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Passionate in ensuring systems are simple, and relationships are based on open communication, trust and mutual respect, I work to engage clients and students and to smooth their path to success. Focusing on personal development, my skills lie in career development, leadership, coaching, strategic planning, new ventures, and governance. I love learning, constantly adding new ideas and theories to my knowledge kete. A professional member of CDANZ, and a member of CATE, APCDA, NCDA, I teach on the Career Development programme at NMIT, and on the AUT Bachelor of Sport & Recreation programme.

What's New on My Blog ↓

Monday, 10 February 2025

Unable to sign in to make blog comments

I ran into an interesting problem last year: not being able to log in as myself on my own website to reply to commenters on blog posts on the Brave browser. I would go to enter a reply to a commenter, and instead of being automatically logged into my own blogger account (as I had to be in order to approve comments), I was suddenly "anonymous". When I tried to log in using my Google account, I was unable to - the entire process of logging in did not work - and there was no captcha. I would get taken to the top of the page again, and, when I went down to the reply link below the comment, I would have a message: "Unable to sign in to comment. Please check your browser configurations to allow sign-in. Learn more. You can still comment anonymously or with name and URL"

Having run my own blog for years, and this having worked seamlessly for years, I was quite surprised, and figured it was something that Google had changed. So I tried Firefox, and ran into the same barrier; I didn't bother trying Edge. However, I was still able to reply to commenters using the Chrome browser - I was still logged in with my blogger account there - so I replied to my commenters using that browser, while writing my posts and approving comments in Brave.

Until Chrome stopped automatically carrying over my log in as well this year.

OK. So NOW it was time to do something about this: it had gone from a niggle to a problem. I was (a) not logged in to Blogger, and (b) could not log in using my Google account. So what I tried was:

  • Blogger Help (Evans, 2019; Satu, 2019), which suggested clearing out all cookies. I did that, shut down, and restarted my PC. No change: still no log in.
  • Reddit (somuchsong, 2024), which suggested third party cookies should be enabled. I did that, shut down, restarted. No change: still no log in.
  • Reddit (somuchsong, 2024), also suggested that "enhanced tracking protection" might be the problem, so disabling it might work. I did that, shut down, restarted. No change: still no log in.
  • Blogger Help (D'Angelo, 2025; Evans, 2019) and Reddit (somuchsong, 2024), suggested that third party apps were causing problems. D'Angelo (2025) pointed the reader to a blogger blog post by Auster (2023) which talked about many things, including whitelisting sites. So I added the URLs of my blog, and blogger to the sites ignored by tracking protection. Shut down, restarted. No change.
  • Coming back to this idea of third party apps causing problems, I re-read the three most useful posts (Auster, 2023; Evans, 2019; somuchsong, 2024), and I decided to search the Chome settings for 'party' and white list the URLs of my website and blogger everywhere. Shut down, restarted. No change.
  • Sigh. Then my eye caught a line in the somuchsong (2024) question, asking them if they were using Privacy Badger. Damn: I use Privacy Badger. I reloaded the blog page in Chrome, and saw that Privacy Badger immediately flagged four cookies and blocked them. I slid the slider across to green for my site. Shut down, restarted. I could now comment.
  • Then I went to Brave, and turned off scanning on my website. Now I can write posts, comment and reply all in Brave.

A bit of a palaver, but not really a Google issue as this is third party app blocking. BUT. It shows that the Blogger platform is getting out of step with the rest of the internet with tracking and cookies. If Google are to keep Blogger going, there seems to be a need for an upgrade.

Something to watch out for.


Sam

References:

Auster, A. (2023, December 20). Blogger comments and engagement. Too Clever By Half. https://too-clever-by-half.blogspot.com/2023/12/blogger-comments-and-engagement.html

D'Angelo, I. (2025, January 3). Logged into Blogger, can't reply to comments on my blog via blogspot. Blogger Help. https://support.google.com/blogger/thread/316567484/logged-into-blogger-can-t-reply-to-comments-on-my-blog-via-blogspot?hl=en

Evans, J. (2019, April 12). Can't Leave Comments. Blogger Help. https://support.google.com/blogger/thread/4035725/can-t-leave-comments?hl=en

Satu. (2019, March 30). I can't answer the comments. Where's the problem?. Blogger Help. https://support.google.com/blogger/thread/3263553/i-can-t-answer-the-comments-where-s-the-problem?hl=en

somuchsong. (2024). Blogger: Can't comment on my own blog (or any blog) with Google account. Reddit r/blogspot. https://www.reddit.com/r/blogspot/comments/17yi6cb/blogger_cant_comment_on_my_own_blog_or_any_blog/

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Friday, 7 February 2025

How to cite and reference films

Ah, the tricky work of correctly APA citing films! It was only when writing a recent post that I realised that I hadn't written an entry on how to formulate the reference for movies. These are reasonably simple, but finding the information takes a bit of time. We usually need IMDB or Wikipedia in order to find all the required components.

Further, the APA 7th edition publication manual will help (American Psychological Association, 2019). We consult the Reference Examples chapter, and find - right at the beginning of the Audiovisual Works section, the entry for film or video (American Psychological Association, 2019).

With films, the director becomes the 'author'; but if we don't know the author, we need to find someone in a similar role; someone leading the enterprise. We could use writers, producers, interviewees, presenters or executive producers (American Psychological Association, 2019). However, we also need to keep the aim to give our reader a guide back to the source in the forefront. So keeping our reference as simple as possible will aid an optimal result. 

So let's look at the components for citing the Australian film, The Castle. I turned to Wikipedia (2025) and found the following information:

  • Director: Rob Sitch
  • Producer: Debra Choate
  • Writers: Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Rob Sitch
  • Date: 1997
  • Title: The Castle
  • Production Company: Working Dog Productions

If we are going to cite the film in the theatre, my best guess for the most simple reference for the film is:

Sitch, R. (Director). (1997). The Castle [film]. Working Dog Productions.

But if I had watched the movie on DVD, then I would put "Film; DVD" in the square brackets instead. Penultimately, the citation for either version is:

(Sitch, 1997)

And lastly, a quote from the film would use an American-style time notation time notation in the brackets; i.e. 00:00:00. 

"Looks like everybody's kicked a goal" there, darl (Sitch, 1997, 18:06)!


Sam

References:

American Psychological Association (2019). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style (7th ed.). Author.

