Psychological Society of South Africa. All rights reserved. South African Journal of Psychology, 39(2), pp. 184-194ISSN 0081-2463

Career psychology research challenges: a systemstheory responseMary McMahon School of Education, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australiamarylmcmahon@uq.edu.au

Mark Watson Department of Psychology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa

International and South African debate on the future direction of career psychology has suggesteda movement towards qualitative, narrative and storied approaches that are informed by the con-structivist worldview. The My System of Career Influences (MSCI) reflection process is a qualitativecareer assessment tool developed in South Africa and Australia and derived from the constructivistSystems Theory Framework (STF) of career development. As a technique, the MSCI demonstratesversatility of application in one on one career counselling or in group settings such as classrooms.More recently, its utility as an innovative research tool has been explored. We overview the STF andthe subsequent development of the qualitative career assessment tool, the My System of CareerInfluences. We describe examples of empirical investigations that use the MSCI as a research tool.The potential of this emerging body of research to address issues facing career development in thepostmodern era and in South Africa specifically is discussed.

Keywords: career assessment; career development; My System of Career Influences; MSCI;narrative career counselling; qualitative research; Systems Theory Framework; STF

For most of its history, career development research has been dominated by a paradigm emanatingout of the modern era that is predominately quantitative in nature (Savickas, 2001). Such researchhas served and continues to serve career psychology well in providing a detailed, measured under-standing of career behaviour and development. Career theory and practice have also been dominatedby methods and approaches reflecting the logical-positivist tradition of the modern era. Morerecently, there is evidence in theory and practice of a postmodern influence, especially the influenceof constructivism (e.g. Patton & McMahon, 2006a, 2006b; Savickas, 2005b). This is reflected intheories that are more holistic and dynamic and in practices that embrace narrative and storied ap-proaches.

To date, career development research has been slower to respond to the influence of construc-tivism (Savickas, 2001). Concerns have been expressed that exclusive use of traditional quantitativeresearch approaches could be limiting in terms of their capacity to respond to the increasinglycomplex research topics that are emerging in the 21st century society (e.g. Blustein, Kenna, Murphy,DeVoy, & DeWine, 2005; Lee, Mitchell, & Sablynski, 1999). A further concern in career develop-ment research that is reflective of concerns in the broader field of psychology is that most psycholo-gical research is of limited relevance for practitioners because psychological practice is now morereflective of postmodern constructs (Polkinghorne, 1992)

Traditionally, career development research has demonstrated a reliance on quantitative metho-dologies. However, in the postmodern era greater emphasis may be placed on qualitative methodsusing narrative processes and discursive practices than on method centred empirical approaches(Kvale, 1992). Blustein et al. (2005) claimed that qualitative research has much to offer careerdevelopment research, practice and assessment and that it has now assumed a more central ratherthan marginal role in contemporary inquiry. Through narrative and discursive processes, qualitativeresearch becomes more of a two-way interactive process in which the researcher assumes a moreparticipative role (Blustein et al., 2005; Lee, et al., 1999; Shotter, 1992) and the local narratives or

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stories of the participants assume greater importance than theory (Kvale, 1992). Thus, emphasis isplaced on the study of individuals, new methods of inquiry are possible and new topics and questionsof research may be considered. In this regard, qualitative research serves a different function fromtraditional research in that it enables different questions to be asked and answered and it is wellsuited to studies seeking description, interpretation and explanation (Lee et al., 1999).

While the use of qualitative research in career psychology is not new (Blustein et al., 2005),it has received increasing attention because of its potential to address concerns expressed aboutcareer development research. In this regard, Savickas (2001) proposed eight objectives forvocational psychology in order to address these concerns. These included closing the gap betweenresearch and practice, diversifying research methodologies, and widening the research lens.

