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Personal agency in employment groups Ross, Stanley A.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of viewing employment group programs as processes of enhancing personal agency. Personal causation theory (deCharms, 1976) was used to operationalize the concept of personal agency. Two questions were investigated. First, does personal agency increase in individuals after participating in employment groups? Second, how do the outcomes derived from employment groups compare to deCharms' conditions for developing personal agency? Twenty-seven unemployed or underemployed participants from three different programs were interviewed to elicit anecdotal stories from their experience before and after the program, and to collect helpful and hindering factors using the Critical Incident Technique. The Origin Scoring System was used to rate the stories yielding pre- and post-program scores for each participant. A 2-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures revealed a strong treatment effect (p<.001) with no group effect, suggesting a significant increase in personal agency in the three groups represented. A sorting of critical incident outcomes demonstrated that deCharms1 conditions for developing personal agency are valid with employment groups but six additional conditions were required to complete the sorting. Other findings suggested the presence of out-of-program experiences complementing or detracting from the program, the fundamental importance of supportive interactions among group members, the need for the balanced use of both task- oriented and supportive components in a program, and skills identification as the most valued aspect of self-assessment. The findings suggest that personal agency may be a useful organizing principle for guiding theory, research and practice in employment and career counselling.
Item Metadata
Title |
Personal agency in employment groups
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1997
|
Description |
The purpose of this study was to investigate the
utility of viewing employment group programs as processes of
enhancing personal agency. Personal causation theory
(deCharms, 1976) was used to operationalize the concept of
personal agency. Two questions were investigated. First,
does personal agency increase in individuals after
participating in employment groups? Second, how do the
outcomes derived from employment groups compare to deCharms'
conditions for developing personal agency?
Twenty-seven unemployed or underemployed participants
from three different programs were interviewed to elicit
anecdotal stories from their experience before and after the
program, and to collect helpful and hindering factors using
the Critical Incident Technique. The Origin Scoring System
was used to rate the stories yielding pre- and post-program
scores for each participant. A 2-factor analysis of
variance with repeated measures revealed a strong treatment
effect (p<.001) with no group effect, suggesting a
significant increase in personal agency in the three groups
represented. A sorting of critical incident outcomes
demonstrated that deCharms1 conditions for developing
personal agency are valid with employment groups but six
additional conditions were required to complete the sorting.
Other findings suggested the presence of out-of-program
experiences complementing or detracting from the program,
the fundamental importance of supportive interactions among
group members, the need for the balanced use of both task-
oriented and supportive components in a program, and skills
identification as the most valued aspect of self-assessment.
The findings suggest that personal agency may be a useful
organizing principle for guiding theory, research and
practice in employment and career counselling.
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Extent |
10440357 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-04-20
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0053981
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1997-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.