Brown S.D., Lent R. (Editors). Career development and counseling: putting theory and research to work

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employment interview questions increased the accuracy of two developmentally

delayed individuals’ interview responses (Schloss, Santoro, Wood, & Bedner, 1988).

Using an intervention designed to help college students improve their job inter-

viewing skills, it was found that students preferred an instructor-interview format

compared to a peer-interview format. Students rated the instructor-facilitated in-

terview as more realistic, valuable, and as more highly increasing their confi-

dence in interviewing; however, students rated both interview formats highly

(Ralston, 1995). In a different example, Hutchinson, Freeman, and Quick (1996)

found that a cognitively focused intervention using teacher modeling and peer in-

teraction increased high school students’ job problem-solving skills.

Despite the importance of effective persuasion skills, much of the literature in

this area remains descriptive, with little evaluative data on effectiveness. Some

creative and promising interventions have been reported together with some pre-

liminary evaluative data. For example, Fortson (1997) conducted a college retention

program for male African American students that focused on career planning,

job

interviewing, and résumé writing skills. The intervention was not associated

with increased academic self-concept as hypothesized, and it is unknown if the

intervention improved students’ persuasion-related skills. A program focused on

providing adult mentors for low-income teen moms showed some evidence that

mentors influenced the teen mother’s career plans by increasing their focus on

education and providing advice on vocational issues, such as job and school appli-

cations, financial aid, interviews, and résumé preparation (Zippay, 1995). Etters

(2002) described a program for incarcerated inmates focused on building self-

esteem and self-efficacy through workshops on goal setting, résumé writing, in-

terviewing, and transitioning to the workplace. Etters noted that completion of

the workshops has been linked to less recidivism.

Other programs are simply reported without evaluative information. For exam-

ple, seeking to facilitate transition to work, Beale (1988) described a behaviorally

focused group program in which recovering substance abusers were videotaped in

simulated interview sessions. Modeling, role playing, and didactic instruction

were also provided. Focusing on interpersonal skills needed in today’s workplace,

Davis and Miller (1996) described a group project model used in college business

courses to teach group interaction. Crawford, Henry, and Dineen (2001) noted

the need for accounting students to develop interviewing and listening skills in

addition to the technical skills they learn in college. They developed a unique,

discipline-specific, interactive computer program that used a case study format

(i.e., consulting on an accounting problem in a business setting) to teach effective

interviewing skills to accounting majors.

Targeting workforce preparation more broadly, Barthorpe and Hall (2000) de-

scribed a college program focused on increasing the workforce preparation skills

of engineering students. Internship coordinators and career counselors collabo-

rated to provide workshops focused on job preparation skills such as searching,

résumé writing, and interviewing. Also linking the intervention to eventual

workforce participation, Schroth, Pankake, and Gates (1999) tried a number of

pedagogical approaches to increase education administration students’ ability to

make connections between their learning and their future job effectiveness. They

reported that the students rated the activities that were most clearly related to

their future employment, such as résumé preparation and mock interviews, as

valuable and enjoyable. Taken together, these represent a variety of promising in-

tervention programs and would benefit from further evaluative scrutiny.

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Counseling for Choice Implementation 477

Finally, in an innovative newer line of research, O’Neil and colleagues (1977)

have focused on interventions to enhance negotiation skills. Arguing that novice

job

seekers may not have competent skills to successfully negotiate a job offer,

O’Neil,

Allred, and Dennis (1997a, 1997b, 1997c) validated a computer simulation

for assessing job negotiation skills. Some preliminary evidence suggests that ex-

perts demonstrate superior negotiation skills compared to novices—experts ob-

tained higher counteroffers than novices—and may show fewer cognitive biases

during the job negotiation process; however, further research is needed to vali-

date these findings. Although the simulation was designed to assess the current

level of job negotiation skills, rather than teach or improve these skills, the simu-

lation represents a method that has potential to be used to increase the job nego-

tiation skills of job seekers.

