Do You Clarify Your Job Structure Preferences?

Summary: If your choices of preference have something to do with your personal value, than you should accept it. These values generally do not change, unless one goes through traumatic experiences. After all these are the values which makes one unique. Your lack of self-confidence is a liability to you as an employee. You should separate your value choices from those that have stemmed from lack of confidence.

In the following spaces provided, develop a brief, descriptive listing (as you did in Workshop 2) of all your A through D statements from Workshop 3.

1. My ideal job structure would include the following elements: (Briefly list all of your As)
2. I am comfortable with a job structure that includes any of the following: (Briefly list all of your Bs)
3. I am uncomfortable but will accept a job structure that includes any of the following: (Briefly list all of your Cs)
4. I should avoid a job structure that includes any of the following: (Briefly list all of your Ds) "four reasons for preferences help determine guides for compromise
   

At a glance you can see from Workshop 4 exactly what you would prefer to do and not to do in a job. As with your work environment preferences, it is important to use these as a guide to help you decide which agencies or positions to pursue. And then in the final analysis, when you are making a decision about accepting a certain position, these preferences should be used to evaluate that position. But there will be times when it is wiser to compromise rather than eliminate a position altogether. The thought process you need to go through to decide when and when not to compromise can be mind boggling if you do not understand the deeper, sometimes hidden reasons why some things are more important than others. This process of discovering your true motivations in accepting or rejecting certain elements of a job are rarely black and white.



For example, when it comes down to what is comfortable in a work environment for most people, it is usually a matter of what they have gotten used to. While needing a private office is not generally a concern for young people just starting out, others who have worked their way up the ranks to having their own office will be reluctant to give it up. Although there are always exceptions, familiarity is generally the deciding factor in most cases of environmental preference. For this reason people find it easier to compromise, when necessary, on an environmental issue than they do on a question of job structure.

Job structure includes the responsibilities you undertake, the pace at which you work, the complexities of your job, and how much you will allow it to infringe on your personal life. These elements have less to do with familiarity. Preferences in these areas tend to touch deep within who we are as individuals. Because of this, it is usually necessary to look closely at your choices when you are called upon to make compromises with your job structure preferences. Compromising is much more difficult here, because your choices and your levels of comfort or discomfort can reflect one of two things: your personal values or a lack of self-confidence in a particular situation.

How personal values and self-confidence affect compromise

If your choice of preference has to do with a personal value, then in most instances you should accept it. People's values do not usually change, unless something traumatic happens in their lives. Values are a part of what makes each of us unique individuals. Along with accepting them, you are better off not compromising your values because sooner or later you will end up blaming yourself for accepting something that went against your personal set of beliefs.

If your choice was motivated by a lack of confidence concerning your ability to handle a required aspect of the job, you will need to think critically about that choice. A lack of self-confidence is a liability to you as an employee. A lack of self-confidence is also a temporary situation which can easily be overcome with a little self-education or professional help, practice, and the willingness to conquer it. Once you recognize that certain choices are based on shaky confidence, not values, then you can decide for yourself if you can or want to do anything about it. The important thing is to separate your value choices from those that stem from a lack of confidence.