A meta-theory idea

I have been thinking about the difficulties those coming into career practice from the hard sciences or engineering have in bridging their thinking into the psychology/counselling theory space; from science to social science. Suddenly in career practice, 'theories' have a different flavour: they are not the more easily evidenced, readily observable, quite measurable facts, such as E=mc²; they are less solid, increasingly vague, more contextual attributes, such as "has a tendency to not complete when...".

Not only do we have this shift from solid to vague, but there are a number of theories where the concepts or components are similar. I think this is a meta-theory - a "theory about theory", which gives us a structure so we can think about the world around us, and to consider our "assumptions about the nature of reality, and of knowledge, that stand behind specific theories and the[...] concepts" those theories relate to (Given et al., 2023, p. 121). Effectively, meta-theories help us to see what assumptions we make, and how we might go about unpicking them to see how they really work (Edwards, 2008). The idea of meta-theories may help us find connections between psychology/industrial psychology/organisational behaviour, where career development sits, and the harder sciences. The meta-theories I began thinking about are relationship versus task (Ceri-Booms et al., 2017); and rationality versus emotionality (Daft, 2008). 

In the 1940s and 50s the organisational behaviour field begins researching behaviour theories in leadership: what behaviours we show, such as the Iowa Studies (Kurt Lewin) which considered the autocratic, democratic and laissez faire attributes of leadership; the Ohio State Studies (Harris Fleishman) exploring consideration & initiating structure; the University of Michigan Studies (Renis Likert) which looked at employee-centered, and job-centered attributes; and the University of Texas Blake & Mouton Leadership Grid (1964) which focused on concern for people versus concern for results (Daft, 2008). The meta-theory of the behaviouralists is task behaviours versus relationship behaviours (Ceri-Booms et al., 2017).

We can also consider leadership styles and theories on a continuum of rationality versus emotionality; where management is at the blue end of the spectrum, and charismatic leadership is at the red end. Charismatic leadership can be hot, emotional and may lack rationality. Transformational leadership styles, which are more relational styles, but are more rational than charismatic leadership may become, sit in the middle, in the lavender zone: neither hot nor cold. And of course, when we say 'rational' we know we are not actually rational; but imagined to be possibly closer to rational than emotional – and as shown in the image accompanying this post (Daft, 2008).

We end up with these vaguely similar ideas for many different theories, and perhaps meta-theory might give us more "overall coherency" (Edwards, 2008, p. ii); maybe being to aligned to a particular theory means we become "prisoners caught in the framework of our theories", and "that these conceptual prisons are self-made and that we need to find ways to 'break out' of them" (p. 1).

It is difficult research work to do, but many of us see the glimmer of similarity, even if we are unable to undertake the research. We know someone will crack that nut one day. And by finding the commonalities, we can think about a much larger picture - not the individual theory - and break our ideas free.

Here's to jailbreaking the scientists into the social sciences :-)

Sam

References:

Ceri-Booms, M., Curşeu, P. L., & Oerlemans, L. A. (2017). Task and person-focused leadership behaviors and team performance: A meta-analysis. Human Resource Management Review, 27(1), 178-192. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2016.09.010

Daft. R. L. (2008). The Leadership Experience (4th ed.). Thomson South-Western.

Edwards, M. G. (2008). An Integral Metatheory for Organisational Transformation. [Doctoral thesis, University of Western Australia]. https://api.research-repository.uwa.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/3220635/Edwards_Mark_Gerard_2008.pdf

Given, L. M., Case, D. O., & Willson, R. (2023). Chapter 4: Metatheories, Theories, and Models. In Looking for Information: Examining Research on How People Engage With Information (pp. 121-178). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Tannenbaum, R. & Schmidt, W. (1973). How to Choose a Leadership Pattern. Harvard Business Review, 51(3), 162-180.

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Why Choose an Ethical Framework?

When we are new to a field, or when we need to deliberate about an unexpected dilemma which has arisen in the course of our work, using a framework guides us. Using a framework that is new to us can help us to consider - examine - issues we may not have taken the time to have considered, without having had that framework to take us on that unexpected journey. And when those dilemmas get wound up with ethical principles and values, we need to explore what has occurred and use “professionally accepted decision-making models” that fit our context (Parsons & Dickinson, 2017, p. 213; Swanson & Fouad, 2020).

We tend to repeat what we know: we are predictable beings, and we can simply 'rinse repeat' when doing familiar tasks. But when we take the time to see situations from another's perspective, our focus can shift, and we may suddenly see our field, problem, or opportunity anew. That has immense power. If there are frameworks in this post which we have used before, trying one we are unfamiliar with may help us to reach a destination at "the end of all our exploring [we] will [...] arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time" (Gardner, 1985, p. 897).

That is a very powerful aspect of reframing which gives us new insights, changes how we think of our rights and responsibilities. These shifts allow us to grow.

I have explored three ethical frameworks that we can consider, as follows: 

• Welfel (2016) with the model detailed here; 
• Bond (2005), which the 6 step model used in the CDANZ (2020) webinar (here), and which you can read more about here; and 
• Velasquez et al. (2009), where we can explore the six lenses here, and the ten questions to ask here. Further, there is a simple set of four questions which we can ask, which was based on the very early work that Velasquez was involved in by Cavanagh et al (1981), which can be explored here.

If anyone finds other ethical frameworks, please share them with me: it is always great to collect new tools for our kete! 

The choice of which to use, though, as always, is ours.

Sam

References:

Bond, T. (2005). Standards and Ethics for Counselling in Action (Counselling in Action series) (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Cavanagh, G. F., Moberg, D. J., & Velasquez, M. (1981). The Ethics of Organizational Politics. Academy of Management Review 6(3), 363-374. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1981.4285767

CDANZ. (2020, October 29). CDANZ Webinar: Ethical scenarios in career practice [video]. Career Development Association of New Zealand. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f7-cmGvGxUGK9KZraXheRaR6En2N57HE/view

Parsons, R. D., & Dickinson, K. L. (2017). Ethical practice in the human services from knowing to being. SAGE Publications Inc.

