Wendy Patton & Mary McMahon 
Career Development and Systems Theory [PDF ebook] 
Connecting Theory and Practice

PREFACE; ABOUT THE AUTHORS; LIST OF TABLES; LIST OF FIGURES; PART 1: REVIEW OF EXISTING THEORIES; CHAPTER 1 RATIONALE FOR A SYSTEMS THEORY PERSPECTIVE; DEFINITIONS; The Meaning of ‘Career’; Career Development; BRIEF HISTORY OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORY; THE STRUCTURE OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORY; Theories of Content; Theories of Process; Theories of Content and Process; Wider Explanations; Constructivist/Social Constructionist Approaches; Issues Related to Categorisation; Philosophical Underpinnings of Our Understandings of Career; Applying Systems Theory to Career Development; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 2 THEORIES FOCUSING ON CONTENT; THE WORK OF FRANK PARSONS; DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY; Trait and Factor Theory; Limitations and Criticisms of Trait and Factor Theory; Five Factor Model of Personality; Person-Environment Fit; Holland’s Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments; Theory of Work Adjustment; BORDIN’S PSYCHODYNAMIC MODEL OF CAREER CHOICE; BROWN’S VALUES-BASED THEORY; SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEORIES OF CONTENT; Self-knowledge; Work Environment; Person-environment Fit; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 3 THEORIES FOCUSING ON PROCESS; THE WORK OF GINZBERG AND COLLEAGUES; SUPER’S LIFE-SPAN, LIFE-SPACE APPROACH; Propositions; Self; Life-span and Life-space; Life-span; Life-space; CAREER CONSTRUCTION: A DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOUR; INDIVIDUALISTIC APPROACH; GOTTFREDSON’S CIRCUMSCRIPTION AND COMPROMISE THEORY; Cognitive Growth; Self-creation; Circumscription; Stages of circumscription; Compromise; SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEORIES; CHAPTER 4 THEORIES FOCUSING ON CONTENT AND PROCESS; KRUMBOLTZ’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY OF CAREER DECISION-MAKING (SLTCDM); SOCIAL COGNITIVE CAREER THEORY; Interests; Career Choice; Career-related Performance; COGNITIVE INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL; DEVELOPMENTAL-CONTEXTUAL APPROACH; ROE’S THEORY OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND CAREER CHOICE; A CONTEXTUALIST ACTION THEORYEXPLANATION OF CAREER; SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEORIES; Individual Content Influences; Context Influences; Process Influences; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 5 COMPARISON OF THE CURRENT THEORIES; THE INDIVIDUAL; THE CONTEXT OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT; DEVELOPMENT; PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS; RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VARIABLES; DECISION-MAKING; CHANCE; INTERACTION PROCESS; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 6 THEORIES OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT: WIDER EXPLANATIONS; WOMEN’S CAREER DEVELOPMENT; Understandings and Definitions of Career for Women; Issues in Women’s Careers; THEORIES RELATED TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN; Specific Theories for Women; Adaptation of Traditional Theories; Comprehensive Theories Applicable to Women and Men; Specific Models Focusing on Individual Differences; Sociocognitive Models; Ecological or Systems Approaches; Women’s Career Development – Relational and Cultural Theories; Summary; THEORIES RELATED TO RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS; Existing Theories with Cross Cultural Perspectives; Broader Theoretical Models; Culture-specific Conceptual Models; THEORIES RELATED TO THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS; Theoretical Explanations; THEORIES RELATED TO THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS; SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT; THE RENEWED FOCUS ON SOCIAL CLASS IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT; THEORIES RELATED TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY; SOCIAL JUSTICE AGENDA IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT; CONCLUSION; PART 2: THE MOVE TOWARDS INTEGRATION AND CONVERGENCE; CHAPTER 7 TOWARD INTEGRATION IN CAREER THEORY; UNDERLYING WORLDVIEWS; STAGES IN INTEGRATION AND CONVERGENCE; INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORKS; THEORISTS’ MODIFICATION OF THEORIES AND NEW THEORIES; BRIDGING FRAMEWORKS; Developmental-Contextualism; Learning Theory; Person-environment Transaction; Theory of Work Adjustment; Developmental Systems Theory; Systems Theory; Social Cognitive Career Theory; Contextual Explanation of Career; Career Construction Theory; Integrative Relational Theory of Working; THE 1990s FOCUS ON CONVERGENCE; INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORKS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY; ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CONVERGENCE; THE PRESENT POSITION OF CAREER THEORY; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 8 SYSTEMS THEORY; THE DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEMS THEORY; GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY; Fritjof Capra; Gregory Bateson; Berger and Luckmann; Transactional Functionalists; Kurt Lewin; Katz and Kahn; Ford – Living Systems Framework; Developmental Systems Theory; Motivational Systems Theory; Complexity Theory; Chaos Theory; ISSUES IN SYSTEMS THEORY; Assumptions