Counseling Specializations And Multidisciplinary Teams

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Overview

Counseling professionals from different specializations frequently need to work together to provide effective services to students, families, and individual clients. This assignment asks you to address this need in two parts, using what you have learned in this course so far. In Part 1, focus on theory and concepts, creating your own description and evaluation of your specialization, based on the historical and philosophical development of the counseling profession. In Part 2, apply these ideas to a particular case situation, focusing on how a professional in your specialization might collaborate with professionals in other specializations to help meet the needs of the client.

Directions

Part 1

Evaluate the role of your specialization within the field of counseling, beginning with your own description of the field itself, including both the history and the philosophies involved, explaining where your specialization fits, and describing how your specialization might collaborate with one other specialization that you describe. Cite the articles or other sources you use for the basis of your ideas.

In this part, specifically address the following questions:

  • How would you describe the key philosophies of the counseling profession: wellness, resilience, and prevention? Choose a wellness model, and explain how that model impacts the way in which counselors view clients and the concerns brought to counseling, including the kinds of information counselors need to have about their clients.
  • How have those key philosophies developed? Provide a brief historical perspective of the counseling profession focused on the key philosophies of wellness, resilience, and prevention. Include the beliefs and assumptions that support those philosophies.
  • How did your specialization develop? Identify your preferred counseling specialization and describe how the specialization emerged or the profession developed, including the key ideas on which it is based.
  • What other counseling specialization works well in collaboration with your specialization? Briefly explain the history of how this other specialization developed, highlighting the ways in which it complements yours.
Part 2

Now, select one of the following two cases, either Ashley or Paul, as a foundation for illustrating how professionals in different specializations might work together to meet the needs of the client you choose:

Ashley

Ashley, a 12-year-old girl, admits to one of her teachers that she feels very depressed. Her mother has recently remarried, and Ashley is having difficulty adjusting to life with her stepfather and his two children. She is not able to concentrate in class or do her homework.

Paul

Paul, a 32-year-old man, seeks counseling at a community mental health center. He has recently returned from his third deployment to a combat zone. He reports drinking frequently and feeling anxious. Paul’s wife has tried to reassure him that everything is fine, but he is reluctant to leave the house and has missed more than a week of work.

For this part, apply what you have learned about counseling and how professionals can work together to explain how you might collaborate with a professional in another specialization to serve the client you chose.

In this part, complete the following:

  • Analyze how professionals from your specialization and from the other specialization you examined in Part 1 might collaborate to benefit the person and family in the case study you chose.
    • Describe the role and function of each of the professionals involved.
    • Identify the characteristics that make each role unique and make them effective counselors for this case.
  • Assess how to ensure good collaboration and communication between the professionals representing the two specializations.
    • Identify the type of outside agency that could assist this client to promote optimal wellness, providing two examples.
    • Explain the standards or criteria that you would use to evaluate the collaboration.

Review the scoring guide given in the resources to make sure you understand how this assignment will be graded.

Other Requirements

Your paper must meet the following requirements:

  • Resources: Cite at least three resources from the professional literature that you use as the basis of your ideas for Part 1.
  • APA formatting: Resources and citations must be formatted according to current APA style.
  • Font and Font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
  • Length of Paper: Doing a thorough job on this assignment is likely to require approximately 3–4 typed, double-spaced pages.
  • Turnitin: You are required to submit your final version of this paper to Turnitin to generate a final report prior to submitting the assignment for grading. From the Turnitin tool, first submit to the draft link to check your work for any necessary edits. Once the paper is finalized and all edits have been made, submit your final paper to the Final report option for the assignment. Please be advised it can take up to a day to obtain the percentage from Turnitin. When your paper is downloaded and viewable in Turnitin, save the originality report. Refer to the Turnitin Tutorial: Viewing an Originality Report (linked in the Resources) for guidance.
    1. Submit your assignment using the following file naming format: Your Name_AssignmentNumber_Assignment Title (example: Ima_Learner_u06a1_CounselingSpecialization).
    2. In the comment section, provide the percentage from the final Turnitin report (example: Final Turnitin percentage = 4%). Please be prepared to provide your faculty member with a copy of the Turnitin report should this be requested of you.

Explain how you used this approach to identify a strategy to mitigate bullying

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To Prepare:

  • Review this week’s Learning Resources on the behaviorist perspective and classical and operant conditioning.
  • Pay particular attention to the meaning of the terms in each type of conditioning. Classical conditioning terms include: UCS (unconditioned stimulus), UCR (unconditioned response), NS (neutral stimulus), CS (conditioned stimulus), CR (conditioned response). Operant conditioning terms include positive reinforcers, and negative reinforcers, and punishers.
  • Select one conditioning approach and use it to propose a strategy to mitigate bullying.
  • Operationalize the characteristics of your strategy. For example, if you selected the classical approach, identify which aspects of your strategy represent the UCS, UCR, NS, CS, and CR.  If you selected the operant approach, identify which aspects (or operants) of your strategy represent positive reinforcers, negative reinforcers, and/or punishers.

