Coaching as a social process

In this conceptual paper, we argue the importance to the coaching profession of a critical understanding of coaching as a social process, in order to promote coaching as an enabler for change, and facilitate its use in other cultures and challenging contexts. We start with a critical analysis of the origin of coaching, arguing that neoliberal values have been embedded in the discourse of coaching. We also discuss the impact of coaching as an instrumental and ideological device, sometimes used in organisations as a process of control, and suggest that understanding coaching as a social process has the potential to transform it into an enabler for change. We propose a framework for understanding how different philosophical positions affect the way coaches may respond to the challenges of intercultural or oppressive social contexts. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for coaching research and development

Exploring the delayed effects of leadership coaching: a pilot study

Little empirical attention has been directed towards learning as an aspect of the coaching process. Given its deeply reflective nature, it seems likely that learning is not always immediately secured psychologically by clients or successfully translated into behaviour. However, delayed effects have yet to be explicitly studied in coaching outcome research. To examine this, a pilot study was conducted to investigate the prevalence and progression of such effects following participation in a 10-week leadership coaching programme. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 leaders to obtain personal narratives of their coaching experience and narrative enquiry applied to analyse the underlying phenomena. The data confirmed that coaching was immediately beneficial in a variety of ways (e.g. improved communication style), whilst also indicating that some client learning required a period of incubation, or a triggering event(s), before it became manifested in behaviour. Whilst delayed effects were not reported by all participants, initial evidence now exists to show that coaches can require time to clarify, consolidate and enact personal learning facilitated during coaching. In interpreting these results, theories of transformational learning are discussed, along with a modelling of factors that might influence the emergence of delayed effects. Recommendations for future research are also provided

Mechanismen und biologische Reaktionen der nicht-enzymatischen Kupfer-abhängigen Reduktion von Nitrit zu NO

Background: Continuous improvement is a topic that organisations sometimes avoid since it identifies areas lacking business excellence. Continuous improvement is possible in organisations that take a holistic approach to managing knowledge, which gives them the ability to continue to innovate and sustain their value creation to their stakeholders. Aim: The levels of knowledge management maturity in the Tax Audit Business Unit of a revenue services institution had to be identified in order to provide guidance on how to improve and contribute to future information and communication technology (ICT) strategy planning. Setting: The ICT strategy planning process at the revenue services institution identified a gap in how it managed information and knowledge. This indicated a discrepancy in knowledge management (KM) maturity. Method: A deductive approach was followed, motivated by analysis of tested and well-researched theories to create a theoretical framework. This was then tested against empirical research conducted in a specific business unit. Descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies, proportions, and means were obtained from the data, to describe the patterns and trends in the data set. Results: The key findings confirm that generally the value of KM is well regarded. Barriers exist and levels of consensus generally drop as the levels progress towards the highest KM maturity level, mostly lacking in terms of continuous improvement. Conclusion: The conceptual KM framework developed from this study will give revenue services institutions insights on how to innovate and sustain their value creation to their stakeholders. The desired activities for adoption of the framework will help achieve continuous improvement of a revenue services institution