Holland (Needs Theory) Personality Approach

[Dr. Linton Hutchinson]

This Theory is the foundation for Strong Vocational Interest Inventory.

Six Types: Artistic, Social, Realistic, Investigative, Conventional, and
Enterprising (AS-RICE or RIASEC)

These are not pure types, thus the person can be categorized via profile (i.e.,
RIE) There is one type that is prominent with the second and third type representing
the individual's coping style.

Holland says, career choice is an expression of personality.

We choose a career based on the sterotypes we hold about different jobs or careers.


REALISTIC: aggressive: prefers defined tasks requiring physical manipulation; has
poor interpersonal skills. They deal with the concrete, ie., tools, information,
machines and are good at physical and motor coordination. Examples:

accountant
agricultural
engineers
mechanics
technician


INVENTIGATIVE: prefer systematic, creative investigation jobs and activities; have
poor persuasive and social skills. This type has no need for power, status or
dominance and try to avoid interpersonal relationships. They live in their heads
using their intelligence to solve problems and like the abstract. Examples:

chemist
computer programmer
mathematician
scientist

ARTISTIC: imaginative; prefers self-expression via physical, verbal or other areas
of expression; dislikes systematic and ordered activities. Exhibits a need to express
their feellings and imagination rather than focus on boring task that are usually
part of any process. They are nonconforming and hard to contain. Example:

artist
editor
musician
dramtic arts
literature

SOCIAL: social; prefers activities that inform, developm, or enlighten others;
dislikes activities involving tools or machines. Seek attention and vocations that
require relationships. Example:

counselor
social worker
teacher


ENTERPRISING: extroverted; prefers leadership and persuasive roles; dislikes
abstract, cautious activities. Tends to dominate and manipulate individuals. They are
driven by power and social status and always "on the edge". Examples:

manager
politician
sales personnel
self-employed entrepreneur

CONVENTIONAL: practical; prefers ordered, clean, neat and structured activities;
dislikes ambiguous and unsystematized tasks. The ten to be subordinate and like to
conform to rules and regulations. Example:

file clerk
cost accountant
clerical


Self-Directed Search (SDS)

Hollands Occupational Classification (HOC) system has corresponding Dictionary
of Occupational Titles (DOT) numbers for cross-reference purposes.

Another way to career development comes from the interplay of nature and nurture.
Assuming genetic endowments shaped by early environment, Holland reasoned that people
come up with their own modes and techniques for handling social/environmental tasks,
or "modal personal orientations". Holland's six general personality types, meant to
extend predictively to the world of work, are as follows:

realistic
investigative
artistic
social
enterprising
conventional

Holland says that the best way to career development is a kind of in depth trait and
factor matching, so that work gives full play to the attitudes, values, and "modal
personal orientation" that go back to one's earliest years. This system categorizes
work environments as follows:

Realistic -- overt, ordered, and/or organized handling of objects, tools, machines,
or animals. This is the place where the words education and therapy are pejoratives.

Investigative -- exploration of the world, physical, biological, or cultural, with
the aim of understanding and control. People here don't like redundancy,
socializing, or friendly persuasion, so have your pens and pocket protectors ready.

Artistic -- What can you say? -- ambiguous, creative, imaginative use of verbal and
physical forms to make all that art and stuff. Obvious, organized experiences don't
take top billing where imagination is not the creator of illusion, but the
illuminator of reality.

Social -- working with others to teach, train, enlighten, develop, or cure. This
venue doesn't encourage formal, orderly use of machines, tools, and other material.

Enterprising -- influencing others for the material gains of money or organization.
The world of real and wannabe movers and shakers eschews the systematic,
observational, and symbolic.

Conventional -- organized, systematic, unsubtle manipulation of facts. Ambiguity,
exploration, and surprise aren't welcome here, so you can forget about ironic sense.

The list above is known acronymically as the "RIASEC" model, and pictured as a
hexagon. With the six types assigned to its angles, related traits run along common
lines, and incompatible ones sit at opposite sides.(so that Artistic, for example,
shares more with Investigative and Social than with Realistic and Enterprising)

Since Holland constructs vocational interest and personality from the same material,
researchers like its interpretive possibilities. More than a few assessment models
are based on Holland's work, and two of Holland's own assaying devices, Vocational
Preference Inventory and Self Directed Search, along with a three letter code
classification system based on RIASEC, are popular evaluatory tools.