about Knowing; Limitations of Language; SYSTEMS THEORY ELEMENTS; Wholes and Parts; Patterns and Rules; Acausality; Recursiveness; Discontinuous Change; Open and Closed Systems; Abduction; Story; SYSTEMS THEORY PERSPECTIVES IN CAREER THEORY; Acknowledgment of Potential of Systems Theory; Specific Incorporation of Systems Theory Principles; Frameworks Specifically Derived from Systems Theory; Systems Theory and Related Conceptualisations; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 9 A SYSTEMS THEORY FRAMEWORK OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT; Development of the Systems Theory Framework; THE SYSTEMS THEORY FRAMEWORK; The Individual; The Individual System; The Contextual System; Recursiveness; Change Over Time; Chance; The STF, Culture and Context; ADVANTAGES OF THE SYSTEMS THEORY FRAMEWORK; IMPLICATIONS OF A SYSTEMS THEORY PERSPECTIVE; Implications for Extant Theory; Implications for Our Understanding of Career; Implications for the Process of Career Decision-Making; Implications for Practice; APPLICATION OF THE SYSTEMS THEORY FRAMEWORK; Systems Theory Constructs Applied; The Individual as a Learning System; CONCLUSION; PART 3: SYSTEMS THEORY AND CAREER PRACTICE; CHAPTER 10 LIFELONG CAREER DEVELOPMENT LEARNING: A FOUNDATION FOR CAREER PRACTICE; THE CHANGING CONTEXT OF CAREER SERVICES; CONSUMERS OF CAREER SERVICES; LIFELONG LEARNING; Previous Acknowledgment of Lifelong Learning in the Career Literature; What is Learned; The Location of Learning; The Language of Learning; Implications for Career Development Facilitators; Learning Systems; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 11 TRAINING AND SUPERVISION: CAREER DEVELOPMENT LEARNING SYSTEMS; A PROFESSIONAL DILEMMA; TRAINING; Experiential Learning Theory – A Foundation for Training; CREATING A LEARNING SYSTEM; Developing a Learning Alliance; Clarifying the Process and Learning Objectives; The Life of the Learning System; The Learning Approach; An Example of an Experiential Learning Process; Learning Activity: Using the Systems Theory Framework to Explore Career Development; Part 1 – Grounding in Experience; Part 2 – Multiple Perspectives or Reflective Observation; Part 3 – Creating Concepts; Integrating Observations into Logically Sound Theories; Part 4 – Multiple Perspectives; Part 5 – Reflective Observation; Part 6 – Making Decisions and Solving Problems; Part 7 – Multiple Perspectives; THE CONTENT OF LEARNING; Self-learning; Diversity; Social Justice; Counselling Theory and Practice; Use of Technology; Career Assessment; Employment Market, Social and Economic Trends; Assessment; EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING VIEWED FROM A SYSTEMS THEORY PERSPECTIVE; LIFELONG LEARNING IN SUPERVISORY SYSTEMS; Overview of Supervision in Career Counselling; Supervision and Lifelong Learning 31upervision and Systems Theory; Reflection; Meaning-making; Learning; Agency; THE STF, CULTURE AND CAREER COUNSELLING; THE STF AND CAREER ASSESSMENT; The My System of Career Influences Reflection Activity (MSCI); REVIEWING PRACTICE; Reflecting on the Pattern of my Own Career Development; Demonstrating that I am a Lifelong Learner; Understanding of the Integration of Career Development Theory and Career Counselling Practice; Knowledge of Counselling Theory and its Application to Career Counselling; My Personal Advice; MEETING 21ST CENTURY CAREER COUNSELLING NEEDS; CHAPTER 14 ORGANISATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL CAREER SYSTEMS: NEW RELATIONSHIPS; THE CONTEXT FOR CHANGE; CAREER RESPONSESTO CHANGE; CRITIQUES OF AND SUPPORTS FOR THE ‘NEW CAREER’; INTEGRATION OF INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANISATIONAL APPROACHES TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT; Approaches to Discipline Integration; Integrative Model (Van Maanen & Schein, 1977); Metaphors of Career (Inkson, 2004, 2007); Systems Theory Framework (Patton & Mc Mahon, 1999, 2006a); A Multidisciplinary Dialogue (Collin & Patton, 2009a); THEORY AND PRACTICE: TRADITIONAL ORGANISATIONAL CAREERS TO NEW CAREERS; The STF and Career Counselling; CONCLUSION; REFERENCES; INDEX; Supervision as Experiential Learning; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 12 CAREER DEVELOPMENT LEARNING IN SCHOOL SYSTEMS; HISTORY OF CAREER GUIDANCE IN SCHOOLS; RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEORY AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT LEARNING; APPLYING THE SYSTEMS THEORY FRAMEWORK TO SCHOOLS; The School as a Subsystem in the Context of Time; Accountability; THE SCHOOL AS A SYSTEM; The Career Development Facilitator; The Students – Learners and Consumers; IMPLEMENTING CAREER DEVELOPMENT LEARNING; Learning Content and Processes; REVIEWING CAREER DEVELOPMENT LEARNING IN SCHOOLS FROM A SYSTEMS THEORY PERSPECTIVE; The School System; The Environmental-Societal System; The Context of Time; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 13 CAREER COUNSELLING SYSTEMS; HISTORY OF CAREER COUNSELLING; The Trait and Factor Approach; Signs of Change; CONSTRUCTIVISM; The Counselling Relationship; The Counselling Process; Language; The Narrative Approach; Assessment; THE SYSTEMS THEORY FRAMEWORK AND CAREER COUNSELLING; The Therapeutic System; The STF and the Process of Career Counselling; Connectedness; Career Counsellors Connecting with Their own Career Stories; Career Counsellors Connecting with Clients; Connecting Clients with Their Systems of Influence.