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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the control assumptions embedded in some textbooks on management coaching with a view to uncovering the potentialities and constraints applying to the individual's self‐realisation project.

By means of a qualitative discourse analysis of selected works on management coaching, the paper examines the rhetorical articulation of the management coaching concept in terms of established discourses of managing and controlling the individual.

As a result of the findings, the paper categorises the management coaching literature into two types: employee and executive coaching, respectively. It demonstrates that employee coaching seems to involve action control and direct monitoring, while executive coaching involves control of the spirit as well as results/achievements, thereby generating tight constraints on the individual's self‐realisation project. It concludes that coaching can be a stronger disciplining technique than control by numbers.

The paper provides insight into how writing on management coaching may help to construct power structures and social relationships reflected in society. There have been other studies analysing, for example, how performance measurements produce power structures and social relationships, but to the best of one's knowledge none of these has focused on management coaching – nor have they drawn on discourse analysis, which allows one to discern the social orders of popular management practices.

Recent debates within the literature and amongst practitioners of coaching have been focussed on defining the scope and practice of coaching as a form of organizational intervention that can facilitate organizational and individual change. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate about what coaching is by reviewing an emerging comparative conceptual framework of coaching as a form of practice for management and organizational development.

The framework was developed through an exploratory study involving a focus group of practitioners in coaching and management. The overall approach to this study blends a conceptual consideration of the practice of coaching with the results gained from a focus group. The study uses cognitive mapping, thematic grouping and content analysis to seek to define the key characteristics of coaching in comparison to other forms of management practice.

A framework of “meta‐categories” of management practice are identified and the role and processes of coaching is compared in relation to these. Results from the study suggest that coaching adopts a holistic approach to management and organizational development and that certain key characteristics can be identified that differentiate it from other forms of management and organizational development. Results also open the way for research into forms of coaching required to facilitate and support whole systems change.

The framework could be of use to managers in assessing whether a coaching‐based approach to promoting and managing change is appropriate and what processes it involves.

This research investigates how the Covid-19 pandemic initially affected organisational managers, as seen from their executive coaches' perspective by asking: (1) What challenges did managers experience during the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic? and (2) How did coaching foster crisis management skills during this time? Executive coaches are in a unique, confidential and professionally intimate position to observe their clients' thoughts, emotions and behaviours.

Using an interpretivist approach, interviews conducted with 26 executive coaches from the USA, UK, Australia and South Africa during the initial stages of the pandemic (first three weeks of April 2020) were analysed using thematic analysis.

Coaches observed how the Covid-19 pandemic caused managers to experience a tension between managing their staff, their own bosses and themselves. Ranging from logistical challenges to personal fear, uncertainty and loss of identity, managers confided in and relied on their coaches to help them to reflect, provide support, but also challenge them to take a forward-looking stance. Findings were interpreted through the lenses of crisis management and coaching efficacy theory. Crisis management theory is extended by suggesting that greater priority must be given to managers' personal well-being and by adding coaching as a new intervention to develop crisis management skills. Coaching theory is extended by showing that executive coaching can foster certain crisis management skills and that the benefits of coaching in non-crisis times are also relevant during a crisis.

Managers, their leaders, executive coaches and purchasers of coaching services, such as human resource practitioners, should take note of the challenges managers face during crises. They should consider executive coaching as a support intervention to foster requisite crisis management skills.

The findings provide novel, empirical evidence suggesting that executive coaching could foster crisis management skills. The unique Covid-19 context provides rare insights into managerial thinking, emotions and behaviour during extreme crisis situations, contributing to the design of appropriate support interventions.

The purpose of this paper is to consider theoretically the relationships between performance management, a servant leadership style and leader gender, drawing from Hackman and Wageman's theory of team coaching to suggest a servant leadership style being optimally suited to support the different leadership roles enacted at different stages of the performance management cycle. While recent research suggests that female managers may be more likely to enact a servant leadership style, team and process‐level considerations have yet to be addressed. This paper aims to theoretically address this topic.

This paper is conceptual based on theory with literature review.

Because the theory of team coaching suggests differential leader task delivery at various points in the coaching process, servant leadership's individually‐centred approach is suited to team coaching, particularly in the execution of performance management coaching.

Since research suggests that women are more likely to employ a servant leadership style, this paper explores whether gender plays a role in team coaching.

This study makes a novel contribution by considering the influence of a servant leadership style at the leadership process and team levels.

The focus of this paper is on management training and development. The purpose has been to address how coaching can be applied to learn about leadership tools and what effect this has on management behaviour and development.

This is a qualitative case study of a management development program. The empirical data were obtained using in‐depth interviews, surveys, and observations. In addition to investigating the 14 participants, data were also collected from their superiors and subordinates.

One of the main findings is that coaching is a helpful training process to learn about the manager's toolbox and to develop new management behavior. Furthermore, data revealed that the management training should be based on the specific work challenges that the participants experience at their workplace. Based on a variety of work challenges, the participants highlighted the following tools as most important: emotional intelligence, empowerment, self‐management, signature‐strengths, and positive emotions.

Future research should apply a more comprehensive research design, for example, using a control group.

Data analysis shows that coaching is a management training process where the participants can learn to solve real work challenges. By trial and testing at their own workplace, managers learn how to use appropriate tools and change their behaviour. As part of the learning process the authors recommend debriefing where the managers can get feedback and inspiration for self‐reflection. Furthermore, through team and peer coaching, the managers can help each other learn. The authors also recommend that the participant's superiors and subordinates should be involved in the training process.

