Executives and career shocks: observations from coaching practice

Purpose

The study provides practice-based vignettes describing career shocks as experienced by executives. It also offers a brief description of the approaches taken by the coach in helping executives to cope with their initial reactions. This work informs the readers about examples of career shocks in the executive population and provides access to normally rarely available information about sensitive aspects of psychological life of executives.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a qualitative exploration of managers' career shock experiences reflected in executive coaching interventions. It takes an anecdotal look at how executives react to shocks of various valences, and how coaching attempts to assist them by processing their first reactions and choosing a response. The paper particularly looks at managers' responses almost immediately following a shocking event triggering their request for coaching help.

Findings

Coaching conversation serves as opportunities for handling immediate emotional reactions to career disruptions. Even shocks with positive valence can cause ambivalent reactions. Processing of career shocks through coaching conversations can activate agency in dealing with abrupt career events. Coaches can offer further support in career deliberations. In one of the cases, an instance of anticipation of a negative career event was associated with positive hopes, and the non-occurrence of the event led to further elaboration about one's career options.

Research limitations/implications

This work is based on a small sample of executives experiencing career shocks.

Practical implications

This work informs executives about opportunities provided by executive coaching in handling difficult reactions to external career events. Coaches or coaches-in-training receive an overview of coaching requests associated with career shocks.

Social implications

With the increasing instability in careers the paper draws the attention to the helping potential of coaching to those experiencing career shocks. It also contributes to normalization of turning for support in psychologically burdening situations.

Originality/value

This work is a trigger for further consideration of the experiences of career shocks by business executives. It provides a first look into immediate reactions of this career population to unexpected external disruptions. It also offers opportunities for further exploration of the role executive coaching can play in career deliberations.

A meta-analysis of induced achievement goals: the moderating effects of goal standard and goal framing

In this paper, we present a meta-analysis of the motivational and performance effects of experimentally induced achievement goals and the moderating effects of goal standard and goal framing; comprising 90 studies which provided 235 effect sizes (11,247 participants). The findings show that, relative to performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals and no-goals, induced mastery-approach goals enhanced performance, but not motivation. With regards to the goal standard used in the inducement, mastery-approach goals related to better performance than performance-approach goals, when mastery-approach goals were based on task-referenced standards or when social comparison was used as a standard for inducing performance-approach goals. With regards to the goal framing used in the inducement, mastery-approach goals were more beneficial when achievement goals were induced by means of goal content. We therefore conclude that goal framing and goal standard should be taken into consideration in achievement goal research and practice.

Video Games and Stress: How Stress Appraisals and Game Content Affect Cardiovascular and Emotion Outcomes

Although previous studies have found that video games induce stress, studies have not typically measured all salient indicators of stress responses including stress appraisals, cardiovascular indicators, and emotion outcomes. The current study used the Biopsychosocial Model of Challenge and Threat (Blascovich and Tomaka, 1996) to determine if video games induce a cardiovascular stress response by comparing the effects of threat and challenge appraisals across two types of video games that have shown different cardiovascular outcomes. Participants received challenge or threat appraisal instructions, and played a fighting game (Mortal Kombat) or a puzzle game (Tetris). Study outcomes were heart rate variability, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and positive and negative emotion ratings measured before, during and after gameplay. Results indicated that threat appraisal instructions increased negative emotion ratings and decreased heart rate variability, but not blood pressure, which is an essential marker for cardiovascular stress responses. Increased blood pressure and decreased heart rate variability was associated with fighting game players when compared with the puzzle game players, indicating a cardiovascular stress response; however, fighting game players also reported higher positive emotion ratings. Based on the study findings, video games do not induce stress responses like mental stressors used in previous research, demonstrating that the interactive player experience in video gaming may have more complex effects on stress outcomes. Future research should comprehensively measure biopsychosocial stress indicators and multiple emotional states over time to fully examine the relationship between video games and stress.

