Holland’s TheoryHolland’s Theory (1997)(1997)

Of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments

Holland’s TheoryHolland’s Theory

Part of the theory’s appeal is due to the simple and intuitively meaningful premises on which it is based.

Three fundamental questions:Three fundamental questions:

ONE: What characteristics of persons and

environments lead to positive vocational outcomes (such as satisfying career outcomes)?

• What characteristics of persons and environments lead to negative career outcomes?

Three fundamental questions:Three fundamental questions:

TWO:

What characteristics of persons and environments leads to career stability or change over the life-span?

Three fundamental questions:Three fundamental questions:

THREE:

• What are the most effective ways of providing assistance to people with career concerns?

Holland’s underlying premise:Holland’s underlying premise:

Career choice is an expression of one’s personality …– Thus, members of an occupation have

similar personalities and similar histories.

Holland’s four working assumptions:Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 1 : Most individuals can be described in terms of their resemblance to six personality types:

InvestigativeInvestigative

ArtisticArtistic

SocialSocial

EnterprisingEnterprising

ConventionalConventional

RealisticRealistic

Holland TypesHolland Types

Holland’s four working assumptions:Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 1 (Continued):– Each personality type has a characteristic set

of attitudes and skills to use in response to problems encountered in the environment, and

– Each encompasses preferences for vocational and leisure activities, life goals and values, beliefs about oneself, and problem-solving style.

Holland’s four working assumptions:Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 1 (Continued):– Types develop as a “product of a

characteristic interaction among a variety of cultural and personal forces including peers, biological heredity, parents, social class, culture, and the physical environment” (Holland, 1997, p. 2)

Holland’s four working assumptions:Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 1 (Continued):– These experiences lead to an individual’s

preferring some activities over others: the preferences then develop into strong interests, which lead to related competencies.

– Individual’s competencies form a specific “disposition” that allows the individual to “think, perceive, and act in special ways. (Holland, 1997, p. 2)

Holland’s four working assumptions:Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 2:– Environments can

be categorized as one of six model types: InvestigativeInvestigative

ArtisticArtistic

SocialSocial

EnterprisingEnterprising

ConventionalConventional

RealisticRealistic

Holland TypesHolland Types

Holland’s four working assumptions:Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 2:– The environment’s type is determined

by the dominant type of the individuals who compose that environment.

– “Where people congregate, they create an environment that reflects the types they most resemble” (Holland, 1997, p. 3).

Holland’s four working assumptions:Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 3:– “People search for environments that will let

them exercise their skills and abilities, express their attitudes and values, and take on agreeable problems and roles” (Holland, 1997, p. 4).

– In a reciprocal manner, environments also search for people, through activities such as social interactions and recruitment and selection practices.

Holland’s four working assumptions:Holland’s four working assumptions:

Assumption 4:– Personality and environment interact to

produce behavior.– Knowing an individual’s personality

type and the type of their environment allows us to make predictions about a range of possible outcomes, such as vocational choice, job tenure and turnover, achievement, and satisfaction.

Holland’s secondary assumptions:Holland’s secondary assumptions: