Post 3: Spirituality, Religion, and Career Development: Current Status and Future Directions

As the semester continues, I am finding most of the career development theories to be interesting and for the most part they hold some truth behind them.   I honestly did not know that there were this many theories related to career development.   During last week’s class, I felt it was really helpful to learn about the theories and then see a case study related to the specific theory.  However, I do not feel that all of the case studies we looked at just focused on career issues.  For example, the case study about Melissa and her satisfaction issues with her job.  There were obviously many other issues that she needed to face and resolve.   Those external issues were most likely adding to her lack of job satisfaction as well.  With that being said, I think it is really important for career counselors to recognize the external factors and see how they are related to career choices and development.

I found this week’s article about spirituality and career development to be somewhat related to what I mentioned above about external factors and career development.  When I first read the title of the article, I thought there is no way that there can be a connection between religion, spirituality and work environments.   You always hear people saying how they would never talk about spirituality or religion at work because it may be inappropriate.   However, after reading the article, I felt differently.  Duffy defines religiousness and spirituality as, “religiousness generally refers to a person’s relationship with a certain religion, church, or faith community.  Spirituality, in contrast, can refer to varying concepts, such as an individual’s relationship with a higher power or powers, a type of energy or guiding force, or a belief system in a common good” (Duffy, 2006, pg. 52).   Duffy also explains that when people have a positive relationship with their religion or spirituality that they tend to carry less stress and respond better to physical illnesses.  So it does make sense that having a spiritual sense in the work place could lead to higher job satisfaction.

Although many of the theories that Duffy listed have not undergone serious empirical testing, many of them make sense and can be related to career development.  Duffy states that, “The current conception of spirituality as it relates to the workplace has less to do with a support-based definition tied to a higher power or powers and more to do with value systems and community” (Duffy, 2006, pg. 54).   I felt that most of the theories mentioned considered external factors as well as career factors.   For example, Brewer’s Vocational Souljourn Model states that a person is guided by three basic principles.  Those principles are meaning, being, and doing, and they all build and play off of each other.  Brewer suggested that peoples principles of meaning, being, and doing need to be in equilibrium in order for people to have stability in life.  Brewer thought that “if individuals are able to align their work (doing) with who they are as people (being) and what they value (meaning), obstructive boundaries between work and nonwork can dissolve, creating a free flow of energy throughout the system” (Duffy, 2006, pg. 57).  I believe that it is important for career counselors to recognize their client’s spirituality and external factors, and how it may help them in making a career decision in the future.

Duffy, R. (2006). Spirituality, religion, and career development: Current status and future directions. The career development quarterly, 55, 52-61.