Wikipedia. (2025). The Castle (1997 Australian Film). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_(1997_Australian_film)

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Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Evaluating employee strengths

In my reading, last year, I encountered a meta-analysis (of sorts) by Miglianico et al. (2022) where the researchers evaluated 27 value or strength instrument studies published between 2010 and 2019, using a range of methods: cross-sectional; diary; experimental; and quasi-experimental.

Out of the review of this range of studies, and supported by the literature, the researchers proposed a five-step flow diagram for workplaces to identify and develop employee strengths. The five steps are shown in the image accompanying this post, and the steps themselves - as outlined by Miglianico et al. (2022) are as follows:

  1. Work with the employee and "educate the[m...] about the strengths approach and the proposed [career] intervention". Employees must understand "and appreciate the value of the approach, to understand the steps involved in the process, and to be actively and genuinely involved in the intervention (Clifton and Harter 2003). The approach’s origins, advantages and limitations, as well as the overall process, must therefore be presented, and all questions must be answered (Dubreuil and Forest 2017). This step helps reduce negativity bias, the natural tendency of humans to give more attention to negative than positive information (Ito et al. 1998), and fully engage participants in the intervention from the start" (Miglianico et al., 2022, p. 757)
  2. Next we "identify the person’s strengths" via "a psychometric instrument (e.g., StrengthsFinder, VIA-Survey, StrengthProfile), or in a less restrictive way by observing oneself (e.g., identifying activities that involve performance, energy, authenticity and flow; Biswas-Diener et al. 2011; Linley 2008; Linley and Burns 2010), or by collecting feedback from peers". Using a range "of different methods (e.g., psychometric instrument and feedback from peers) can yield a more accurate and complete picture of an individual’s strengths" (pp. 757-758).
  3. Following that, we assist the employee to absorb the identified strengths and integrate them into their identity. Allowing time for employees "to fully grasp and assimilate this new information, better understand the reasons for [their] actions and observe [their] behavior in light of personal strengths. This new conceptualization of self can then be integrated into the identity before planning the next steps (Clifton and Harter 2003). It can be facilitated by appropriation exercises, such as specific questions linking strengths to previous successes (Dubreuil et al. 2016), feedback analysis (Roberts et al. 2005b), and self-portrayal exercises (Forest et al. 2012), in order to help the individual gain a deeper awareness of [their] strengths" (p. 758)
  4. Once complete, we next put the ideas into action, in two parts. To begin, the employee "decides the specific changes [they want] to put in place to make better use of [their] personal strengths. The individual then implements the intended transformations. To help workers move from theory to action, strengths must be invested in specific individual, group, or organizational goals and initiatives (e.g., personal objectives, team projects, new tasks and responsibilities, complementary partnerships, etc.), and their application must be monitored or closely followed by managers, peers or coaches, who can provide support and encourage progress (Linley 2008). In the long term, it is important that the person always remain careful to avoid the overuse of strengths, and rather aims to use the right strength, to the right amount, and at the right time" (p. 758).
  5. Lastly we review. "[R]esults can be evaluated subjectively through the individual’s appreciation of the progress made (in terms of strengths awareness and use, goal achievement, overall well-being, etc.), or objectively through changes in various variables that were measured prior to the intervention: wellbeing, job satisfaction, motivation, work engagement, or job performance. A measure of the impact of the intervention can then make it possible to ensure the effectiveness of the procedure and allow for readjustment if necessary" (p. 758).

This is a very handy process outline. Because it is research-based, we can probably rely on this meeting the needs of both individuals and the organisation. I think it would be relatively easy to implement; and I suspect it would also be easy to monitor, and to tweak. 

A simple tool for organisational growth, delivered through individual development.


Sam

Reference:

Miglianico, M., Dubreuil, P., Miquelon, P., Bakker, A. B., & Martin-Krumm, C. (2020). Strength use in the workplace: A literature review. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21, 737-764. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00095-w

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Monday, 3 February 2025

Helping students back into study

I have been thinking about the barriers for students coming back to study as older adults. These students all have an undergraduate degree in something (perhaps physiotherapy, education, or business) but have shifted over time into the career development space. A significant percentage of our students tend to be teachers who parent, teach, and volunteer; and a few who are parenting alone, and trying to develop themselves at the same time. 

They get hit by multiple issues, and I have been trying to work out what some of those issues are. This is my first go and attempting to unravel them:

Time. Trying to squeeze another ten hours into an already full week is very demanding (actually, I don't know how many do it, while also managing to deliver such good quality work!). Students tend to have valid concerns about how long study will take. So I am clear about what the time commitment (10 hours each week to pass), and what assignment work and tasks needs to be delivered and when, so they can begin with their eyes open.

Ability. Most of our students already have an undergraduate degree. I get them think back to their second year. That is the level of work and complexity that they need to deliver for our 600-level courses. In general most of our students cane the quality. It tends to be the next issue - the volume of work needing to be planned - rather than the difficulty of the material.

Scheduling/micro-tasks. It is rare that any of our students will have the luxury of a full day a week for study: instead it tends to happen on the margins of other things. I advise them to squeeze in ten minutes here and there; half an hour when they can; do tasks in lunchtimes; crack out an activity on the bus or at the dinner table in discussion with the family. Previous students have advised they approached course work by getting their readings done each Sunday for the coming week (e.g. they would do each week 1's reading before the week started), so that they could mull things over and get their tasks done earlier in the week. Then they had back half of the week to focus on doing a little assignment work, then onto meeting work and family needs. However, some students simply cannot get work complete until the end of each week, and they accept that this will have a cost on their experience and learning. All students will budget their time according to their personal circumstances. There is no judgment: everyone just does their best with the time they have 🙂

Assessment load. Students need to realise that there will roughly be an assignment due every five weeks over a 15 week course. This is on top of keeping up with the learning materials. Assessment work needs to be chipped away at, week by week.

Low risk. At my institution, students can enrol, then withdraw if they find the workload too great. At the moment students can withdraw by the end of week 2 and have their fee refunded, so can 'try before they buy'; lowering the financial risk of study. This enables students to see if they can wedge in the study requirements via a "ten minutes here; half an hour there" strategy. But if they find their week is already way too full, they have an 'ace in the hole', and can withdraw. And withdrawal is an easy process.

It is always scary to put ourselves back into a beginner space. But getting the infrastructure nailed means we have frameworks to support getting the work done, and knowing what to expect. That then allows us to deal with how we feel about inexpertise, as those feelings arise. 


