In 2015, 0.2% of African American women were in chief executive officer (CEO) roles and 1.2% were in executive or senior-level roles within a 500 Standard & Poor's (S&P) organization. African American women's lived experiences are underutilized by organizational and human resources (HR) leaders in the development and implementation of recruitment, talent development, diversity and inclusion, and succession planning strategies. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand lived experiences regarding career advancement decision-making strategies for senior-level African American women. The conceptual framework used was social cognitive career theory (SCCT), which addresses the 'what' and 'how' of career development and behaviors across one's life span. The central research questions were about participants' decisions-making strategies used to attain senior-level management positions and how the facets of SCCT impacted their decision-making processes. Snowball sampling was the purposeful strategy used for recruiting 12 African American women who serve/served in a senior-level position within an organization. The data collections sources included interviews and field notes. By deductive and inductive coding, the main themes uncovered were leadership, family, education, authenticity, and faith. The results of this study may benefit organizational and HR leaders as they consider improvement opportunities for their recruitment, talent management, diversity and inclusion policies and programs, and succession planning strategies, inclusive of internal and college recruitment, involvement in community youth initiatives, and strategic alignment of high-level, internal organizational stakeholders.

The main objective of the doctoral thesis was to analyze the features of one’s vocational path during the time of undergraduate studies. Undergraduate studies can be treated as a pathway of transition from school to the world of work. Therefore, it is especially important to identify what makes vocational choice successful during this period of time. In the study, several psychological success indicators of vocational path choice were distinguished. Moreover, the following factors were analyzed as their possible predictors: internal-cognitive factors (self-efficacy and vocation-related expectations), internal-personality factors (Big Five trait dimensions), external factors (situational-demographic characteristics). The study was conducted in the framework of Social Cognitive Career Theory. 625 undergraduates representing various Lithuanian universities took part in the main study. The results provide a basis for distinguishing the most important factors of vocational path choice during the transition period, i.e., those factors that most strongly relate either to vocational choice success indicators or to the adequacy of its planning. In the discussion, both theoretical implications and practical recommendations are provided. / Disertacijoje nagrinėjami profesinio kelio ypatumai bakalauro pakopos studijų metu – pereinamuoju laikotarpiu tarp mokyklos baigimo ir įėjimo į darbo pasaulį. Darbe buvo siekiama išskirti psichologinius sėkmingo profesinio kelio pasirinkimo rodiklius bei įvertinti, kokie veiksniai jiems turi daugiausiai reikšmės. Remiantis socialine kognityvine karjeros teorija ir pereinamojo laikotarpio tyrimų apžvalga, nagrinėti vidiniai kognityviniai (įvairūs saviveiksmingumo aspektai, profesiniai lūkesčiai), asmenybės (Didžiojo Penketo asmenybės bruožai) ir išoriniai (situaciniai-demografiniai) veiksniai. Tyrime dalyvavo 625 įvairių Lietuvos universitetų bakalauro pakopos, 1–4 kurso studentai. Gauti rezultatai leidžia išskirti svarbiausius vidinius ir išorinius profesinio kelio veiksnius – tuos, kurie pereinamuoju laikotarpiu labiausiai sietini su sėkmingu profesinio kelio pasirinkimu ar adekvačiu jo planavimu. Aptariant tyrimo rezultatus, diskutuojama tiek jų reikšmė teorine prasme, tiek pritaikymo galimybės profesinio orientavimo ir konsultavimo praktikoje.

abstract: The Student Performance Accomplishments Questionnaire (SPAQ) was developed and validated in two studies with two normative samples totaling 315 college students, including a subsample of undocumented students. This instrument assesses academic performance accomplishments in the context of students' academic, extracurricular, and advocacy roles. Performance accomplishments are theorized to be one of four sources of efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1986). Study 2 tested part of the Social Cognitive Career Theory model (Lent et al., 1994) in a sample of 154 student advocates. By conventional standards, the results yielded no support for the SCCT model and suggested the need for an alternative model. Results showed that student performance accomplishments in advocacy are highly related to students' academic outcomes, particularly choice actions. Choice actions were subsequently related to career goals and academic performance. No significant differences were found between documented and undocumented students on any of the variables studied. It was found that student advocates were significantly higher in performance accomplishments in advocacy, academic self-efficacy, choice action, and academic performance in comparison to student non-advocates. Clinical and research implications of these results for the field of counseling psychology were discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Counseling Psychology 2013