ONCLUSIONS

The literature on successfully navigating the process of entering the workforce of-

fers some guidelines for counselors. Clients whose personality characteristics ori-

ent them toward the social, detail-oriented nature of the job-search process would

seem likely to fare better. Enhancing communication and interpersonal skills,

whether by reducing it to its behavioral components or by providing examples and

practice, would appear to be effective, at least as it relates to interviewing perfor-

mance. Less is known about the process of facilitating résumé writing skills;

how

ever, simply working with clients on this concrete task can increase their con-

fidence in the job-search process. Newer research on developing negotiation skills

seems promising and perhaps reflects a new essential skill in the implementation

of career choices. Finally, we echo the need for more partnerships between practi-

tioners and researchers to provide information about intervention efforts.

SUMMARY

Reflecting on the literature on choice implementation processes that we reviewed,

we conclude that there are some useful guidelines for counselors. However, much

remains to be learned about how best to assist individuals as they seek career op-

portunities and attempt to enter their chosen fields. The first observation that we

offer about this literature is that, relative to other areas of career development,

questions about implementation of choices are understudied. While research in

some areas is strong, such as the efficacy of job-finding clubs and individual char-

acteristics that enhance the search process, more research is needed on the pro-

cesses of persuasion as well as intervention research that seeks to establish the

best ways to help people implement their vocational choices. While there are

clearly a number of innovative and promising interventions being offered, there

is also a large need for evaluative data that will provide further information about

the ways—and for whom—these programs are most effective. Taken together, the

available literature provides only some very broad-brush ways to construct a pic-

ture of the best implementation process.

Second, in the interest of moving this literature forward, we offer a best-case

model of the implementation process derived from the existing literature. That

model would begin by noting that there are certain traits, behaviors, and contex-

tual factors that may contribute to a more effective search and persuasion process.

The most successful searchers and persuaders would seem to be the extraverted

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nd conscientious individuals who seem comfortable interacting with others and

possess confidence in their abilities to engage and be successful in the implemen-

tation process. As they enter the implementation process, they engage in more in-

tense searching behaviors (including, but not limited to, networking), exhibit

solid written and oral communication skills, and are familiar with the finer nu-

ances of Western communication style and interpersonal interaction. The best-case

model also suggests that the social environment surrounding the implementation

process provides rich support, and the potentially constricting role of demographic

characteristics such as race/ethnicity, gender, and age is minimized. Counselors, i

present in the implementation process, have worked to enhance search self-efficacy,

offered programs to provide support, and facilitated the searcher’s communica-

tion skills.

Third, in reflecting on this best-case model of the implementation process, we

find a rather large number of unanswered questions ready for future research.

For example, given the apparent importance of personality characteristics in both

search and persuasion activities, we wonder how counselors might be able to en-

courage successful implementation activities in those individuals who lack these

qualities. Might there need to be implementation-specific interventions designed

to enhance the social interaction comfort and skill of these individuals? From a

different angle, although it is clear that having social support is advantageous, we

do not know when in the implementation process it is most beneficial nor for

whom it may be most essential.

Placing the implementation process in the larger context of career develop-

ment, we know little about how the factors that help or hinder in other phases of

career development might help or hinder in the implementation process. We

know, for example, that anxiety can be paralytic in the career decision-making

process (Newman, Fuqua, & Seaworth, 1989); what happens when that anxious

person comes to implement the choice that was finally made? What might the

search and persuasion processes look like for a person who might be character-

ized as indecisive? In a related example, does the more introverted individual

avoid career choices that would require him or her to engage in more extraverted

search and persuasion activities? Similarly, at what point in a long search process

might an individual decide that he or she needs to recycle the earlier decision-

making process and select a different career direction? And, ultimately, what

connection is there between the search and persuasion processes and eventual

career success and satisfaction?

