006, p. 12, commented on the emergence of new theories replacing the traditional theories of career in people’s decision making process. The two interviewees hence in the case studies are Mrs. Parker Joylin and Ms. Jane Wanaguskinner. Mrs. Parker being a 45 year old woman, a resident in Australia and an established business woman in the baking industry. Mrs. Parker loves her work owing to her 13 years’ experience in the business plus her 50 years family history in baking. She is a happy married woman and also doing well in business. Ms. Jane on the other hand is a young, energetic woman who recently graduated from campus back in 2011, and has since then been looking for a job. After several unsuccessful attempts, her parents decided to take her to Australia for further studies. In the case study, there are three issues to be discussed: labor market issues, influence and motivation and employability skills. In looking at the motivation and influence of the two interviewees, Ms. Jane lives in Bangkok and came to study in Australia simply because of her parents influence on her. Since Ms Jane is still under the care of her parents, her parents so it best for them to send her to a place which might increase her chance of competing in the Asian Job market (Michael 2001, p. 64). In addition, a Bangkok individual usually has a notion of Western countries paying better plus job access to be easier, the same reason why Ms. Jane was sent by her parents (Brown 2002, p. 56). In addition, the culture in Asia believes that it is the role of their daughter or son to take responsibility to look after their old parents (Kenneth 2012, p. 23). Therefore, Jane’s parents want the best for her so as to ensure she remains stable in life so that she might not have problems when it comes to caring for them (Michael 2001, p. 67). It is for this reason that Jane was motivated to complete her studies in economics from University of Bangkok Metropolis. Therefore, Jane’s parents opted to support all her expenses as an international student plus they had authority over their child. In according to Andries 2006, p. 34, this is what is generally described as a decision based on family hierarchy, parental authority and filial piety. In this form of decision making process, Jane is not in control of her decisions; it is her parent’s decision that makes her come to learn in Australia. Jane is not dependent, that is why she has to conform to some of the decision made for her by her parents (Andries 2006, p. 34). According to James 2008, p. 44, another theory which can be affiliated to the situation of Ms. Jane can be related to the theories of content, which was derived initially from the given trait and factor tradition. In as much as the theory has received very little attention based on its past perception on various content influences like geographic location and socio-economic status, in Ms Jane’s case, it still has some influences over her study at University of Bangkok Metropolis. Ms. Jane said, “I love economics and have always dreamt of becoming one of the most successful economist in the world. I love mathematics and the notion of calculating tough tasks related to money ever since I was a young person”. In relation to Ms. Jane’s statement, one can link her ambition to one of the theories involved in making her happy to pursue the course. According to James 2008, p. 44, Jane actually liked economics and hence majoring in it, in as much as it is the decision reached upon by her parents, still makes her happy as it is in line with what interests her. In relation to the case study involving Mrs. Parker, she is from a totally different culture and background. Mrs. Parker is born and grew up in Australia. She is born in a baking family, and gets her passion from doing what she has been doing since childhood. She undertook a course in Food science to pursue her childhood dreams of becoming the best baker in Australia (Michael 2001, p. 78). She went through a university in Australia and later started a business in bakery in the same town. Owing to her familiarity of the place, her business picked up quite quickly. In Mrs. Parker’s case, it is possible to look at approximately three theories; the contextual career theory, the social cognitive career theory and the social learning theory. According to Kidd 2006, p. 23, all the three theories are often focused on the concept that individuals are expected to learn skills by themselves, more based on their preferences plus the world of work. Furthermore, it continues by saying that through indirect and direct learning experiences, the theories can be useful in synthesising and guide ones career action and decisions. As Mrs. Parker comes from a western background, all her career decisions she made for herself. Mrs. Parker is able to see her life through and be a baker just like her parents. In addition, she is not influenced to make a choice on the basis of a better economic future. Mrs. Parker is able to afford holiday trips by her own (Kidd 2006, p. 23). When asked what motivated her to become a baker, this is what she had to say, “The only business I knew was baking as I grew up. They were successful and even took me to school using it (Steven 2012, p. 77). In addition, ever since I was a young child, I had loved baking stuff and always dreamt of becoming a top baker in Australia. It is for that reason that I became motivated to undertake a course in Food Science. I love making people happy with the various food stuffs from a bakery”. From her statement, it is evident it supports the three stated theories. It is evident that her passion for bakery is based on her preference she had since she was a child. She developed a liking for baking things and was happy in undertaking it and pursuing it in her life as a career (Richard 2013, p. 22). In addition, her career can be linked back to some of her abilities, interests, values and personality according to Watts 