Swanson, J. L., & Fouad, N. A. (2020). Career theory and practice: learning through case studies. Sage Publications

Velasquez, M., Moberg, D., Meyer, M. J., Shanks, T., McLean, M. R., DeCosse, D., André, C., Kirk, O., & Hanson, K. O. (2009). A Framework for Ethical Decision Making. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making/

Velasquez, M., André, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. J. (2015). Thinking Ethically. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/

Welfel, E. R. (2016). Ethics in counseling and psychotherapy: Standards, research, and emerging issues (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.

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PowerPoint conversion from cm to pixels

This year I was helping a not for profit organisation to put a slide show together, and ran into a problem  where a facility needed images in specific dimension ratio. Not a problem: we had already decided to use PowerPoint as the background so we could set up the slide deck view in the right size, drop all the images on a black background, then export the whole slide deck in the correct image type so each would be the right size. Easy.

A 16:9 ratio was required, and we so simply set the screen size to 33.837 x 19.05, checking that this fitted with the 1920 by 1080 ratio. We scanned and loaded lots of images; cropped, straightened, faffed about and finally exported all the images in the correct file type to a folder. We asked loads of people, including the administrator, to check the resulting images. The reports came back that everything was OK.

Luckily we had factored in enough time to do a test run, to go and see the images on screen for ourselves in situ, as we arrived to find that there were two issues. Firstly, all the images needed to be rotated 90 degrees to the left as they were being shown on two widescreen landscape TVs, hung in a portrait orientation. Obviously no one had updated the TV firmware to rotate the on-board orientation, and no one had told us of that requirement (not a biggie: Ctrl & A, right-mouse menu, rotate all). 

Secondly, apparently our image ratio for the images came to 720 by 1280 pixels, and was therefore the 'wrong' size. I found this quite puzzling: if the ratio was right, why would the actual pixels matter? Because apparently the TV software is set to the actual pixel - dot - count, and if the size is smaller than the available dots on the screen, the image will be shown as a smaller image within the available space. Maybe. Or it maybe offset. Or top left. Or bottom right. But not necessarily filling the screen. Sigh.

It made me realise how cross-platform compatibility has moved on quite a bit, as we have got so used to devices being able to resize. And the big screen TVs in this facility were not PCs.

Back into PowerPoint to set the image as a pixel size instead of a centimetre size. But PowerPoint doesn't allow us to put a pixel size in. What we needed was a pixel converter. And there is a handy little site that can do just that at Unit Converters (2025). We punched in our two numbers, resized all the slides, re-saved all as the correct image type, rotated the lot and finally were able to test them.

Phew.

Sam

Reference: Unit Converters. (2025). Convert Centimeter to Pixel (X). https://www.unitconverters.net/typography/centimeter-to-pixel-x.htm

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Goodhart's Law, or duck-shoving

While I have talked briefly about Goodhart's Law before (here), Charles Goodhart was a chief economic advisor to the Bank of England. He looked at central banking institutions' inflation-control methods, through restricting and easing of circulating cash in the system. Goodhart's Law was an aside said in a 1975 paper that he wrote, saying "Ignoring Goodhart's law, [i.e.] that any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes", then he went on to explore the actual impacts of risk management around monetary policy (Chrystal & Mizen, 2003, p. 222).

Goodhart was apparently noting that once banks focused on a particular inflation target, they changed their behaviour - for example, creating and using new instruments not counted in the measure - making the original 'money supply' statistic useless for policy-making. Experts say that what Goodhart (1975, as cited by Chrystal & Mizen, 2003) meant by this self-proclaimed law is that we shouldn't put our blind trust in statistics once they become our goal, because all we did was observe a normal pattern of behaviour then turned our observation into a target. It is A target; but who knows if it is THE target? Or the RIGHT target?

It is a good point. Because as soon as we have a goal, we don't want to 'spoil' our ability to meet the target. So we change our behaviour... and the observation no longer holds.

There are two other very similar phrases:

• Anthropologist Marilyn Strathern simplified Goodhart's Law to "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure" (Mattson et al., 2021, p. 2), which I don't feel has quite enough sting; and
• Social scientist researcher Donald Campbell said that "The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor" (Mattson et al., 2021, p. 2). Ouch. That has sting. We could reframe this as the more we use a stat as a marker, the more we are likely to try to game it. 

How about this for a current example. Let's think about hospitals who say surgery cases are only allowed to be on a waiting list for 6 months; surgery is expected to have taken place, the case resolved. So to meet that statistic, at the end of 6 months, the surgical department sends the patients back to the specialist for reassessment. The clock resets, and the countdown to six months begins again. The statistic has been met: regardless of the surgery not having been done, the person's quality of life is still poor, but the statistics look great.

I would call this duck shoving. Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. 

Or Goodhart's Law in action ;-)

Sam

References:

Chrystal, K. A., & Mizen, P. D. (2003). Chapter 8: Goodhart's Law: Its Origins, Meaning and Implications for Monetary Policy. In P. D. Mizen (Ed.), Central banking, monetary theory and practice: Essays in honour of Charles Goodhart (pp. 221-243). Edward Elgar.

Goodhart, C. A. (1975). Monetary relationships: A view from threadneedle street in papers in monetary economics. In Reserve Bank of Australia Conference Proceedings, Papers in Monetary Economics (Volume 1, pp 1-20). Author.

Mattson, C., Bushardt, R. L., & Artino, A. R., Jr (2021). "When a Measure Becomes a Target, It Ceases to be a Good Measure". Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 13(1), 2–5. https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-20-01492.1

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Lloyd's SPARK-L framework

I was reminded recently of the SPARK-L framework (Career Voice, 2025) earlier this year - those aspects of Self-Awareness; Pathways, Action Planning, Reputation; Key Knowledge and Support; and Learning - and the benefits to the organisation of developing all staff so they stay (Career Voice, 2025; Lloyd, 2025).

