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The purpose of this paper is to examine the application of intentional change theory (ICT) at the organizational level through the lens of a case study.

This paper is a case study of Roadway Express, a leading transportation provider of industrial and commercial goods throughout North America, which embarked on a journey of cultural transformation in 1999, using a popular change process known as appreciative inquiry (AI). The Roadway case study illustrates both the theory of intentional change and the method of AI in use and provides a platform upon which to observe change at the organizational level.

Roadway Express serves as a solid benchmark for organizations considering how to succeed in cultural transformation. The implementation of the philosophy and methodology of appreciative inquiry, played a key role in that success. Analysis shows the link between ICT and AI. From this observation, ICT emerges as a stand‐along theory upon which to interpret the success of Roadway's organizational change efforts.

Drawing insight from the Roadway case study, ICT provides us with a comprehensive model for understanding how to approach and sustain change at the organizational level.

For the past three decades, most of the work using intentional change theory has focused on individual change. This paper presents a different view of the same theory, this time at the organizational level. This insight may be of interest to leaders, managers and change agents.

In this chapter, we offer a definition of a particular type of coaching, one focused on achieving sustained, desired change in the individual being coached. We also discuss a theory of intentional change, which we suggest explains why coaching in this manner indeed leads to sustained, desired change in individuals. We explore the coaching relationship in terms of the quality of the relationship and the competencies required by those who create that relationship. We also suggest that coaching has two faces: coaching with compassion and coaching for compliance. The latter often takes the form of trying to help someone in need. In these situations, the desire to help overcomes the knowledge that arousing motivation to change is more important than a short-term fix. We further offer that potential benefits exist in terms of the compassion one experiences from coaching others and we address the risk of not doing so. We provide a guide for the coaching process. And finally, we conclude with a discussion of the implications for future research on coaching and leadership development.

Jean M. Bartunek is the Robert A. and Evelyn J. Ferris chair and professor of organization studies at Boston College as well as a Fellow (since 1999) and a past president (2001–2002) of the Academy of Management. Her Ph.D. in social and organizational psychology is from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her substantive research interests focus on organizational change, conflict associated with it, and organizational cognition, and her methodological interests center around ways that external researchers can collaborate with insider members of a setting to study the setting. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science and on the editorial boards of multiple other journals. She has published more than 100 journal articles and book chapters and 5 ([co]authored or co-edited) books.

This paper highlights how career capital is accrued through three ways of knowing in a women’s leadership programme (WLP) in an Australian State Police Department. A shift in focus to building capability rather than addressing gaps in participants' abilities was enhanced through the unique use of sponsors and positive psychology interventions.

A longitudinal study, which comprised 31 semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus groups, and a survey with participants eight months after the interviews, assessed the impact of enhanced skills, connections and qualifications on extant role performance.

The WLP enhanced three key components of career capital.

The authors' study extends extant knowledge in seven key ways related to WLPs: (1) reaffirms the benefits for police, (2) developing or enhancing career capital, (3) accruing women’s career capital in policing, (4) pedagogical benefits for WLPs, (5) articulating outcomes of developing career capital, (6) the uniqueness of allocating sponsors and (7) extending empirical studies demonstrating synergies within the intelligent career framework.

The purpose of this study is to investigate professional identity development among management professionals through the lens of the ideal self and personal values.

Detailed career vision essays based on the ideal self and personal values of 48 participants ranging in age from 22 to 54 were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. A theory-based classification of their personal values, collected through a survey, was also conducted as a supplemental analysis.

The visions of older management professionals were less career-oriented, more holistic, involved in a greater multiplicity of career roles, had more clarity and placed higher emphasis on work–life balance and on developing others. The older participants also reported having fewer self-enhancement values.

The findings demonstrate the relevance of the ideal self as a lens to study identity development and advance our understanding of professional identity development in the context of modern careers.