2000, p. 55. Hence, in Parker’s case, it is about attaining her happiness. In analysing the second issue in both case studies, labour market is of concern here. Jane said in the interview, “Ever since I graduated university in 2011, I have been tarmacking for the past 10 months looking for a job, but got none. It has been a rough time for me as my parents expect a lot of me. I am the only daughter and child of my parents and expect the best from me. I have worked very hard in my academics and later emerged with a second class upper. After realizing how much I toiled to get a job, they decided to take me to continue my degree in masters in Economics in an Australian University.” According to Steven 2012, p. 77, he regards 2012 as a year that faced great employment challenges following the recent economic crisis. A lot of countries faced a major blow when it came to the issue of global economic crisis leading to cutting of some employment chances to pave way for making some profits (Richard 2013, p. 34). In a statistics found in Steven’s book, in relation to the International Labour office, young people are often vulnerable to unemployment when compared to adults. According to statistics taken in 2009 by Australia government, the country was hit hard as it clocked an unemployment rate of 5.9% by June that year (Samuel 2000, p. 87). According to Steven, Australia managed to reduce its unemployment rate to 5.2% by the year 2012 (Samuel 2000, p. 89). With globalization, it is becoming a trend that those people with high skills in various jobs are constantly in high demand. With globalization, a strong competition for jobs in a given country is increased (James 2008, p. 44). There are usually many graduates in Australia who have graduated with bachelor of economics and striving for the same opportunities. Ms. Jane would hence find it hard also in Australia to get employed owing to less job opportunities existing (Richard 2013, p. 56). In addition, keeping the fact back in Asia, those who master in various fields find it much easier to find jobs in a competitive place. According to World Wide statistics on youth unemployment rates, youths aged less than 25 years, often exhibit a high rate of unemployment rate (Watts 2000, p. 45). Furthermore, the finance sector has in the past employed high skilled employees, hence Jane, might find it really hard to penetrate the existing market. When one contrasts to Mrs. Parker, her career in bakery started long time ago when she used to help her parents in the family bakery. She became obsessed with baking and modelized her parents and wanted to be like them in future. Back in 1980s, she became interested in matters related to baking and food and that is why she chose Food Science in university (Lock 2004, p. 29). According to Steven 2012, p. 56, the service industry has been growing since the 1980s owing to increase in the number of skilled individuals willing to offer their services. As women became more accepted in doing business in society, bakery for instance is associated with the role women played in the past, but on an economic scale (Mary 2005, p. 68). In terms of social acceptance, food is a commodity that is constantly and will always be on demand by humans living in a good area; hence Mrs. Parker invested in a good career. In looking at that last area of this essay, employability skills shall be discussed. According to Kenneth 2012, p. 33, employability skills can always be defined as generic skills or non-technical skills that usually contribute to one’s ability to keep or gain a job. Usually, being independent with a part time job is often helpful in on entering the job force. Individuals who do not have part time jobs often have it hard looking for jobs. Employers usually do not look for individuals with non-technical skills (Watts 2000, p. 78). In Jane’s case, she did not have any opportunity to have a job, hence was placed in a position not to be independent (Lock 2004, p. 39). In contrast, Mrs. Parker did have a part time job in their won baker as she grew up. She managed to make some side money which she later used to start her own bakery in Sidney. In her case, she became self-employed. In comparing the two times, the 1980s can be seen as different and offered more opportunities to people than 2012. In conclusion, hence the main differences between Ms Jane and Mrs Parker are time, age and culture. Furthermore, Westerners and Asians possess different perceptions plus got high differences when it comes to time gap (Wendy 2006, p. 87). Furthermore, both interviewees possess some kind of influence and motivation that helped them make their career choices. Bibliography Andries Magiel Gert Schreuder, M. C., 2006, Careers: An Organizational Perspective, New York: Juta and Company Ltd. Brown, D., 2002, Career Choice and Development, New York: John Wiley & Sons. James A. Athanasou, R. V., 2008, International Handbook of Career Guidance, New York: Springer. Kenneth F. Hughey, D. N.-W., 2012, The Handbook of Career Advising, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Kidd, J. M., 2006, Understanding Career Counselling: Theory, Research and Practice, New York: SAGE. Lock, R. D., 2004, Taking Charge of Your Career Direction, New York: Cengage Learning. Mary McMahon, W. P., 2005, Career Counselling: Constructivist Approaches, New York: Routledge. Michael Bernard Arthur, M. B., 2001, Handbook of Career Theory, New York: Cambridge University Press. Richard S. Sharf, S., 2013, Applying Career Development Theory to Counseling, New York: Cengage Learning. Samuel H. Osipow, L. F., 2000, Theories of career development, New York: Allyn and Bacon. Steven D. Brown, R. W., 2012, Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Watts, A. G., 2000, Rethinking Careers Education and Guidance: Theory, Policy and Practice, New York: Routledge. Wendy Patton, M. M., 2006, Career Development And Systems Theory, New York: Sense Publishers. Read More