VOCATIONAL ADAPTATION, WORKER PERSONALITY, AND SUPERVISORY BELIEFS (SUPERVISION, CAREER DEVELOPMENT, WORK ENVIRONMENT

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the interaction between the supervisor's managerial beliefs and the worker's vocational personality contributed to the employee's vocational adaptation. The investigation was conducted at a large psychiatric hospital and included as subjects 124 of the hospital's registered nurses and their 41 supervisors.;The study involved two assumptions, both drawn primarily from Sullivan's work: first, personality, though it consists of core traits, is flexible; second, interactions with other significant persons influence behavior, including adaptive behaviors. It was hypothesized that certain matches between supervisor and nurse would be facilitating of vocational adaptation, while other matches would be impeding.;Vocational adaptation was used in Heath's sense of satisfaction with different aspects of vocational choice. It is an affective rating of the extent to which the career permits talents to be utilized and vocational needs to be met; it is also a self-rating of the extent to which the occupational demands are being met.;Vocational personality was assessed using Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory. The concept underlying Holland's system is that both individuals and occupations can be typed: congruent vocational choices consist of a match between personality and occupation. The assumption is that congruent choices are associated with positive career outcomes, incongruent choices with less positive outcomes.;Supervisory belief refers to the assumptions held about work motivation. McGregor distinguished between Theory X, wherein workers are seen as motivated by extrinsic rewards; and Theory Y, in which workers are seen as motivated by intrinsic needs.;It was hypothesized that nurses who had made congruent career choices achieved higher vocational adaptation working with Theory Y supervisors, but that nurses who had made incongruent choices adapted better under Theory X supervisors. This interaction hypothesis was supported. It was further hypothesized that consistency of supervisory beliefs at higher levels reinforced tendencies to adapt: this hypothesis received support only in the case of low congruent nurses.;It was concluded that the match between supervisor and worker is important to the employee's career adaptation. It was suggested that a more detailed analysis of the specific reciprocal patterns, especially the supervisor's behaviors, be conducted.