Sam

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Friday, 31 January 2025

Undermind and underground

There are two authors who talk about getting underneath their writing, surprisingly, in two somewhat similar ways. Those authors are Stephen King and Enid Blyton.

Stephen King, who - in the novel, Bag of Bones (1998) - created a central character who was experiencing a terrible case of writer's block. The protagonist talks about "the boys in the basement" as "an old trick from my writing days. Work your body, rest your mind, let the boys in the basement do their jobs" (King, 1998, p. 120). We let our consciousness get on with other functions while our "under mind" (Blyton, 1952, p. 81) freewheels in the depths, and Lo! Suddenly the answer, the connection, the inspiration comes to us. Giving licence to the "boys in the basement" allows our creativity to rise.  

The "under mind" mentioned by Blyton above was more fully explained by Druce (1992):

"In 1953 Peter McKellar, later to be Professor of Psychology at the University of Otago, New Zealand, approached Enid Blyton in the course of research for his book, Imagination and Thinking (1957). During the next five years she wrote in all nine letters to him, describing how her imagery had begun in childhood in what she called her 'thoughts' or 'night stories', narrative visions which came to her in bed at night when she shut her eyes and let her mind 'go free'. Her childhood 'thoughts', while not night-dreams, were closely allied to conventional daydreams" which were "stories about myself, of course - and I did brave deeds .. .. I had many adventures, the favourite of which was being wrecked on an island somewhere, and having to do as Robinson Crusoe did and make a home for myself. Sometimes it was in a tree, sometimes it was in a cave" (Druce, 1992, p. 25; also Blyton, 1952). 

When "establishing the characters for a story, they would 'walk about' in her head, take over her dreams and 'give her little rest until she got back to her typewriter the following day (Druce, 1992, p. 26). Blyton clearly differentiated her "under mind" process from the scrambled reality of normal dreaming: her under mind imaginings were coherent, plotted and she was the spectator (Stoney, 1974, p. 134). 

"McKellar's associationist theory postulates that the content of unconscious imagery is entirely made up of memories of past experiences: that in appearing to 'imagine' we are in fact recollecting and rearranging past perceptions. Enid Blyton was highly sympathetic towards McKellar's thesis, convinced as she was that her unconscious mind was a store of everything that she had ever seen or heard, of things her conscious mind had 'long forgotten', and that all that she 'imagined' was in some way drawn from that store, modified, fragmented, and recombined. 'All the odd bits and pieces' of her life and thoughts and reading, she felt, sank down into her 'undermind' and 'simmered there, waiting for the time when they would be needed again for a book' ; then they would reappear, 'changed, transmuted, made perfect, finely-wrought - quite different from when they were packed away' (Druce, 1992, p. 26; also Blyton, 1952). Very often a conscious memory would break through, and then she would recognize 'things thrown up from [her] undermind, transmuted and changed - a castle seen long ago, a dog, a small child, words long forgotten - in a new setting'" (Druce, 1992, p. 26; Stoney, 1974, p. 205).

Interesting that two influential 20th century writers draw from a cool, deep well of similar metaphor.


Sam

References:

Blyton, E. (1952). The story of my life. Grafton.

Druce, R. (1992). This day our daily fictions. An Enquiry into the Multi-Million Bestseller Status of Enid Blyton and Ian Fleming. Radopi B.V.

King, S. (1998). Bag of Bones. Scribner.

Stoney, B. (1974). Enid Blyton: The biography (2006 ed., reprint 2011). Tempus Publishing Ltd.

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Wednesday, 29 January 2025

We are rubbish at dealing with our rubbish

I recently read an article about just how much waste we New Zealanders generate each year. In 2018, it was 734kg per person (Blake-Persen, 2018). Yet by 2022, in the midst of lockdown, we had managed to inflate that to 781kg (Sensoneo, 2022). Even worse, 706kg of that 871kg per person doesn't get recycled (Ministry for the Environment, 2024; also based on 2022 figures). Ouch.

We are the 29th worst recycling nation on the planet (Sensoneo, 2022). Ahead of us, with better green credentials, are - at number 1 with 400kg - South Korea. And they make cars and electronics, for goodness sake! The shining example that is South Korea is followed by all those great European countries who have not shelled out tax breaks, but have truly invested in cleaning up their act: Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, The Netherlands, and Sweden. Japan is the only other Asian nation rounding the top 10. Australia is at 19. The USA comes in at number 25. And we trail in behind the Eastern European nations - who are better at this stuff than we are - in 29th place. Our saving grace is that we have come five steps up the ladder from the last time: improving 34th place (Sensoneo, 2022).

Interestingly, the most common rubbish item found on the planet is plastic drink bottles (44%), food wrappers (28%), other drinks containers (think cups, lids and straws; 16%), yoghurt containers (8%), and cheese packaging (5%) (Break Free From Plastic, 2023). If we stopped allowing single use drinks containers, we could - in theory - get rid of 60% of waste. If we consider a lot of the food wrapping might also arise from fast food items, we could get rid of maybe 80% of planetary garbage by outlawing single use items. We don't need to do away with fast food; we just ban all single use wrapping and containers.

Coming back to New Zealand, I could easily take my own container to my favourite sushi and Thai places - which then makes me think: why have I not done that before, and reduced my footprint further?! Sigh. We New Zealanders generate the 4th to highest kilograms of waste per person (Sensoneo, 2022). Yes, we have got rid of single use plastic bags, and now plastic cutlery, but we don't appear to have changed our habits. We could save so much stuff needlessly going to landfill if we were more thoughtful... and the best way to avoid waste is to not create a need for more items to be manufactured or imported in the first place. 

We need to keep telling the shops that we don't want plastic. That we will go somewhere else to avoid it. Then actually vote with our feet. We could also invest in some modern waste to heat plants which burn rubbish cleanly and safely instead of putting stuff into landfill. We could rebuild our old make-do and mend mentality. Recover our old furniture. Mend our clothes. Sell or give away things that we no longer need. We don't have to be totally hippy dippy about it, but we make things last longer, purchase less - and without packaging; buy local, and collect people around us who can fix our toaster, rewire that plug, and put a new graphics card in the old PC. And thank you Consumer for the "Right to Repair" campaign (2024) so these things get easier!