Combined Effect of Levels in Personal Self-Regulation and Regulatory Teaching on Meta-Cognitive, on Meta-Motivational, and on Academic Achievement Variables in Undergraduate Students

The Theory of Self- vs. Externally-Regulated Learning™ (SRL vs. ERL) proposed different types of relationships among levels of variables in Personal Self-Regulation (PSR) and Regulatory Teaching (RT) to predict the meta-cognitive, meta-motivational and -emotional variables of learning, and of Academic Achievement in Higher Education. The aim of this investigation was empirical in order to validate the model of the combined effect of low-medium-high levels in PSR and RT on the dependent variables. For the analysis of combinations, a selected sample of 544 undergraduate students from two Spanish universities was used. Data collection was obtained from validated instruments, in Spanish versions. Using an ex-post-facto design, different Univariate and Multivariate Analyses (3 × 1, 3 × 3, and 4 × 1) were conducted. Results provide evidence for a consistent effect of low-medium-high levels of PSR and of RT, thus giving significant partial confirmation of the proposed rational model. As predicted, (1) the levels of PSR and positively and significantly effected the levels of learning approaches, resilience, engagement, academic confidence, test anxiety, and procedural and attitudinal academic achievement; (2) the most favorable type of interaction was a high level of PSR with a high level RT process. The limitations and implications of these results in the design of effective teaching are analyzed, to improve university teaching-learning processes.

The Grad Cohort Workshop: Evaluating an Intervention to Retain Women Graduate Students in Computing

Women engaged in computing career tracks are vastly outnumbered by men and often must contend with negative stereotypes about their innate technical aptitude. Research suggests women's marginalized presence in computing may result in women psychologically disengaging, and ultimately dropping out, perpetuating women's underrepresentation in computing. To combat this vicious cycle, the Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) runs a multi-day mentorship workshop for women graduate students called Grad Cohort, which consists of a speaker series and networking opportunities. We studied the long-term impact of Grad Cohort on women Ph.D. students' (a) dedication to becoming well-known in one's field, and giving back to the community (professional goals), (b) the degree to which one feels computing is an important element of “who they are” (computing identity), and (c) beliefs that computing skills are innate (entity beliefs). Of note, entity beliefs are known to be demoralizing and can lead to disengagement from academic endeavors. We compared a propensity score matched sample of women and men Ph.D. students in computing programs who had never participated in Grad Cohort to a sample of past Grad Cohort participants. Grad Cohort participants reported interest in becoming well-known in their field to a greater degree than women non-participants, and to an equivalent degree as men. Also, Grad Cohort participants reported stronger interest in giving back to the community than their peers. Further, whereas women non-participants identified with computing to a lesser degree than men and held stronger entity beliefs than men, Grad Cohort participants' computing identity and entity beliefs were equivalent to men. Importantly, stronger entity beliefs predicted a weaker computing identity among students, with the exception of Grad Cohort participants. This latter finding suggests Grad Cohort may shield students' computing identity from the damaging nature of entity beliefs. Together, these findings suggest Grad Cohort may fortify women's commitment to pursuing computing research careers and move the needle toward greater gender diversity in computing.

The Social and Psychological Costs of Peer Review

Research has evolved into a high-stake competition for journal space. This study examines the effects of peer rejections on individual scholars. I propose a transactional framework that organizes experiences with peer rejections into identity-related appraisal and coping phases. I consider two types of response options: peer rejections either as a threat or as a challenge to scholarly identities. I develop research proposition specific to socio-demographic, socio-linguistic, and social-cognitive antecedents of scholarly engagement. I test for main and interaction effects of peer rejections on data collected from 411 International Business scholars. Broadly supportive of my propositions, the findings highlight extensive social and psychological costs of peer-review mechanisms, most notably living with professional failure, resultant cognitive dissonance, and awareness of discriminatory clues. The systematic exploration of bifurcating scholarly work into “valued” and “less valued” contributions invites us to reconsider the way we interact as scholars, create knowledge, and build disciplinary capacities.