While somewhat similar to DOTS (Law & Watts, 1977; read more here), this an organisational career development model, showing organisations the staff development payoff (Lloyd, 2025). Companies are unlikely to take any action unless there is going to be a payoff - and rightly so - because their first duty is to their shareholders. So what convinces an organisation that career development is worth the investment? Show the return on investment. Demonstrate how a CD programme will keep good staff in the organisation for longer. How it will boost productivity. And how it will assist to identify and grow staff skills that enable progression (Career Voice, 2025). 

Staff who are happy in their workplace and perceive a future with the organisation are less likely to leave, benefiting all participants (Kalamas & Kalamas, 2004). And a pilot programme can show an organisation what will work in their particular context (Career Voice, 2025). 

The six dimensions of SPARK-L are (Career Voice, 2025):

1. Self Awareness; assisting "talent identification, empowering employees to understand their unique strengths and interests"
2. Pathways; where staff member's own goals are connected "to meaningful opportunities within [the] organisation, exploring pathways in the ever-changing world of work"
3. Action Planning; staff create tailored "action plans, empowering [them] to take ownership of their career journey"
4. Reputation; staff work on networking and personal brand-building, positioning [them] for success in their chosen plans"
5. Key Knowledge and Support; developing "a culture of open communication and support, encouraging employees to seek guidance as they progress through their action plans"
6. Learning; whereby we "cultivate a culture of continuous career action planning in an ever-changing landscape"

The advice is to start small, get buy-in, and be clear about how success will be measured (Lloyd, 2025).

Sam

References:

Career Voice. (2025). The SPARK-L Framework. https://careervoice.com.au/sparkl/

Gollan, P. J., Kaufman, B. E., Taras, D., & Wilkinson, A. (2014). Voice and Involvement at Work. Routledge.

Kalamas, D., & Kalamas, J. B. (2004). Developing Employee Capital: Setting the stage for life-long learning. HRD Press.

Law, B. & Watts, A. G. (1977). Schools, Careers and Community: A study of some approaches to careers education in schools (pp. 8-10). Church Information Office.

Lloyd, N. (2025, May 20). Career Development in Organisations: It’s for Everyone (Honestly). Career Development Association of Australia. https://cdaa.org.au/CDAAWebsite/Web/Blog/Posts/Career-Development-in-Organisations--It-s-for-Everyone--Honestly-.aspx

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Even more on catchphrases

Oh no: it is time for another update on catchphrases. I have written about these before (here), and have continued recording those items I have encountered.

My Mother always had us in stitches as children with a black and white scary film she went to in London many years ago, where the whatever-it-was was running amok, then everything went silent. Meaningful looks between the lead actors. Winding up for a portentous speech: "Something's happened!". This too was adopted by our family. We still have no idea what the film was.

Then there is "There can be only one" from the film, "Highlander" (Mulcahy, 1986, 1:56:00). Why? Because it implies that as the leaders are, so shall the followers be. Good leadership will inspire good followership. A stink will create a stink throughout.

There is a "barnyard vocabulary" quote from US President Lyndon B. Johnson, where he said, while trying to fire FBI head, J. Edgar Hoover, "Well, it's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in" (Williams, 1973, p. 275). Another of my favourites.

For some reason a phrase that sticks in my mind - incorrectly, as it happens - is a couplet from Wordsworth poem, the Solitary Reaper, which I cite as in remembrance of "old, unhappy, far-off things, and battles long ago" (Gardiner, 1985, p. 505). I find this imagery incredibly evocative. However, it should lead with "For", but I impute that "Of" ;-)

Now a local one. When kicking off his sales pitch, one of the main characters, Jack, in the 2001 film Stickmen said "Let me let you in on a little secret" (Rothwell & Ward, 2001, 13:18) about scamming the elderly into buying water filters. A madam bawling "Off you go!" at one of her girls' drivers (44:18). The writer in a cameo saying "Yeah, OK. I'm not doing anything else" when being picked up by a prostitute (45:25).

The next one is "softly, softly catchy monkey"; saying we should tai hoa (more on that one here). Actually, both were common sayings in our family: maybe due to the rip shit and bust nature of our progress through things! According to Michael Quinion (2013), a highly esteemed reader for the OED, it is derived from a Ghanaian tribal saying, first recorded in print as "softly softly catchee monkey" (Baden-Powell, 1900, p. 6); but actually a likely translation of "the Wolof proverb, Ndànk-ndànk, mooy jàpp golo ci ñaay" or "Slowly, slowly one catches a monkey in the forest" (Wiktionary, 2025).

That brings me to "rip shit and bust"! Common parlance in the 1970s and 1980s in New Zealand, this is someone who crashes through doing a task and usually buggers it up due to their unseemly haste. This is, according to McGill, a Kiwi saying (1988, p. 93).

And to end this epistle: "We're taking this car to Invercargill" from Goodbye Pork Pie (Murphy & Mune, 1981).

Sam

References:

Baden-Powell, R. S. S. (1900). Downfall of Prempeh: A diary of life with the native Levy in Ashanti. Methuen & Co.

Gardiner, H. (Ed.). (1985). The New Oxford Book of English Verse. Oxford University Press.

McGill, D. (1988). A Dictionary of Kiwi Slang: Up the boohai shooting pukakas. Mills Publications.

Mulcahy, R. (Director). (1986). Highlander[motion picture]. Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment.

Murphy, G. (Director, Writer), & Mune. I. (Writer). (1981). Goodbye Pork Pie [motion picture]. Hanway Films.

Quinion, M. (2013, October 19). Softly, softly, catchee monkey. World Wide Words. https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa-sof2.html

Rothwell, H. (Director), Ward, N. (Writer) (2001). Stickmen [motion picture]. New Zealand Film Commission/Portman Entertainment

Wiktionary. (2025). softly, softly, catchee monkey. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/softly,_softly,_catchee_monkey

Williams, T. H. (1973). Huey, Lyndon, and Southern Radicalism. The Journal of American History, 60(2), 267-293. https://doi.org/10.2307/2936776

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The impact of AI

I have been wondering what the real risk is of artificial intelligence (AI) leaving many of us with insufficient work. AI itself is not my area of expertise, as I come from the employee end, but the increasing wailing and gnashing of teeth about AI bringing the imminent end of the our known world to me seems a bit overblown. Yet, anyway.