By Day 4

Post a response to the following:

Describe the conditioning approach you selected. Explain how you used this approach to identify a strategy to mitigate bullying. Following your mitigation strategy, operationalize the characteristics of your strategy according to the conditioning method you chose, such as UCS, UCR, NS, CS, CR for classical conditioning; and positive reinforcers, negative reinforcers, punishers for operant conditioning.

Coaching And Organizational Change Essay

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Read the “Efficacy of Executive Coaching in Times of Organisational Change” article, and in 1,000-1,250 words, do the following:

  1. Provide a brief summary of the article’s main points.
  2. Compare quantitative and qualitative measures listed in the article.
  3. Explain how the article related to coaching and organizational culture.
  4. Write five reflective questions a coach could ask the executive to help identify strengths, weaknesses, and untapped potential within an organization or company.
  5. Explain why you chose the questions you did.

Use three to five scholarly resources to support your explanations.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide

The Efficacy of Executive Coaching in Times of Organisational Change

ANTHONY M. GRANT

Coaching Psychology Unit, School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

ABSTRACT Executive coaching is often used in times of organisational change to help executives develop the psychological and behavioural skills needed to focus on reaching their work-related goals whilst simultaneously dealing with the turbulence associated with organisational change. Despite its widespread use, little research has explored the impact of executive coaching during periods of organisational change. This within-subject study used both quantitative and qualitative measures to explore the impact of executive coaching during a period of organisational change on 31 executives and managers from a global engineering consulting organisation. Participation in the coaching was associated with increased goal attainment, enhanced solution-focused thinking, a greater ability to deal with change, increased leadership self-efficacy and resilience, and decrease in depression. The positive impact of coaching generalised to non-work areas such as family life. Recommendations are made for the measurement and design of executive coaching programmes.

KEY WORDS: Executive coaching, organisational change, leadership self-efficacy, solution- focused thinking

Introduction

Organisational turbulence has increasingly become part of the everyday experi- ence in organisations in the contemporary Western commercial world. Organis- ational turbulence is defined as nontrivial, rapid, and discontinuous change in an organisation, brought about by events such as restructurings, downsizings, sales, and spin-offs of assets and acquisitions, the effects of which are often experienced as disconcerting (Cameron et al., 1987).

Journal of Change Management, 2014

Vol. 14, No. 2, 258 – 280, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2013.805159

Correspondence Address: Anthony M. Grant, Coaching Psychology Unit, School of Psychology, University of

Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Email: anthony.grant@sydney.edu.au

# 2013 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.

 

 

Whereas in the last century organisational change tended to be part of desig- nated mergers and acquisitions or pre-planned cultural development initiatives (Gaughan, 2010), since 2000 the rate and unpredictability of organisational change appear to have escalated, resulting in greater demands and stresses being placed on managers and executives (Sablonnière et al., 2012). Such econ- omic uncertainty and organisational turbulence have been particularly evident since the 2007 Global Financial Crisis.

Not surprisingly, the executives and employees who work in such uncertain and unstable contexts sometimes struggle to develop the psychological and behaviour- al skills needed to deal with organisational change whilst remaining focused on reaching their work-related goals (Fugate et al., 2008). Indeed, the ability to build effective teams and deliver on organisational goals during periods of disrup- tive change or organisational turbulence is rated as one of the most important attri- butes of effective leaders (Gilley et al., 2009), although the requisite skills come naturally to only a few (Goleman, 2000). The focus of this article is on examining if executive coaching can help executives and managers during times of organis- ational change.

The Literature on Executive Coaching and Organisational Change: an Overview

Executive coaching is frequently used by corporations to help executives develop their capacity to deal with change and to give them support in reaching their organisational or work-related goals (Goldsmith, 2009). Executive coaching can be understood as a helping relationship formed between a client (the coachee

1 )

who has leadership, managerial, or supervisory authority and responsibility in an organisation, and a coach who uses a range of cognitive and behavioural tech- niques in order to help the client achieve a mutually defined set of goals with the aim of improving his or her leadership skills, professional performance, and well- being and the effectiveness of the organisation (adapted from Kilburg, 1996).

The academic literature on executive coaching per se has grown over time. A search of the database PsycINFO conducted in January 2013 using the keywords ‘executive coaching’ found a total of 487 citations, with the first published article being Sperry’s (1993) discussion article describing the needs of executives and how psychologists can respond to their need for consulting, coaching, and coun- selling. Between 1993 and 1999 there were a total of 31 citations, between 2000 and 2005 there were a total of 99 citations, and between 2006 and 2013 there were a total of 356 citations (For a detailed review and critique of the literature on executive coaching see Grant et al., 2010).

The widespread use of coaching by practitioners and consultants as a means of helping executives deal with a range of change-related issues is echoed in the aca- demic literature. Cross-indexing the terms ‘executive coaching’ and ‘change’ identified a total of 111 citations. That is to say that 22.28% of the executive coaching literature in PsycINFO is in relation to issues to do with change. However, of these 111 citations 91 are opinion articles discussing, for example, how various theoretical frameworks can be used to foster meaningful personal change amongst executive clients (Glunk and Follini, 2011), or how integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy into coaching methods can help leaders

Executive Coaching in Times of Organisational Change 259

 

 

develop a repertoire of crisis resiliency and value-directed change management skills (Moran, 2010), or how coaching can help executives change on a personal level (Barner, 2006).