In the South African context, there has been an ongoing debate in recent decades that careertheory, practice and assessment has been inappropriately dominated by adopted western, indivi-dualised approaches and models (e.g. Kuit & Watson, 2005; Naicker, 1994; Nicholas, Naidoo, &Pretorius, 2006; Watson & Kuit, 2007). This has led to several suggestions for the future directionof career psychology in South Africa, one of which has been the call for the development of in-digenous career models or the practical use of contextually sensitive approaches (e.g. Mkhize &Frizelle, 2000; Stead & Watson, 2006; Watson, 2006). In recent times, the use of qualitative nar-rative storied approaches has been advocated as more sensitive to the diverse contexts in whichSouth African career development takes place (e.g. Eloff, 2002; Fritz & Beekman, 2007; Maree,2007; Maree & Molepo, 2006). Recent career psychology research (Bojuwoye & Mbanjwe, 2006)has used a systems theory perspective to investigate the contextual factors influencing the careerchoices of South African tertiary students. In general, the debate in South African career psychologyand the suggestions offered for a way forward are consistent with the international trend to developtheories, practices and research that are informed by the constructivist worldview.

Reflecting Savickass (2001) objectives as well as concerns about career research in SouthAfrica, the constructivist Systems Theory Framework (STF) (McMahon & Patton, 1995; Patton &McMahon, 1999, 2006a) of career development and its derivative, the My System of Career Influen-ces (MSCI) (McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2005a, 2005b) qualitative career assessment process isdiscussed. One of the strengths of the STF and the MSCI is their easy translation into practice andresearch. Such research typifies the characteristics of qualititative research outlined by Lee et al.(1999) in that it is conducted in natural settings, derives data from the participants perspectives, isreflexive, is designed to suit the research situation and uses non-standard instrumentation, methodsand analyses. The emerging body of research based on the STF and the MSCI (e.g. Kuit, 2005;McIlveen, Ford, & Dun, 2005; McIlveen, MacGregor-Bayne, Alcock, & Hjertum, 2003; McMahon,Watson, Foxcroft, & Dullabh, 2008) is based on qualitative processes, as well as multileveled andmultilayered recursiveness (i.e. interaction), discursiveness (i.e. dialogue), and relational (i.e. colla-borative) approaches that position participants as active agents constructing their careers.

The application of the STF and of the MSCI to research is responsive to issues identified aslimiting career development research in the 21st century such as the need for a relationship betweentheory, research and practice, diverse research paradigms that are responsive to the complex societyof the 21st century, and embedding data in the context and culture of the research participant (Mc-Mahon & Watson, 2008a; Savickas, 2001). In addition, the STF has been proposed as an analyticalframework through which career development research can be viewed (McMahon & Watson, 2007a)and through which career development researchers may position themselves in the context of theirresearch.

In the present article we describe career development research that is theoretically groundedin the constructivist STF (McMahon & Patton, 1995; Patton & McMahon, 1999, 2006a) of careerdevelopment and that uses the MSCI as a research tool. In particular, it overviews the STF and thesubsequent development of the qualitative career assessment tool, the MSCI (McMahon, Patton, &Watson, 2005a, 2005b), both of which have demonstrated their applicability across countries and

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across cultures inclusive of South Africa (Arthur & McMahon, 2005; McMahon & Watson, 2007a,2007b; Patton, McMahon & Watson, 2006). The potential of this emergent body of research toaddress issues facing career psychology research in the postmodern era and in South Africa is thendiscussed.

The theoretical base of the researchThe STF provides the theoretical base for the research discussed in this article. First published asa metatheoretical framework in 1995 (McMahon & Patton), the STF was a response to the conver-gence debate of the early 1990s (e.g. Savickas & Lent, 1994). Described as one of four significantinnovations in career theory (Amundson, 2005), the holistic STF (see Figure 1) accommodates boththe content influences and the process influences of an individuals career development. Contentinfluences include personal qualities and characteristics intrinsic to individuals, as well as influencesfrom the context in which they live including the people and organizations with whom they interact,society and the environment. Content influences are not static and also interact in the process ofcareer development, thus the STF may be described as a dynamic open system. The dynamism ofthe STF is reflected in its process influences, specifically recursiveness (the interaction betweeninfluences), change over time and chance. The content influences are organized in the STF as aseries of three interconnecting systems of influence on career development, termed the individualsystem, the social system, and the environmental-societal system. These three systems are set withinthe context of past, present and future thus recognizing the process of career development over time.