Of course, Right to Repair is a global trend, not solely New Zealand. California and the EU are passing legislation to allow us to mend our kit, and to prevent obstructive technology giant behaviour. Check out the Cold Fusion episode on this here (2024).

Let's create a little inconvenience for ourselves, so we can feel the warm glow of satisfaction in making a tiny bit less impact on the planet :-)


Sam

References:

Blake-Persen, N. (2018, January, 17). Revealed: Kiwis generate 734kg of waste each per year. Radio New Zealand. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/348261/revealed-kiwis-generate-734kg-of-waste-each-per-year

Break Free From Plastic. (2023). Brand Audit: Holding the World’s Worst Plastic Polluters Accountable Annually Since 2018 [Report]. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YFyfRv4m_viZZXa8b1HdpucDX3WEwJzv/view

ColdFusion. (2024, July 17). How Companies Profit off Unfixable Devices (ft. Louis Rossmann) [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/6IZe7KjIJg4

Consumer. (2024). Help us get a product repairability label: Unrepairable products cost you and the planet. https://campaigns.consumer.org.nz/right-to-repair

Ministry for the Environment. (2024). Ngā tatauranga para | Waste statistics. https://environment.govt.nz/facts-and-science/waste/waste-statistics/

Sensoneo. (2022). Global Waste Index 2022: These are the biggest waste producers in the world. https://sensoneo.com/global-waste-index/

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Monday, 27 January 2025

How to begin...?

Azariadis (2011, p. 6)

It can be hard to begin to tease out what we want to say when writing up a research idea. Recently I sent a student some advice about how to develop a rough proposal outline, and thought I would add it here in case anyone else found it useful. 

Firstly, using a document template with all the chapter headings can help us to structure our thinking (go here to get a copy of an adapted Microsoft Word template). If we know what we need to do for each section, we can more constructively seek materials, and identify gaps in our understanding, if we have a outline to work with. Each of the chapters in this template have a brief overview of what is required.

How I start when I am trying to work through my ideas is to begin by writing what I want to say in plain English on the page. Then I read the literature, seeking those elements that I have noted down, and 'dot' bits - fragments - which I find in research articles as I read through them. I keep referring to my notes - my 'plain English' frame. Perhaps "beginning with the bones" might be a good analogy! 

Also, if I quote directly from any papers, I copy the original from the article pdf and put the part in quote marks straight away (with the page number in the citation bracket alongside) as I go. This forms my 'bit' collection, so that I keep the authors' words straight in my head from the outset... and it means that I don't need to scramble to retroactively work out who said what, which can become a bit of a nightmare. Searching for retroactive citations is not what we want to be spending our time on.  

Once I have done 'enough' work on my file, I close it. 'Enough' is when I get to a place where I feel I can leave the work for a time: a logical end to my flow of ideas. Or when I am no longer making progress. I do the admin - include all the full references, do a double check for spelling and so on, make more notes: then close out. 

When I come to do more work, I do a 'save as', and increase the file draft as the next numbered version. I tend to use a naming protocol where "Draft xx" forms a latter part of the file name. And in this next phase of work, I begin by writing my various bits - fragments - up into small paragraphs. I think of this as putting tendons, cartilage and flesh on the bones. 

This is an opportune moment to remind ourselves that paragraphs need to be a minimum of three sentences; preferably five (Azariadis, 2011). This is so each paragraph develops argument; it leads the reader through a structured thought process to the end of each section. If my writing is still at the fragments stage, then I have not yet done enough. I need to do more reading in order to tie my argument together (Brabazon, 2024). 

When I want to begin again, I save as and add another number to the version. That way, when I suddenly find something new that changes my direction, I have the older writing to go back to - just in case I have gone down a blind alley. 

One last aspect to remember is that we are working on two concurrent processes: (a) secondary research; what other researchers say, and (b) primary research; what we want to find out ourselves. Secondary constantly informs primary. These two processes are like train tracks: there are always two parallel rails. Our job is to build the ties; to keep both ideas level, balanced, and equally strong. both will begin as ricketty, sketchy ideas, but will grow stronger, more elegant and reliable as we keep working at knowing our field and topic area. Both will feel difficult at times, but if we keep working at it, a little at a time, we will gain familiarity.

And our resulting project will be level, balanced and strong.


Sam

Reference:

Azariadis, M. (2011). Graduate Research School Seminar: Editing for Academic Writing. https://slideplayer.com/slide/4234375/

Brabazon, T. (2024, May 17). Outrider 55 - The Paragraph [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/af_-RikKZmA

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Friday, 24 January 2025

Reflecting on PD

Over the past couple of years I have written a few posts on the intersection between professional development and reflection (here, and logging that PD here), but there is always a bit more to explore. 

When it comes to personal reflection of our practice, there are a few ways to review our own development; we can use a practice diary; we can use our networks; we can get some type of external assessment; and we can mine the data we have gathered for themes (Drude et al., 2019).

These four ideas can be pretty easy to embed into our practice (see the image accompanying this post for details). But the easiest, and - in my view - the biggest hitter is a practice diary of some sort (Drude et al., 2019). For myself, daily I write up what happened on the previous day. What tasks I undertook, what went well, what did not go well, what surprised me, and what remains to be done. If this work is done electronically, then it can be searched for repeating themes and tendencies - meaning that we also meet the fourth category; data-based feedback. As I have tended to use a secure online platform, 750 words (read more here) the platform provides daily data on mood, also providing data-based feedback; and - as I download my daily posts - I can also search for themes over time. 

The third option on the table, that of external examination, can be a little more costly, but by undertaking some type of formal learning where there is an assessment, we get a gauge on how well we are absorbing the new ideas. We can then back that learning up through having professional supervision - even if only a couple of sessions a year - so that we get an independent check on how we are building our learning into our practice. 

The second item on the table, gaining feedback from our networks (Drude et al., 2019), can also be done in a low cost way. If we think of this as being active in our communities of practice, and having open conversations with others in our field, we can learn a lot. We can sign up for blogs, vlogs, and open source journals (see here for some ideas) Also signing up to various professional organisations' mailing groups we can intersect with new ideas at a relatively low cost. And if we have signed up for a course or two, we might be able to keep interaction going with some of our fellow learners, and share new ideas that way as well.

I would love to hear what other ideas you have for PD!


