Professional Viability In A Multinational World Of Uncertainty

Abstract

The paper addresses the problem of professional viability in a multinational world of uncertainty. It is suggested that the professional viability of a person in a multinational world of uncertainty is affected by such components of the professional self-concept as changing self and ethnic self. The structural components of changing self include tolerance to uncertainty, flexibility, independence, adaptability, acceptance of responsibility, risk taking, trans-situational locus of control, psychological activation, trans-situational variability, and trans-situational mobility. The paper considers cognitive, affective, behavioral and motivational components as structural components of ethnic self. The relationship between underlying scenarios and career success of women and men has been empirically established (the study involved people aged 30–45 years). The empirical study on a group of women (middle adulthood) shows the relationship between the subject-object orientations of a person, underlying scenarios, individual components of changing self and the focus on personal changes required for future professional achievements. The empirical study on a group of senior university students (aged 20–22 years) shows the relationship between formation of the components of changing self, effective underlying scenarios, the level of differentiation of the self, and the focus of a person on professional success and his readiness for personal changes associated with professional activity in time perspective. In addition, features of ethnic self are analyzed on a group of students.

Keywords: Professional viability, uncertainty, changing self, ethnic self, underlying scenarios, differentiation of self

Introduction

The life of a modern person is characterized by huge loads and high rhythm, high speed of change, enormous amount of information, lack of time, uncertainty of the future, which contributes to the development of stress. A person needs to adapt to multinationality of the modern world, which requires implementation of interethnic interaction, including that in the professional sphere. This problem is of high relevance for the Russian Federation as a multinational state, since ignorance, misunderstanding or deliberate neglect of the ethnic specifics of people's attitudes towards activities and circumstances leads to undesirable and unpredictable consequences (Stefanenko, 2004).

Despite high relevance of these categories, the terms uncertainty and personal viability in psychology began to be studied not so long ago. It seems interesting to consider the relationship between these two categories.

Initially, the category of uncertainty was introduced in physics in Gödel's uncertainty principle. The most famous works in the concept of uncertainty are the works by I.R. Prigogine on the philosophy of instability, order out of chaos (Prigogine & Stengers, 1986).

The viability of a person in the modern multinational world of uncertainty is the most important resource, which is considered as a component of human capital to ensure the stability of being. The concept of viability is employed in sociology, anthropology, psychology, pedagogy, political science. In the framework of positive psychology, researchers of foreign psychology consider viability as vitality and life effectiveness.

Makhnach and Laktionova (2007) consider viability as 'the individual ability of a person to manage his own resources: health, emotional, motivational-volitional, cognitive spheres, in the context of social, cultural norms and environmental conditions' (p.295).

Numerous researchers study the problem of professional success. Thus, Agapov and Kozlova (2012), investigates the structure of the self-concept of a specialist Aldasheva (2012) explores the structure of a professional competence, Tugusheva (2007) studies the problem of social success and self-determination in youth. However, it should be noted that an insignificant number of works are devoted to the professional success in the world of uncertainty.

Thus, Nesterova (2011) writes about viability in the situation of job loss. Rylskaya (2014) considers viability as the preservation of self-integrity. In her opinion, viability is realized in the process of solving life problems.

Berezovskaya (2016) considers the problem of professional well-being based on a resource-based approach. Consequently, viability is a significant predictor of subjective well-being in the workplace.

Karapetyan and Glotova (2020) introduce the concept of 'inner well-being', which implies the harmony of the inner and outer world of a person and can arise only in the harmonious life.

Vasilyeva and Rylskaya (2019) developed the category of professional viability using the method of triadic decoding. This is the ability of a person not only for effective adaptation, but also for self-development, which is based on personal resources, competencies, and behavioral strategies.

Professional success in the multinational modern world of uncertainty is associated with the peculiarities of ethnocultural competence. With regard to the professional sphere, ethnocultural (intercultural) competence is defined as '... a general ability to effectively use the knowledge of the culture of local people and other ethnic groups in interethnic communication and in solving specific professional and social tasks in a multicultural society; an integral characteristic that determines the ability (skill) of a specialist to solve professional problems and typical professional tasks with due regard to ethnocultural characteristics of the region and the people, real situations, national psychological characteristics, life experience, values ​​and inclinations (Alieva & Amiralieva, 2013). It was shown that professional teams in multiethnic states often tend to be multinational. In such teams, national characteristics are expressed more actively and form interpersonal relations. However, even if a particular employee is not a member of such a team, the ability to carry out professional activities in these conditions will be a significant component of his professional training (Krysko, 2014).

