Boosting Positivity and Performance: A Case Study of Organizational Coaching

Introduction

Organizations are experiencing fundamental changes in the labour market (Archer & Yates, 2017) and nature of work (Miller, 1998; Tehubijuluw, 2016) due to the trauma of the global recession (Garcea & Linley, 2011). In the light of these changes, work cannot be considered as an effort removed from personal development anymore. Managers, whom were solely seen as organizational actors giving orders and whose role had no impact on development of their subordinates at one time, are considered as guides for individual development generally (Leigh, 1997) and psychological capital development specifically. So, there is a need to focus on positive theories of organizational behavior and management rather than predominantly negative ones, to develop psychological capital that leads to achieving employees’ full potential and end up with improved performance levels. In this contexti “positivity” and “coaching” as a positive psychology intervention offer what is needed (Garcea & Linley, 2011).

It is evident in literature that organizational coaching has significant positive effects on both individual and organizational outcomes. However, most of these studies are either a review of the research on coaching (Grover & Furnham, 2016; Williams & Palmer, 2015; Stober, 2005) or evaluate coaching process from only the executives’ perspectives, who are coached by external coaches (McGovern et al., 2001; Grant, Curtayne, & Burton, 2009). Howbeit, the perspectives of both parties should be taken into account to gain an in-depth insgiht regarding organizational coaching.

On the other hand, it is seen that there isn’t any study on organizational coaching in the Turkish context specifically. A group of studies investigate the effects of cognitive coaching in education and academic life (Duman, 2013; Demir & Doğanay, 2010; Kılıç & Demir, 2012; Bal, Bal, & Demir, 2011), whereas there are a few studies on managerial coaching behavior (Bayram, Yıldırım, & Ergan, 2017; Kalkavan, 2014). However, none of these studies are considering the link between coaching and positive psychology, which are both related with the improvement of performance and development of the individual (Linley & Harrington, 2005). Thus, it is aimed to shed light on the organizational coaching as a positive intervention in the Turkish context in this chapter. Besides, it is aimed to fulfill the gap in literature regarding the characteristicts, enablers, challenges of an ideal organizational coaching system based on the views of both coachees and internal coaches.

This chapter consists of seven different sections. In this section, a general evaluation and the aim of the chapter is given. In the background section, the emergence of positive psychology and its reflections on the organizations, and the link between positivity and coaching is shared to point out why coaching can be considered as a positive organizational intervention. Then the history, concept and forms of coaching are presented. The studies in Turkish context are examined to emphasize the lack of studies on organizational coaching in the last part of the background section. In the third section, details regarding the methodology is given. In the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh sections; findings and discussions, practice implications, future research directions and conclusion parts are shared, respectively.