Sam

References:

750 Words. (2025). Home. https://new.750words.com/

Drude, K. P., Maheu, M., & Hilty, D. M. (2019). Continuing professional development: Reflections on a lifelong learning process. Psychiatric Clinics, 42(3), 447-461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2019.05.002

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Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Employee voice and silence

Employee voice is "the ability to have meaningful input into decisions" (Budd, 2004, p. 13). This is effectively industrial democracy: where there is participation by we employees in organisational decision-making; and where we can have a level of autonomy in our work. It is important that we have meaningful communication and consultation between staff and organisational management to collectively effect a change in organisational decision-making (Budd, 2004).

When we speak out, we are challenging the status quo, which carries risk (Weiss & Zacher, 2022). As long as we can see the benefits that speaking out carries (Budd, 2004), and feel safe, speaking out is likely to contribute to our personal career development through increased job engagement (Rees et al., 2013; Weiss & Zacher, 2022) and increased performance (Rich et al., 2010).

However, many employees may be reluctant to speak up on important matters, even when we have something to say (Milliken et al., 2003). The diagram accompanying this post (Milliken et al., 2003, p. 1470) explains how our personal characteristics, the culture of the organisation, and our relationship with our manager feeds into whether we expect a positive or a negative outcome if we speak out. Further, the culture of the organisation and management influence our risk perception as to whether speaking out will make a difference (Milliken et al., 2003). These elements collectively determine whether our internal cost:benefit calculation will fall on the speak option; or on the be silent one. 

And where we work in more values-driven sectors - voluntary and public - we are more likely to choose silence than those in the private sector (Shipton et al., 2019). Unvoiced and unresolved issues are likely negatively impact both staff and the organisations we work in; it is up to organisational management to ensure that we all feel safe to freely express our workplace concerns (Milliken et al., 2003; Shipton et al., 2019).

Sadly, "deciding to be silent about issues or concerns at work may be a fairly common choice for employees in organizations" (Milliken et al., 2003, p. 1466), largely through fear of disbelief, retribution, or being ignored. Few of us want to be the bearer of bad news, either; avoiding a 'shooting the messenger' situation (Milliken et al., 2003). And remember that - although many organisations becoming more open to employee input (Ahmad & Bilal, 2023) - the government and voluntary sectors still appear to be dragging the chain (Shipton et al., 2019).

We need to build organisations with a growth mindset (Dweck, 2006), where criticism is seen as a opportunity for improvement, not an irritating dissenting voice to be evicted. 


Sam

References:

Ahmad, B., & Bilal, S. (2023). Voicing Is Not Icing! The Role of Career Empowerment in Fostering Voice Behavior Through Career Security: A Time-Lagged Three-Wave Study. Journal of Career Development. Advance online publication, 1-20. https://doi-org.nmit.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/08948453231195557

Budd, J. W. (2004). Employment with a human face: Balancing efficiency, equity, and voice. Cornell University Press.

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Baltimore Books.

Milliken, F. J., Morrison, E. W., & Hewlin, P. F. (2003). An exploratory study of employee silence: Issues that employees don’t communicate upward and why. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1453-1476. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00387

Rees, C., Alfes, K., & Gatenby, M. (2013). Employee voice and engagement: connections and consequences. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(14), 2780-2798. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2013.763843

Rich, B. L., Lepine, J. A., & Crawford, E. R. (2010). Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 53(3), 617-635. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.51468988

Röllmann, L. F., Weiss, M., & Zacher, H. (2021). Does voice benefit or harm occupational well‐being? The role of job insecurity. British Journal of Management, 32(3), 708-724. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12471

Shipton, H., King, D., Pautz, N., & Baczor, L. (2019). Talking about voice: employees’ experiences. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/zzz-misc---to-check/talking-about-voice_employees-experiences_tcm18-54482.pdf

Weiss, M., & Zacher, H. (2022). Why and when does voice lead to increased job engagement? The role of perceived voice appreciation and emotional stability. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 132, 103662, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2021.103662.

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Monday, 20 January 2025

So what is slop then?

If you haven't heard of "slop" yet, I am sure you have seen it. Slop is AI generated crap, according to the 'founder' of the term, Simon Willison (Hern & Milmo, 2024). Think religious characters with lobster arms (Hern & Milmo, 2024; see image accompanying this post). Think people with ten fingers and dissolving faces. Think truckloads of babies (Rawhiti-Connell, 2024; see image accompanying this post). Slop. Using lots of generative AI computing power, even the least creative amongst us is able to create "low-quality content [...with a few commands which] allow[s] anyone who don't know a thing about the art to create their own slop" (Zhou et al., 2024, p. 5). Rawhiti-Connell compares the apparently run-away generative AI slop on Facebook to a hydra, where FB's policing people on minimum wage "cut off one head, [only to have] two more ads about witnessing your brother’s best friend masturbating appear" (2024).

Slop "isn’t interactive, and is rarely intended to actually answer readers’ questions or serve their needs. Instead, it functions mostly to create the appearance of human-made content, benefit from advertising revenue and steer search engine attention towards other sites" (Hern & Milmo, 2024). A proxy for interaction, then. What is really interesting is that I don't think answering questions, serving needs or creating interaction was ever the reason for social media: it was always generating money through advertising placement. As Rawhiti-Connell says, we, the grazing herd, "are the product" (2024). 

Meta, dubious owner of equally dubious Facebook, reported the removal of "631 million fake accounts globally in the first quarter of 2024" for creating fake news stories related to celebrities: known as 'Celebcore' (Rawhiti-Connell, 2024), which is also slop. Crap that is all pixels and no actual content, created by generative AI to look like news, but to not actually be news. Apparently FB has become so rife with AI slop that it is turning into an AI ghost town (Rawhiti-Connell, 2024): but I have no personal knowledge of this as I left FB after the 2017 Cambridge Analytica scandal. It appears that social media platforms are increasingly full of "ads, and now, the plague-like sprawl of fake posts, bot-farmed engagement and meaningless imagery" with drivers to engagement being "outrage and anger" (Rawhiti-Connell, 2024). We really are sparking some useful emotions here :-)

Social media always was a "pseudo connection", but it is becoming more so as the clock ticks on. The "lucrative advertising business [of FB] sits flush alongside its transformation from a digital hub of genuine social interaction to a chaotic landfill of misinformation and AI-generated freak shows" (Rawhiti-Connell, 2024).

So I wonder what will happen when social media platforms are so full of slop that people stop coming to look at the ads?


