Case study reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case study reflection - Essay Example Reflections: Coaching, learning, and the learner In order to respond to changing customer demands, workplace learning, as a subset of the greater literature on knowledge management, has becoming increasingly paramount. One of the most common approaches to workplace learning and leadership development is coaching. Coaching is a â€Å"process through which supervisors may communicate clear expectations to employees, provide feedback and suggestions for improving performance, and facilitate employees’ efforts to solve problems or take on new challenges† (Heslin et al., 2006 cited in Liu and Batt, 2010, pp.269-270). It trains people through regular interactions that help employees take up effective work skills and behaviours. The study by Liu and Batt (2010) propose a model, where they stress that there is a positive relationship between coaching and job performance (Agarwal, Angst, and Magni, 2009; Kets de Vries, 2005), but the former note there is weak empirical evidence, because these studies employed perceptual measures and approximated performance differences between individuals, as product differential treatments of coaching (Liu and Batt, 2010, p.271). ... I agree that coaching impacts individual performance over time, depending on numerous factors, such as teaching and leadership style of the coach and the learning style of the subordinates or trainees (Agarwal, Angst, and Magni, 2009). I experienced coaching several subordinates and it helped a great deal that I focused on knowing them first, before I developed my coaching approach. For instance, some people are very independent workers. They do not appreciate constant monitoring from their coaches. Others, however, need more direct coaching. The fundamental concept behind interpersonal relationships and coaching effectiveness can be explained by the process consultation approach. Hackman and Wageman (2005) talk about different coaching theories, such as the process consultation approach developed by Schein (1969, 1988 cited in Hackman and Wageman, 2005, p.270). Schein argues that proficient interpersonal relations are indispensable for effective task performance and that group membe rs themselves must participate in analysing and improving those relationships. The consultant, or in this case, the coach, engages member involvement in examining group processes on two levels concurrently: 1) â€Å"the substantive level†- to study how human processes are influencing work on a particular organisational problem, and 2) â€Å"the internal level†- to better comprehend the team’s own interface processes and the ways that team processes cultivate or encumber effective group functioning (Schein, 1988, pp. 11–12 cited in Hackman and Wageman, 2005, p.270). Lee (2009) argues that a skilled, shrewd facilitator, who moulds interpersonal skills and dispositions essential for effective team work, can make the