Earlier this year I attended a conference presentation where the presenter demonstrated using a variety of AI apps - such as Merlin, Wisecut, Pictory and Reel - to create posts to market their career development business; AI to write the straplines, hashtags and calls to action; AI to create the post images; AI to load the posts into a social media marketing scheduling app; then AI to generate interest in the posts when they went live (Aboobacker, 2025).

The presenter's aim was to create rapport with their potential customers, but I really don't think they had thought enough about the irony of bots commenting on the bots. And that is where I get stuck in thinking about the immediate utility of AI and the take-over of humankind.

The level of tosh used on media platforms is generally pretty awful. Yes, I am sure that AI will improve by leaps and bounds. Yes, I am sure the slop we are currently being served on digital media platforms will become sophisticated. Yes, I am sure we will find all sorts of little shortcuts that make our lives easier as people think of smart ways to simplify processes.

AI could be a tool to enhance work, not to replace it (Dahlin, 2024). And I too can see more AI opportunities than job losses, though that is not the perception of many: 51% of survey respondents report being somewhat or very concerned about AI job loss; and 12.6% saying they had already lost a job to AI (Dahlin, 2024). Groups facing structural inequalities in the labour market show that AI's impact may fall unfairly on those who are already facing barriers to work (Dahlin, 2024). Ouch.

Interestingly, the perceived job loss risk varies between white- and blue-collar workers, with 19% of white-collar workers having concerns compared to 26% of blue-collar (Chiarini et al., 2024). HOW we work also affects how great the AI risk appears to us: if we in more relational roles, we are less likely to feel threatened by AI (Chiarini et al., 2024). White-collar jobs have automation-vulnerable elements; such as structured tasks like coding and financial analysis. It is the 'best practice' process flow oriented nature of roles such as coding and financial analysis mean that in many instances, an app may be able to reach an appropriate decision from complex data inputs (Dahlin, 2024). But would we buy financial advice, or trust financial advice, from an app? Would an heart lung machine programming company put implicit faith in AI-generated code?

And should we be in reading people's calls for why we should go to their business that were generated by AI, promoted by AI, for a relational end? Is that the best use of our energy? 

I think we need to keep our AI aims clear and to not panic yet. 

Sam

References:

Aboobacker, A. (2025). 232 Revolutionizing Career Coaching with AI Solutions [video]. APCDA [Asia Pacific Career Development Association] Hybrid Conference 12-26 May 2025, Zheng Zhou Shi, China. https://asiapacificcda.vids.io/videos/4491dbb81b1fe7cfcd/232-revolutionizing-career-coaching-with-ai-solutions

Chiarini, A., Grando, A., Venturini, S., & Borgonovo, E. (2024). Do automation and AI impact on job reduction? A study on perceived risk of losing job among white-collars in the Italian manufacturing companies. Production Planning & Control, 35(16), 2198-2211. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2023.2244925

Dahlin, E. (2024). Who Says Artificial Intelligence Is Stealing Our Jobs?. Socius, 10, 23780231241259672, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231241259672

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Costs of recruitment

How do we work out how much recruitment costs? Well, it gets a bit complicated, because costs can be organised in different ways; in New Zealand we tend to consider direct and indirect costs; in the USA the costs tend to be grouped into external and internal (Phillips & Gully, 2015). Direct costs arise where we can point to that and say this was directly related to hiring a new staff member (such as advertising the position), and indirect costs are costs which are are part of someone's job or overhead (such as HR staff time, travel and expenses for selection and interviews, testing, reference-checking and verification of qualifications). This latter category is remarkably hard to track, even though it has been tried (Tsarenko & Krishnamurthy, 2021).

External hiring costs arise where we pay someone outside our organisation (advertising placement, recruiter fees, referral bonuses, travel costs, relocation costs), and internal hiring costs are self-evident (advertising content or co-ordination, travel/interview/referee costs, and staff time). Apparently 90% of hiring costs - "including testing, reference checking, hiring manager time, and administrative support" - are likely to be external costs (Phillips & Gully, 2015, p. 156).

Recruitment costs, or costs per hire/CPH, used to be guesstimated at something like $13k per person, which I would guesstimate to be more like $20k today. In the USA in 2016 this was considered to a little over $4100 (SHRM, 2016). This is a simplistic model, largely only including direct costs (advertising, testing, verifying, contracts), not indirect costs (screening, interviewing, reviews) or the six or so months it takes for a new staff member to become acculturated to organisational processes, procedures, and to build networks.

Those more complex recruitment costs - including training investment - for trainee accountants were calculated out to a staggering 241% of an accounting graduand's annual salary (Twiname et al., 2011). However, those accounting students require two expensive professional exams to become Chartered Accountants once they have clocked up the appropriate number of hours, which significantly inflates costs in this profession (Twiname et al., 2011). It would be interesting to know whether the percentage has shifted since the original study, and what costs doctors and lawyers rack up!

It is interesting just how pricey it is. I began making a rough list of what needs to be factored in, and came up with quite a substantial list (see the image accompanying this post). And I forgot job sizing.

It is a complex bucket of stuff!

Sam

References:

Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. (2015). Strategic Staffing (3rd global ed.). Pearson Education (UK) Ltd.

SHRM. (2016, August 8). SHRM Benchmarking Report: $4,129 Average Cost-per-Hire. Society of Human Resource Management. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/shrm-benchmarking-report-4129-average-cost-per-hire

Tsarenko, A., & Krishnamurthy, D. (2021). Understanding and Improving Quality in Firm Recruitment Processes: A case study [report 2021:035]. University of Gothenburg.  https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/97248696/483817839-libre.pdf

Twiname, L. J., Samujh, H., & Rae, S. (2011). Accounting for the costs of recruiting and training [paper]. Cambridge Business and Economics Conference (CBEC), Cambridge UK, 27-29 June 2011. https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/1fc33677-9d09-4f9c-a9de-8a69368f7ab2/content

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When Outlook search stops working...

