Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The Systems Theory Framework of Career Development and Counseling:…
The Systems Theory Framework of Career Development and Counseling: Connecting Theory and Practice
The use of Systems Theory in human behavior and development
Systems theory has been proposed as a potential overarching (most important, because of including or affecting all other areas) framework (The ideas, information, and principles that form the structure of an organization or plan) for dealing with many issues in human behavior. Contributors to systems theory have come from many diverse fields, including physics (Capra, 1982), biology, anthropology and psychology (Bateson, 1979). The work on living systems by Ford (1987) and Ford and FOrd (1987) has served to develop an integrated framework of human development and has furthered the development and understanding of systems theory. Developmental Systems Theory and Motivational Systems Theory have illustrated the applicability of systems theory principles to human behavior.
Patton and McMahons development of the Systems Theory
Patton and McMahon (1999, 2006) have extended the utility (the usefulness of something, especially in a practical way) of systems theory in their application of it as a metatheoretical framework for career theory, and as a guide to refine career counseling practice. The field of career development, as with many other fields of psychology, is characterized by a variable and complex theoretical base. The early thinking by career theorists had ranged from acknowledging the potential of systems theory in furthering the integration of career theory and practice and incorporating aspects of systems theory into theoretical formulations. They also wanted to draw on theoretical frameworks of human development derived from general systems theory as frameworks within which to further understand specific aspects of human career behavior. Whilst systems theory had influenced the thinking of career theorists and researchers for over a decade, until the work of Patton and McMahon (1999), it had not been applied to the provision of an overarching theoretical framework. The Systems Theory Framework is not designed to be a theory of career development; rather it is construed as an overarching framework within which all concepts of career development described in the plethora of career theories can be usefully positioned and utilized in theory and practice.
The Systems Theory Framework- Mapping The Origins Of Career Counseling
STF used a map for understanding the origins of career counseling and the dilemma it is currently facing
The STF provides a map for understanding the origins of career counseling and the dilemma it is now facing. Career counseling is a unique discipline built on a foundation of career theory and counseling theory. Traditional career theory has tended to focus on specific discrete concepts relevant to individual career behavior. In focusing on only one aspect relevant to career decision-making, for example, intrapersonal (occurring within the individual mind or self) aspects such as self-concept, others are inevitably undervalued or ignored, and the nature of their interaction almost certainly is.
The STF and the individual system
Central to the STF is the individual system within which is depicted a range of intrapersonal (relating to or within a person's mind) influences on career development, such as personality, ability, gender, and sexual orientation. Some of these influences have received considerable attention by career theorists and others have not. As individuals do not live in isolation, the individuals system is connected with influences that comprise (consist of) the individual’s social system as well as the broader environmental/societal system. While the influence of many factors, such as geographic location and political decisions, on career development is less well understood within the theoretical literature, their influence on career development may be profound.
Career development is a dynamic process according to STF
The STF presents career development as a dynamic process (continuously changing or developing), depicted (to represent or show something in a picture, story, movie, etc.; portray) through its process influences, recursiveness (of, relating to, or constituting a procedure that can repeat itself indefinitely), change over time and chance (see Fig.1 for this in the document). Fundamental to understanding the STF is the notion that each system is an open system. An open system is subject to
influence
from outside and may also influence that which is beyond its boundaries. Such interaction is termed
recursiveness
in the STF, which in diagrammatic form is depicted by broken lines that represent the permeability (capable of being permeated: penetrable) of the boundaries of each system. It is well acknowledged that influences on an individual may change over time. The final process influence,
chance
, is depicted on the STF diagram as lightning flashes, reflecting an increased recognition of the part chance plays in career development. All of the systems of influence are located within the context of time (past, present and future) all of which are inextricably (unable to be separated, released, or escaped from) linked; past influences the present, and together past and present influence the future.
