How important is Personal Development to our Career Development?

 
 Personal development precedes career development. 
 One has to develop as a person before one can decide on what he or she wants to do.  
 It involves our personality, our attitude, values, interests, and resources.  
 
Human Ecological Theory / Bioecological System Theory 
 Urie Bronfenbrenner, American developmental psychologist  
 A person’s development is affected by everything in their surrounding environment. Whatever happens
in one level can affect the rest of the system.  
 There is a ripple effect in the various areas of the person’s development. Positive or negative changes
affect not only the person but also his or her family and community  
 He divided the person's environment into five different levels: 
o Microsystem  
 The individual’s immediate environments (family, school, peer  
group, neighborhood, and childcare environments); most influential level  
 The system closest to the person and the one in which they have direct contact  
 Typically includes family, peers, or caregivers  
 Home, school, daycare, or work  
 Relationships in a microsystem are bi-directional. In other words, your reactions to the
people in your microsystem will affect how they treat you in return.  
 This is the most influential level of the ecological systems theory  
o Mesosystem  
 The direct connections between immediate environments (i.e., a  
child’s home and school)  
 Consists of the interactions between the different parts of a person's microsystem  
 The mesosystem is where a person's individual microsystems do not function
independently, but are interconnected and assert influence upon one another. These interactions
have an indirect impact on the individual.  
o Exosystem  
 The environments that only indirectly affect the individual (such as  
parent’s workplace)  
 Refers to a setting that does not involve the person as an active participant, but still
affects them.  
 This includes decisions that have bearing on the person, but in which they have no
participation in the decision- making process.  
o Macrosystem  
 The larger cultural context (Eastern vs. Western culture, national  
economy, political culture, subculture)  
 Encompasses the cultural environment in which the person lives and all other systems
that affect them  
 Includes the economy, cultural values, and political system. 
 Can have either a positive or a negative effect on a person's development  
o Chronosystem  
 The patterning of environmental events and transitions over the  
course of life  
 Includes the transitions and shifts in one’s lifespan and the socio-historical contexts that
may influence a person  
 Adds the useful dimension of time, which demonstrates the influence of both change and
constancy in the child’s environment  
 Includes a change in family structure, address, parent’s employment status, in addition

to immense society changes such as economic cycles and wars   

 
How Important is Personal Development to our Career Development? 
 Although there are various influences in our life, it is what we are, what we have become as a person
that determines what we want to do an establish in life in order to establish our place in the world. 
How important is Personal Development to our Career Development? 
 Personal development precedes career development. 
 One has to develop as a person before one can decide on what he or she wants to do.  
 It involves our personality, our attitude, values, interests, and resources.  
 
Human Ecological Theory / Bioecological System Theory 
 Urie Bronfenbrenner, American developmental psychologist  
 A person’s development is affected by everything in their surrounding environment. Whatever happens
in one level can affect the rest of the system.  
 There is a ripple effect in the various areas of the person’s development. Positive or negative changes
affect not only the person but also his or her family and community  
 He divided the person's environment into five different levels: 
o Microsystem  
  The individual’s immediate environments (family, school, peer  
group, neighborhood, and childcare environments); most influential level  
 The system closest to the person and the one in which they have direct contact  
 Typically includes family, peers, or caregivers  
 Home, school, daycare, or work  
 Relationships in a microsystem are bi-directional. In other words, your reactions to the
people in your microsystem will affect how they treat you in return.  
 This is the most influential level of the ecological systems theory  
o Mesosystem  
 The direct connections between immediate environments (i.e., a  
child’s home and school)  
 Consists of the interactions between the different parts of a person's microsystem  
 The mesosystem is where a person's individual microsystems do not function
independently, but are interconnected and assert influence upon one another. These interactions
have an indirect impact on the individual.  
o Exosystem  
 The environments that only indirectly affect the individual (such as  
parent’s workplace)  
 Refers to a setting that does not involve the person as an active participant, but still
affects them.  
 This includes decisions that have bearing on the person, but in which they have no
participation in the decision- making process.  
o Macrosystem  
 The larger cultural context (Eastern vs. Western culture, national  
economy, political culture, subculture)  
 Encompasses the cultural environment in which the person lives and all other systems
that affect them  
 Includes the economy, cultural values, and political system. 
 Can have either a positive or a negative effect on a person's development  
o Chronosystem  
 The patterning of environmental events and transitions over the  
course of life  
 Includes the transitions and shifts in one’s lifespan and the socio-historical contexts that
may influence a person  
 Adds the useful dimension of time, which demonstrates the influence of both change and
constancy in the child’s environment  
 Includes a change in family structure, address, parent’s employment status, in addition

to immense society changes such as economic cycles and wars   

 
How Important is Personal Development to our Career Development? 
 Although there are various influences in our life, it is what we are, what we have become as a person
that determines what we want to do an establish in life in order to establish our place in the world.