I had an interesting problem earlier this year. I went to do an Outlook search for emails from a company that I know I had received many emails from, and sent a number of emails to. I put a portion of the email into the 'global' search bar in my Outlook desktop app, and got... nothing. The result I got was "No results".

As I had just started my PC, I really couldn't understand what was going on. I had done the same search just a couple of weeks ago. But I shut the app down, and restarted. Ran the same search. And again, I got "No results".

I know there are results. I could see some. 

So I went looking for the problem online. I found a post from Tomlinson (2024) who had the same problem. Dighi, an expert moderator, suggested that the problem could be solved by rebuilding "the search index in Outlook by going to File > Options > Search > Indexing Options > Advanced > Rebuild".

OK. So I went to the File menu, and selected Options, scrolled down to the search area, selected Indexing Options, sent to Advanced in the pop up window, then, in the Advanced Options dialogue box, clicked on the Rebuild button. The process took a couple of hours.

However, re-indexing solved the problem, and I can now search as normal, once more. 

Crikey.

Sam

References:

Tomlinson, A. (2024, January 31). New Outlook search does not work. How do I fix this?. Microsoft Community. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/new-outlook-search-does-not-work-how-do-i-fix-this/232cffe1-ff03-4b3b-b6be-41b4fd47f2a9

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Einstein and theory

I had thought that the much revered Albert Einstein had been a lowly clerk at the Swiss Patent Office. But apparently "his work involved evaluating technical innovations, familiarizing him with cutting-edge electrical technologies, and patent law. This practical engagement with technology influenced his thinking about time, synchronization, and relativity" which placed him in the midst of a vigorous "intellectual community, philosophical reflection, and practical engagement" (Weinstein, 2025, p. 3).

Apparently Einstein described "the supreme goal of all theory [as being] to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience" (Hooley et al., 2024, p. 70, citing Einstein, 1933), so theories take complex ideas and re-present them in the simplest way possible; while not mis-representing or over-simplifying.

But theory shouldn't confine us. Einstein apparently "remarked in 1916 [that] 'Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authority over us that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens'" (Lucassen, 2021, p. xv, citing Feinman & Garraty, 2010). That is a good reminder that theory only remains useful as long as it doesn't become a sacred cow. We must remain able to question.

Once we put theory on the altar of worshipful holy-theoryness, we may lose our ability to have a critical discussion; and a repetitive contrary voice becomes tiresome quite quickly. It is important to keep our openness to experience and toc continue to pursue questioning and critique. How can we hone our ideas if we are not allowed to examine them rigorously?

A theory only remains useful while we can apply it; because it is simple enough to use as a rule of thumb. It is not an unquestioning sceptre to rule over us; but a light to guide us through the darkness until we can see the light for ourselves 😉

Sam

References:

Feinman, G. M., & Garraty, C. P. (2010). Preindustrial Markets and Marketing: Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39(1), 167–191. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.105118

Hooley, T., Alexander, R., & Frigerio, G. (2024). The Career Development Handbook: The Foundations of Professional Career Practice. Career Development Institute/Trotman Publishing.

Lucassen, J. (2021). The Story of Work: A New History of Humankind. Yale University Press.

Weinstein, G. (2025). Einstein, Free Creations, and His Worldly Cloister. arXiv. Advance online publication, 1-28. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.09530.

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Eleven Steps for Ethical Decision Making

In a previous post (here), I talked about the six ethical lenses which Velasquez et al. (2009, 2005) have explored, and mentioned that in a future post I would explore the eleven steps/questions which are outlined in the Velasquez et al. (2009) framework for Ethical Decision Making. And this time we do just that! 

We begin by first identifying the ethical issues (Velasquez et al., 2009):

1. "Could this decision or situation be damaging to someone or to some group, or unevenly beneficial to people? Does this decision involve a choice between a good and bad alternative, or perhaps between two 'goods' or between two 'bads'?"
2. "Is this issue about more than solely what is legal or what is most efficient? If so, how?"

Then we need to collect evidence, to track down our ethical issues:

3. "What are the relevant facts of the case? What facts are not known? Can I learn more about the situation? Do I know enough to make a decision?"
4. "What individuals and groups have an important stake in the outcome? Are the concerns of some of those individuals or groups more important? Why?"
5. "What are the options for acting? Have all the relevant persons and groups been consulted? Have I identified creative options?"

Next we need to weigh up our alternative actions. We do that via the following:

6. "Evaluate the options by asking the following questions:
   Which option best respects the rights of all who have a stake?" (The Rights Lens);
   "Which option treats people fairly, giving them each what they are due?" (The Justice Lens);
   "Which option will produce the most good and do the least harm for as many stakeholders as possible?" (The Utilitarian Lens);
   "Which option best serves the community as a whole, not just some members?" (The Common Good Lens);
   "Which option leads me to act as the sort of person I want to be?" (The Virtue Lens);
   "Which option appropriately takes into account the relationships, concerns, and feelings of all stakeholders?" (The Care Ethics Lens)

Now we need to select one idea to test and to action, by asking ourselves:

7. "After an evaluation using all of these lenses, which option best addresses the situation?"
8. "If I told someone I respect (or a public audience) which option I have chosen, what would they say?"
9. "How can my decision be implemented with the greatest care and attention to the concerns of all stakeholders?"

Lastly we put our chose, tested decision into play, not forgetting to reflect upon and to measure our anticipated and actual outcomes once it is all over.

10. "How did my decision turn out, and what have I learned from this specific situation?"
11. "What (if any) follow-up actions should I take?"