Thus, in a changing multinational world of uncertainty, people will perceive the situation in different ways: adapt to the situation, strive for security and avoid uncertainty, agree to simplified future, and vice versa, study and master the uncertainty and complexity of a changing world.

Problem Statement

The emerging and disappearing professions, constantly changing requirements for a specialist associated with shifts in social and economic conditions, the problem of mixed ethnocultural teams, a sharp change in the modern life of people hinder professional success and viability of a person. With regard to these new circumstances, professional well-being and viability of a person in the world of uncertainty require, in our opinion, the professional self-concept that includes 'changing self' and 'ethnic self'', which contribute to the rapid entry into a new professional reality and contribute to psychological readiness for constant, new personal changes under changing conditions of our time. Thus, the viability of a specialist in the modern world of uncertainty is affected by such components of the professional self-concept as changing self and ethnic self. The structural components of changing self are: tolerance to uncertainty, flexibility, independence, adaptability, acceptance of responsibility, risk taking, trans-situational locus of control, psychological activation, trans-situational variability, trans-situational mobility. A high level of formation of the components of changing self is provided by effective underlying scenarios and a good level of differentiation of the self. The structural components of ethnic self are cognitive, affective, behavioral and motivational components. A high level of formation of ethnic self forms ethnosensitivity of professional activity.

Research Questions

The subject of the study is the professional viability of a person in a multinational world of uncertainty, Expanding the understanding of the professional self-concept through the introduction of such constituents as the changing self and ethnic self allows considering the problem of the professional viability of a person in the modern world at a different level, gives an opportunity to understand to what extent the ability of a person for changes, trans-situational variability, and going beyond the self can help a specialist to effectively engage and act in a constantly changing professional world.

The underlying life scenarios and the level of differentiation of the self are considered as factors affecting the level of formation of changing self. Cognitive, affective, behavioural and motivational components are considered as the structural components of ethnic self.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to show the impact of changing self and ethnic self on professional viability in a multinational world of uncertainty; to reveal the relationship between formation of the components of changing self and underlying personality scenarios, the level of differentiation of the self; to reveal the relationship between formation of the components of ethnic self and professional viability.

Research Methods

Both theoretical and empirical methods were employed in the study. Thus, theoretical sources on the considered problem were analyzed. The methodological basis of the study includes the concepts of uncertainty; the concept of professional success, the self-concept; the concepts of life scenarios; the ethnic identity.

At the level of empirical studies, the following methods were employed: vitality test; life orientation test (LOT), version of Purpose-in-Life Test; self-regulation style of behavior; questionnaire of life orientations; questionnaire of tolerance–intolerance to uncertainty; Lokaa test; a survey method for studying the underlying personal scenarios for man/woman; author's questionnaire of basic perinatal matrices; author's questionnaire for determining the differentiation of the self -developed on the basis of M. Bowen's theory of family systems; author's questionnaire for determining professional success; J. Finney's methodology for measuring the severity of ethnic identity; methodology for diagnosing types of ethnic identity by Soldatova and Ryzhova (1998).

Findings

The study involved 300 senior students (boys, girls) and men and women of early and middle adulthood.

The hypothesis put forward in this study is based on the fact that the formation of changing self is affected by the system of family relations; underlying life scenarios that largely dependent on upbringing in the family; basic perinatal matrices. In addition, it indicates to what extent a person controls unity and his individuality, originality, independence in the family system, his ability to find this balance, and if necessary, individualize, as well as the ability to find a balance between emotion and intelligence.

The first stage of the study involved 63 participants – 44 women and 19 men aged 30–45 years. The study was carried out at the Department of Psychology, Tula State University. The relationship between underlying scenarios and the career success of women and men was revealed. The success in women's career is affected by attitudes associated with the ability to support any person regardless of his status, position and age, and by attitudes associated with the emotional life, such as passion, empathy, love, healthy affection for a child, and sensuality used to attract and use male energy to achieve the career goals. The unsuccessful career of women is affected by attitudes associated with sexual energy and the birth of children used to achieve the career goals, the birth of children in spite of any life difficulties, unhealthy affection for children, blind faith in unique people for fame and money.

