Counseling supervisions that consider individual characteristics of the supervisor and supervisee are more effective(Bernard & Goodyear, 2004) and it is necessary for the supervisor to intervene according to the supervisee's developmental level(Iv...
Counseling supervisions that consider individual characteristics of the supervisor and supervisee are more effective(Bernard & Goodyear, 2004) and it is necessary for the supervisor to intervene according to the supervisee's developmental level(Ivey & Goncalves, 1987). In previous studies, supervisee's age, degree level, and experience were considered as the indexes of one's developmental level. However, Lovell(2002) reported that the supervisee's cognitive complexity index estimated one's developmental level more accurately than others. Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate supervisees' preferences for supervisory styles according to their cognitive complexity levels.
The hypotheses in this study are as follows: First, the lower the supervisee's cognitive complexity level is the more the supervisee would prefer task-oriented supervisory style. Second, the higher the supervisee's cognitive complexity level is the more the supervisee would prefer interpersonally-sensitive supervisory style.
101 graduate students majoring in counseling and practitioners participated in this study. In order to classify the cognitive complexity levels of the supervisees and their preferences for supervisory style, a modified version of Learning Environment Preferences(Moore, 1998) and Supervision Style Questionnaire(Friedlander & Ward, 1974) was used.
The results of the study are as follows. First, there were no differences in supervisees' preference for task-oriented supervisory style according to their cognitive complexity levels. Second, there were no differences in supervisees' preference for interpersonally-sensitive supervisory style according to their cognitive complexity levels.
Although there were no differences in supervisees' supervisory style preferences according to their cognitive complexity levels, there was a tendency to prefer interpersonally-sensitive supervisory style the most and task-oriented style the least. The results suggest that it is necessary for supervisors to organize an interpersonally-sensitive supervision environment, which can provide more autonomy for the supervisee to apply one's own competency and integrate one's own skill and knowledge.