Those of us familiar with the questions asked by Cavangh et al. (1981) will hear echoes in this work of those elements (here). However, this list of Velasquez et al. (2009) forms quite a handy list of points to work through, particularly if we are practicing ethical dilemmas. Like all these things, they can be overly long and complicated if we were trying to use them for the first time on the fly, but if we have more time to think about the ins and outs, they are great for training and rehearsal. 

However, this is not the six step process outlined in the CDANZ ethical scenarios webinar. That was definitely Bond (2005), which you can read about here. 

Sam

References:

Bond, T. (2005). Standards and Ethics for Counselling in Action (Counselling in Action series) (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Cavanagh, G. F., Moberg, D. J., & Velasquez, M. (1981). The Ethics of Organizational Politics. Academy of Management Review 6(3), 363-374. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1981.4285767

CDANZ. (2020, October 29). CDANZ Webinar: Ethical scenarios in career practice [video]. Career Development Association of New Zealand. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f7-cmGvGxUGK9KZraXheRaR6En2N57HE/view

Velasquez, M., Moberg, D., Meyer, M. J., Shanks, T., McLean, M. R., DeCosse, D., André, C., Kirk, O., & Hanson, K. O. (2009). A Framework for Ethical Decision Making. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making/

Velasquez, M., André, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. J. (2015). Thinking Ethically. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/

read more "Eleven Steps for Ethical Decision Making"

Internet Archive moves to .lcpl files

If you have e recently, you may have been surprised by the file download extensions suffix on those books which can be downloaded: the download file is now has an ".lcpl" suffix. Instead of the normal .ascm file type which can be downloaded then automatically opened using Adobe Digital Editions, now we need a different app and to work with this different file download type.

Like .ascm files, the Readium LCP file type - with the .lcpl suffix - is also a digital rights protected pdf or ePub file. The LPC of the Readium file name stands for Licensed Content Protection. To open and read these file on our PCs, we can't use Digital Editions: we need to download the Thorium Reader app. We can download Thorium Reader, which is also free, from the Thorium site here: https://thorium.edrlab.org/en/

To download and open the .lcpl file in Thorium Reader, it is the same process as for Digital Editions. We simply borrow our desired book from the Internet Archive, scroll down the page and look for our desired LCP file type download link and click on the link for either a pdf or an ePub .lcpl file.

We download the file to our normal download location, open Thorium Reader, navigate to our downloaded .lcpl file and open the file just as we would normally have done in Adobe Digital Editions. Once we have opened one file, Thorium Reader should remember the location for future borrowings.

Not too dramatic, after all :-)

Sam

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Financial literacy quiz

In 2012, the OECD surveyed member nations on the financial literacy of their citizens, asking eight questions covering the "basic knowledge of key financial concepts", where no concepts covered were overly complicated, nor did the answers require specialised financial skills (Atkinson & Messy, 2012). 

The most financially savvy nations in the survey proved to be Hungary and Estonia, coming in at over 75%, with Germany, Ireland and the Czech Republic coming in at 70% (Atkinson & Messy, 2012, p. 7). The original report listed the answers to each individual question, not providing an overall average, which I found surprising (and yes, I appreciate that the averages may be somewhat flawed). Regardless, I have recreated the original data table and provided that average, just for interest.

Stuff reported these OECD outcomes at the time, also running the same quiz for New Zealanders, to see how well Kiwis fitted with the mostly European participant nations. Interestingly, New Zealanders did very well, scoring an average of 78%. While the Stuff quiz has been taken down, if you are interested, you can complete the quiz I recreated from Atkinson and Messy's original 2012 survey here: https://forms.gle/tY1xncCfucCAswDL8

See how you go!

Sam

References:

Atkinson, A., & Messy, F.-A. (2012). Measuring Financial Literacy: Results of the OECD/International Network on Financial Education (INFE) Pilot Study (OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions No. 15). OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5k9csfs90fr4-en

Stuff. (2013, June 14). Biz Quiz: Test your financial literacy. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/quizzes/8791235/Biz-Quiz-Test-your-financial-literacy

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What is a career?

I do love a good pithy definition. And so recently I was musing on how we would briefly define 'a career'. I turned to the literature to see what experts have to say. A career from the outside looking in can be defined as the "evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time" (Arthur et al., 1989, p. 8); or we can step into ourselves and take a multiple lens view, as "career as life process, career as individual agency, and career as meaning making" (Chen, 1998, p. 437).

Alternatively, we might consider career development, where we could consider the two sides to career development:

On one hand we have "the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic, and chance factors that combine to shape individual career behavior over the life span", or more briefly, "the development of career behavior across the life span"; as compared on the other to those "interventions or practices that are used to enhance a person's career development or to enable that person to make more effective career decisions", or in summary "how career behavior is changed by [our own] particular intentions" (Herr, 2001, p. 196).

There is a career development definition that I like, if we roll the clock back to the mid-twentieth century as being "the process of growth and learning that results in increases and modifications of a person’s repertoire for vocational behavior" (Savickas, 1994, p. 56, citing Super, 1957). I like the use of 'repertoire'; it is quite theatrical. We are an actor on our own stage: fitting well with Super.

But, while mentioning life-span in passing, these definitions don't really emphasise the long-term nature of career development. And we need to, because it "is a lifelong process, during which a person takes on different roles and deals with dynamic changes and transitions" (Chen, 1998, p. 455). Those transitions could be considered as "careers increasingly [seen as...] a succession of mini-stages" (Herr, 2001, p. 208, citing Hall & Associates, 1996, p. 33). I like the sound of that, too. We remain the producer of our own career, with all the implications of agency, meaning, and development.

Of course, to be our own producer, we need career maturity in both understanding choice, and understanding the ramifications of making a decision on our choices (Savickas, 1994). So our career development skills should improve over time. And interestingly, there is a definition of career education that I like, defined "as an effort to refocus [national] education system[s] and [...community] actions [...] to help [learners] acquire and use the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to make work a meaningful, productive, and satisfying part of their lives" (Greenhaus & Callanan, 2006, p. 100).