The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of whether or not, and how teachers in a resource-constrained rural school sustain their motivation in and commitment to teaching over a life-span. The Social Cognitive Career Theory was chosen as theoretical framework because it recognises the importance that factors in the environment play when the career paths of individuals unfold. A conceptual framework for ‘teacher career resilience’ was developed by merging current thinking on resilience, teacher resilience and career resilience. The life-history design was framed methodologically as biographical research with participatory principles. Teacher participants (n=5, 3=female and 2=male) were selected according to purposive sampling. Data were generated through participatory interview-conversations, which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, as well as memory books, joint photograph-taking and field notes in a researcher diary. Five themes emerged from the guided phenomenological analysis process (Hycner, 1985) and narrative comparison. First, this study exposes illiteracy of learners’ parents, demotivated learners, and a negative national teacher fraternity as sources of adversity not previously noted as significant for teachers in rural settings. Second, rural teachers in this study drew strength from their own life experiences of adversity (being from rural areas themselves); and they relied on their own agency in problem solving. Third, in addition participating rural teachers make use of encouraging memories of their own teachers from childhood and partake in informal professional development activities such as collaborative peer discussions rather than mentoring to grow professionally. Fourth, participating teachers in rural resource-constrained South Africa thus use similar internal protective resources (problem solving, strategizing, cognitive restructuring and emotional regulation) in their adaptive coping repertoire to those of other teachers globally. Fifth, teachers did not enter the teaching profession in the same way as has been documented elsewhere; but entered the teaching profession as a result of socio-political and financial influences, chance happenings and the influence of significant teachers in their past. Teachers seem to balance their use of protective resources between internal and external resources in their current practice. Over time, however they draw more on internal protective resources. Teachers conceptualised their teacher career resilience on a continuum: persevering through adversity, both as young children, and as growing professionals. They use their self-efficacy beliefs, embedded in an adversity drenched past, to manage, overcome and cope despite current chronic adversity. Teachers’ overt behavior in adaptive coping processes was dependent on the interrelatedness between their attributes (especially internal protective resources), the environment (chronic adversity) and the continuous loop of influence (appraisal) between these three factors. Teachers became skilled in resilience processes because of the chronic adversity they face. Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about their adaptive coping extended beyond what they themselves can achieve to what their efforts in teaching may mean to model hope to learners, as their teachers modelled to them, fostering a certain altruistic career anchor. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

One of the most problematic issues facing community colleges is developmental education. In the last decade, more research has been conducted examining developmental education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of developmental math in a rural community college setting. Is developmental math an effective intervention? This study consisted of first time college students who took the COMPASS placement exam and scored 18-48. Students who scored 18-33 were placed in Math 098 (N=241) and received the developmental intervention. Math 098 is a semester-long course designed to prepare students for college-level math coursework, and it served as the intervention. Students who scored 34-48 were placed in Math 100 (N=469) and did not receive the developmental intervention. Because this represents a bandwidth close to a cut-score, these 2 groups are viewed as equivalent (Trochim, 2008). The initial intent of the study was to implement a regression-discontinuity design, but this failed to meet two necessary conditions. The researcher then executed an ANOVA, a series of chi-square goodnes-ofit procedures, and 2 binary logistic regressions in order to determine if any significant differences and/or relationship existed between treatment and control groups. Data were collected for this retrospective, quantitative research study from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at the selected site. The selected site represents a medium-sized, rural community college located in the South. The findings in this study illustrate that those students who received the develomental intervention reported a statistically significant higher cummulative college GPAs than those who did not. The findings also illustrated that a statistically significant difference existed in regards to grades. Therefore, there was a statistically significant difference in grade distribution between both groups. When withdrawals and grades were evaluated together, no statistically significant distribution was observed. Two binary logisitic regressions were also conducted. No relationships were statistically significant between groups regarding Math 100 pass/fail rates or Math 100 completion rates. The researcher concluded that the findings suggest that Math 098 is an effective treatment for student achievement. The researcher recommended execution of more studies that replicate this model and examine rural populations.

No description available.

The purpose of this ethnographic study is to explore the following: 1. The counsellors’ experience of the process of career counselling provided to students at a distance learning institution 2. My own experiences of doing counselling with Unisa students. 3. How Holland’s career theory, the social cognitive career theory and the chaos theory of careers could shape the process of career counselling. The themes that emanated from the stories of six counsellors indicate that they view counselling as a continuous process wherein it is necessary to strike a balance through blended counselling between the needs of individuals versus helping the multitude of anonymous students. In order to facilitate counselling effectively, counsellors need resources and in order to develop these resources they use a diversity of career theories which act as a frame of reference. Attention is given to the development of career counsellors’ identity and self-confidence and how this impacts on the counsellors’ growth. The recommendations of this study hold the promise of contributing to the counselling process at the DCCD. / Psychology / D.Litt.et Phil. (Psychology)

I denna mastersuppsats undersöker författaren det möjliga värdet av karriärteorier. Värdet är empiriskt undersökt med utgångspunkt I tio fallstudier av intervjutyp. Författaren kommer till slutsatsen att kunskap om karriärteorier möjliggör en bättre förståelse av hur individer fattar karriär- och utbildningsbeslut. Författaren argumenterar för att kunskap om karriärteorier är, och bör vara relevant för vägledarnas profession och yrkesroll. / In this master thesis the author investigates the potential value of career theories. The potential value is empirically investigated on the basis of ten interviewee case studies. The author reaches the conclusion that career theories does enable a better understanding of how individuals make career- and educational choices and argues that knowledge of career theories is, and should be relevant for the guidance counsellors professional role.