If we place this model and literature into an even broader context, it is hearten-

ing to note that the existing literature has begun to attend to contextual and multi-

cultural issues. Research exploring the role of race and gender in the search process

provides useful information that can be used to broaden the scope of an individ-

ual’s search, and there is now explicit recognition of the interview process being

one that may require a particular set of cultural traditions. However, the litera-

ture that we consider here reflects an implicit assumption that career opportuni-

ties are readily available to those who search successfully. How might these

processes work differently for those who experience disabling circumstances in

even becoming ready to identify opportunities or who experience a discrimina-

tory environment as they set out in the implementation process? In these circum-

stances, the focus of career implementation efforts and assistance may be less on

identifying opportunities than on creating career opportunities by (1) enhancing

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Counseling for Choice Implementation 479

individuals’ readiness for work and (2) reducing the external barriers that may

prevent them from accessing their desired fields.

Finally, it is clear that there is a rather large agenda for future study. Given the

critical role that implementation plays in an individual’s career development, we

call for an increased attention to the questions outlined on the part of both re-

searchers and practitioners. And, in an area that is rich with opportunities for

collaboration between practitioners and researchers, we advance with consider-

able optimism the conclusion that such partnerships will extend the very promis-

ing progress that has been made in this literature.

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CHAPTER 20

Counseling for Work Adjustment

Barbara Griffin and Beryl Hesketh

ANY ADULT CLIENTS

come to counseling seeking help with problems of

work adjustment. There are a variety of theories (e.g., Dawis & Lofquist,

1984; Holland, 1997; Schneider, 1997) and much research (see Fritzsche

& Parrish, Chapter 8, this volume; Russell, Chapter 9, this volume) that can help

counselors conceptualize clients’ problems and intervene to promote better work

adjustment. Although the theories and research have much to offer counselors

working with clients with work adjustment difficulties, changes in the nature of

work in contemporary society suggest that the definitions of adjustment need to

be expanded to include issues associated with adaptability.

We briefly summarize current theories of work adjustment (focusing specifi-

cally on Dawis and Lofquist’s, 1984, theory of work adjustment) in terms of how

work adjustment has been conceptualized and how it can be promoted. This ini-

tial section of the chapter is intended to complement other chapters in this text

that also focus on issues of work adjustment (Dawis, Chapter 1; Spokane &

Cruza-Guet, Chapter 2; Fritzsche & Parrish, Chapter 8; Russell, Chapter 9). We

then provide a structure for the sorts of counselor-assisted interventions that

may help twenty-first century clients with difficulties in work adjustment.

DEFINITION OF WORK ADJUSTMENT

The term work adjustment is seen by contemporary person-environment (P-E) fit

theorists as the result of an interaction between an individual’s characteristics

(e.g., needs and abilities) and commensurate attributes of the work environment

(e.g., reinforcer systems and ability requirements). A good fit between the two,

often referred to as correspondence (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984) or congruence (Holland,

1997), leads to better work adjustment, as indicated by satisfaction, satisfactory

performance, and tenure.

Two P-E fit theories that have been a major influence on career development are

the Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA; Dawis & Lofquist, 1984) and Holland’s

(1997) theory. Dawis (Chapter 1, this volume) provides an excellent overview of

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TWA, while Spokane and Cruza-Guet (Chapter 2, this volume) do the same for

Holland’s approach. A major difference in these two fit models relates to the com-

prehensiveness of TWA, which deals separately with the extent to which (1) skills

and abilities match the requirements of the work environment and (2) the environ-

ment supplies outlets for the needs, interests, and values of the individual. As

shown in Dawis (Chapter 1, this volume), skill-ability requirement matches lead to

satisfactory performance, while the extent to which an environment supplies out-

lets for the person’s interests, needs, and values relates to satisfaction. Together,

satisfaction and performance account for the length (or tenure) of the interaction

between the two parties. Holland’s theory takes a more generic and less detailed

approach, relying heavily on the concepts of occupational stereotypes.

We contend that the specificity of the matching factors offered through TWA

provides a more helpful framework for the development of approaches to work ad-

justment counseling and other interventions. Furthermore, TWA provides a set of

concepts that are aimed at the dynamic responsiveness of individuals and work

organizations striving to achieve a better fit. These constructs, also outlined by

Dawis (Chapter 1, the volume), highlight the styles that may be used to achieve

work adjustment and provide a basis for expanding the types of interventions that

might be used, as well as measuring and assessing the potential of both individu-

als and environments to be responsive to the needs of the other. These are the con-

structs that form the major focus of this chapter, although we also draw on related

ideas and measures from the field of industrial and organizational psychology.