Sam

References:

Hern, A., & Milmo, D. (2024, May 19). Spam, junk … slop? The latest wave of AI behind the ‘zombie internet’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/may/19/spam-junk-slop-the-latest-wave-of-ai-behind-the-zombie-internet

Rawhiti-Connell, A. (2024, July 9). Fake news, AI slop and little human connection: What is Facebook these days?. The Spinoff. https://thespinoff.co.nz/internet/09-07-2024/fake-news-ai-slop-and-little-human-connection-what-is-facebook-these-days

Zhou, K. Z., Choudhry, A., Gumusel, E., & Sanfilippo, M. R. (2024). "Sora is Incredible and Scary": Emerging Governance Challenges of Text-to-Video Generative AI Models. arXiv, Advance online publication. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2406.11859

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Friday, 17 January 2025

Two millennia of posts

As I was scheduling articles on my blog recently, I noticed that I was creeping up to the grand total of 2000 posts. And the day of my two thousandth post is today. Happy second millennium post-day to my blog!

At an average of 750 words per post, that's another three quarters of a million words now in my blog in addition to the first million achieved in 2018 (here). Again, I had not considered that writing my three posts each week would ever reach close to two million words; writing which has been completed largely for sharing learning with others.

This milestone has again caused me to reflect on what I have done in the past, and where this blog is heading. The focus has largely shifted from business to career development; a topic which was once my secondary subject: my side gig. I now also have twenty five years of writing for clients, a marker which was met in December last year. 

Again, my client base has changed. Originally I wrote tips for small business owners; then - as a member of the academic community - I wrote tips for business students; now I write largely for career development students and practitioners. I am still solving client problems, but now as a lecturer and researcher.

Interesting how life continues to evolve.


Sam

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Wednesday, 15 January 2025

Keeping up in the field

I was asked a question by a graduate last year for ideas on how to keep up in the field of career development once we no longer have access to tertiary libraries to dig into the research. This is a VERY good question! On thinking about this, I decided to put together a quick post with my ideas on how we can stay professionally updated.

Firstly I think we need to join one or two professional organisations. Then we can tap into the updates that they send out to stay current in an incremental way. A list of possibilities that I would suggest are:

  • APCDA (Asia Pacific Career Development Association) paid, but very reasonable cost: https://asiapacificcda.org/ (and the hybrid conference in April/May is absolutely worth attending - very reasonably priced and provides about 75 hours of PD) 
  • CERIC (Canadian Education and Research in Career Counselling) free: https://ceric.ca/contacts/ (the hybrid conference in January is good value, providing about 150 hours of PD) 
  • CDANZ (Career Development Association of NZ) paid: https://cdanz.org.nz/ 
  • CATE (Career and Transition Education Association of NZ) paid: https://www.cate.co.nz/ 
  • CICA (Career Industry Consortium Australia) some webinars free, some paid: https://cica.org.au/about-us/

Once we have our names on a few membership organisation lists, following some career bloggers can be a good idea, such as:

(and please let me know of other career bloggers who are theory-based!)

Next we can register at two repositories - databases - of papers: ResearchGate (https://www.researchgate.net) and Academia (https://www.academia.edu/). This is a large repository of papers, and often papers which are behind a paywall have been lodged and can be freely accessed on one of these two platforms. NB: it is possible that we may need an educational institution email to join, but once we are a member, then we can change our email in our settings. 

Lastly, I think we need to know what journals are open access, and which ones have some regular open access content. For that, check out my series on open access career development journals (new posts will be appearing mid-month through next year): at https://www.samyoung.co.nz/search/label/Career%20Development+freeware

I hope that helps!


Sam

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Monday, 13 January 2025

Nearly two decades of YouTube

I was thinking about YouTube the other day, and how long I have been using the platform. YouTube, in it's current video form and NOT being a dating site, was established in June 2005 (Today I Found Out, 2023), and has grown to be the behemoth it now is over almost two decades. 

It turns out that I was a reasonably early adopter, with the first newsletter that I mention YouTube being from June of 2006 (here) where I talk about Hitwise having announced that YouTube is the most visited video website, having already trapped 43% of the video market share (Young, 2006).

The philosophy/strapline/guiding principle of the platform was changed in June 2005 from "Tune In, hook up" (Today I Found Out, 2023, 10:28) to "Your digital video repository" (12:17). I remember the latter version from only a year later. And - when we stop to consider it, to have captured 43% market share in a year is quite something (Young, 2006).

From the beginning, YouTube made it easy to upload video, automating much of the technical stuff in the background: such like codecs, plug ins and extensions. The user audience got the simple, quick and streamlined experience, a la Krug (2014), and YouTube did the tricky bits of stage management in the wings (Today I Found Out, 2023). 

And that, according to Today I Found Out (2023), was YouTube's competitive advantage, and is possibly why YouTube has outlived most of its rivals.


Sam

References:

Krug, S. (2014). Don't Make Me Think: A common sense approach to web and mobile usability (Revised ed.). Pearson Education.

Today I Found Out. (2023, November 18). What was the First YouTube Video and How Did YouTube Start? [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/7GC9v-EYcsQ

Young, S. (2006, June 2). Newsletter Issue 115, June 2006. Acts of Leadership. https://www.samyoung.co.nz/2006/06/newsletter-issue-115-june-2006.html

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Friday, 10 January 2025

Setting up floor plans

If you have ever tried to lay out the floor plan of an office, or plan a workspace, an easy tool to do that would be very helpful... particularly if we are going to be renting a space and cannot go back to check before our contract is signed. 

And we are in luck! All we need to get started is to take accurate room, door and window measurements.  Go armed to any viewings with a measuring app on our phone (or a laser tool, or go old school with a tape measure), note down those key elements, and then go online at our leisure. Head over to this great online site, at https://floorplanner.com/. 

Set up a free account, and then we can set up our future office, choose from the site's furniture and place it in the space to get an idea of fit, traffic flows, and potential problems. We can even use the built in cameras and angles to give us a walk through! 

Go to https://floorplanner.com/demo to check out the demo residential home to see how it works (so easy to move a wall!).

Very handy :-)


Sam 

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Wednesday, 8 January 2025

From here to infinity - the lemniscate

Did you know what the 'proper' name for an infinity symbol was? I didn't, until earlier this year. It is a "lemniscate" (Simpson & Weiner, 1989, p. 818). The definition provided for the diacritical character, lemniscate, is a mathematical term which - surprisingly - means "adorned with ribbons", used to show "certain closed curves, having a general resemblance to the figure 8", as an "elliptic functions first investigated by Gauss" (Simpson & Weiner, 1989, p. 818), thus explaining the link to a Gaussian curve. Nice!

