Career Development and Vision Boarding

I was wondering if some cultures affiliate more to structure within qualitative assessments; and some less so. By qualitative assessments, I mean card sorts, vision boards, genograms and so forth (Osborn & Zunker, 2016), because they “enliven the career counselling process” (Okocha, 1998, p. 5). The type of more high context cultures which may seek more structure might be Germany, and the USA and UK (Hall & Hall, 1990). Which then left me to consider those lower context groups less likely to enjoy structured assessments; perhaps Chinese, Māori and Pasifika cultures (Hall & Hall, 1990; Kennedy, 2004). And while I didn't have career development research to hand, sit seemed likely to me that, as per the cultural context image accompanying this post, many non-Western or indigenous groups may be at the high context end of the continuum (Hall & Hall, 1990; Kennedy, 2004), where I have added Māori and Pasifika groups in blue. I also suspect that Aotearoa as a nation is middling for context, influenced by Māori and Pasifika peoples; drifting from the UK, as the main Pākehā source, over time. 

Cultural fit and qualitative assessment is interesting. I use posters as a form of vision board to end one of my courses: I ask students to make me a poster detailing all the tips and tricks they now have in their kete as they graduate and go into their working lives. I try not to limit creativity; students are encouraged to draw on a number of course-introduced theories as well as seeking new theories and frameworks. However, I do need students to cite theory; provide a brief summary (to show understanding); and provide future application. I get some amazingly inventive posters. 

I went to have a look, to see what research there is in the wild. In the USA, I found a lecturer doing something similar to myself, but in a more structured way. This instructor was setting students a "career [...] exploratory, individually-created poster" to summarise learning on a paper, using "career [information] that interested the student", asking them "to explore industries and careers that would interest [them, and applying their] conceptual knowledge gained from the course to describe the overall role of the specific job within an organization", including "earnings potential, examples of companies to work for, actual job descriptions" and moving on to "explain how the position would interact with the functional areas of business [such as] human resources, accounting" (Bergom, 2015, pp. 132). The "career poster assignment was "a kind of 'vision board' for students to keep after the course to remind them of their career goals" (pp. 132-133); a structured vision board intersected with career mapping, providing students with a tight framework for delivery. This US vision board/career map intersectional tool was repeated in research by Rutledge and Mayes (2024), Sylvester and Donald (2024); and paper exploring vision boarding for clients seeing a mental health counsellor intersects this with solution-focused brief therapy aka SFBT, where "focus is on specific, [and positive] concrete images" (Burton & Lent, 2016, p. 3) where "the client controls some of the process" (p. 4).

In Canada, 24 of 28 secondary school students participating in vision boarding rated it good or great, as well as being highly helpful (Welde et al., 2015), but the paper did not outline how the vision boarding process was undertaken. 

Finally, I have only been able to find one piece of research looking at a higher context group: and that is in New Zealand, the Samoan career development system of Niu (Apulu, 2022), drawing on three layers: who we are, actioned by Pasifika-appropriate card sorts; how we can, actioned by storytelling; and our will, actioned by vision boarding. The process detailed seems more organic, more conversational.

This could be a rich seam for a researcher to mine!

Sam

References:

Apulu, M. (2022). How to grow a culturally responsive career practice [Master's thesis: University of Otago]. https://www.researchbank.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10652/5711/MPP_2022_Peter_Apulu.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y

Bergom, I. M. (2015). The Professor Behind the Screen: Four Case Studies of Online Teaching in Business [Doctoral thesis, University of Michigan]. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/111535/inbe_1.pdf?sequence=1

Burton, L., & Lent, J. (2016). The use of vision boards as a therapeutic intervention. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 11(1), 52-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2015.1092901

Hall, E. T., & Hall, M. R. (1990). Understanding Cultural Differences: Keys to success in West Germany, France, and the United States. Intercultural Press.

Kennedy, J. C. (2008). Leadership and Culture in New Zealand. In J. S. Chhokar, F. C. Brodbeck, R. J. House, (Eds.) Culture and Leadership Across the World: The GLOBE Book of In-depth Studies of 25 Societies (pp. 397-429). Psychology Press.

Munter, M. (1989). Guide to Managerial Communication: Effective Business writing and Speaking (5th ed.). Prentice-Hall.

Okocha, A. A. (1998). Using qualitative appraisal strategies in career counseling. Journal of Employment Counseling, 35(3), 151-159. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1920.1998.tb00996.x

Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Robbins, S. P. (1991). Management (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall.

Rutledge, M. L., & Mayes, R. D. (2024). A culturally responsive career development group for minoritized girls of color. Professional School Counseling, 28(1a), 2156759X241234923. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X241234923

Sylvester, R., & Donald, W. E. (2024). Conceptualisation and Operationalisation of the Personal Brand V.A.L.U.E. Career Development Tool. GILE Journal of Skills Development, 4(1), 30-46. https://doi.org/10.52398/gjsd.2024.v4.i1.pp30-46

Waalkes, P. L., Gonzalez, L. M., & Brunson, C. N. (2019). Vision boards and adolescent career counseling: A culturally responsive approach. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 14(2), 205-216. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2019.1602092

Welde, A. M., Bernes, K. B., Gunn, T. M., & Ross, S. A. (2015). Integrating career education in junior high school: Strengths, challenges, and Recommendations. Canadian Journal of Career Development, 14(2), 26-40. https://cjcd-rcdc.ceric.ca/index.php/cjcd/article/download/166/173