Contemporary Models in Vocational Psychology: A Volume in Honor of Samuel H. Osipow

Abstract

Contemporary Models in Vocational Psychology: A Volume in Honor of Samuel H. Osipow, by Frederick T. L. Long and Azy Barak, is reviewed.

Frederick T L. Leong and Azy Barak (Editors). Contemporary Models in Vocational Psychology: A Volume in Honor of Samuel H. Osipow. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001, 336 pages, $79.95 cloth, $39.95 softcover.

Reviewed by Edward J. Pavur, Jr., Assessment Manager, Management Service, New Orleans, LA.

Vocational Psychology is the study of the ways people set out to make a living, establish a work identity, and develop personally as they invest part of themselves in their work. For some of us, work is part of what we do; for others, work is part of who we are.

Leong and Barak have edited a book to honor their colleague and mentor, Samuel H. Osipow, who worked for 40 years in the field of vocational psychology and who influenced all of the topics dealt with in this intriguing collection of papers. Certain chapters will help guide practitioners who counsel clients on career conflicts and work identity issues. Many of the chapters will excite graduate students and researchers about promising avenues for investigation. This volume will be of interest to those in cognate fields which study education, life-span development, cultural influences, gender issues, employee selection, work effectiveness, decision making, job stress, identity, individual assessment, executive coaching, counseling, individual differences, and social psychology.

Chapters 2 through 5 consider findings in specific content areas. Chapter authors Gati and Asher describe job hunting as an active process of prescreening alternative careers, in-depth exploration, and choice leading to the application for one or more promising positions. This model is compared to alternative, outcome models in the "personenvironment fit" tradition.

The Betz chapter reviews the role of self-efficacy in influencing career development. The approach to specific occupational fields is influenced by beliefs that one is a generally capable worker; or that one is specifically capable in math, social skills, or computer skills; or that one likes aesthetic occupations or enjoys influencing others. Self-efficacies show gender differences, are sometimes amenable to intervention, and figure in social-cognitive models of career behavior.

Research in occupational stress and strain have been plagued by methodological problems. However, Spokane and Ferrara indicate that the scales of the Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) have demonstrated good psychometric characteristics and usefulness as outcome measures. The OSI has resulted in over 60 pertinent studies, including some conducted in Japan. OSI research demonstrates the relationships among roles, responsibilities, strains, and other variables. This chapter reviews the studies completed since 1987 and describes a workshop used to promote coping and to reduce stress and strain.

What makes a person excited or repelled by the possibility of a career in ballet, computer applications, or law? Barak discusses the role of emotions and skills in vocational interests. This chapter describes career interests and the way cognitive and social learning principles influence their development. It details influences of perceived abilities, expected success, and anticipated satisfaction on career interests. Barak applies these concepts to overcoming dysfunctional career beliefs in a career counseling setting. Four classes of career influences are identified: genetics, environmental conditions, learning, and work values.

Chapters 6 to 8 consider demographic characteristics and career development, including cultural and gender correlates. Chapter authors Meir and Tziner describe the many barriers to cross-cultural item and construct equivalence. The extent of attraction to a particular vocation can vary across cultures, as can the gender distribution, level of expertise, and various connotative aspects of the vocation. Meir and Tziner also give advice about scoring and norms, and discuss the structure of occupations across cultures. They conclude by providing a set of tips designed to foster reliability and validity in interest inventories.

The chapter by Leong and Serafica grapples with the issue of career maturity in ethnic minority job seekers. Social, political, and legal changes made this cohort different from previous cohorts. The authors review research between 1970 and 1998 and identify many of the methodological challenges of this research, including language, work values, SES, and other variables. The chapter also summarizes the variables, such as self-concept and exposure to different careers, that appear to predict career maturity. Many research questions are posed, and inconsistent findings are identified. Leong and Serafica point out that exclusive attention to universal laws ignores the group and individual variables that are essential for a complete view of behavior, identity, and developmental patterns. This chapter spotlights the role of acculturation, cultural identity, aspirations, choice, interest and other issues in career development.

