Back in the 50s, Donald Super described the life-career rainbow and the “constellation of roles” it represents. Most theorists since have agreed that one’s work role needs to be seen in the context of other roles such as parent, student, and citizen. Few, however, describe a specific method to help clients integrate work, family, and other roles.
Andreas Hirschi’s article attempts to fill this method gap. It describes an intervention approach based on his and others’ “action regulation model”[1] for achieving work-family balance. This model shows how individuals are active agents who can pursue and achieve valued goals by working with existing resources and barriers. When applied to work-nonwork balance goals, this allows an individual to tap into resources and manage barriers that apply to both work and non-work roles. For example, consider a person whose spouse bears the burden of getting a child to/from daycare, an obligation that affects the spouse’s satisfaction with family and work. The person is also dissatisfied because they value family and want to do their part, but current work hours do not permit doing so. Negotiating different hours with the employer could help with family satisfaction and has the potential of contributing to work satisfaction.
Key to this approach is the continuous movement implied by the word “action.” As the individual proceeds with the actions needed to shift resources, reduce obstacles, and adjust goals, they begin feeling more competent and satisfied in all the roles they are focusing on. This heightened confidence makes it easier to deploy further action strategies, including (a) planning (articulating goals and steps to reach them), (b) changing (adding resources and removing barriers), (c) sequencing (optimizing the order in which goals will be achieved and events undertaken), and (d) revising (regrouping with new goals and plans as needed).
The key components of the model look simple, but each involves substance and nuances:
- Stage 1: Clarifying work and nonwork goals and their linkages across the roles they play.
- Stage 2: Mapping resources and barriers related to work and nonwork goals. These can be personal and environmental.
- Stage 3: Developing action strategies to reach work and nonwork goals simultaneously.
- Stage 4: Monitoring goal progress and adapting by adjusting goals, plans, and actions.
The stages are roughly sequential but they interact with each other. For example, a person who has clarified goals may return to goal-setting after mapping resources and barriers.
This article creates a few implications for CDPs. At the minimum, it is a reminder that people play a variety of roles and work choices are not made in isolation. It also calls CDPs to actively incorporate planning and action for multiple roles into career interventions, regardless of one’s base approach (e.g., constructionist, person-environment) or context (e.g., 1-to-1, group work). Finally, CDPs will benefit by taking a deep dive into this article to not only learn the framework but the rationale that supports it. This article does not produce evidence, but it is certainly evidence-based.
[1] Hirschi, A., Shockley, K. M., & Zacher, H. (2019). Achieving work-family balance: An action regulation model. Academy of Management Review, 44, 150–171. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2016.0409
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