The traditional approach in career counseling
The traditional approach also needed to be understood in the context of time and the world of work when career counseling, then termed vocational guidance, was first developed. At that time, in the early part of the last century, the world of work essentially provided individuals with a job for life, and the predominant (more noticeable or important, or larger in number, than others) issue brought to counseling was that of career choice, usually at school leaving age. Indeed, knowledge about the world of work in order to facilitate (to make something possible or easier) career choice also became and essential component of the career counseling process. Thus, career counseling was largely seen as an objective cognitive problem-solving process whereby matching knowledge about self and knowledge about the world of work would result in a sound career choice. This approach to career counseling lent itself comfortably to the use of psychometric assessment of elements of the intrapersonal system of the client, such as ability, personality, self-concept, and/or aptitude. Assessment figured significantly in career counseling, and part of the role of the counselor was to administer assessment instruments, interpret the results, and convey them to the client. Such an approach established career counseling as different from personal counseling. It also portrayed the role of the counselor as one of an expert who would tell a client what to do. It was this approach, termed the trait and factor approach, that dominated career counseling for much of the twentieth century.
A changing focus
A switch in the focus of career counseling due to todays world
However, the focus on which career counseling is based has changed dramatically. While the elements (a part of something; components) of the system are the same, their nature and relevance to career counseling are different. In particular, career theories have broadened and new theories have been proposed, and the world of work has undergone dramatic irreversible change. (Brown & Associates, 2002; Patton & McMahon, 1999). In today’s world, people change jobs several times in a lifetime, and occupational choice is only one of a myriad (a very large number of something) of concerns that clients bring to career counselors. Career theories need to be appropriate for the complexity of individuals living in a complex world.
Are the traditional career theories too narrow?
Traditional career theories have been challenged as being too narrow; new theories have been proposed to encompass (to include different types of things) elements of the social system and the environmental-societal system and the integration (or convergence) of theories has been debated and explored (Savickas & Lent, 1994). In addition, proponents (a person who speaks publicly in support of a particular idea or plan of action) of the traditional but more narrow theories have acknowledged the influence of elements of the broader system on their clients. Indeed, theorists and practitioners alike have been challenged to be more holistic in their thinking.
Converging all career theories to explore an individual's career decision-making process
Proponents of moves toward convergence in career theory (Chen, 2003;Savickas & Lent, 1994) have emphasized the importance of viewing the whole of career bevharior and the relationship between all relevant elements in the career decision-making process to each other and to the whole. In doing so, it is important that contributions from all theories are considered in exploring an individual’s career decision-making processes. Thus the theoretical map underpinning (to give support, strength, or a basic structure to something) career counseling in the 21st century is markedly different from that which existed when career counseling first began.
Career counseling to date
The reconstruction of career counseling
The practice of career counseling has lagged behind that advocated by more recent approaches to both career development theory and counseling practice. This is evidenced by the fact that the dominant approach used in career counseling is still the trait and factor approach, with its individual problem-solving focus. A number of writers have emphasized that it is time career counseling was reconstructed to be an effective process in these changing times (Savickas, 2000). Challenges such as the redefinition of career (McMahon, Patton, & Tatham, 2003; Richardson 1996) and the demands being made on career counseling at sociopolitical levels demand a response. In this regard, Savickas (1993) urges that career counseling ‘’keep pace with our society’s movement to a postmodern era’’ (p.205) and that its practice needs to move from ‘’seeking truth to participation in conversations; from objectivity to perspectivity’’ (p.205). As constructivism represents an epistemological (relating to the part of philosophy that is about the study of how we know things) position that emphasizes self-organizing and proactive knowing, it provides a perspective from which to conceptualize changing notions of career in postmodern society. These changing notions include the importance of individuals becoming more self-directed in making meaning of the place of work in their lives and in managing their careers (Richardson, 1996). The active role of the individual in the career counseling process is emphasized within a constructivist approach, as career counselors aim to work collaboratively with individuals, focusing on holistic approaches to life-career, and encouraging individuals to actively reflect on, revise, and reorient their life-career relationship (McMahon & Patton, 2002).
