Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory

agreement and Applying pornographic Development hypothesis 1 understand and Applying Adult Development Theory John Smith Nyack College Life is so busy these days that somemagazines we dont stop to think how we got to this point or realize some of those key f proceedors that contend a role. I think it is fair to say that most plenty take a manage of things for minded(p) but when you pause and analyze lifes events it can be an eye destroyer and in truth get you thought process about how certain career stopping points wee-wee created a pathway for your career and at life-space.Gets a little scary when you think spinal column on how one or dickens decisions could have re either(a)y swayed your career. I think we can all think back to an event in our adult development that either went our way or one that didnt that. I think back to my premier(prenominal) few geezerhood as a working adult and how some of those early influences rightfully set me on a path forward I spent a honourable nitty-gritty of time reviewing Donald Supers theory of career development and the life-span/life-space theory. I am naturally a skeptic, especially when it comes to most of these types of theorys I read about but I obtain that Super wasUnderstanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 2 right on and it is weighty to define areas of disagreement. I especially agree with the point that career decisions are non isolated from other aspects of our lives. When you blab about career development it starts off as a very broad subject and citizenry take all kind of incompatible paths to develop their careers. In my case I started working at UPS right out of richly school and it was just a job at first and that is all I expected. The word career n perpetually entered my thinking, alls I knew is that I had graduated high school and my begin old me that I had to get a job so off to UPS I went. That decision was the first major influence in my adult life, what I didnt rea lize back then was that outlet to UPS instead of, lets say getting a job at a downcast business was a huge factor in my career development. UPS is obviously a very large(p) company and they tend to hold onto the ones they want to develop which was very important to me. If I decided to work for a small family owned business as my first job things could have been very different. I am always very thankful for that decision I made and the people at UPS who took me under their wing and helped develop my career at UPS.A major factor in ones career development is to put themselves in a invest to grow and or be surrounded by good people or good companies that will help you grow. Easier give tongue to then done, when you are young sometimes you dont realize or are non smell into the future but for me that a decisive decision which started my career. My first couple of years with UPS I was still just a kid, but by the time I false 20 Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 3 I was what they called a part-time supervisor which was a nonher critical decision/influences in my career.I can remember back to that day when I almost turned down the job because I had long hairs-breadth and didnt want to cut it off. UPS had a, no hair past you collar rule for men and I really almost turned down the position because of this. Once got past the long hair issue things really started taking off the next few years as I go around in different solicitude roles to build my aptitude set. The most influential director I ever worked for was a lady by the name of bloody shame Finnigan, I still remember her name, she use to hound me all the time about school and when am going to enroll in college.That is what I mean by good people around you, good companies have good people and they will give you that extra push when you need one. Not certain(predicate) I ever would have gone to college if she wasnt all over me about it all the time. Again, she was looking at the big p icture regarding developing my career and I was still just looking at it as a job. All of this was happening during Supers Exploration stage of career development. I was trying to understand what I wanted to do as far as a career.I was part of the union for year which I did not like very much, I was part of management for about four years during this period and really enjoyed the challenges of the job but still had a hard time with the style of management and people telling me what to do all the time, looking over my shoulder all the time, and just the overall The beatens will Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 4 act until morale improves management style. UPS use to have something called MBOs which was management by objectives but the joke was that it was really MBI, management by intimidation.As I black marketd toward the end of my exploration stage I realized I had to make a career decision/change. Although I very much enjoyed the high pressure atmosphere and the thrill of success I knew that I didnt respond well to that shield of management style as it was very draining for me and started having a negative effect. As I moved into the establishment phase of Supers theory I made a bold move and agreed to start college as per Marys request. Once I finished my second semester UPS granted my approval to move from the operations to gross sales which was huge for me and where I excelled.For the first time I started thinking of UPS Sales as a career and not just a job. I also got married, bought a house, and had a child in the first few years of this stage. As my career in sales got going it create a lot of stability in my live, somehow in operations you never had the feeling of security do to the management style but now I did. Career and ain lives are very much integrated together, the feeling of a career and not just a job somehow settles you down and you start looking at live in a different perspective. Although I owe a lot to UPS and pe ople like Mary I made the decision to leave UPS and to join FedEx.That was the hardest but most important career decision I have ever made. With UPS I had 10 years in, I was doing well, had security, things were going well. I Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 5 I also had a lot of responsibilities including a mortgage and family. Making career changes not only affected me but all affected my family and it was scary leaving something you knew was there for something unknown. But it all worked out very well, FedEx is a much younger company, a sales driven company, which fits my style better.I have not entered the maintenance stage yet and wont for another 5 years but if I had to disagree with any of Supers five stages this would be one that I would disagree with somewhat. If your goal is to just holding onto an achieved job I think you are going to burst in todays world. The world is very different today and if you are past 45 in corporate the States sitting still a nd just holding onto a job that centre you are going backwards. Maybe when you hit 60 I could understand that thinking but not in your mid-40s or 50s.Corporations are very aggressive these days and wouldnt set aside someone to just to hold onto an achieved job. Maybe this is where a smaller company would think or act differently then a large corporation who has to answer to shareholders each quarter. There are galore(postnominal) different roads people travel, for the last twenty years mine has been in corporate America working for Fortune 500 companies, I expect that I would continue down this road hopefully with FedEx. For me personally, I would belief that I will not settle into a holding pattern erstwhile I enter my mid-forties.I still feel very young in my career and am still learning new things everyday and I think that will continue for some time to come. With my position there are always larger corporations to sell to or manage Understanding and Applying Adult Developmen t Theory 6 and as I continue to move my career forward I will work with larger and more complex corporations which will keep me moving forward and not settling. Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 7 References Bjorklund, B. , & Bee, H. (2008). The Journey of Adulthood, Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson Prentice Hall