Med avstamp i debatten kring gymnasieskolors marknadsföring och information gentemot elever, tog denna studie sin form. Studie- och yrkesvägledning är en profession som har att förhålla sig till hur information i gymnasieskolors broschyrer kan relateras till stödinsatser för elever som står inför ett gymnasieval. Syftet var att utifrån ett diskursteoretiskt perspektiv belysa hur gymnasieskolors information i broschyrer 2011 kan relateras till elevers valhandlingar och marknadsföring av gymnasieutbildning. Genom tillämpning av en textanalytisk modell med fokus på en ideationell samt interpersonell struktur analyserades 52 broschyrer från gymnasieskolor som erbjuder Ekonomiprogrammet 2011 inom Stockholms Läns samverkansavtal. Resultat visade att vissa skolor inte följer statliga rekommendationer för hur Ekonomiprogrammet bör beskrivas gentemot elever samt att det definieras relativt olika i broschyrerna. De slutsatser som drogs var att gymnasieskolor appellerar till olika utbildningsaspirationer samt att eleverna betraktas som konsumenter, vilket kommer till uttryck genom olika immateriella erbjudanden från skolorna. / This study takes its point of departure in the ongoing debate on how upper secondary schools use marketing and information to attract future students. Career guidance is a profession that includes considerations about how information in schools’ brochures can relate to guidance support regarding educational choice. The aim of the study is, from a discourse-theoretical perspective, to illuminate how information in upper secondary school brochures of 2011 relates to educational choice, and also how upper secondary schools market themselves. By applying a text analysis model that focused on ideational and interpersonal structure, 52 brochures from schools in ‘Stockholms Län’ about the programme ‘Economics’ were analysed. Results show that not all upper secondary schools follow the national guidelines for how ‘Economics’ should be described in the brochures and that the descriptions of the programme varies. Conclusions of this study were that brochures of upper secondary schools appeal to different educational aspirations, and that students are seen as consumers to whom different intangibles are offered.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação final Rafael de Sousa Moreira - 11-12-15.pdf: 3552106 bytes, checksum: f1b6e8ca2661437fef77d31d63b50c48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-16 / The labor world has been changing in the course of the last decades and following those shifts the nature of the relationship between organizations and professionals is also changing. A relatively new multidisciplinary field of knowledge in the academy studies those configurations and has developed theories on new career models. The academics of this field have shown that the traditional career model is no longer responding the needs of professionals and contemporary organizations. In this context, the Brazilian public service has been trying to organize its activities in public careers since the 30’s, without success. Many of the constitutive elements giving form to those careers are still based on those premises and are related to the traditional career model. The present work intends to examine the relationship between those contemporary theoretical models and the practical operation of a career in the federal Executive Branch. Using the case study as methodology, this work explores the career of Specialist in Public Policy and Government Management and its characteristics are compared to two modern theoretical models: the boundaryless and the protean career. The findings point towards evidences of the presence of many elements consistent with those career models in the case studied, and the practical operation of those elements was described and analyzed, showing the difficulties in operationalizing those models amid the context of bureaucratic culture in the public sector and the inertial strength of the traditional career model. It is hoped that this study and its conclusions will cast light on those possibilities brought by the career models and the viability limits in introducing them in the public context. The applicability of this work relies in its corroboration in fulfilling the lack of academic studies on public careers in Brazil and in giving solid ground for the work of public managers involved in the theme of career management. / O mundo do trabalho vem mudando ao longo das últimas décadas e acompanhando essas mudanças a relação das organizações e dos profissionais com as carreiras vem também se alterando. Um campo de conhecimento multidisciplinar e relativamente novo na academia estuda estas novas configurações e formula teorias sobre novos modelos de carreiras. Os teóricos da área tem demonstrado que os modelos tradicionais de carreira não mais se ajustam aos anseios dos profissionais e às necessidades das organizações contemporâneas. Em meio a este contexto, o serviço público brasileiro tenta organizar suas atividades em carreiras desde a década de 30, sem lograr grande êxito. Os principais elementos constitutivos que dão forma as atuais carreiras são ainda daquela época e estão relacionados ao modelo tradicional. Este trabalho tem por objetivo investigar a relação entre os modelos teóricos contemporâneos e o funcionamento prático de uma carreira no âmbito do Poder Executivo federal. Utilizando-se do estudo de caso como ferramenta metodológica foi explorada a carreira de Especialista em Políticas Públicas e Gestão Governamental do governo federal e suas características foram comparadas a dois modelos teóricos modernos de carreiras: sem fronteira e proteano. Concluiu-se pelo achado de evidências suficientes que comprovam a presença na carreira estudada de elementos consistentes com os modelos teóricos referenciados. O funcionamento prático desses elementos foi descrito e analisado, identificando-se as dificuldades na sua operacionalização em meio à cultura burocrática do setor público e à força inercial do modelo tradicional, habitualmente empregado no desenho de carreiras públicas. Espera-se, com isso, lançar luz sobre as possibilidades dos novos modelos teóricos de carreira e sua aplicação no serviço público e os limites da viabilidade de implantá-los nesse contexto. A aplicabilidade do trabalho encontra-se tanto na contribuição do material à superação da carência de estudos sobre carreiras no âmbito do serviço público brasileiro, quanto no fornecimento de embasamento teórico para ações de gestores públicos envolvidos com a temática da gestão de carreiras.