The evolution of career counseling as a profession
Career counseling can be seen as very much an evolving profession. In reality it has emerged as a profession in its own right only comparatively recently. Herr (1997) explains that for much of its history, career counseling was rarely differentiated from vocational or career guidance, and that it was not until the 1960’s and 1970’s that the term ‘career guidance and counseling’ sufficiently differentiated the two elements. It is only in the last 20 years that calls have been made for expanded views of career counseling in response to changes in society, and increasing attention is being paid to changing definitions of career counseling.
The five changes in career counseling according to Herr
Herr (1997) distinguishes five observations about the changes in career counseling. They are that:
-Its principal content is the perceptions, anxieties, information deficits, work personalities, competencies, and motives that perons experience in their interactions with their external environment
;
-Career counseling is not a singular process, but a term used to summarize a range of interventions;
-Career counseling is no longer conceived as a process principally focused on ensuring that adolescents make a wise choice of an initial job;
-Career counseling may be considered the preferred intervention of choice, but may be one of a program of interventions to deal with emotional or behavioral disorders that accompany or confound (to confuse someone by being difficult to explain or deal with) the career problem;
-Career counseling may best be thought of as a continuum (something that changes in character gradually or in very slight stages without any clear dividing points) of intervention processes.
Herr notes that these changes in the content and processes of career counseling have not occurred in a vacuum (empty space); rather they are in response to the prevailing (dominating) conditions in society
The debate about the fusion of career and personal counseling
Another example of the changing nature of career counseling has been the debate about the fusion (an occasion when two or more things join or are combined) of career and personal counseling. This debate has represented the first serious challenge to the problem-solving traditions of career counseling, and has drawn attention to the need for career counseling to change its practices in order to be more relevant. It is too simplistic to adopt the approach that individuals can separate career issues from personal issues for, as Savickas (1993) states, ‘’career is personal’’ (p.212). More recently, discussion on career counseling has reflected a move toward constructivist approaches (McMahon & Patton, 2006), emphasizing the importance of focusing on all aspects of the whole individual. From a systems theory perspective, there is no debate as the uniqueness and wholeness of the individual is of paramount (more important than anything else) importance in counseling and the recursiveness (of, relating to, or constituting a procedure that can repeat itself indefinitely) of the elements of the individuals subsystems (a system that forms part of a larger system) cannot be separated from each other (see Fig.1 in the document).
The systems theory framework: reflecting the career counseling experience
The advantages of STF as a map for career counselling
The Systems Theory Framework can provide a map for career counseling as it accommodates not only the perspectives of the traditional predictive theories, but also the positions of the most recent constructivist career counseling approaches. A further strength of the systems theory perspective is the link it forges (to make or produce something, especially with some difficulty) between theory and practice. The use of a SYstems Theory Framework for understanding career development has implications (the effect that an action or decision will have on something else in the future) for the practice of career counseling as it requires career counselors to make the difficult move from a comfortable traditional world-view to the emerging worldview with its different account of causality (the principle that there is a cause for everything that happens). In using the approach, career counselors need to combine traditional approaches with the ability to think in circular rather than linear terms (see Fig.2). The notion of circular feedback processes shaping and reshaping systems through subtle feedback is coming in some fields of counseling (such as family therapy), yet comparatively new in the field of career counseling.
The interaction between the client and the counselor as a system (the counseling relationship)
The interaction between the client and the counselor, that is, the counseling relationship itself, can be conceptualized as a system in its own right. In fact counselors become an element of the system of influences on the career development of the individual, and the individual becomes an element of the system of influences on the counselor. In this system of interaction, the counselor and the individual use language to co-construct the meaning of career for the individual in counseling. The career counseling process centres on meaning, with language as the medium.