Why might we want to use the infinity symbol in 'normal' writing? Well, for myself, I wanted to do a bit of database-speak. In databases we get a one to one relationship (which gets shown as 1:1), or a one to many relationship (shown as - you guessed it! - 1:∞). 

So , if we are wanting to use the lemniscate symbol, it can be quite tricky to find out how to get it on our keyboards. Even trying to find it in the symbol area is not that easy - we usually have to hunt around quite a bit, scrolling down all the endless font alphabets installed on my PC until I magically don't flip past the ONE character set that contains the lemniscate diacritical. 

However, I have found a keyboard shortcut - which while quite clunky - at least allows us to enter the symbol without endless scrolling in the Symbols dialogue box.

If we are on a PC, simply key the characters "221E" on the keyboard, highlight them, then key Alt & X. This will convert "221E" into the infinity symbol.

It would be nice if it were simpler. But at least this works.


Sam

References:

Simpson, J. A., & Weiner, E. S. C. (Eds.) (1989). Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed., Vol VIII Interval-Looie). Clarendon Press.

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Monday, 6 January 2025

Career inaction

Most of us are likely to have phases of action and inaction throughout our various career stages, perhaps not necessarily taking action when we should. Career inaction is now a career theory of Verbruggen & De Vos (2020), where those of us with "turnover intentions [may] stay in their organization, and people with entrepreneurial desires often turn out to be wantrepreneurs" (p. 376; emphasis added). I found 'wantrepreneurs' a very evocative term, for those of us who are all talk and no trousers. We get stuck in 'inaction', where we fail "to act sufficiently on a desired change" (p. 376), which may eventually lead to "life regret" (p. 377).

However, career inaction might also be what helps to keep the world of work relatively stable; perhaps why new trends may be slower to take hold than predicted (Dries & Verbruggen, 2022; Verbruggen & De Vos, 2020) - such as the boundaryless career (read more on boundaryless careers here). 

But what keeps us in work which we have grown out of? Well, it appears that uncertainty avoidance - personal or cultural - seems to have a part to play (Dries & Verbruggen, 2022; read more here), which appears to relate to some identity concepts, specifically "the 'striving me,' the 'comfortable me,' and the 'uncertain me'" (Rogiers et al., 2022, p. 10):

  • Comfortable me: where we are "comforted and stuck by the benefits (e.g., salary, seniority, pension schemes), familiarity, and mastery (e.g., knowing what to expect, knowing what to do)" in our work (Rogiers et al., 2022, p. 6)
  • Striving me: This is where we might be short on "career progress and [feel] a need for continuous learning", with a "mismatch between [our] lived career experience and [our] developmental needs" (p. 6). We need to change something to scratch a self-developmental itch 
  • Uncertain me: where we feel "uncertainty and fear, despite [our] desire for change" (p. 6). This seems similar to Hofstede's "Uncertainty avoidance, or the degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations: from relatively flexible to extremely rigid" (1989, p. 392), where we "feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these" (Dries & Verbuggen, 2022, p. 65, citing Hofstede, 2001).

If we are largely comfortable me, there is little need for change. If we are largely striving me, we will probably build in our own change. But an uncertain me may see more risk than in fact there is. 

So how might we make a largely uncertain me see a way to safely change? Seeing a career coach seems a logical way to shift an uncertain me from inaction to action (Dries & Verbuggen, 2022), but also having corporate initiatives such organisational internships where staff can try out new roles for three or six months would help those who are feeling stuck to try before they buy. 


Sam

References:

Dries, N., & Verbruggen, M. (2023). Chapter 8: Career Inaction in Belgium: When you want to make a career change, but you just … don’t. In J. Briscoe, M. Dickmann, D. T. Hall, W. Mayrhofer, E. Parry (Eds.), Understanding Careers Around the Globe (pp. 64-72). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Hofstede, G. (1989). Organising for Cultural Diversity. European Management Journal, 7(4), 390-397. https://doi.org/10.1016/0263-2373(89)90075-3

Rogiers, P., Verbruggen, M., D'Huyvetter, P., & Abraham, E. (2022). Stuck between me: A psychodynamic view into career inaction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 136, 103745, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2022.103745

Verbruggen, M., & De Vos, A. (2019). When People Don’t Realize Their Career Desires: Toward a Theory of Career Inaction. Academy of Management Review, 45(2), 376-394. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2017.0196

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Friday, 3 January 2025

Hofstede's cultural dimensions

Culture is a shared societal system of values and norms, which - when taken together - are a "design for living" (Rao, 2008, p. 308). Our values are abstract ideas about what we believe to be good, right, and desirable; whereas our norms are our social rules and guidelines which set out what is 'appropriate behaviour' in most situations. Our values give us context for our norms, helping us establish and justify our culture society (Rao, 2008). And a society? Well, that is a group of people who share a common set of values and norms!

Geert Hofstede worked for IBM, in HR. When doing his PhD, he decided to turn the lens inward on his own work environment, so studied - over 11 years - the 166,000 IBM staff who were working across more than 50 countries. He undertook this study in 1974, published his results in 1984 (and I am guessing that he had access to an IBM mainframe computer to crunch his numbers!). Because he had such a large data set, he was able to identify six cultural or value dimensions which distinguish one national culture from another. This became a framework for understanding how basic values motivate organisational behaviour.