Fitzgerald and Harmon's chapter is a thoughtful review of the controversial issues in understanding women's careers. The authors outline recent social changes, including a shift from uncompensated to compensated labor, increasing interest in careers, fewer marriages, and "dual career" demands of work and child care. This chapter emphasizes sociological, societal, political, and equity concepts. It provides an updated model of individual and social factors that influence women's vocational behavior.

Chapters 9 to 11 inform the application of vocational knowledge to career counseling. Chartrand and Walsh have written a guide for counselors who see their job as using assessment results to help people make decisions about their careers. This practical guide begins with a short bibliography of career assessment reviews. The authors follow with an overview of key factors that affect the profession: professional standards, ethics, demographic changes, workforce trends, cultural variables, quantitative advances, and Internet applications. They raise the issues of cultural equivalence and overlap among predictors. They echo the call for multi-domain assessment; that is, the simultaneous use of cognitive, interest, and personality measures. The authors conclude with a provocative glimpse at the horizon. They note the increase in selfassessment, and they cite disturbing efficacy findings, criterion problems, and challenges posed by internet delivery of assessment.

The chapter by Subich and Simonson grapples with the need for a theory to guide the practice of career counseling. The benefit of this chapter is twofold. First, it serves as a roadmap for the entire process of career counseling. Second, it is a synthesis of components that must be handled in a theory of the counseling endeavor. The authors present five fundamental models of career choice from the period 1980 to 1993. They concisely discuss the elements or stages in each of the models. The authors point out the gradual shift from narrow-scope, linear models to broader models that include decision making, affective and social aspects, and which recognize the cyclical nature of career selection. Next, the authors present three broader and more sophisticated models of career counseling. These models address the issues of culture, social learning, process outcomes, product outcomes, metacognitions, and sociocognitive interactions. For example, these models ask whether the client is being encouraged to make culturally appropriate decisions, to participate in new learning experiences, and to frame a vocational self-concept. Subich and Simonson conclude with an outline of the evaluative information needed to support a theory of career counseling. They identify the need to answer basic questions about how and why career counseling is effective.

The chapter by Winer gives an administrator's views on the role of career counseling within an academic organization. A key issue in this chapter is the nature of the benefits that can be provided by counseling services when they are used to support the core functions of the university. The counseling unit's challenges include university realities: namely, the counseling mission, moderate power, and scarce resources. Responses to these challenges must involve an integration of applied, academic, and administrative perspectives of counseling services.

The concluding chapter by Savickas is a persuasive integration of career counseling and life-span constructs. Savickas indicates the importance of defining multiple criteria that represent career success. Savickas argues that a focus on career maturity may limit the convergence of models of career counseling and models of individual development. To overcome this limitation, Savickas proposes the concept of adaptability. Adaptability is a construct that can be applied to the early, middle, and late career phases, and that can include growth as well as disengagement. The author next identifies 12 requirements for constructs in a theoretical model of career development. Finally, an outline is provided that is an adaptation and expansion of a model used in personality research. This four-level outline of vocational behavior includes: (a) Vocational Personality Types, (b) Career Concerns, (c) Career Narratives, and (d) Mechanisms of Development. The author concludes by indicating two paths that can be taken on the journey to theory development. The two paths are the path of analysis and specialization, and the path of convergence and parsimony. This chapter encourages us to be aware of the choices posed on our path to a theory of vocational behavior.

This book was envisioned as a tribute to a productive researcher and theorist in the field of vocational psychology. The range of topics, the centrality of the issues to the field, and the sophistication of the models should make Samuel H. Osipow gratified to have such gifted and appreciative colleagues and protegees. The rest of us, specialists in the field as well as outsiders, will find in this book a valuable synthesis of recent work in vocational psychology, as well as clear suggestions for research and theoretical modeling.