That's good. Could we perhaps consider career development as "a life-long process" of learning, acquiring and using roles, "knowledge, skills, and attitudes", in successive mini-stages, "necessary to make [meaningful] work a meaningful, productive, and satisfying part of [our] lives" (Chen, 1998; Greenhaus & Callanan, 2006, p. 100; Savickas, 1994)? 

While I think this needs more thinking time, I am enjoying the process of considering what is important to me in this field. I will ponder some more :-)

Sam

References:

Arthur, M., Hall, D. T., & Lawrence, B. S. (Eds.) (1989). Handbook of Career Theory (reprinted 1996, 2004 digital ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chen, C. P. (1998). Understanding career development: a convergence of perspectives. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 50(3), 437-461. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636829800200053

Herr, E. L. (2001). Career development and its practice: A historical perspective. The Career Development Quarterly, 49(3), 196-211. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045.2001.tb00562.x

Savickas, M. L. (1994). Measuring career development: Current status and future directions. The Career Development Quarterly, 43(1), 54-62. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045.1994.tb00846.x

read more "What is a career?"

Copying a Google Calendar from 2025 to 2026, part 3

In a couple of recent posts (here), I have been looking at how to export a Google Calendar as an .ics file, update it using Excel, and then reimport that data into a new .ics Google calendar; effectively duplicating all the events from one year into the next.

Of course it has turned out to be more complicated than I had hoped, but it does work after a fashion. I am hoping that I will find some hacks as I go to further smooth my path.

What I did to change the dates in Excel was  to create an Excel sheet with the following columns:

• A: Headings, a list to filter for "DTSTART" and "DTEND". In this column copied all my raw data from my exported .ics file, then deleted everything from the colon onwards (i.e. find and replace ":*")
• B: Course Name 2025, this column was a repeat of the raw data (to remain unchanged)
• C: Extracted date, trims the date in column D to eight characters. Uses the formula =LEFT(D3,8)
• D: Trim R/H, to filter for the date. Contains the formula =MID(B3,FIND(":",B3)+1,LEN(B3)-FIND("T",B3))
• E: Reorganised date, to create a readable date from column C. Uses the formula =DATE(LEFT(C3,4),MID(C3,5,2),RIGHT(C3,2)) with the date format  [$-en-NZ]dddd, d mmmm yyyy
• F: Course Name 2026, this column was a repeat of the raw data which I will change (and copy out and reimport)
• G: Extracted date, trims the date in column H to eight characters. Uses the formula =LEFT(H3,8)
• H: Trim R/H, to filter for the date. Contains the formula =MID(F3,FIND(":",F3)+1,LEN(F3)-FIND("T",F3))
• I: Actual date, to create a readable date from column G for double-checking. Uses the formula =DATE(LEFT(G3,4),MID(G3,5,2),RIGHT(G3,2)) with the date format  [$-en-NZ]dddd, d mmmm yyyy

After setting up, I (a) filtered column A to DT, (b) changed all years in column F from 2025 to 2026, (c) checked that the day for 2026 was the same day of the week for 2025 (moving the dates on manually at the moment), and (d) reimported the calendar.

Steps c and d took quite a while. But it worked. 

I am sure there are smarter ways of processing the data, but as a trial, this was effective. 

Sam 

read more "Copying a Google Calendar from 2025 to 2026, part 3"

Lenses for Ethical Decision Making

CDANZ ran an ethical workshop a while ago to help practitioners work through ethical dilemmas (2020). A six step framework was used for that mahi which was assumed at the time to be based on either the six step method from Bond (2005) or the Velasquez et al. (2009) model - the Framework for Ethical Decision Making - created at the Markkula Centre for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

While I have explored Bond (2005) before on this blog (here), and have run through an earlier version of the Velasquez model (here; by Cavanagh et al., 1981), I have not stepped through the thinking behind the Cavanagh et al, (1981) model, which uses six ethical lenses to determine what ethical issues exist. Those six ethical lenses are as follows:

• Rights: perhaps an ethical action is that which respects the moral rights and responsibilities of those affected, because, due to our freedom of choice, we have 'human dignity' conferring our right to be treated as ends in ourselves, and not just as means to another's ends. The moral rights are debated, and some infer all animals have them (and I suspect the world is going this way), and include freedom of life choices, to be told the truth, not avoid harm, to personal privacy (Velasquez et al., 2009).
• Justice: people are due fair or equal treatment, to treated as equals - not exactly the same - but equitably. Perhaps parity is a better term. This section includes "social justice (structuring the basic institutions of society), distributive justice (distributing benefits and burdens), corrective justice (repairing [... injustice]), retributive justice ([...] punish[ing] wrongdo[ing]), and restorative or transformational justice" (Velasquez et al., 2009)
• Utilitarianism: This focuses on results, where an "ethical action is the one that produces the greatest balance of good over harm for as many stakeholders as possible". We need to have crystal clear foresight on the likely outcomes and costs: in an "ethical corporate action, then, is the one that produces the greatest good and does the least harm for all who are affected—customers, employees, shareholders, the community, and the environment. Cost/benefit analysis is a[...] consequentialist approach" (Velasquez et al., 2009)
• Common Good:  our actions should contribute to the collective community good, where "the interlocking relationships of society are the basis of ethical reasoning and that respect and compassion for all others—especially the vulnerable—are requirements of such reasoning", while accounting for those "common conditions [...] important [for] everyone—such as clean air and water, a system of laws, effective police and fire departments, health care, a public educational system, or even public recreational areas.  [...] [T]he common good lens highlights mutual concern for the shared interests of all members of a community" (Velasquez et al., 2009)
• Virtue: an old ethics philosophy suggests our "actions ought to be consistent with certain ideal virtues that provide for the full development of our humanity", to develop our character and align with "values like truth and beauty. Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, tolerance, love, fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence are all examples of virtues. Virtue ethics asks of any action, 'What kind of person will I become if I do this?' or 'Is this action consistent with my acting at my best?'" (Velasquez et al., 2009)
• Care: relationships drive our compassion and care of those around us. It is not about rules or costs: it is about growth, nurturing, community, and love, growing "interdependence, not just independence. It relies on empathy to gain a deep appreciation of the interest, feelings, and viewpoints of each stakeholder, employing care, kindness, compassion, generosity, and a concern for others to resolve ethical conflicts. Care ethics holds that options for resolution must account for the relationships, concerns, and feelings of all stakeholders. Focusing on connecting intimate interpersonal duties to societal duties, an ethics of care might counsel, for example, a more holistic approach to public health policy that considers food security, transportation access, fair wages, housing support, and environmental protection alongside physical health" (Velasquez et al., 2009)

