Sue, 1990), are over-represented in these same occupations, as are
European Americans (U.S. Department of Labor, 1995). However,
it would be impossible to attribute these data solely to the idea that
these groups have a particular time orientation, given the historic
patterns of discrimination against minorities and other factors that
may influence success in an occupation.
Research on children by Burd, Dodd, and Grassi (1981) and
adolescents by Anderson, Burd, Dodd, and Kekler (1980) reveals
that American Indian students are less able to make accurate esti-
mates of the amount of time it would take to complete a task than
other public school children. Success in the preparation for and per-
formance of the duties involved in most occupations requires indi-
viduals to make accurate estimates of the amount of time it will take
to complete them. Although many factors influence occupational
achievement, the findings in these studies suggest that researchers
and career counselors may need to concern themselves with this
time orientation, as Super (1981) and Savickas (1991) suggest.
Proposition 7
Occupational tenure will be partially the result of the match be-
tween the cultural and work values of the worker, supervisors, and
colleagues.
Currently, there is no support for Proposition 7. Sanderson
(1993) indicates that “a major characteristic of a good work envi-
ronment is one where employees understand each other’s unique
cultural characteristics” (p. 5). However, it is likely that few work-
places meet this criterion currently. More research is needed regard-
ing how cultural values and the characteristics of the workplace
interact. To this point, no research has surfaced that examines the
specific hypotheses advanced in Proposition 7.
THE ROLE OF WORK VALUES AND CULTURAL VALUES 485