Role of Peer Coaching in Transmitting the Benefits of Leader Coaching

Drawing on social information processing theory, the present study examines how and when leader coaching can be beneficial for team performance. Based on a sample of 58 teams from a sanitary product company in China, we found that peer coaching served as a mediator linking leader coaching and team performance. Moreover, the team individualistic/collectivism value moderated the first-stage relationship that the relationship between leader coaching and peer coaching was more positive when the team individualism value was low, but not significant when the team individualism value was high; while team task interdependence moderated the second-stage relationship that the relationship between peer coaching and team performance was more positive when the team task interdependence was high, but not significant when it was low. The findings enrich our understandings of the effectiveness of leader coaching behavior by uncovering the theoretical mechanism and boundary conditions. The study also provides important implications for coaching practice in organizations.

How can wellbeing at work and sustainable employability of gifted workers be enhanced? A qualitative study from a capability approach perspective

Background

Being gifted with a very high IQ (> 98 percentile) can provide an advantage in the occupational context but can also come with its` own specific challenges. Where some studies found higher than average levels of wellbeing at work and successful careers amongst the gifted, other studies report boredom and less job satisfaction. This poses the question what gifted people value in work, and which factors are associated with the achievement of valued work related outcomes, wellbeing and sustainable employability. In this study these questions were explored using the value driven capability approach as a theoretical framework.

Method

A qualitative approach was chosen and 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews with gifted workers (IQ > 130) were conducted. The transcripts were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis aimed at identifying the work related outcomes participants aspired to achieve and the contextual and personal factors that affected the actualisation of these outcomes.

Results

Participants placed great value on the opportunity to learn, to use their knowledge and skills, and tended to have high ethical standards. If realized, these values contributed to wellbeing whereas if not fulfilled, this often resulted in frustration and sadness. The most important personal factors associated with wellbeing at work and sustainable employability were the level of organizational awareness, self-knowledge, a willingness to compromise, and fear of stigmatisation. Contextually a facilitating leadership style of managers was important, allowing the worker autonomy and decision latitude. Socially, participants enjoyed others as sparring partners but often had an aversion to small talk which could lead to social avoidance and loneliness.

Conclusions

If gifted workers managed (to get) what they valued in work, this was associated with wellbeing and sustainable employment Coaching aimed at improving organizational awareness, specific social skills (e.g. small talk, adaptability) and understanding their own cognitive processes could be valuable. The application of an autonomy supporting facilitative leadership style by supervisors would be beneficial. Further research should try to confirm the findings using quantitative methods and needs to examine more closely the impact of stigmatisation and leadership styles.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10413-8.

Context and person-oriented leader in teams: a meta-analytical review

Purpose

The research studies the role of contextual moderating variables on the relationship between person-oriented leadership behaviors (POLBs) and team performance. The authors claim that the varying effect sizes between POLBs and team performance are large because of the context the team is functioning in. Therefore, based on the framework of Johns (2006), this paper aims to investigate the moderating role of the relevant demographic (leader gender), social (in-group collectivism and team size), task (skill differentiation) and methodological (common method bias and the rater of the team performance) contextual variables in the study.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors accumulated evidence from 48 independent primary studies (N team = 4,276) to run the meta-analytic analyses. The authors followed the procedures described by Schmidt and Hunter (2015). For the categorical moderators, the analyzes were aided by the Hunter–Schmidt meta-analysis programs (2.0) (Schmidt and Le, 2014), which is an interactive software using a random-effects model. In the analyzes for the continuous moderators, the authors used Lipsey and Wilson’s (2001) statistical package for the social sciences macros and run meta-regressions using a random-effects model with unrestricted maximum likelihood.

Findings

The results indicate that the relationship weakens when female leaders exhibit these behaviors and when the team size increases. On the other hand, in-group collectivism strengthens the relationship. The study also found that the common method bias and the assessment method of the team performance are significant moderators altering the relationship.

Practical implications

The study highlights the perceptual differences and biases based on leader gender. Acknowledging these biases may help practitioners to appreciate the female qualities in leadership and decrease the undervaluation of female effectiveness. To create high-performing teams, leaders in high in-group collectivist countries are expected to develop a family feeling in the team by showing their concern for personal issues and build close interpersonal relationships. Researchers should use multiple sources to assess the predictor and criterion variables and also opt for more objective assessment methods for team performance.

Originality/value

With this study, the authors follow a substantively different perspective compared to the past meta-analytic reviews on this relationship. Rather than testing the inquiry whether there is a relationship between the two variables, the authors specifically focus on the role of contextual moderating variables. Several researchers have acknowledged that contextual considerations are critical in leadership-team performance research. Nevertheless, the body of research remains to be not cohesive. Thus, the study answers a call in the leadership area for a more context-based and cohesive understanding of the effects of leadership on team performance.

Team Resource Management Perception Under Managerial Coaching Skills and Organizational Climate: Cross-Level Analysis in Taiwan's Hospitals

There is growing recognition of the importance of teamwork and integration of resources in the health care industry. This article studied the influence of organizational climate and managerial coaching skills on team perception of team resource management (TRM) and coaching techniques in selected hospitals in Taiwan. Structural survey method was used to measure the relationship between organizational climate, managerial coaching skills, and team perception of TRM. The participants of this research were 530 administrative staff from 12 hospitals in Taiwan. Cross-level relationship between organizational climate (group level), managerial coaching skills (individual level), and team perception of TRM (individual level) was examined. The results revealed that organizational climate had a significant influence on team perception of TRM. Second, recognition of managerial coaching skills shaped team perception during TRM implementation. Third, organizational climate had a moderating effect on the relationship between managerial coaching skills and team perception of TRM. The study concluded that positive organizational climate and good managerial coaching skills contribute to effective team management and development. Thus, it is important for health care organizations to understand the importance of coaching and mentoring and create a workplace that makes learning, growth, and adaptation possible across different departments and functional teams.

DEVELOPING, SUSTAINING, AND MAXIMIZING TEAM EFFECTIVENESS: AN INTEGRATIVE, DYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS

Organizations regularly make significant investments to ensure their teams will thrive, through interventions intended to support their effectiveness. Such team development interventions (TDIs) have demonstrated their value from both a practical and empirical view, through enabling teams to minimize errors and maximize expertise and thereby advance organizational gains. Yet, on closer examination, the current state of the TDI literature appears so piecemeal that the robustness of extant scientific evidence is often lost. Accordingly, we seek to provide a more cohesive and dynamic integration of the TDI literature, evolving thinking about TDIs toward a system of interventions that can be optimized. Drawing on the existing theoretical and empirical literatures, we first broadly define TDIs. We then offer an in-depth look at the most common types of TDIs, in terms of summarizing the state of the science surrounding each TDI. Based on this review, we distinguish features that make for an effective TDI. We then advance a more integrative framework that seeks to highlight certain interventions that are best served for addressing certain issues within a team. In conclusion, we promote a call for evolving this robust yet disjointed TDI literature into a more holistic, dynamic, and intentional action science with clear empirical as well as practical guidance and direction.