The Chaos Theory of Career Development
Most of us like to think that we have chosen our occupations, rather than them choosing us. We have reasons for what we are doing, visions of where we want to get to. We have career planning, career goals - the feeling of control.
And yet if you ask people about their career decisions, almost 70% report that they have been significantly influenced by chance events. The two Australian psychologists who carried out this research, published next month in the Journal of Vocational Behaviour, believe they have provided further support for the Chaos Theory of Career Development. I wouldn't argue with that.
On the other hand I wouldn't like to be the career counsellor explaining to my client that their career might well depend on the fluttering of an HR manager's eyelashes over China. (Please excuse my mixing of popular science metaphors!)
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This may be an old post, but... I think that everyone has grown up thinking that they want to be a doctor, laywer, or a fireman. Truth be told, I think that the choas theory of careers is something that can be chalked up to "life happens", and the law of supply and demand. What kind of world would it be with 10 million doctors?
Just a thought. http://www.developingcareers.com
I don't agree with the notion that everyone grows up thinking that they will become a doctor. Personally I never wanted to become a doctor, a fireman or a laywer and most of my friends didn't either. I recognize that many of us had dreams as children that did not come true. That doesn't mean that we couldn't follow those dreams but that natural-occurring events led us in other directions, just like chaos theory predicts. It may sound obvious and simple... and perhaps it is. However, I do believe that all of us have a purpose on earth and that if we stay open, follow our instincts and take advantage of opportunities in our environment, we eventually arrive at the profession we are meant doing. This is chaos theory to me.
I grew up wanting to be a designer, and that's exactly what I am now (at 27). After influence from teachers at school I considered becoming a doctor or a molecular biologist but I just knew I'd still want to design. A lot of things I've planned haven't gone quite the way I thought, but I don't think any 'chance' things have altered my career significantly - yet. I don't think I've been working long enough to truly say one way or the other. But, I think everything relates to chaos theory in some way. so it's probably true.
The Chaos theory of career development refutes reductionism but they seek to prove their theory via the use of questionnaires and surveys which surprise, surprise, need to be constructed and validated using reductionistic statistical methods...
Ahhhh....chaos? Life unfolding...there are no mistakes to the timing of seemingly random occurances I think. When I look back on my life, the openings, and closings, are like rocks across a stream----placed perfectly to aid in my travels. http://www.seeingisaverb.wordpress.com
Nice cite! I am teaching a Student Develoment Course at a local community college, and I will probabl have my students read and discuss your other article about the uselfessness of career planning. My thinking is that the locus-of-control research is suggestive of another explanation: is it possible that the 70% reflects a generation of otherwise capable kids who have been given almost no guidance in how to make decisions about careers? If they have few internal resources for decision-making, then of course, the external factors would loom large by comparison. As has been noted at this blog in other articles, people have very little awareness of where their attitudes come from. Possibly this is the case here, as well?