The individual system comprises a range of intrapersonal influences such as gender, interests,age, personality, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. The intrapersonal influences represent thesubsystems of the individual system. Individuals are both a system and a subsystem. As subsystems,individuals do not exist in isolation, but rather interact with the influences of a much largercontextual system which comprises the social system and the environmental-societal system. Thesocial system refers to influences such as family, educational institutions, peers and the media. Theindividual and the social systems occur within the environmental-societal system which includesinfluences such as geographic location, socioeconomic circumstances, political decisions and globa-lization.

The process influences of recursiveness, change over time and chance illustrate the dynamicnature of career development. Recursiveness refers to multidirectional and nonlinear interactionwithin and between influences and systems. The nature of these influences and their degree of in-fluence change over time. Chance refers to unexpected events such as accidents or natural disastersthat may influence career development in ways that are not planned or predictable. All of the processand content influences are set within the broader system of time. The past influences the present,and together, past and present influence the future. More extensive descriptions of the STF can befound in the literature (e.g. McMahon & Patton, 1995; Patton & McMahon, 1999, 2006a).

Moving from theory to practiceA major challenge levelled at constructivist theories such as the STF is that of how they may beapplied to practice (Patton & McMahon, 2006b; Reid, 2006). Indeed, in the developmental historyof the STF much attention has been focused on developing practical applications for diverse clientgroups and settings (McMahon & Watson, 2008a; Patton & McMahon, 1997; Patton, McMahon,& Watson, 2006; W atson & McMahon, 2006). Such applications enable clients to contextualizetheir career decisions. The STF has been applied to career counselling (e.g. McMahon, 2005;McMahon & Patton, 2006; McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2004; McMahon & Watson, 2008b;Miller 2004, 2006), multicultural career counselling (e.g. Arthur & McMahon, 2005; Patton,McMahon, & Watson, 2006; McMahon & Watson, 2008a), career education (Watson & McMahon,2006), and career assessment (e.g. McIlveen et al., 2005; McIlveen et al., 2003; McMahon, Patton,& Watson, 2005a,

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2005b; McMahon, Watson, & Patton, in press a, b). While some of these applications have beendeveloped predominantly at a conceptual level, others (e.g. Arthur & McMahon, 2005), includingthe MSCI, have been developed through rigorous research processes (see McMahon, Watson, andPatton (2005) for a description of the development of the MSCI).

The development of the MSCI may be viewed as a response to the challenge of applyingconstructivist theory to practice in that it bridges theory and practice (McMahon, Watson, & Patton,2005). In this regard, Savickas (2005a) observed that the MSCI represents the translation of asophisticated theoretical model into a straightforward counselling method accompanied by coherentcounselling materials (p. iii). The rigorous development process conducted in South Africa andAustralia followed published guidelines for the development of qualitative career assessment instru-ments (McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2003) and spanned a three-year period. More recently, anadult version of the MSCI has been developed and trialled in South Africa, Australia and England(McMahon, Watson, & Patton, in press a, b). In essence, the systems of influence of the STF havebeen translated into a series of steps in the guided reflection process of the MSCI. Table 1 depictsa comparison of the elements of the STF and the MSCI. By completing the steps of the guided

Figure 1. Systems Theory Framework of career development( Patton & McMahon, 1999)

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reflection process, individuals visually represent, elaborate, and reflect on their own system of careerinfluences and create their own career stories (McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2004). Through thissequential process, they come to better understand the uniqueness, wholeness and interconnectednessof career development. Each step of the MSCI will now be briefly described.

