Professional Documents
Culture Documents
HUM3CWI
Assessment Task 3
Essay
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INTRODUCTION
The pursuit of happyness can mean different things to different people. While
the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness' focuses on a one year period where Chris
Gardner struggles with being homeless. This essay will look at the biography of
Chris Gardner and look at his career development through the theories of
systems theory framework and career construction theory.
Systems Theory Framework, while not an individual theory acts as an
overarching framework for different systems that are all systems part of a larger
system. Systems theory framework focus on the three main systems been the
individual, social system and environmental & societal system and how they
influence the career development of Gardner. While there is no single theory
that every individual, systems theory framework use of
The individual, is made up from personal traits which put simply are actions,
beliefs, attitudes and behaviours one posses as well as age, gender and ethnicity.
The social system is represent by social groups, the family unit, school, work and
peers and more recently social media and how they influence the individual. And
the environment and societal system, influences individuals through physical
location.
Career Construction Theory as one of many theories that seek to explain job or
career choices.
analysis individuals
communicate
have
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interdependent elements that make a whole which continually influence each
other to maintain their activity to achieve the output of the system
(BusinessDictionary.com 2015). By viewing parts of a system in isolation from
the system in which it belongs ignores the other aspects that may influence its
likelihood for impact. All systems are part of a larger systems and a system can
stop performing when a part is removed or changed considerably.
Central to Systems Theory Framework is the individual. An individual does not
occur by themselves, nor does their career, but rather are impacted by all the
other influences that affect the individual.
The individual, is made up from personal traits which put simply are
actions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours one posses as well as age,
gender and ethnicity.
defining who they are (YourDictionary 2015). Some of these influences are
II.
set and others can be influenced by the context the individual is in.
Social system, represents the primary social influences to which the
individual belongs and interacts with. These are social groups, the family
III.
unit, school, work and peers and more recently social media.
Environment and societal system, influences individuals through physical
location. This may be through employment opportunities, access to
mentors/role models, schooling and availability to information (McMahon &
Patton 1995).
Systems Theory Framework allows chance events to happen which can affect the
individual through opportunity.
individual's career. While enlisted within the navy, Gardner acquainted himself
with cardiac surgeon Dr Robert Ellis. This is an evidence of how chance can affect
the individual as Dr Ellis offered Gardner an opportunity to assist him with clinical
HUM3CWI/ Contemporary Workplace Issues Page 3
La Trobe University
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research which Gardner later accepted.
driving a red Ferrari, in which the man told Gardner he was a stockbroker. This
event was the catalyst to push Gardner to pursue a career as a stockbroker and
ultimately the success he has now experienced.
A narrative approach to an individual's career is firmly embodied in Systems
Theory Framework as it depicts the individual's life through connected systems.
Narrative also has strong ties to Career Construction Theory as individual's
create and shape an identity and build a career.
addresses what, how, and why people construct their careers as they translate
their storied identity into work roles (Savickas, 2005).
organises events into whole and showing their influence to shape individual
identity. Narrative is useful to explain how individuals form their identity through
story and how they can construct their lives in a meaningful way based on the
life themes that permeate their story (McMahon & Watson 2013).
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Brown & Lent (2013) explained Savickas the three stages people move through
in constructing their career:
I.
II.
III.
Actor Analysis
Gardner was the second child of four and struggled for positive role model.
Gardner's childhood was exposed to poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism and
illiteracy.
identity within the family unit. Through what may be a stroke of good fortune
Gardner was placed into foster care where he met his maternal uncles. These
men had a profound impact on Gardner at a time when he most needed a male
role model. While not having large amounts of contact with his mother, she was
a source of motivation for him, encouraging Gardner to believe in himself and
instilled self-reliance. The negative experience that Gardner was exposed to as a
child strengthened his will to the behaviours to avoid in the future and show that
such issues do not have to define an individual. Gardner was able to develop his
own personal values and followed one of his uncles in joining the navy.
Agent Analysis
Gardner was inspired by one of his uncles adventures he decided to join the navy
upon completion of secondary school. It was here that he became familiar with
Dr. Robert Ellis, who offered a position assisting him with research at a hospital in
San Francisco. This opportunity gave Gardner knowledge and technical medical
skills that he was later able to leverage off when he turned to selling medical
equipment to support his new family.
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determination and was not afraid of failure. While in the navy and subsequent
employment as a research assistant Gardner would have been exposed to many
challenges and have to deal with successes and failures. Failure was not viewed
negatively as Gardner continually took chances which many individuals would
deem to high of a risk.
Author Analysis
Gardner had identified early on that a medical career was not feasible due to the
changing nature of the health care environment. However, it was not until he
began his path to be a stockbroker did Gardner have the confidence that his
career goals were achievable.
continued his career by starting his own company which he did so successfully
and moved into charity work and motivational speaking.
CONCLUSION
With individual identity playing such a major role in career decisions Systems
Theory Framework and Career construction theory are useful tools in explaining
why.
Theory Framework we are able to identify how each of the systems were
influenced to affect Chris Gardner's careers. With Chris Gardner's story of rags
to riches capturing the imagination of Hollywood, the story of his rise is more
significant than we believe. On the individual level, ethnicity at that point in time
in America would have been a significant road block to overcome. The social
system had a profound impact on Gardner's life with the exposure in his early
years to violence and abuse, to then been placed in foster care. These event
shape greatly an individual's attitudes, values and beliefs which lie within the
individual system.
individual system, social system and environment and societal system influence
each other.
Framework.
Career construction theory gives an approach of thinking about how people
choose and use work.
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perspectives on occupation through the actor, agent and author stages. The
use of narrative through story telling is able to put context and meaning to
events that have happened in their lives. The narrative or story of Gardner's life
been no different. Through the telling of his story we are able to easily and
logically organise the events that transpired and put them into perspective.
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References
Brown, S & Lent, R 2013, Career development and counseling, Hoboken, N.J,
Wiley.
Bujold, C 2004, Constructing career through narrative, Journal of Vocational
Behavior, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 470-484.
BusinessDictionary.com 2015, What is a system? definition and meaning,
BusinessDictionary.com, viewed 1 October 2015, <Available from:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/system.html>.
Careers - in Theory 2011, One theory to rule them all?, Careers - in Theory,
viewed 4 October 2015,
<https://careersintheory.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/one-theory-to-rule-them-all2/>.
Careers.govt.nz 2015, Super's theory, Careers.govt.nz, viewed 2 October 2015,
<http://www.careers.govt.nz/educators-practitioners/career-practice/careertheory-models/supers>.
McMahon, M & Watson, M 2013, Story telling: crafting identities. British Journal of
Guidance & Counselling, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 277-286.
McMahon, M & Patton, W 1995, Development of a Systems Theory of Career
Development: A Brief Overview. Australian Journal of Career Development, vol. 4,
no. 2, pp. 15-20.
Patton, W, & McMahon, M 2014, Career Development and Systems Theory :
Connecting Theory and Practice, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
YourDictionary 2015, Examples of Personality Traits, YourDictionary, viewed 2
October 2015, <http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-personalitytraits.html>.