Análise do processo de coaching

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao ISPA - Instituto UniversitárioO presente estudo é de natureza qualitativa e descritiva. Tem como objectivo perceber se o processo de coaching praticado pelos coaches da nossa amostra vai de encontro ao que se encontra na literatura ou, se, o que a literatura nos diz não é mais que a retórica; e se a percepção de coaches e coachees é a mesma nos respectivos casos. Para tal, foram construídos guiões de entrevistas que foram preenchidos por quatro coaches e quatro coachees. Os participantes têm idades compreendidas entre os 33 e os 55 anos, são Portugueses e as áreas de actuação, dos coachees, são diversificadas. Após recepção dos guiões de entrevista, procedeu-se à categorização da informação. As categorias que emergiram foram muito variadas e, regra geral, vão ao encontro do que está presente na literatura. Através deste estudo verifica-se que a percepção de coaches e coachees de um mesmo caso são idênticas, partilhando a mesma percepção do processo. O processo de coaching utilizado pelos coaches da nossa amostra parece ir ao encontro do que a literatura nos mostra. Os resultados demonstram que os coachees conseguiriam melhorar aspectos que inicialmente tinham identificado. Para estudos futuros, sugere-se o aumento da amostra e a realização de entrevistas, por forma, a haver uma recolha da informação mais enriquecida e detalhada. Seria interessante que se tentasse perceber como os coaches preparam as sessões e que técnicas utilizam na condução de entrevistas. Será que são técnicas existentes na literatura ou cada coach tem uma maneira própria de conduzir a entrevista.ABSTRACT: The present study has a qualitative and descriptive nature. Its aim is to understand if the process of coaching practiced by our sample of coaches, meets what is written in literature or, if literature is only rhetoric. Another goal is to know if the perception of coaches and coachees are the same in the respective cases. To accomplish this goals, interviews guides have been constructed, and were delivered to four coaches and four coachees. The participants have ages understood between 33 and 55 years old and they are all Portuguese, with different working areas. After the reception of the interview guides, the information given by the participants was categorized. The categories that have emerged were very diversified and, in general, they met with what is written in the literature. Through this study it is verified that the perception of coaches and coachees are identical for the same cases, meaning they share the same perception process. The process of coaching used by the coaches in our sample seems to meet with what literature shows us. The results demonstrate that coachees were able to improve the aspects they had early identified as changing points. For future studies the suggestion is to increase the sample and to make interviews, in order to get more enriched and detailed information. It would be interesting to understand the way coaches prepare their sessions and which techniques they use when they are conducting the interviews. Can we find these techniques in literature or each coach has his own way of conducting interviews

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved