Post on 16-Apr-2017
“Pioneering” Your Career Life Cycle
NAGAP 2012
Joshua LaFave
Director of Graduate Enrollment
Whitman School of Management
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Kristen Trapasso
Director of Graduate Admissions
LeMoyne College
Syracuse, NY
Agenda • Introduction
• Origination of Study Idea
• Initial Assumptions and Rationale
• Goals of our Study
• Literature Review
• Key Takeaways from Literature Review
• Finding Personal Equilibrium and Balance
• Applications to Enrollment Management
• Invitation for Continued Study
Origination of Idea
From one end of the scale to…
“Young Buck”? “Old Timer”?
“So, instead of looking for keys to
successful careers, we’ve settled on
careers as keys to success.” -The Career Management Challenge Balancing Individual
and Organizational Needs by Peter Herriot
Initial Assumptions and Rationale
• Hypothesis:
o There are numerous influences that interact
within the realm of our professional career. The
perceived significance of these influences in
each stage shapes the decisions we make in a
continual search for professional equilibrium.
Initial Assumptions and Rationale
• There is a perceived career “life-cycle” of an
enrollment management professional
• Internal and external influences affect personal and
professional commitment to one’s job/motivation
for excelling
• As one’s “life cycle” advances, the impact of these
influences change
Initial Assumptions and Rationale
• Explore further:
o What are the influences?
o What is the interpretation of these influences as they relate
to balance?
o Are there established tracks or are they personally
motivated?
o At what point does someone move into a different career
stage?
o How do we use this information to make informed decisions
for ourselves and for those around us?
Visual Model:
Influences and Career Progression
Exploring Stage Confidence Stage Protecting Stage
Internal Balance Pro
fession
al E
nv
iron
men
t P
erson
al/So
cial E
nv
iron
men
t
Goals of Our Study • Identify influences that shape internal and external
decisions in one’s career
• Understand how we move within our career and
what influences are the catalysts for this movement
• Benchmark lifecycles of other professions
• Link previous research with survey findings and
identify enrollment management specific findings
Literature Review
What models/theories are there that would help identify career stages, influences and how/why we
make decisions?
Developmental Theory • An evolution
• Levinson, et al., describes adulthood is a series of
stable and transitional periods
• During stable periods, one follow fairly clear goals
• Periodically, one must reorder priorities and change
behavior in order to compensate for “neglected
dimensions of the self”: unfulfilled ambitions, newly
acquired interests, changes in family dynamics, etc.
Vocational Choice: "Life Stages and Life
Roles” (Donald Super)
• As we move through different stages in our lives, we
also move through different stages in our careers
• People don’t follow a straight path of career
development. Super calls it the Life Career Rainbow o Identifies the different “life roles” we play at different times in our
lives
Life Career Rainbow • Super’s main concepts:
o Influences
o Balance
o Career Maturity
o Self Concept
• People go through changes as they mature and
are affected by: o Socioeconomic factors
o Mental and physical abilities
o Personal characteristics
o Opportunities
Social Cognition Career Albert Banduras
• Addresses culture, gender, genetic endowment,
social context and unexpected life events that may
interact with and supersede the effects of career-
related choices
• Focuses on the connection of self efficacy,
outcome expectations and personal goals that
influence an individual’s career choice
o We continue doing something because we had a good
experience, proven success and high self esteem as a reward
Role Taking George Herbert Mead
• Role taking has two components: 1. Thinking about oneself from the perspective of others
2. Regulating one’s behavior based on what one thinks others expect
• “Maturity” is the ability to make the distinction between the actor’s and the observer’s view
• Awareness and maturity are expected to change throughout a person’s individual life and lifestyle
Lifecycle Career Management
Adizes
• “Growing up doesn’t mean getting past all the
problems. Growing up means being able to handle
bigger and more complex problems.”
• Becoming mature and aware of a need for career
change; creating consciousness in order to make
mature decisions
• Maturity and awareness
Vroom’s Three Tenants: Expectancy Theory
1) Valence: o The value of perceived outcomes. What’s in it for me?
o The value placed on the rewards respective to: personal needs,
lifestyle, goals, values and sources of motivation
o In order for the valence to be positive, the person must prefer
attaining the outcome to not attaining it
Vroom’s Three Tenants: Expectancy Theory
2) Instrumentality:
Performance (P) → Outcome (O) o Belief that a person will receive a reward if the performance
expectation is met: pay increase, promotion, recognition or sense
of accomplishment
o Clear path?
o Instrumentality is low when the reward is given for all
performances given
o If individuals trust their superiors, they are more likely to believe
their leaders’ promises.
Vroom’s Three Tenants: Expectancy Theory
3) Expectancy:
Effort (E) → Performance (P) o The belief that one's effort will result in desired performance goals
o The belief that one is able to complete the actions; capability
o Beliefs usually based on an individual's past experience
supporting self confidence/self efficacy
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory: Motivational Force
• Motivational Force (MF) = Expectancy X
Instrumentality X Valence o Behavioral options: the option with the greatest motivational
force (MF)
o Expectancy and instrumentality are attitudes (cognitions) that
represent an individual's perception of the likelihood that effort →
performance → desired outcomes
o Valence is rooted in an individual’s value system
Other Theories Considered • Motivation Theories
o Acquired Needs : we seek power, achievement, affiliation and
needs are shaped over time from experiences
o Cognitive Dissonance: non-alignment is uncomfortable →
change
o Consistency Theory: we seek the comfort of internal alignment →
change
o Intrinsic Motivation: motivated by internal factors, as opposed to
the external drivers of extrinsic motivation; intrinsic motivation
drives me to do things just for the fun of it, or because I believe it is
a good or right thing to do.
• Maslow’s Study of Individual Needs
Key Takeaways from Literature
Review
Influences Self-
Awareness and Balance
•Lifestyle
•Personal Needs
•Quality of Life
• Social Context/Relationships
• Goals
Valence
•Instrumentality (Tangible returns)
•Psychological Contract
•Acquired Needs
• Internal
• Altruism
Motivations
• Life Experience
• Professional Experience
• Emotional Intelligence Self-Concept
Applications to Enrollment Management Stages
• Influences o Within each stage
o Career spanning
• Balance o Demands of personal and
professional life
• Maturity
• Self-Concept
Finding Personal Equilibrium and
Balance
• Personal
• Occupational
• Institutional/Employer
• Professional Involvement
Invitation for Continued Study
• Construct a study to identify possible career stages and applications to a model
• Learn personal and professional influences
• Assign values of influences and motivations as identified by sample of graduate enrollment managers
• What do they mean? Anything?
• Will we do our jobs differently? Will this improve the mentoring process?
• Identify: o Influences o Motivations o Balance o Valence
o Instrumentality o Expectancies
“Find a job you love and you’ll never work a
day in your life.” ~ Confucius