A Cultural Formulation Approach to Career ... - ResearchGate

476 Journal of Career Development 37(1)
achieved status through characteristics such as age, family, name, reputation, and so
on. The values important for individualistically focused individuals are freedom,
honesty, social recognition, comfort, hedonism, and equity among group members.
The main goal for persons from individualistic cultures is personal success, and
various techniques such as contracts can be used to ensure that personal success is
attained. For these individuals, status is defined by personal achievement and success
(Triandis et al., 1988).
Because of the value placed on face saving and maintaining harmony, Asian
Americans may adopt a more indirect style of communication in counseling.
Directly disagreeing with the counselor, for example, could cause the counselor to
lose face or disrupt the therapeutic relationship. The client may therefore rely on
more subtle and indirect forms of communication. Unfortunately, however, many
career counselors with more individualistic values are unable to receive these indirect
messages, which can result in misunderstandings. Frustration may also result
when the counselor with individualist values misinterprets the client as being
resistant or evasive (see Sue & Sue, 2008).
Behaviors. Collectivist cultures spend most time demonstrating associative behaviors
such as giving, helping, and supporting, but these behaviors are limited to
members of the group only, and members outside the group can often be approached
with distrust, hostility, and/or dissociation. Persons from individualistic cultures are
more able and comfortable among strangers; they can function separate from the
group and are able to independently get tasks accomplished. Neither construct suggests
an advantage over the other. Each has certain benefits and disadvantages associated
with the values, norms, attitudes, behaviors, and activities affiliated with each.
Overall, there is a need for autonomy and independence among individualistically
focused persons, whereas collectivistically oriented individuals have a stronger need
for affiliation and nurturance (Hui & Villareal, 1987; Triandis et al., 1988).
When working with an Asian American client, non Asian American career
counselors may be approached with an initial distrust because they are a member
of the out-group. Asian American clients’ very real experiences with discrimination
and stereotyping may also make them initially distrustful of the therapeutic process,
particularly if the counselor is a member of the dominant European American culture;
therefore, career counselors should be prepared not to demonstrate their competence
and trustworthiness by taking the time to build rapport with the client,
respecting cultural differences, and directly acknowledging these differences and
any barriers that might represent. In keeping with many Asian American clients’ preferences
for indirect communication that maintains harmony and preserves face, the
most effective approach may be to address issues of culture indirectly or hypothetically,
for example by noting to clients that, ‘‘Sometimes when there are cultural
differences between the client and counselor, it is not unusual for the client to have
questions or concerns about how well the counselor understands the client’s
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