In this research the authors have studied coaching as a learning and training method applying leadership tools.

The purpose of this article is to identify circumstances under which executive coaching is and is not an appropriate performance management tool. Alternative performance management measures and guidelines for structuring executive coaching engagements are also included.

The information on which this article is based derives primarily from the author’s coaching experience. Workplace application support of these principles is included in the form of input from high‐level executives and one coach.

Executives who have been coached or coached others support the finding that coaching is never a substitute for performance feedback and can only serve as an effective performance management tool when certain conditions are met.

Coaching interventions to halt derailment can be avoided with timely performance feedback and management.

Executive coaching is a performance management tool, not a substitute for performance management.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how project managers practice a coaching leadership style (CLS).

This paper is based on a case study of an organization practicing coaching in projects.

The research findings show that to succeed with a CLS, project managers must have a large toolbox, which includes signature strengths, self-management and a give culture. Further, the paper describes how a model consisting of two learning processes can help to implement a CLS in practice.

This study is exploratory, contributing to the development of a substantive theory. Theory testing as well as more in-depth investigation of mental models of a CLS would be valuable.

Coaching leadership theories offer insights that can be leveraged to make project management more effective through improved research foundations.

This paper focuses on how a CLS is carried out in projects and how it can be improved and should thus be of interest to managers searching for tools and models for effective leadership.

This article reports the results of a randomized field experiment that tested the effects of a new business intervention among managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in England.

Individual managers (learners) were randomly assigned in clusters (companies) to either an intervention group (265 learners; 40 SMEs) receiving a novel virtual, blended training program designed to stimulate a change in management behavior or a no-intervention group (118 learners; 22 SMEs).

The results show that the primary objective of changing management behavior to use more of an Operational Coaching™ style of management has been achieved (to a statistically significant level), and this is against the backdrop of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Positive trends in SME productivity metrics were also observed in the intervention group companies.

These important results could be indicative of the economic and productivity impact that a change in management behavior could have, and they warrant serious further investigation.

This study aims to investigate resistance to change and change management through a micro-level interpersonal perspective. Specifically, this paper addresses in what way external change experts, such as coaches, identify distinctive emotional and behavioural indicators of resistance and facilitate individuals to develop positive strengths and motivation to change.

The authors drew upon critical realism and abductive research methodology to understand connections between coaching intervention and individual change resistance through 21 in-depth interviews with independent coaches listed in coaching associations in Germany.

This study first re-evaluates the implications of resistance and extends its meaning from negative obstacles into natural emotional responses of individuals and constructive resources for change. In addition, the study results indicate resistance can be distinguished through both explicit behaviours, body language along with implicit emotional reactions, like being tired or making small jokes. Moreover, several micro-level interpersonal approaches for coaches to apply in dealing with resistance, including understanding coachees' cognitive status and working environment, adapting varied communication styles as well as drawing upon coachees' strengths.

The research results offer organisations (e.g. managers and human resource professionals) essential guidelines in micro-level change management strategy by considering external coaching as a valuable option to deal with varied individual, social and contextual factors (e.g. organisational power and politics). From the organisational investment perspective, indicators of resistance and approaches to facilitate coachees' emotional reactions can be served as a preliminary protocol for stakeholders to evaluate the effectiveness of their change management schemes. Moreover, the framework outlined in this research can be considered in the future coaching education and professional development programmes.

Overall, this study demonstrates that external coaching is one of the valuable approaches in responding to individual resistance in organisational change management. The research findings widen existing bipolar paradigms of resistance (either change obstacles or positive resource) into a neutral spectrum that holds an impartial view on emotional reactions to change. Furthermore, individual differences and contextual factors play essential roles in the change process, e.g. coachees' personality, personal experiences, knowledge, interpretations to change process and topics as well as organisational context (e.g. power, hierarchy and culture) need to be considered into change management strategy.

This paper's aim is to provide an empirical test of the assumption that coaching impacts salespeople's attitudes and behaviors under various contingencies.

The paper uses the survey responses of 2,532 salespeople and regression analyses.

Salesperson‐organization value fit reduces the likelihood that coaching will engender more affective commitment to the organization, improve satisfaction with job and supervisor and lower perceived role ambiguity. The number of years of formal education reduces the impact of coaching on affective commitment, satisfaction with job and supervisor. Salespeople's confidence in their company's product superiority over competitors' brands also reduces the effectiveness of coaching. Salesperson's organizational tenure has no impact on the effectiveness of coaching. Finally, the age of a salesperson dampens the positive relationship between coaching and affective commitment and job satisfaction but accentuates the negative relationship between coaching and perceived role ambiguity.

Analyses relied on cross‐sectional data. Thus the findings are only suggestive and causal relationships cannot be claimed. Also, the empirical setting limits the generalizability of findings to other professions.

Increasing the amount of coaching can engender positive attitudes and behaviors in salespeople. More coaching time should be devoted to younger salespeople, salespeople with lower confidence in the superiority of company's products over competitors' brands, salespeople with fewer years of formal education, and salespeople whose values fit the least with that of the organization.

The paper provides an empirical test of how, under different situations, coaching influences salespeople's attitudes and behaviors.