The therapeutic system consisting of both client and counselor
Figure 2 (in the document) portrays the complexity of the career counseling process and its place in the social and environmental-societal systems. Just as the career counselor exists within his/her own ever-changing system of influences, so to does the client. Thus, part of the career counselor’s role is to understand the influences relevant to his/her own career story; that is, his/her own system of career influences. Career counseling constitutes the meeting of two separate systems and the formation of a new system, the therapeutic system (see Fig.2 in the document). The boundaries of each system must be permeable enough to allow a relationship to develop and dialogue and resulting meaning to occur, yet impermeable enough for both parties to maintain their individuality. Thus, the boundary between the counselor system and the client system needs to be maintained. However, as the relationship between members of the therapeutic system develops, the boundary between the client system and the counselor system may become less clear. Counselors who lose sight of this are in danger of imposing their own values on clients or manipulating them, or, alternatively, being manipulated by the client. Thus, the career counselor needs a clear understanding of their own stories formed through interaction with their own system of influences, past, present, and future, before they can facilitate exploration of the client’s life narratives, including the meaning of career and work in their lives.
The counselor should be aware of clients social system influences
A systems theory perspective and associated narrative approaches enable the diversity to be addressed by engaging in a dialogue centered on the client’s own narrative (Peavy, 2004). It is recognized that all individuals belong to and interrelate with multiple groups, and the counselor must be aware of the unique pattern of these social system influences in each client if counseling is to be successful (Peavy, 1998). At a broader level, career counseling takes place within the environmental-societal system.
Career counseling profile, expectations and the demands placed on it
Career counseling is increasingly being seen as essential to the future well-being of individuals and nations in the rapidly changing world. While this emphasis will raise the profile and expectations of career counselors, it will also place demands on them to provide accountable practices with outcomes that reflect responsiveness to the needs of society. In addition, it is increasingly important to be accountable to public funding bodies (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2004). Influences at this level may affect government funding for certain programs or clients; for example, managed care, and the availability of services in remote or rural (in, of, or like the countryside) areas. In addition there is a move toward fee (an amount of money paid for a particular piece of work or for a particular right or service) based counseling services, which challenges career counselors to provide a more diverse range of services than traditional one-to-one counseling. Thus, it is imperative (extremely important or urgent) that career counselors set their practice into the broad environmental-societal system.
Systems theory, interventions and career counselors
Systems theory encourages interventions at levels of the system other than that of the individual, and raises the potential for career counselors to be more proactive at this broader systems level. For example, career counselors may work with a family or an organization in the belief that interventions anywhere in the system will interact with other elements of the system to bring about change. In addition they may become advocates for clients with particular needs; for example, individuals of low socioeconomic and/or minority status. The systems theory construct of feedback loops is relevant here, as an intervention in one part of the system may result in better outcomes for the individual. A systems theory perspective may also assist clients to construct new meanings of their circumstances. For example, it may be helpful for individuals to view their employment circumstances in terms of the social and economic climate of the nation (Patton & McMahon, 1999).
Career counseling: Facing the challenge
Career counseling and constructivist approaches
As discussed, there is an emerging trend toward the use of constructivist approaches in career counseling, a trend which may make career counseling more relevant and responsive to the times and to the individuals who are its consumers (UNESCO, 2002). Such a move will also reduce its image as a simplistic process. The move toward constructivism has to some extent been heralded (a sign that something will happen, change, etc) and influenced by discussion about the fusion of career counseling and personal counseling where constructivist approaches are more established.
The four assumptions that have influenced the emerging constructivist position in career development
Principles of constructivism and systems theory have been developed from a similar worldview. Brown and Brooks (1996) identify four assumptions underlying (to be a hidden cause of or strong influence on something) the emerging constructivist position in career development, specifically:
All aspects of the universe are interconnected; it is impossible to separate figure form ground, subject from object, people from their environments.
There are no absolutes; thus human functioning cannot be reduced to laws or principles, and cause and effect cannot be inferred (to form an opinion or guess that something is true because of the information that you have).
Human behavior can only be understood in the context in which it occurs.
The subjective frame of reference of human beings is the only legitimate source of knowledge. Events occur outside human beings. As individuals understand their environments and participate in these events, they define themselves and the environments (p. 10).
These assumptions are clearly in keeping with the elements of system theory. In particular, systems theory emphasizes interconnectedness and the importance of wholes rather than parts. Thus, an individual cannot be separated from their context, and behavior cannot be accounted for in a linear way. Knowledge is constructed within the individual in relation to their experience, and cannot be taught. Therefore, theory cannot be applied to individuals; they construct their own personal theory.