The success in men's career is affected by attitudes associated with the ability for deep affection, with love, creating a family, and the ability to win and achieve goals. The unsuccessful career of men is affected by attitudes associated with fear of risk, ignorance of struggle, refusal to solve problems, avoidance of successful men, bragging and exaggeration of merits to women.

The next stage involved 50 teachers (middle adulthood) working in secondary vocational educational institutions of Tula region. The study was carried out at the National Institute for Advanced Studies and Professional Retraining of the city of Tula (Moroz & Kuchina, 2020).

The respondents of the first group, consumers of the life situation, are characterized by the absence of life goals, they can adapt well to problem situations, but they are not ready for personal changes, they almost do not engage in self-improvement. The respondents of this group are characterized by a desire for a familiar life style, a lack of desire for change, and a tendency to go with the flow. The respondents are characterized by female strength to give birth to children in spite of any life difficulties. This attitude is aimed at procreation in any situation, even if the pregnancy was not planned and arose 'at the wrong time'. This phenomenon is typical of Russian women, when there were many wars, and humanity had to survive regardless of any conditions. The respondents are not ready for changes and see themselves in this professional role after 5, 10 and 15 years.

The respondents of the second group, harmonizers of the life situation, are characterized by different life goals. They consider it necessary to improve, benefit people, actively engage in the upbringing of a new generation, and improve professional skills. The respondents of the third group, reorganizers of the life situation, are characterized by a strong desire for self-improvement, especially in the professional sphere, for understanding and realizing destiny. The respondents of this group are characterized by high activity and the desire to overcome life difficulties. They exhibit high indicators of psychological activation, independence, expressed indicators of planning, modelling and programming, and flexibility. A high level of viability was revealed, all parameters have high values of involvement, control and risk. They are confident in their capabilities, a desire to master their inner world is revealed, they are easily oriented in new life situations, a desire for changes is clearly expressed.

The next stage involved 70 respondents, including senior female students from Tula State Pedagogical University and their mothers.

According to the level of differentiation of the self, the respondents were divided into two groups: with an average (41%) and a low level of differentiation (59%). Students with a low level of differentiation cannot analyze emerging problems, in both stressful and non-stressful situations. In non-stressful situations, they turn to emotions, but not to reason and intellect. The respondents noted that they cannot control emotions, that stressors often affect their everyday and academic life. The recurrence of patterns of emotional response in a stressful situation. Thus, the respondents noted that in a stressful situation they experienced anger, fear, resentment, and jealousy.

The fusion with the parental self was revealed. Thus, a very close relationship with parents and high involvement of parents were observed. Due to the need to study at the university, 12% of female students of this group live separately from their parents, in another city, but note the lack of emotional well-being, they miss home, and try to visit their parents more often; 53% of the respondents live with their parents and are not ready to change anything; 35% of the respondents want to change the situation, but do not know how. The latter group of the respondents (35%) showed a desire for emotional break with the family, which in fact creates new emotional problems and does not solve the problem of differentiation of the self of a person, his independence.

According to Lokaa test by Kozlov (2002), the respondents with a low level of differentiation of the self showed two leading archetypes: Maria-rajas that implies devotion to traditions and low flexibility, and Eva-satva that implies that the main goal of women is to have children.

The author's questionnaire of basic perinatal matrices revealed an interesting tendency. Thus, 76% of mothers of female students with a low level of differentiation of the self noted that they had health problems during pregnancy, they had induced labour (68%) and a child was immediately separated from the mother, and the mother did not see the child for 1–2 days (81% ); 60% of mothers claimed that they wanted a child, but the pregnancy was not at the right time and created a lot of problems.

The respondents with a low level of differentiation of the self and with the leading archetypes Maria-rajas and Eva-satva showed a lack of desire for changes, low scores on the locus of control, which indicate that a person cannot control his life. A low level of resilience, unwillingness to take risks, challenges; low indicators of psychological activation, low level of tolerance to uncertainty indicate that a person is not capable of changes, going beyond the boundaries, transcendence of existence.

According to the author's questionnaire for determining professional success, it was found that the respondents of this group, on the one hand, are not satisfied with the chosen profession, and, on the other hand, they are not ready for changes. Moreover, the respondents are not ready for personal changes associated with professional activities in time perspective.

In non-stressful situations, the respondents with an average level of differentiation of the self can analyze the emerging problems well. In such situations, they switch from emotion to logical analysis. However, in stressful situations, they do not control emotions, it is difficult for them to analyze the situation. Parent-child relationships were not very close. Although the respondents noted that they have rather close relationships with their parents, they denied high involvement of parents in their life. It was noted that in a number of situations they make decisions independently, without parental pressure and emotional outbursts in the family. This group exhibits less desire (10%) for emotional break with the family.