There are four key cultural dimensions which have stood the test of time. They are (Daft, 2008):

  • Power distance: "Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally." Cultures that endorse low power distance expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or democratic. People relate to one another more as equals regardless of formal positions. Subordinates are more comfortable with and demand the right to contribute to and critique the decision making of those in power. In high power distance countries, less powerful accept power relations that are more autocratic and paternalistic. Subordinates acknowledge the power of others simply based on where they are situated in certain formal, hierarchical positions. As such, the power distance index Hofstede defines does not reflect an objective difference in power distribution, but rather the way people perceive power differences (p. 340). 
  • Uncertainty avoidance: "a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity". "It reflects the extent to which members of a society attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty. People in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance tend to be more emotional. They try to minimize the occurrence of unknown and unusual circumstances and to proceed with careful changes step by step by planning and by implementing rules, laws and regulations. In contrast, low uncertainty avoidance cultures accept and feel comfortable in unstructured situations or changeable environments and try to have as few rules as possible. People in these cultures tend to be more pragmatic, they are more tolerant of change (p. 340). 
  • Individualism vs. collectivism: "The degree to which individuals are integrated into groups". In individualistic societies, the stress is put on personal achievements and individual rights. People are expected to stand up for themselves and their immediate family, and to choose their own affiliations. In contrast, in collectivist societies, individuals act predominantly as members of a lifelong and cohesive group or organization (note: "The word collectivism in this sense has no political meaning: it refers to the group, not to the state"). People have large extended families, which are used as a protection in exchange for unquestioning loyalty (p. 340). 
  • Masculinity vs. femininity: "The distribution of emotional roles between the genders". Masculine cultures' values are competitiveness, assertiveness, materialism, ambition and power, whereas feminine cultures place more value on relationships and quality of life. In masculine cultures, the differences between gender roles are more dramatic and less fluid than in feminine cultures where men and women have the same values emphasizing modesty and caring. As a result of the taboo on sexuality in many cultures, particularly masculine ones, and because of the obvious gender generalizations implied by Hofstede's terminology, this dimension is often renamed by users of Hofstede's work, e.g. to Quantity of Life vs. Quality of Life (p. 340). On reflection, I would prefer that these terms were labelled something less gendered (such as 'task' versus 'relationship'), but this is what we have.

Further, uncertainty avoidance is also about how those in a cultural group are comfortable - or uncomfortable - with uncertainty and ambiguity; and so, how much we support beliefs and behaviours which promise us uncertainty and difference; or promise us certainty and conformity (CSU San Marcos, 2004; Daft, 2008). We might also want to think about how much we, in our national or organisational culture, may feel threatened by ambiguous, uncertain situations; do people around us try to avoid feeling less certain by imposing structure and rules? Or do they say "woohoo, yeah!" and leap right in?

These are very interesting dimensions to consider. And collectively they help us understand just where we feel our cultural values are in sync; or not.


Sam

References:

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

CSU San Marcos (2004). Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture.  http://www.docstoc.com/docs/3542579/hofstedes-theory

Rao, P. L. (2008). International Human Resource Management: Text and Cases. Excel Books India.

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Wednesday, 1 January 2025

Path goal theory

There is a management theory where, to achieve a desired organisational outcome, a leader can clarify the job 'structure' on one hand, or increase the 'motivators' on the other (Dansereau et al, 2013; Hernandez et al., 2011). It is known as the Path Goal theory, and was devised by Robert House way back in 1971.

Building on Victor Vroom's expectancy theory, the Path Goal theory proposes that "leaders, to be effective, engage in behaviors that complement subordinates’ environments and abilities in a manner that compensates for deficiencies and is instrumental to subordinate satisfaction and individual and work unit performance" (1996, p. 353). In plain English, this is where effective leaders leverage work context and staff abilities to optimally achieve both staff satisfaction and organisational goals (Dansereau et al, 2013; Evans, 1996; House, 1971, 1996; House & Mitchell, 1975). And along the way, it also "clarifies employees' paths to work goals and the link between work goals and valued personal outcomes, thus making it explicit what employees need to do" (Hernandez et al., 2011, p. 1170).

From this latter point, we can see that the Path Goal theory is not only a theory of leadership or management: it is also a theory of followership. Our locus of control can move (see more here). The Path Goal theory makes room for staff-driven development; "encourag[ing] self-expansion in followers by directing followers toward a mutually desired goal" or two (Dansereau et al, 2013, p. 806). This idea of shared purpose builds a sense of team in the workplace, where everyone gets the endorphin blast of working together to achieve something larger than ourselves.

Not a bad idea. 

However, we also need to consider leader development. Leaders need to be able to 'see' the team's abilities, and the constraints of the environment, and to have a quiver of options available to assist staff to motivate themselves. Harking back to the "selling telling participating delegating" leadership theory of Hersey and Blanchard (Blanchard & Hersey, 1996; originally published 1969):

  • Supportive leadership. Where followers lack self-confidence, leaders can adopt a "supportive" leadership style to increase follower confidence and achieve work outcomes (House, 1971, 1996, House & Mitchell, 1975)
  • Directive leadership. Where there is an ambiguous job, the leader can be more directive, to clarify the path to rewards (House, 1971, 1996, House & Mitchell, 1975)
  • Achievement-Oriented leadership. Where there is a lack of role challenge, the leader can take an achievement-oriented approach, setting stretch goals to make room for challenge (House, 1971, 1996, House & Mitchell, 1975)
  • Participative leadership. And where the rewards do not seem to motivate the team, taking a team-solution approach where everyone works together to clarify the changing nature of desired rewards (House, 1971, 1996, House & Mitchell, 1975).

This is a useful theory. While I think directive leadership is no longer a useful solution to ambiguity (largely because few roles seem unambiguous today), the binary option of clarifying the path to the goal or increasing desired rewards is very helpful. It is also a useful argument to illustrate why restrictive HR practices will work against organisations.


Sam

References:

Blanchard, K. H., & Hersey, P. (1996). Great ideas revisited. Training & Development, 50(1), 42-48. 

Dansereau, F., Seitz, S. R., Chiu, C.-Y., Shaughnessy, B., & Yammarino, F. J. (2013). What makes leadership, leadership? Using self-expansion theory to integrate traditional and contemporary approaches. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(6), 798–821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.10.008

Evans, M. G. (1996). RJ House's “A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness”. The Leadership Quarterly, 7(3), 305-309. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(96)90021-1

Hernandez, M., Eberly, M. B., Avolio, B. J., & Johnson, M. D. (2011). The loci and mechanisms of leadership: Exploring a more comprehensive view of leadership theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(6), 1165-1185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.09.009

House, R. J. (1996). Path-goal theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy, and a reformulated theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 7(3), 323-352. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(96)90024-7

House, R. J. (1971). A path goal theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16(3), 321-339. https://doi.org/10.2307/2391905

House, R. J., & Mitchell, T. R. (1975). Path-goal theory of leadership [Technical Report 75-67]. Organizational Effectiveness Research Programs Office of Naval Research.  https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8b0c/d3ea175f1a28db0d6c109fad7f6674afaef5.pdf

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