Dialogue in career counseling creates knowledge
Human knowing is proactive and individuals actively participate in the creation of their own reality. In career counseling this occurs through the use of language and dialogue with the counselor. Knowledge is shaped through dialogue between the career counselor and the client. The process of dialogue between counselor and client, and the construction of a new reality is termed co-construction. Thus, through language, individuals construct the story of their careers.
The use of story: The narrative approach
What is the narrative approach between a client and a counselor?
The use of dialogue between client and counselor in constructivist counseling is often referred to as the narrative approach. Stories or narratives are ‘’a unique derivative of systems theory thinking’ (Patton & McMahon, 1999, p.235) and are key to constructivist approaches. The concept of story in systems theory was originally derived from Bateseon (1979) who defined it as the individual’s explanation of the relevance of a particular sequence of connectedness in his or her life. Through stories, individuals make meaning of their lives. Stories represent a mechanism for human knowing in that individuals ‘’construct their identities from the symbols or meanings on offer within their culture’’ (McLeod, 1996, p. 178). Richardsons (1996) call for a focus on the individual and the place of work in people’s lives is useful as an example of the type of story that may be uncovered in career counseling. In addition, through story, the patterns and themes of an individual’s life can be uncovered, and interconnections (the state of having different parts or things connected or related to each other) forged between previously unconnected events. Gysbers, Heppner, and Johnston (1998) describe career development as ‘’the drama of the ordinary because it is unfolding and evolving every day’’ (p.12), and suggest that because of its ‘’ordinariness’’, individuals may lose sight of its dynamic nature and impact on their lives. The use of story is a way of ‘’identifying and analyzing life career themes’’ (Gysbergs et al., 1998, p.236) and uncovering the meaning that individuals ascribe to interwoven (to put together or combine two or more things so that they cannot be separated easily) parts of their lives and focusing on their subjective careers.
The place of assessment
Narrative forms of assessment vs traditional assessment
The use of narrative approaches also challenges career counselors to examine the type and place of career assessment in their counseling (McMahon & Patton, 2002; Savickas, 1992). The use of assessment remains one of the biggest differences between personal and career counseling. However, the use of narrative approaches and the potential use of narrative forms of assessment breaks down what has traditionally been a barrier between the merging of the two forms of counseling. To a large extent formal assessment in career counseling ‘’reflect(s) old science’’ (Bradley, 1994, p.224), and the traditional worldview that sits comfortably with the trait and factor approaches. In fact, the use of assessment has traditionally been a major contributing factor in how the career counseling relationship has been defined. For example, the career counselor, with answers based on the objective data provided through quantitative assessment instruments, could be seen as an expert to whom the client deferred (to delay something until a later time). As career counselors make increasing use of narrative assessment the counseling relationship will be defined differently.
Narrative or qualitative assessment and its four methods of use for career counselors
Narrative, or qualitative, assessment is intended to encourage individuals to tell their own career stories (MacMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2004). The subjective component has traditionally been overlooked in career counseling, and Savickas (1992) suggests that the distinction between personal and career counseling will be reduced by adding the subjective component through the use of qualitative assessment. He further claims that qualitative assessment ‘’emphasizes the counseling relationship rather than the delivery of the service’’ (p.337). The four most popular methods of qualitative assessment are autobiographies, early recollections, structured interview, and card sorts. While these methods are not new to counselors, many of them are new to career counselors. In addition, the method of constructing life lines is useful for assisting clients to review their life histories. Goldman (1992) suggests that counselors can develop their own qualitative assessment instruments. The SYstems Theory Framework is an example of a tool that can be used in qualitative assessment and the framework’s authors have developed a reflection process (My System of Career Influences-MSCI) that is derived from the framework. The MSCI is a tool that facilitates the clients drawing their own constellation of influences via a step-by-step process of visually representing aspects of their career stories. In this way, the uniqueness and wholeness of client’s career narratives or stories is emphasized and career counselors may gain insight into the interconnectedness of systemic influences in each individual client’s career story.