Table 1. Comparison of elements of the STF and MSCI

STF MSCI

Content InfluencesIndividual system of influencesSocial systemEnvironmental-societal systemPast, present, future

Process InfluencesRecursiveness, change over time, chance

Thinking about who I amThinking about the people around meThinking about society and the environmentThinking about my past, present and future Representing my system of career influences My System of Career Influences 1

Reflecting on my system of career influencesMy action planMy System of Career Influences 2

The MSCI is a booklet of 12 pages, each of which provides brief information, instructions andexamples, as well as places where reflections can be recorded. The booklet consists of three sections.In the first section on a page titled my present career situation is a series of open-ended questionsinviting individuals to reflect on topics such as occupational aspirations, work experience, life roles,previous decision-making and support networks. The next section of the booklet mirrors theconstruction of the STF as shown in Table 1. Throughout this section individuals identify, prioritizeand diagrammatically represent their influences on pages titled thinking about who I am (theindividual system), thinking about the people around me (the social system), thinking about societyand the environment (the environmental-societal system), and thinking about my past, present andfuture (the context of time). On each page examples of career influences are provided from whichindividuals may select or to which they can add their own influences, following which they prioritizethe influences they have selected. Individuals are guided in a summation of their influences by apage titled representing my system of career influences. The summation of influences is then dia-grammatically represented on a chart titled my system of career influences.

In the third section of the MSCI, on a page titled reflecting on my system of career influences,a series of open-ended guided reflection questions invites individuals to reflect on their system ofcareer influences and the insights gained through the process of completing the MSCI. On a subse-quent page, individuals complete my action plan. There is provision in the MSCI for individuals tosubsequently return to it, complete it for a second time, compare their two systems of career influen-ces and develop a second action plan.

The MSCI demonstrates versatility as a technique that may be used in one on one careercounselling (McMahon & Watson, 2008a, 2008b; Patton, McMahon, & Watson, 2006) or in groupsettings such as classrooms (Watson & McMahon, 2006). Its use is described in a Facilitators Guide(McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2005b) which contains a range of supplementary activities and alsoconsiders the role of the career counsellor or career education teacher as a facilitator of a reflectiveprocess. A comprehensive description of the development of the MSCI is available in the literature(e.g. Patton & McMahon, 2006a; McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2005a, 2005b; McMahon, Watson,& Patton, 2005).

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Applying theory and practice in researchThe theoretically based MSCI was developed through a rigorous research process conducted acrosstwo countries (McMahon, Watson, & Patton, 2005), applied in practice and is now being used tostimulate a body of research that McMahon and Watson (2006) concluded is responsive to thechallenges of career development research in the postmodern era. The MSCI has been used as aresearch instrument in both group (e.g. career education lessons) and individual (e.g. career coun-selling) settings. Two recent studies conducted in South Africa and described in this section illustratethe recursive relationship between theory and practice and research through the use of the MSCIwith diverse research participants. McMahon, Watson, Foxcroft, and Dullabh, (2008) described theuse of the MSCI in individual counselling sessions in order to research the career development ofadolescents who were in institutional care from an early developmental age. Their sample of 16English-speaking adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years had all experienced early depri-vational experiences resulting in developmental and adjustment problems that impacted on variousspheres of their lives including their career development. The adolescents had been placed undercare as children because their parents were either deceased, suffered from alcohol or drug abuse,incarcerated, or the parents whereabouts were unknown. The procedure of administering the MSCIessentially followed the process suggested in the Facilitators Guide, specifically conducting apreliminary activity to develop systemic thinking, completing the MSCI, and then reflecting on theMSCI diagram.

Kuit (2005) trained career education teachers in two single-sex schools in the use of the MSCIas a career education process for Grade 11 guidance classes. His sample consisted of 70 Grade 11middle socioeconomic status, English-speaking boys (n = 35) and girls (n = 35) who were 16 or 17years of age. As in McMahon et al.s research, the procedure followed the process suggested in theFacilitators Guide. In a second phase to his research, Kuit conducted follow-up individual careercounselling sessions with one Grade 11 girl. These sessions were based on the participants com-pleted MSCI and followed what Kuit termed a systemic narrative career counselling process. Assuch, the sessions provided the participant with an opportunity to evaluate her MSCI and to re-construct her career decision-making process within a systemic framework, thus identifyinginfluential systems in that process.