When we stop to consider these six ethical lenses, we can see that asking a range of questions after considering these can help us make a more ethical decision. By taking this range of six philosophical lenses into account we open ourselves up to many different perspectives (Velasquez, 2009, 2015). 

And, on reflection, I think that the Velasquez model is useful for background thinking, but is not the model that was used in the CDANZ work. I think that was likely to be the Bond model (2005).

However, Velasquez et al. (2009, 2015) have come up with eleven steps to follow these lenses, which I will explore in a later post.

Sam

References:

Bond, T. (2005). Standards and Ethics for Counselling in Action (Counselling in Action series) (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Cavanagh, G. F., Moberg, D. J., & Velasquez, M. (1981). The Ethics of Organizational Politics. Academy of Management Review 6(3), 363-374. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1981.4285767

CDANZ. (2020, October 29). CDANZ Webinar: Ethical scenarios in career practice [video]. Career Development Association of New Zealand. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f7-cmGvGxUGK9KZraXheRaR6En2N57HE/view

Velasquez, M., Moberg, D., Meyer, M. J., Shanks, T., McLean, M. R., DeCosse, D., André, C., Kirk, O., & Hanson, K. O. (2009). A Framework for Ethical Decision Making. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making/

Velasquez, M., André, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. J. (2015). Thinking Ethically. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/

read more "Lenses for Ethical Decision Making"

Time for a reminder

I think it is time to remind ourselves to put our citation at the back of the sentence, and avoid, in the immortal words of Professor Pat Thomson, writing a 'laundry list' (2017; and read my take on that here). A student recently asked for feedback, when they had written:

Research by Aubusson et al. (2009) indicates that teacher professional development, supported by a positive school culture, leads to correlations between teachers who actively engage in their learning and development with positive student outcomes. Further research by Alton-Lee (2008) highlighted that when senior leaders actively participate in and lead professional development alongside teachers, they enhance their pedagogical knowledge and understanding.

The student knew this was an "X says, Y says" format, known as a laundry list (Thomson, 2017), but wanted help in transforming this. I suggested a simple reword to bring the topic to the fore, and push the author into the shadows:

Research shows that teacher professional development, if supported by a positive school culture, links teachers who actively engage in their learning and development with positive student outcomes (Aubusson et al., 2009). When senior leaders actively participate in and lead professional development alongside teachers, they enhance their pedagogical knowledge and understanding (Alton-Lee, 2008).

We can see that first sentence still talks about research. We could also start with "Studies show that..." or "A meta-analysis of 150 research projects found that..." or similar. Getting to the 'what' and the 'why' in quickly holds our reader's interest. The 'who' can trail in last 😉

We can also usually save a few words by writing with the topic at the front and the author at the back of the sentence. The laundry list paragraph was 60 words and my edited version was 52. Further, this way of writing has an added bonus: we can group multiple authors evidence on the topic together, and pop in a multiple works citation at the back of the sentence.

While we are getting our heads around writing with the topic first, we begin our draft with notes in the 'X says' format, then, once we have written enough topic fragments accumulated, we can turn our sentences around. But after a while we should get used to writing topic-first from the outset, and save ourselves lots of time 🙂

Sam

References:

Alton-Lee, A. (2008). Designing and Supporting Teacher Professional Development to Improve Valued Student Outcomes [paper]. Education of Teachers Symposium at the General Assembly of the International Academy of Education, Limassol, Cyprus 26 September 2008. https://thehub.sia.govt.nz/assets/documents/42443_Designing-and-Supporting-Teacher-Professional-Development_0.pdf

Aubusson, P., Ewing, R., & Hoban, G. F. (2009). Action learning in schools: reframing teachers’ professional learning and development. Routledge.

Thomson, P. (11 September 2017). Avoiding the laundry list literature review. https://patthomson.net/2017/09/11/avoiding-the-laundry-list-literature-review/

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Word Navigation Pane

In MS Word, there is a left-hand sidebar that enables us to navigate documents, called the "Navigation Pane". If we use standard Word tools - headings, shortcuts and bookmarks - the Navigation Pane allows us to skip through the document outline quickly. Hierarchies of headings can be collapsed, so we can navigate to chapter headings, making large documents more workable. I seem to recall that the Navigation Pane is on by default.

However, the problem arises when I turn it off. Most of the time I have it open, but every now and again I turn it off to conserve screen space (in Zooms, for example). And I close out my apps, shut my PC down and only come back to it the next day... to find no Navigation Pane. And I KNOW there is an easy place to find the magic turn-on... and it MUST be on the View Ribbon, but I cannot see it.

So I sigh and run a search. Luckily, I am not the only one who has trouble finding this. MissKathy (2021) does too. Luckily, Stefan Blom, a volunteer moderator, was able to provide the answer.

And well, that magic turn-on IS on the View Ribbon. But not where we would expect: it is tucked away as a wee tickbox in the "Show" section. I expect to see it in the "Views" tools section, and try heaps of things there. But no. It is in the "Show" section.

Hopefully by writing this aide memoire I mayn't need to look this up again (but I probably will!).

Sam

Reference:

MissKathy. (2021, January 19). Word 365 How to show document outline on side of screen. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/word-365-how-to-show-document-outline-on-side-of/98210619-c918-4470-aca8-5ec7a8972ecc

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