Greenhaus, Jeffrey H. & Callanan, Gerard A. (Eds.) (2006) Encyclopedia of Career Development. Reviewed by Rhonda Wood, Lincoln University

Greenhaus, Jeffrey H. & Callanan, Gerard A. (Eds.) (2006) Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Pp. 992     $325 (hardcover)     ISBN 9781412905374 Reviewed by Rhonda Wood Lincoln University January 22, 2008 In Encyclopedia of Career Development, Greenhaus and Callanan have stayed true to the very definition of “encyclopedia” by providing us with an extensive reference work on career development. The editors specify their over-arching goal for the work as becoming “the premier reference tool for students, scholars, practitioners, and others interested in gaining knowledge or conducting research on career development-related topics” (p. xxxv). Toward this goal, they make three assertions: 1. the entries are to the point, easy to read, and free of pretentious or technical language, while remaining reflective of the most recent research and thinking on the topic of interest; 2. the entries are directly related to career development and are not tangential to the field; and 3. the entries are composed by leading experts on their topics who are well-respected in the field of career development. In regard to the three assertions made by the editors, the first (entries are free of jargon, concise, easy to read, and reflect current views in the field) has been admirably met. The entries are indeed easy to read and the authors of the entries have made efforts to keep technical jargon at a minimum. Obviously, keeping all technical jargon out of their entries was often impossible (for example, Cognitive Information Processing, Obsolescence of Knowledge and Careers, and the Strong Interest Inventory). When entries did contain a good deal of jargon the authors did a nice job of making sure they defined the terminology for the lay reader. Making the Encyclopedia even more user-friendly, Greenhaus and Callanan made finding entries relevant to topics a researcher or practitioner might want to explore as straightforward as possible. Although, as is common with encyclopedias, the entries are arranged alphabetically, the editors provide a Reader’s Guide that groups the entries into 10 themes relevant to career development. These themes are: 1. theoretical perspectives; 2. social context of careers; 3. evolution and development of careers; 4. decision-making; 5. variations in career patterns and career success; 6. career development initiatives; 7. legislative and regulatory mandates; 8. assessment areas and techniques; 9. job search and organizational recruiting; and 10. professional associations. Also, at the end of each entry, sections entitled “See also” and “Further Readings” assist the reader in identifying related entries and additional sources of information. The Encyclopedia also reflects the current emphasis on contextual factors impacting career development. Accordingly, the theme of social context of careers has the most entries of any other theme. These entries demonstrate attention to diversity variables such as race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, and disability, and address current concerns such as outsourcing, globalization, telecommuting, and work-life boundaries, to name only a few. The second assertion (entries are directly related to career development and not tangential to the field) proves to be a bit more problematic. Although the editors state that terms, concepts, and practices that characterize the career development field were identified with the assistance of the Editorial Board, they do not elaborate on the procedures used to determine which terms, concepts, and practices were deemed appropriate for inclusion. Most entries do indeed fit the domain of career development, but there are a few entries with questionable relation to the field. This problem seemed most evident in the area of Assessment. While most entries in this area fit the domain, the inclusion of entries pertaining to the Butcher Treatment Planning Inventory (BTPI), Locus of Control, Machiavellianism, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) seemed out of place. The entry for the BTPI does not even mention its use in career development (Butcher & Perry, 2006). Given its apparent intent as a treatment planning tool for outpatient clinical settings, inclusion of the BPTI in an encyclopedia devoted to career development without some explanation of its usefulness to the field seems to be a stretch at best. Similarly, in his entry on Locus of Control, O’Driscoll (2006) suggests that concerns over the measurement of this particular construct remain and that research on its applicability to career development has been “relatively sparse” (p. 482). And, Bolino and Nyberg (2006) indicate that research on Machiavellianism has been declining since it’s peak in 1982 and that continuing research on this concept has shifted focus to clinical psychology’s research on psychopathology and evolutionary psychology’s research on the importance of manipulating others as an adaptive trait for human evolution. Clearly the applicability of all three of these entries to the field of career development is questionable. Personality assessment has a well-established place in the domain of career development. However, the vast majority of these assessment instruments were developed using relatively healthy (i.e. “nonclinical”) populations. This is not the case with the MMPI-2. In addition, in their entry on the MMPI-2, Butcher and Perry (2006) seem to stretch the connection between the assessment and the career development field by suggesting its usefulness for screening candidates for high-risk employment positions. Graham (2000) reminds us that the MMPI was originally developed using psychiatric inpatients. He further stresses “there has been only limited research concerning the use of the MMPI-2 for personnel screening” (p.241). Thus, to find the MMPI-2 in an encyclopedia pertaining solely to career development seems misleading. The third assertion (entries are composed by leading experts in the field) also appears to have been met, although not without a few difficulties. Recognizing the term “career development” as being viewed differently by different disciplines, Greenhaus and Callanan elected to use a multidisciplinary approach to constructing the Encyclopedia, including experts from the fields of psychology, sociology, education, counseling, organizational