The results of both studies demonstrated that the MSCI is a useful career education and careercounselling tool, and that core aspects of the STF theory on which it is based were evident in theparticipants responses. McMahon et al.s (in press) research demonstrated that the unique macroand micro environmental systems within which their sample of disadvantaged adolescents livedpresented contextual influences that differed from those of a normative family system. These adoles-cents placed a major emphasis on the environmental and societal system in reflecting on theirpersonal diagram of systemic influences. In particular, the need for financial support was prioritizedby most of these adolescents. The influence of family was described in terms of significant othersin the adolescents lives such as the role of designated house parents within the institutional system.

Kuits (2005) research also endorsed the utility of the MSCI in group and individual contexts.Besides the qualitative feedback from the career educators that the MSCI was useful in providingscaffolding within which participants could position the complex system of both macro and microcareer influences on their career development, there was a notable emphasis on environmental-societal influences on the adolescents career development. Financial costs of further education aswell as the availability of future work emerged as important areas of reflection in both samples. Inthe female sample there were additional themes that included the desire to work overseas and thegeographic location of their future training and education. In terms of the MSCIs conceptualizationof past, present and future, only the influence of future considerations (such as anticipated lifestyleand the possible combining of work and family roles) emerged in both samples.

In addition, the career educators reported that working through the MSCI booklet had en-couraged a greater awareness in the participants of the impact of the environmental-societal influen-ces they had identified on their career decision making process. Similarly, Kuit (2005) themed a

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large number of the participants reflections as focusing on the extent of the influences they hadidentified on their career development. Participants reported being surprised by or becoming newlyaware of how much the various systems of influence in the MSCI had played a role in their career-related experiences. Several adolescents reported that the MSCI had allowed them to consider howtheir career development had been shaped and constructed by prominent influences and how theircareer development might be otherwise.

Kuits (2005) results from the second phase of his research, the follow-up individual careercounselling sessions using the MSCI as a framework, demonstrated how the participant developeda more agentive identity as a consequence of reflecting on the influences in her career development.First, the participant was encouraged to reflect on her career situation using her answers to a set ofopen-ended questions contained in the first section of the MSCI. Second, following a step-by-stepprocess, the participant engaged in a counselling session based on her system of influences diagramconstructed in the classroom setting. In the career counselling process, the participant reflected onthe pressures that identified systemic social and environmental-societal influences had on her careerdecision making process, resulting in the decision to recursively engage with her parents and othersignificant individuals about her career future and the need for more time to properly explore hercareer options. With the assistance of the career counsellor, the participant then developed an actionplan to assist her with her career decision making.

As reflected in this research example, the MSCI assists individuals to identify concrete stepsin their action plans. Clients may enact their action plans themselves, as with Kuits (2005) client.Alternatively, there may be a role for career counsellors to assist clients in enacting their action plansthrough systemic interventions such as parent interviews or advocacy on their behalf (e.g. with anemployer). As a result of group processes using the MSCI, facilitators or career education teachersmay identify topics that could be best dealt with in a whole group situation, for example, resumewriting or coping with transition.

Responding to issues in career development researchAs illustrated in the previous discussion of preliminary South African research using the STF andMSCI, future research grounded in the STF and MSCI could respond to issues in career develop-ment research by diversifying samples, capitalising on the metatheoretical capabilities of the STF,broadening the evidence base of STF derived practices, and the further development of tools andcounselling approaches. For instance, the nature of recursiveness within research utilizing an STFframework and the MSCI is demonstrated in both studies. The researchers and their participants arein multi-leveled and multi-layered recursive roles as career counsellors and students, career coun-sellor and client, as well as a mentor of career education teachers. Kuit (2005) and McMahon et al.s(in press) research also demonstrates the relationship between theory and research in their use of theSTF as a metatheoretical framework for integrating diverse theoretical and counselling models. Kuitintegrates narrative therapy and discursive analysis within a counselling model that is guided by theMSCI, while McMahon et al. consider several career theories of childhood career development with-in the guiding framework of the STF in conceptualizing their research participants. Thus, bothresearch studies provide clear evidence of a multi-layer and multi-level recursiveness betweentheory, research and practice.

