retaining traditional values in other life roles. The second approach
involves advocating for the client in the workplace to enhance the
possibility that people with different values systems are accepted.
Assumption 8
Conflicting values must be identified and reconciled. The values sys-
tems of clients often include conflicting values that may immobilize
them in the occupational decision-making process. For example,
young clients who come from families with collective social values
and frequently associate with adolescents with Eurocentric values
may begin to adopt an individualism social value because of accul-
turation. Eurocentric clients with an individualism social value may
also value belonging—a value that often requires conformity to group
norms. Work values can also conflict. Many career counselors find
that their financial prosperity value and their concern for others
value conflict because many of the jobs available to career counselors
offer modest financial rewards. If these conflicts exist, they must be
identified and reconciled.
Assumption 9
There must be an ongoing search for mental health problems that
will limit functioning in careers, either on a short-term or long-term
basis. An example of a problem that may limit an individual on a
short-term basis if it is treated is aviophobia. People who are afraid
to fly are obviously constrained, but because the problem is rather
easily treated with existing interventions, it need not be a long-
term barrier to career choice or advancement in a career. Bipolar
disorders and schizophrenia are long-term inhibitors of career-
related behaviors.
The Case of K
No additional formal assessment data are needed in the case of K.
For most Asian clients, I would want more data about the extent to
which acculturation has taken place, but there are several indica-
THE ROLE OF WORK VALUES AND CULTURAL VALUES 495