behavior, and human resource management. Their commitment to this endeavor can be seen by the composition of the Editorial Board and by the list of over 350 contributors. While the editors are both from the field of Industrial/Organizational psychology, the Editorial Board consists of professors in psychology, sociology, management, organizational psychology, behavioral science, counselor education, and international business. In addition, the list of contributors includes professionals from business, sociology, law, counseling psychology, organizational psychology, human resource management, education, developmental psychology, economics, and related fields. Collin (2006) aptly stresses “there are several types of stakeholders in career and they all view the construct from their own perspectives and use it for their own purposes” (p. 62), and that the very term “career” seems to be taken for granted by whoever is using it, especially as the term is used as a descriptor for another construct such as “career development,” “career guidance,” and “career counseling.” Although informative to learn how these terms are viewed by other disciplines, this difference in how the constructs of career, career development, and career counseling are defined leads to difficulty with consistency in terminology throughout the Encyclopedia. One example of this inconsistent use of terminology across disciplines is seen in the way the term “career counseling” is used by different disciplines. Chung (2006), coming from the stance of counseling psychology, refers to career counselors as professionals who have received advanced degrees in the areas of counseling or counseling psychology. However, Baruch (2006), with a background in Human Resource Management, defines career counseling as involving “two-way communication between the employer and employee” and suggests that the direct manager, with first-hand knowledge of the employee’s dispositions and skills, or the human resource manager are the “main sources …. for conducting the counseling” (p. 576). Can they really both be correct? The National Career Development Association (2007) describes career counseling as a deeper involvement with the career counseling client “based on the establishment of a professional counseling relationship” and as potentially “assisting clients with career and personal development concerns beyond those included in career planning” (NCDA, 2007, A.1.b.). As a Counselor Educator I come from a background more closely aligned with Chung and consider the activity Baruch describes as advising or mentoring rather than counseling. Interestingly, although entries for the constructs of “career” and “career counseling” are included, there is no entry for the very term, namely “career development,” that defines the Encyclopedia itself. This, along with differing uses of common terminology such as that discussed above, highlights a need for the various disciplines to come together and work toward consensus about the meaning of the terms “career,” “career counseling,” and, of course, “career development.” Coming from the field of counseling, I strongly agree with Brown and Lent (2005) that “[f]ully informed career counseling … requires that counselors know and use findings from relevant fields such as personality and industrial-organizational psychology” (p. x). After reading the Encyclopedia of Career Development, I would like to add sociology, human resource management, business, economics, and law to the list of fields to include. As I read through the entries, I learned a great deal from these other fields and I appreciate their contributions to the field of career development. As indicated earlier, Greenhaus and Callanan specified their main goal for the Encyclopedia as becoming “the premier reference tool for students, scholars, practitioners, and others interested in gaining knowledge or conducting research on career development-related topics” (p. xxxv). I can certainly attest to its usefulness and versatility for the counseling profession. Although the target audience appears to be Industrial/Organizational Psychology, I found myself using the Encyclopedia in several of my counseling classes, including Counseling in a Pluralistic Society, Advanced Human Development, the Advanced Practicum for School Counselors, and, of course, the Career Development class! The information contained in the various entries has broad applicability and the Encyclopedia would be an asset to any program, practitioner, or researcher concerned with the topic of career development. Finally, I congratulate Greenhaus and Callanan for their multidisciplinary approach to a topic of interest to several disciplines. Although there is currently difficulty due to inconsistency of terminology, I am convinced that the field of career development will be strengthened by implementation of an interdisciplinary approach to theory, research, and practice. References Baruch, Y. (2006). Organizational career management. In Greenhaus, J. H. & Callanan, G. A. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Bolino, M, & Nyberg, T. (2006) Machiavellianism. In Greenhaus, J. H. & Callanan, G. A. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Brown, S. D. & Lent, R. W. (Eds) (2005). Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Chung, Y. B. (2006). Career coaching. In Greenhaus, J. H. & Callanan, G. A. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Collin, A. (2006). Career. In Greenhaus, J. H. & Callanan, G. A. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Graham, J. R. (2000). MMPI-2: Assessing personality and psychopathology (3rd ed.). NY: Oxford. Hiebert, B. (2006). Career counseling competencies. In Greenhaus, J. H. & Callanan, G. A. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. National Career Development Association (2007). Code of ethics. Retrieved August 07, 2007, from http://ncda.org/. O’Driscoll, M. (2006). Locus of control. In Greenhaus, J. H. & Callanan, G. A. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. About the Reviewer Rhonda Wood is an Assistant Professor of Counselor Education at Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri. She is also an Online Adjunct Instructor for the Department of Psychology at University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri and working toward counseling licensure at Wakonda Family Center and Wakonda Family Institute, Columbia, Missouri. She can be contacted via email at woodr@lincolnu.edu.