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Management article
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Reference no. SMR48202
Published by: MIT Sloan School of Management
Published in: "MIT Sloan Management Review", 2007
Length: 3 pages

Abstract

The practice of coaching as a tool for work force and leadership development has gained popularity in recent years. In theory, coaching asks supervisors to spend more time giving constructive, individualized feedback on performance to subordinates, rather than barking orders and sending their troops to boot-camp training programs. Does this softer style of leadership produce hard results? In this case, the middle managers did not seem impressed enough with their supervisors'' coaching to make them want to coach those under them more. Or it could simply be that sales managers didn''t see their supervisors frequently enough to internalize their leadership styles. While the study looked at only one company''s sales force, the authors believe the results would be pretty similar for sales teams in other companies and industries. However, the effects of coaching might vary in different departments, the authors concede, particularly with inward-focused or more easily prescribed functions, like on the manufacturing shop floor.

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Abstract

The practice of coaching as a tool for work force and leadership development has gained popularity in recent years. In theory, coaching asks supervisors to spend more time giving constructive, individualized feedback on performance to subordinates, rather than barking orders and sending their troops to boot-camp training programs. Does this softer style of leadership produce hard results? In this case, the middle managers did not seem impressed enough with their supervisors'' coaching to make them want to coach those under them more. Or it could simply be that sales managers didn''t see their supervisors frequently enough to internalize their leadership styles. While the study looked at only one company''s sales force, the authors believe the results would be pretty similar for sales teams in other companies and industries. However, the effects of coaching might vary in different departments, the authors concede, particularly with inward-focused or more easily prescribed functions, like on the manufacturing shop floor.

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