Directions Donald Super believed that humans are anything but static and that pe

Question

Directions Donald Super believed that humans are anything but static and that personal change is continuous. Super's Life-Span theory is a comprehensive developmental model that accounts for the various important influences on a person as they experience different life roles and various life stages. Here are some of Super's main tenets: Every individual has potential. People have skills and talents that they develop through different life roles, making them capable of a variety of tasks and numerous occupations. People seek career satisfaction through work roles in which they can express themselves and develop their self-concept. Self-knowledge is key to career choice and job satisfaction. Career development is lifelong and accounts for the changes and decisions that people make from career entry to retirement. Super's Life-Span theory underscores the importance of examining career development within the larger context of an individual's roles, lifestyle, and achieving life/work balance. [Reference: Baruch, Y. (2004). Managing Careers: Theory and Practice. Pearson Education.] Think about the statements, questions, and scenarios below. Which of these two statements do you believe is truer of today's employees? The idea of work/life balance suggests that while employees are busy earning a living, they are also busy living a life. Or is the situation the reverse in that while people are busy living a life, they are also earning a living to support their lifestyle. Take a position on whether work is the primary factor of your identity and respond accordingly. How has Super's lifespan theory informed your career development perspective and plans? Create a short response explaining your position on each of these questions. Submit a one-page paper that describes your answers as well as how your discussion with another person changed or reinforced your viewpoints.

Explanation / Answer

One of the most important things about one’s development is that one builds one’s identity in terms of professional and personal life. The challenge in developing these identities is to strike a balance between the two in order to lead a happy life. Unfortunately, it has become very difficult for many who work in different companies to do that due to the work pressure, career advancement prospects and rivalry inside the organization. Super’s five stage model such as growth (0-14), exploration (15-24), establishment (25-44), maintenance (45-64) and decline from 65 shows the developmental cycle where one is very active during the establishment stage where one starts one’s career and put more effort in trying to withstand the initial struggles and overcomes the challenges and proves oneself.

I agree with the statement that many people have a work life where their personal life is part of it. They find it difficult to spend time with the family and thus end-up in a mess. The family life breaks and they are left with no one around them except their work. They spend more time in the office and become a machine that does the routine work. The problem with being an workaholic is that the break in the family relationship will have a direct impact on one’s job performance. In other words, it’s one’s family support or the affiliations one holds in the society that drives one to achieve things both in the society and at work.

On the other hand people who chose to give more importance to personal life were not able to progress in the work place due to the long demanding hours in the office or at work. They were not able to contribute more to the work thus remain in the same place in terms of position and finance. This has an adverse effect on one’s family as they wouldn’t have enough money to run the family happily in terms of spending for food, clothing, education and medicine.

Today, just as in Super’s third stage establishment, striking a balance between professional and personal life is very important in order to lead a happy and content life because one would find love, get married, beget children, spend time with them and provide for them during the same age. So managing both the work and personal life would pose a great threat to anyone in the age of 24-44.

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