According to Lokaa test proposed by Kozlov (2002), two leading archetypes were identified: Elena-rajas (73% of the respondents) that implies emotional involvement, a change of interests, and Elena-satva that implies flexible response to life situations (27% of the respondents).

According to the author's questionnaire for basic perinatal matrices: 32% of mothers of female students with an average level of differentiation of the self noted that during pregnancy they had health problems, they had induced labour (44%) and a child was immediately separated from the mother, and the mother did not see the child for 1–2 days (49%); 51% of mothers claimed that they wanted a child, but the pregnancy was not at the right time and created a lot of problems.

The respondents with an average level of differentiation of the self and with the leading archetypes Elena-satva and Elena-rajas exhibited an average level of locus of control, striving for emotional life, an average level on the general scale of vitality, and an average level close to high on the scale of involvement, which indicates the focus on achievements and goals implementation, low indicators of psychological activation, an average level close to high of tolerance to uncertainty, which indicates that a person is capable of certain changes.

According to the author's questionnaire for determining professional success, it was found that 64% of the respondents of this group are satisfied with the chosen profession, 36% are not satisfied and plan to work in another field in the future. A total of 76% of the respondents assume that the future may require personal changes related to professional activities and a possible change of profession. A total of 46% of the respondents were focused on personal changes if it is needed in terms of professional achievements in the future.

It was assumed that the formation of ethnic self will take place in the educational space, since the transfer of systematized knowledge about various ethnic groups and the development of interethnic tolerance are possible. All the respondents have experience of interethnic interaction, which can help to assess the real models of interethnic communication.

The data obtained by J. Finney's methodology (as cited in Soldatova & Ryzhova, 1998), which measures the severity of ethnic identity, showed that the majority of the respondents (72%) are characterized by significant severity; they consider nationality as one of the defining components of a person's assessment. The remaining 28% of the respondents showed greater indifference to the ethnic issue and noted that ethnicity does not fundamentally determine either a person's activity or behaviour. Interestingly that both groups showed less pronounced cognitive awareness in comparison with ethnic feelings, provided that ethnic knowledge and ideas are the basis of ethnocultural competence.

These methods of diagnosing types of ethnic identity showed that the respondents of the first group demonstrate a positive ethnic identity (54%), which allows them to positively perceive and evaluate their ethnic group, and at the same time take interest in and accept other groups. They also show hyper-identity forms (46%) associated with manifestations of ethnocentrism during interethnic interaction. The respondents of the second group are inclined to manifest ethnic indifference, which indicates the insignificance of nationality and the impossibility of their own self-determination within specific ethnic boundaries. Thus, the identified types fully correspond to the logic of perception and assessment of the ethnic environment by the respondents.

The data on the social distance scale showed that the respondents of the first group placed the analyzed ethnic regions at all possible distances: relatives, friends, neighbors – Slavic ethnic groups; colleagues, citizens of the country – Europe, the Far East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Baltic States; guests (tourists) – Africa, Latin America, the Middle East; Jews and Gypsies are those who are not welcome in the country. The respondents of the second group placed all the considered ethnic regions at the first four distances. Thus, readiness for interethnic interaction is observed among all the respondents; however, the attitude towards representatives of specific ethnic groups depends on the attitudes existing in society.

Conclusion

Thus, the professional viability of a person in a multinational world of uncertainty is affected by such components of the professional self-concept as changing self and ethnic self. The structural components of changing self are: tolerance to uncertainty, flexibility, independence, adaptability, acceptance of responsibility, risk taking, trans-situational locus of control, psychological activation, trans-situational variability, and trans-situational mobility. The formation of the components of changing self is determined by effective underlying scenarios and the level of differentiation of the self.

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Publication Date

06 December 2021

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978-1-80296-118-8

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European Publisher

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119

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Uncertainty, global challenges, digital transformation, cognitive science

Cite this article as:

Kuchina, T. I., Moroz, T. S., & Fomina, Y. I. (2021). Professional Viability In A Multinational World Of Uncertainty. In E. Bakshutova, V. Dobrova, & Y. Lopukhova (Eds.), Humanity in the Era of Uncertainty, vol 119. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 413-420). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.12.02.51