Career counseling in a volatile job market: Tiedeman's perspective revisited.

The phases in Tiedeman's (1961) decision-making model have been revised and clarified over the years with additional authors (Miller-Tiedeman & Tiedeman, 1990; Tiedeman & O'Hara, 1963). These phases are grouped into anticipatory and implementation activities. Anticipatory activity includes the phases of exploration, crystallization, choice, and specification. Implementation activity includes the phases of induction, reformation, and integration. Each phase is considered a new junction for decision making. The activities within the anticipatory process are reflective of Super's (1957) growth and exploration stages. For example, during the phase of exploration, an individual builds awareness of career options and explores possible avenues for work. During crystallization, decisions are made to focus on a specific career path. The choice phase includes a selection of a career path from among those considered in previous phases. Specification involves an evaluation of, a commitment to, and research specific to that choice. During the induction process, an individual commits to learn as much as he or she can at a new job in the implementation phase. As a person engages in the reformation phase, competency, confidence, and identification are developed in the vocation. In the phase of integration, a person gains perspective on his or her work and authors a more differentiated, collaborative role with peers and supervisors.

In the following sections, major themes embedded in the model are explored. Readers should note that we have constructed our own terms to describe these important developmental dynamics included in the model. Although the terms are not explicitly referred to in Tiedeman's writings, the processes described here are at the heart of what makes this model unique and useful for counselors. We have chosen to focus on these concepts because they have received little attention in the career theory and research literature and may be more compatible with current experiences clients are having in the labor market. Most important, four concepts embedded in Tiedeman's (1961) original model address variables often ignored by other models.

Career Path Recycling

One of the embedded concepts is that these decision-making phases can be recycled and revisited. If modern workers, positioned by a rapidly changing job market, reconsider and reevaluate career options, the model accommodates this shift in decision making as part of a normal career process. Revisiting prior job options is not interpreted as a career setback, resistance, or failure to make a commitment to a goal. Instead, it is viewed as a normal recycling process. In later revisions of his theory, Super (Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996) supported this idea by suggesting that all of his developmental stages could be repeated on a large scale (with a second career).

In the field of technology, for example, recycling can be a very practical pattern of career development as workers trained to be competent with one level of technology find the same technology to be obsolete in a short period of time. These workers must pursue advanced training in order to maintain a competent level of performance or reconsider their career path. The same phenomenon is also encountered by persons who become more mature and suddenly discover that the initial career path they set out to pursue as a younger person no longer holds the same interest or motivation that it once did. They may be successful at what they are doing but would like to consider exploring different skills associated with a new career direction.

Development in Reverse

In Tiedeman's (1961) model, retro-development is also possible. Working "backward" through decision-making phases can be viewed as a healthy process. As a client reconsiders a career path, prior decision-making phases can be revisited. Consider the situation of a woman with a stable, successful career who is attempting to balance the need to spend time developing her artistic interests and maintain satisfying employment. She may have spent several years satisfied and committed to her current career (integration). However, her need for artistic activity encourages her to evaluate her circumstances within the career (reformation). She reexamines her identity in the career and how she views herself (induction), leading to a period of questioning her investment within the career path (specification). Knowing that her current job and her interest in the arts are equally important, she examines her career choices within the context of balancing her life circumstances, knowing there may be trade-offs. As she continues to reassess many alternatives (crystallization), she is able to make a new career decision that better integrates her strengths. In this example, each phase is experienced in reverse, and yet the progression can be viewed as productive.

In another illustration, a 1st-year lawyer becomes disillusioned with her day-to-day responsibilities within a large firm. Despite her excellent education and training, she has quickly become bored with the common tasks associated with the long hours of work (induction). She wonders why her training did not expose her to some of the tasks involved with the work (specification). She finds herself reconsidering her decision to practice law (choice). This period of doubt leads her to revisit earlier career paths she had considered, including engineering, business administration, and health care roles (crystallization). She soon realizes that most of these career options were paths recommended by well-meaning family members, and now she wants to consider new possibilities (exploration).

Nonlinear Progress

A third major concept embedded in Tiedeman's (1961) model is that a career can be nonlinear. Tiedeman believed that movement was possible between stages that were not contiguous. Indeed, the term stages loses most of its traditional meaning in this context. For example, clients can begin a career path in an implementation phase, shift to an exploration phase, and then shift once again to a reformation phase.

Situations that might illustrate this phenomenon include times when individuals obtain a job because a family member has unexpectedly made a position available. For instance, a recent economics graduate is offered the opportunity to manage his uncle's insurance firm. Because the young man is driven by a need to attain a stable career and substantial salary, he gladly accepts the position. He begins his career bypassing the anticipatory phase and immediately enters the implementation phase. After many years of diligent work and success, he encounters a shift in his priorities. He experiences a desire for self-fulfillment from other avenues of his life. He takes advantage of his acquired success to reflect on earlier aspirations and interests (exploration) and begins to reevaluate his career path in terms of personal satisfaction, not high salary. He once had thoughts of starting his own investment business and uses his previous experience to follow his dreams (Henderson, 2000). He takes the initiative and confidently begins his own business (reformation) with hopes of greater career and life satisfaction despite the risk. In this example, Tiedeman's (1961) model provides a framework to better understand phases associated with evolving priorities throughout life.

Parallel Streams

Another helpful concept embedded in the model accommodates parallel processes in career development. This is seen when people simultaneously pursue different vocational interests. For example, a client might be very invested in exploration activity for a new profession while continuing to develop expertise in a current occupation (reformation). McQuarrie and Jackson (2002) noted that not only are leisure interests an example of this kind of parallel activity, but also that the transitions within leisure and work careers affect each other. For Tiedeman, engagement in parallel vocational paths is not seen as a failure to make a significant investment in a primary occupation but rather as an accepted manner of further exploring one's interests and abilities. A counselor who operates from Tiedeman's perspective would be quite comfortable helping a client simultaneously deal with issues associated with each endeavor.

This is also evident in the experience of cross-training, as roles become merged and more complex. Workers are more likely to be asked to take on different roles that have not traditionally overlapped. If a worker is experiencing stress from taking on new responsibilities, the situation could be reframed as an opportunity rather than a burden. Using the situation to become adept in other tasks is a chance to reintegrate and reinvent a more diverse portfolio of abilities and skills.

Implications

Counselors often need to help clients embrace unexpected job opportunities. Tiedeman's perspective on decision making and vocational development can be an excellent resource for practitioners who are helping clients adapt to a changing marketplace. Career counselors may find these four concepts of recycling, development in reverse, nonlinear progress, and parallel streams helpful to their daily practice and assessment of clients' career development. There is a sense of empowerment and a promotion of flexibility and personal initiative within the model.

Assessment