A Living Systems Theory Of Vocational Behavior And Development
by Fred W. Vondracek /
2014 / English / PDF
1.5 MB Download
The Living Systems Theory of Vocational Behavior and Development
(LSVD) explains and illustrates the processes by which individuals
construct their work experiences, vocational pathways and career
patterns through episodes of interaction with affordances they
recognize within their contexts, and how counseling can facilitate
those processes. The LSVD was created by combining the
scientifically based systems theory that explicates the dynamics of
all aspects of human functioning and development, called Humans as
Self-Constructing Living Systems, with important ideas about
vocational behavior and development. The resulting integrative
theory represents the individual person as a dynamic,
self-directing and self-constructing entity, i.e., a living system.
Behavior Episodes (BEs) are the fundamental, person-in-context,
dynamic units of analysis that serve as the "building blocks" by
which individuals construct and retain their experiences in
patterns that can be reactivated to facilitate future BEs. The book
describes how individuals' history of satisfying BEs and their
current activities provide the means by which vocational and career
counselors can assist them to create satisfying vocational
pathways. It also describes for researchers how new, non-linear,
person-centered, quantitative and qualitative research methods can
be used to analyze BE patterns to advance understanding of
person-level processes that play key roles in individuals'
vocational behavior and development. The LSVD was designed to be
not just an integrative framework for the field of career
development, but also to reconnect the field to related areas such
as human resources and industrial-organizational psychology and to
the range of human sciences that have already embraced a living
systems theoretical model.
The Living Systems Theory of Vocational Behavior and Development
(LSVD) explains and illustrates the processes by which individuals
construct their work experiences, vocational pathways and career
patterns through episodes of interaction with affordances they
recognize within their contexts, and how counseling can facilitate
those processes. The LSVD was created by combining the
scientifically based systems theory that explicates the dynamics of
all aspects of human functioning and development, called Humans as
Self-Constructing Living Systems, with important ideas about
vocational behavior and development. The resulting integrative
theory represents the individual person as a dynamic,
self-directing and self-constructing entity, i.e., a living system.
Behavior Episodes (BEs) are the fundamental, person-in-context,
dynamic units of analysis that serve as the "building blocks" by
which individuals construct and retain their experiences in
patterns that can be reactivated to facilitate future BEs. The book
describes how individuals' history of satisfying BEs and their
current activities provide the means by which vocational and career
counselors can assist them to create satisfying vocational
pathways. It also describes for researchers how new, non-linear,
person-centered, quantitative and qualitative research methods can
be used to analyze BE patterns to advance understanding of
person-level processes that play key roles in individuals'
vocational behavior and development. The LSVD was designed to be
not just an integrative framework for the field of career
development, but also to reconnect the field to related areas such
as human resources and industrial-organizational psychology and to
the range of human sciences that have already embraced a living
systems theoretical model.