In the beginning of the new millennium our society moves to a new vantage point from which to view the work-role and career development. All indicators suggest the move from seeking the truth to participation in conversations; from objectivity to perspectivity. This article describes the six innovations in counseling for career development that the postmodern era has already engendered: ‘‘no more experts’’, ‘‘enable rather than fit’’, rewrite the grand narrative’’, ‘‘career is personal’’, ‘‘career development is not counseling theory’’, ‘‘stories rather than scories’’.
One characteristic of professionals is that they reflect on the nature of their discipline. Attention to the history of one’s discipline is an important way of doing this. The article reflects efforts to trace the historical roots of vocational theory. It locates some recognizable modern concepts in ancient civilizations (Eastern Mediterranean and Chinese), in a 10th century Iraqi, in late Renaissance Spain, in the mid 1700’s and 1800’s. It also discusses similarities between several ideas about the choice of an occupation that are echoed in contemporary career counselling theory as for example informed choice and person-occupation congruence.
Tested hypothesis derived from J. L. Holland’s (1997) theory of vocational choice: relations between combination of levels personality dimensions (Consistency, and Differentiation) and three work related personal variables (Self-Control, Acquiescence and Pragmatism). Holland’s Vocational Preference Inventory – VPI (Polish version 1998 by Nosal, Piskorz i Świąt-nicki) was used to identify consistent-inconsistent and differentiated-undifferentiated vocational patterns. Measures of Self-Control and Acquiescence were also computed using the VPI. Wojciszke’s The Pragmatism Scale (derived in part from the Self-Monitoring Scale and based on M. Snyder’s – 1974, 1979 – theory of the pragmatic and principled selves) was used to identify level of Pragmatism. Ss were 100 person, 66 women and 34 men, ages 23 to 61 years (M = 34,86,SD = 10,88) with higher level of education. They represented conventional and social types of vocation. Ss’ scores on VPI inventory using cluster analysis were grouped into three combinations of personality profiles – Consistent/Differentiated, Inconsistent/Differentiated, and Inconsistent/Undifferentiated. By using clusters as independent variables was found that Inconsistent/Undifferentiated profiles had the lowest Acquiescence scores and Consistent/Differentiated had the lowest Self-Control scores. Inconsistent/Differentiated profiles were associated with the highest Pragmatism.
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