Q2. Understanding career theories can give us an insight into managing individual performance. Select two career theories, briefly explain the important aspects of each theory and outline the potential advantage in managing employee’s performance in the workplace.

In discussing the topic of career development, it is necessary to define the meaning of ‘career’ in the scope of the present discussion. Theorists and researchers have provided a series of definitions focusing on the main characteristics of the term. According to the National Career Development Association (Sears, 1982), career is the totality of work and leisure in which a person is involved in his or her whole life. Gysbers & More (1981) have suggested that the term ‘career’ encompasses various roles, circumstances and places that one encounters in a lifetime. To reflect the nature of such a comprehensive and complex self-development through the person’s life span, it is advisable that the term ‘career’ be replaced by the phrase ‘life career development’. McDaniels (1978) argued that while a job or occupation is a part of one’s career, it does not represent the whole spectrum of this broad concept. Career means a lifestyle consisting of a sequence of work or leisure activities throughout one’s lifetime. Raynor & Entin (1982) pointed out that the term career is a combination of phenomenological and behavioral conceptions. It reflects one’s self-perception within one’s social context in regard to one’s past and present experiences as well as future plans