A number of other perspectives on work adjustment provide ideas for interven-

tions in the workplace. These perspectives include Schneider’s (1997) attraction,

selection, attrition (ASA) model, which highlights the importance of fit as part of

what attracts people to apply for a position and influences employers during the

selection process. According to this model, turnover occurs when good individual

fit is not obtained. Research addressing the issue of newcomer socialization (e.g.,

Ashford & Black, 1996; Lance, Vandenberg, & Self, 2000) deals more specifically

with the processes of adjustment that occur for new employees shortly after ap-

pointment when there is the most need for adjustment on the part of both the em-

ployer and employees. In this chapter, we draw on these and related ideas from

the organizational psychology literature to supplement the general framework of-

fered by TWA.

ASSESSING WORK ADJUSTMENT

In the context of the TWA (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984), performance and satisfaction,

together with tenure, are the major criteria used to assess fit and the effective-

ness of work adjustment counseling. We provide a brief overview of the original

perspective provided by TWA but place more emphasis on developments that bet-

ter address the global, dynamic, and security-conscious world of today.

Specifically, we draw attention to the Campbell (1990) model of performance,

which attempts to highlight the antecedents of performance using cognitive con-

structs, while also reviewing recent developments in partitioning the performance

domain into task, contextual, and adaptive performance. The Theory of Work Ad-

justment argues that satisfaction arises as a result of the person’s needs being met

by reinforcing aspects of the environment. The reinforcing aspects can be grouped

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Counseling for Work Adjustment 485

into three categories, namely, those that emerge from (1) the physical environ

ment,

(2) other people, and (3) the self. It is interesting that these three categories can be

related to the groupings that emerge from Alderfer’s (1972) theory of work satis-

faction where satisfaction follows when needs relating to energy (the physical en-

vironment), relatedness (other people), and growth (self) are met. Missing from

TWA and many other theories of work adjustment is a consideration of mental

health and well-being as important work adjustment outcomes. However, in light

of the changing nature of work in contemporary society, mental health and well-

being should, as we later discuss, be included as outcomes of work adjustment

counseling.

ERFORMANCE

Although many approaches to work adjustment and career development have

tended to emphasize the individual’s perspective, TWA has also incorporated the

employer’s perspective by including the construct of satisfactoriness, or satisfac-

tory performance. Job performance is an important construct in much of indus-

trial/organizational psychology, being the cornerstone variable by which many

organizational activities and interventions are evaluated. Performance is also im-

portant for the individual worker. Not only can good performance lead to a sense

of satisfaction (Sonnentag & Frese, 2002), but also to promotion and better career

opportunities (Van Scotter, Motowidlo, & Cross, 2000).

From the organization’s perspective, performance is behavior that can be eval-

uated in terms of how effective it is in achieving goals of the organization or in-

dividual (Campbell, McCloy, Oppler, & Sager, 1993). Until the early 1990s, job

performance was treated as a unitary factor. However, Campbell’s (1990) seminal

work introduced the concept that performance is multidimensional in nature. He

proposed an eight-factor model that is embedded in a broader, causal theory of

performance. Campbell’s eight factors, or dimensions, of performance are:

1. Demonstrating effort.

2. Maintaining personal discipline.

3. Non-job-specific task proficiency.

4. Written and oral communication.

5. Facilitating peer and team performance.

6Supervision/leadership.

7. Management/administration.

8. Job-specific task proficiency.

These components of performance are defined in Table 20.1.

Campbell’s (1990) model also distinguishes performance components in

terms of the extent to which they are unique or common to jobs, resulting in

three categories:

1. Components that all jobs share (e.g., demonstrating effort and maintaining

personal discipline).

Components that are shared within an organization (e.g., non-job-specific

tasks).

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