Robert Pryor and Jim Bright, researchers based at the School of Education, Australian Catholic University published a fascinating paper entitled ‘Applying Chaos Theory to Careers’ in the prestigious academic journal The Journal of Vocational Behaviour. This is a journal specializing in publishing rigorous academic research into all aspects of careers and work life.

Chaos Theory is based on assumptions about the world which are kind of obvious when you think about them, but are frequently neglected in our attempts to make sense to what is happening to us. These Australian authors argue that an understanding of Chaos Theory might be particularly helpful when dealing with a career crisis like unemployment.

Chaos Theory asserts that the world around us is both complex and interconnected. For example, who would have thought that the inability of an unemployed American in New Orleans to pay their mortgage could lead to hundreds workers in a van manufacturer (LDV) being laid off thousands of miles away in the UK?

Complexity and interconnectedness

The credit crunch is a harsh and brutal reminder of the twin pillars on which chaos theory rests – complexity combined with interconnectedness. It follows on from these basic foundations that small apparently innocuous changes can eventually produce catastrophic or enormous outcomes. This is referred to by mathematicians as a ‘non-linear’ characteristic of a system.

What this means is that the end result can be massive and not expected froma small change at the beginning.

The famous example in Chaos Theory is the argument that a butterfly fluttering its wings in one part of the world could lead to a hurricane in another.

Pryor and Bright argue that the weather is a good example of a system that is neither truly chaotic and random or entirely ordered and predictable, but that it lies in-between. It is what is termed mathematically; on the Edge of Chaos. This is referred to ‘in the trade’ as ‘EOS’.

The job market and your career is also believe it or not more EOS, or On the Edge of Chaos, than indeed entirely predictable or random. The trouble is our brains tend to either try hard to see pattern in the chaos. We erroneously assume it’s much more ordered and predictable than it really is. Alternatively, we do the opposite and assume its much more random than genuinely reflects reality.

So if we lose a job because of events remote to our performance, as will be common in this recession, this knock-back with its massive emotional fallout means we can easily become disheartened and can easily fall into the trap of deciding that given it’s all random anyway why bother making an effort to get our careers back on track?

Conversely, those who tend to believe they have much more control over their destiny than they really do, in this predicament, are likely to overly castigate themselves for their perceived failure. They will take too much personal responsibility for their predicament, and this could lead to depression and disillusionment. They will wrestle with the problem that if they took the credit for their career success before, what alternative is there but to beat themselves up for the current tragedy?

Become an open system thinker

Pryor and Bright argue the best psychological approach to thinking about your career, perhaps particularly in the face of a setback like job loss, is to adopt a particular style of thinking and perception borrowed from mathematics around Chaos Theory.

They contest that there are two kinds of thinkers: open system thinkers, and closed system thinkers.

Those who think in closed system terms tend to seek to gain almost total control over the functioning of the system. This is driven by an expectation that their careers, the job market and the work place all function in ways that are predictable and stable. They are generally pretty successful people because of their perfectionism,

Open systems thinking accepts the unexpected can and sometimes will happen. As a result we are frequently vulnerable to change over which we have no control. While we desire life to be fair, open systems thinking recognizes life came with no guarantees inside the box.

While we should indeed endeavor to control as much as we can around us, it’s also vital to grasp (according to open systems thinking) our limitations. Just because we may have experienced order, pattern and stability previously in a successful career, the reality of major transformation in our lives is forever present, according to Chaos Theory. It follows, then, the past does not guarantee the present, nor the present the future.

Since a small difference may result in very (non-linear) major reconfiguration of the system, it follows the unplanned and the unexpected are not simply exceptions to the stability and order we experienced before, but are in fact part of its very nature.

Once this is accepted, Pryor and Bright conclude, instead of being seen as a perpetual threat to be warded off, change can be seen instead as a reality to be created and influenced at best and accepted and submitted to, at worst.

Dr Raj Persaud is a Consultant Psychiatrist working in the NHS and in Private Practice and is author of many best-selling books including editing The Mind A Users Guide published by Bantam Press with The Royal College of Psychiatrists.

www.drrajpersaud.com