Anna Blackman

Graduating Students’ Responses to Recruitment Advertisements:

Many firms spend substantial resources in their efforts to recruit the best graduates, and recruitment advertisements can be a critical medium for potential employees deciding on whether to apply for jobs. It is important, therefore, that recruitment advertisements attract the attention of potential applicants and encourage them to apply. The purpose of this study was to examine the variables that influence attention to advertisements and the intention to apply for advertised positions among final-year commerce students. A quasi-experiment was conducted to investigate the relative impact of three factors in a recruitment advertisement: the use of the word graduate in the heading, the use of pictures in the advertisement, and the mention of a career path or opportunities for development and promotion. The results highlight the importance of a heading with the word graduate and support a proposed three-step model for designing a recruitment advertisement.

Coaching as a Leadership Development Tool for Teachers.

Without support for the development of leadership talents and the chance to climb the career ladder, many teachers will leave the teaching sector in search of other career opportunities that will provide an outlet for their interests and talents. Coaching is potentially a way to help teachers fulfil, support and encourage their leadership talents. Being able to employ management and leadership skills is said to be a major determinant of success or failure in education but those who believe that they can make a difference are more likely to see coaching as a tool that can help them expand and strengthen their teaching skills. Although educational leadership has been extensively investigated over the years, educational coaching as a form of leadership development has not been as well researched. This raises the question: can coaching help to create a teacher‐leader? The results from this case study have shown that the use of coaching workshops and one‐on‐one sessions may be an effective way for educational professionals to develop their leadership skills through continual professional development.

Challenges for the Theory and Practice of Business Coaching: A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence

Until recently, there has been little published systematic empirical research into business coaching. This article reports on a systematic, critical review of 111 published empirical papers investigating business coaching theory, processes, and outcomes. The present article identifies a significantly larger body of empirical research than covered in previous reviews and uses a Systematic Review methodology (SRm) to conduct a comprehensive review of the available empirical evidence into business coaching effectiveness focusing on implications for theoretical development, practice (within human resource development) and further research in this area. This review identifies convergence around factors that contribute to perceived effective coaching practice but nevertheless highlights a number of issues to be resolved in further research. These include determining the primary beneficiaries of coaching, the factors that contribute to coach credibility, and how the organizational and social context impacts on coaching. Weaknesses in coaching research methodology and research gaps are also noted.

Perspectives on effective coaching by those who have been coached

Studies on coaching have largely explored effectiveness from the perspective of a coach or employing organization rather than that of the employee or coachee. There has also been a focus on ‘successful’ coaching, but little is known about unsuccessful coaching or the hindrances to achieving coaching success. Many empirical studies on training interventions have found that support and help for employees from managers and others within the workplace enhances training effectiveness and there is an assumption in coaching studies that this will also be true for coaching interventions. This study addresses the gap in academic literature by exploring survey responses from 296 industry professionals in 34 countries who had been, or were currently being, coached. The study found that facing barriers during the period of coaching engagements was common and we present a categorization framework of six barrier categories. Our analysis suggests that three of these barrier categories may be predictive of coachee perceptions of limited coaching effectiveness: difficulties with a coach; coaching relationships and overall coaching experience. The study also provides empirical evidence that suggests a lack of support from within an employing organization is not predictive of limited coaching effectiveness.

Coaching and Mentoring in the Asia Pacific

Coaching and mentoring as management approaches have spread rapidly across the Asia Pacific region. Basic concepts of supporting people in their learning, in their career journeys and in the acquisition of wisdom are deeply rooted in all clutures, yet today there is little agreement about what constitutes good practice. Coaching and Mentoring in Asia Pacific is the first book to put coaching and mentoring into an Asia Pacific context - exploring the challenges, benefits and differences in application, both in concept and practice. Opening with a foreword from Anthony Grant, this book provides commentaries and practical case studies from a wide variety of countries, sectors and perspectives. The authors show how organisations in the Asia Pacific region can make effective use of this powerful developmental tool, in cost-effective, culturally relevant ways. This book will be invaluable reading for students and practitioners based in, planning to work in or curious about coaching and mentoring in the Asia Pacific.

Education for Sustainability in Tourism: Coaching Tourism Businesses

It is often espoused that micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are the engines of growth of a country’s economy. There are, however, considerable barriers that they face in start up and operations that are compounded by their inability to utilise the necessary resources to assist them. As such more targeted information delivered directly to MSE owner/managers, supported by flexible, personalised programs for capacity building and person support in combination with peer networks, could provide a more effective and sustainable approach to encourage MSEs to incorporate sustainable tourism development responses into their business practices. This chapter will explore the practice of business coaching as an education tool and participatory learning method for tourism MSEs adopting a sustainable development approach to their business practices. In particular, how business coaching can best integrate economic, environmental, and social concepts into core tourism business activities is examined. The chapter will conclude with a practical guide on how to implement coaching programmes for tourism MSEs.