There is also evidence that both studies have used the STF and the MSCI in order to researchwithin the context and culture of the research participants. McMahon et al. (in press) have used theMSCI successfully with a group of socially disadvantaged adolescents, while Kuit (2005) hasstudied the systemic influences on the career development of socially advantaged adolescents. Fur-ther, there are recursive implications in the research findings themselves. For instance, the identi-fication and prioritization of certain systemic influences on the career development of adolescents(whether advantaged or disadvantaged) suggests that career education programmes should beinformed by student needs, for example, the prevalent identified need to travel and work overseas.Thus, recursiveness can be seen to function at two levels: the macro level of theory, research and

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practice (i.e. theoretical relationship between practice and research), as well as the micro level ofthe individual (i.e. interaction between individuals and their systems of influence) and the reflectiveprocess inherent in the MSCI.

The centrality of the individual is a particular feature of constructivist theory, the STF and thepractice and research it has stimulated. Narrative and storied approaches and meaning provide afoundation for the qualitative career assessment processes derived from the STF (i.e. the MSCI)(McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2005a, 2005b; McIlveen et al., 2005; McIlveen et al., 2003) and alsoadd to the emergent body of research using the STF and the MSCI. The raised profile of narrative,story and meaning is related to the centrality of the individual in the STF and the MSCI and the indi-viduals relationship with each of the influences and systems of influence.

It is not so much the identification of influences that is important in research using the MSCI,but rather the priority afforded to influences by research participants and the meaning ascribed toand stories told about influences. For example, one talented musician may prioritize exceptionaltalent in music and construct a story involving music as a future occupational pathway because oftheir passion for it regardless of the uncertainty of employment, whereas another may not prioritizeexceptional talent in music at all and construct a story about music as a future hobby because theyfind the constant need to practice a burden and the uncertainty of employment a concern. This ex-ample describes a particular feature of qualitative assessment and research instruments such as theMSCI, specifically their capacity through in-depth reflection to facilitate clients and counsellorsunpacking and transforming the intertwined contextual factors that shape our working lives(Blustein et al. 2005, p. 367).

Fundamental to the previous examples is the STF construct of recursiveness and its ability toexamine the relational aspects of career development. Indeed, McMahon and Watson (2007a,2007b) suggested that the construct of recursiveness provides a means to understand issues facingcareer development research, and that it also represents a strength of research based on the STF andMSCI that is critical to the future expansion of STF research. For example, the multi-leveled andmulti-layered nature of recursiveness was highlighted by the MSCI research examples being re-cursively embedded into the practices of career education and career counselling, the researchparticipants also being clients and students, and the researchers being career counsellors. In addition,the research was recursively embedded in the context and culture of the participants. Thus a multi-leveled and multi-layered recursive relationship was demonstrated between theory, practice andresearch. Specifically, as the research procedures were also career development interventions, theparticipants experienced direct benefits from their participation in the research rather than simplyproviding research data for the researchers, as is the case in some more traditional research para-digms. In this regard, results may be viewed in terms of personal benefits to participants and in termsof research findings presented and analysed by the researchers. McMahon and Watson (2007a,2007b) regard recursiveness as a fundamental construct in research examining the effects of careerpractice on individuals, the relationship between individuals and their social and environmental-societal influences, and the relationship between theory, practice and research.

CONCLUSIONResearch based on the STF and its qualitative career assessment tool, the MSCI, is embryonic. How-ever, there are signs that this innovative qualitative career assessment tool is generating new methodsof inquiry that are responsive to identified issues in the field of career development research bothinternationally and in South Africa. While there is much more future research to be undertaken usingthe STF and the MSCI, what has emerged at this early stage as a strength of this body of researchis the recursive relationship it has demonstrated between career theory, research and practice. Thusthe STF and MSCI have the potential to address key concerns facing career development researchin the postmodern era and in South Africa.

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