Few Empirical Studies on Change-Related Executive Coaching

Of the identified 111 citations only 21 were empirical studies. The majority of these (n ¼ 15) used a case study methods or retrospective survey approaches (Wasylyshyn, 2003; Schnell, 2005; Fahy, 2007; Kombarakaran et al., 2008; Ozkan, 2008; Kress, 2009; Lewis-Duarte, 2009; Nardone et al., 2009; Perkins, 2009; Freedman and Perry, 2010; Rostron, 2011; Clayton, 2012; Lawler, 2012; Lewis-Duarte and Bligh, 2012; Ratiu and Baban, 2012). There were only three within-subjects studies (Trathen, 2008; Milare and Yoshida, 2009; Howard 2009) and two between-subjects studies (Kampa-Kokesch, 2002; Gravel, 2007), with only one randomised controlled study exploring the effectiveness of execu- tive coaching in times of organisational change (Grant et al., 2009).

Although this emerging evidence-base suggests that executive coaching can indeed be effective, over time there have been concerns expressed in the literature that executive coaching could be merely a fad, problematic, or unhelpful (Nowack, 2003), or that executive coaches who lack rigorous psychological train- ing could do more harm than good (Berglas, 2002). Thus, more empirical research is needed to evaluate the effects of executive coaching, particularly in times of organisational change.

The existing research that explicitly explores the effects of coaching during times of organisational change tends to be qualitative or exploratory. For example, Fahy (2007) presented an exploratory case study in which a grounded- theory approach was used to examine the role that executive coaching with a senior leadership team plays in the process of organisational change, and Schnell (2005) presented a detailed case study of executive coaching as a support mechanism during a period of organisational growth and evolution. Whist such qualitative and exploratory grounded-theory approaches can give rich insights into individuals’ lived experience, they fail to provide quantitative data, and both qualitative and quantitative data are needed in order to comprehen- sively develop the knowledge base.

The rationale for the present study’s design is that, to date, little is known from a quantitative perspective about the effects of coaching on executives as they go through periods of organisational change. Quantitative evaluations are important because they can provide objective and aggregate measures of change and allow for direct comparisons between different outcome studies and different popu- lations – key factors in the accumulation of knowledge and the ongoing develop- ment of an evidence-based approach to coaching. However, because quantitative evaluations do not highlight individual participants’ subjective experiences, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in the present study.

The extent to which coaching helps develop personal change readiness – the capacity to cope with the uncertainties that organisational change introduces into one’s work life – is not also known, nor the extent to which coaching helps develop leadership self-efficacy, resilience, or workplace satisfaction.

260 A.M. Grant

 

 

Hence the aim of the present study was to explore these issues and so doing further develop the knowledge base associated with executive coaching.

The Psychological Mechanisms of Executive Coaching

Executive coaching is informed by a broad range of theoretical frameworks ranging from the cognitive through to psychodynamic and the solution-focused (see Passmore, 2005). However, regardless of theoretical framework, there are a common set of principles underpinning executive coaching and these include col- laboration and accountability, awareness raising, responsibility, commitment, action planning, and action (Grant, 2006). That is, regardless of theoretical orien- tation, the coaching relationship is one in which the coach and coachee form a col- laborative working alliance, articulate goals, and develop specific action steps designed to facilitate goal attainment. The coachee’s responsibility is to enact the action steps. The coach’s role is to help keep the coachee on track, helping them to monitor and evaluate progress over time, as well as providing an intellec- tual foil for brainstorming and facilitating the process of examining issues from a range of different perspectives.

Executive coaching may thus be effective through at least three underlying cog- nitive and behavioural mechanisms. First, having a confidential and supportive relationship in which to reflect upon and discuss personal and professional issues can relieve stress and anxiety and give individuals the space to consider pro- blems from a range of perspectives (Myers, 1999). Second, the process of setting personally valued goals and then purposefully working towards achieving them can enhance well-being, build self-efficacy, and help develop solution-focused thinking (Sheldon and Houser-Marko, 2001). Third, systemically engaging in such processes along with being supported in dealing with any setbacks can build resilience and enhance self-regulation, both of which are vital factors in suc- cessfully dealing with change (Baumeister et al., 2006). As a result of the above, coachees may well experience greater self-efficacy, change readiness, job satisfac- tion, and well-being as well as being better equipped to deal with change and workplace stressors.

Relevance of Coaching in Times of Organisational Change

Given the above delineations of the coaching process, there are several key reasons why coaching might indeed help executives function more effectively during times of organisational change or turbulence.

Residency: Dissertation

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Residency 851 Assessment

Required Questions

1. List the 10 Strategic Points:

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

2. What are the four sections of the Literature Review:

1)

2)

3)

4)

3. From where does the problem statement originate?

4. What are the five elements of the purpose statement?

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

5. What is the heart of the dissertation?

6. What is a theoretical framework?

7. What is the difference between a topic of interest and a gap and need in the literature?

8. What is your Problem Statement?

9. If your problem statement is qualitative, how could you pose it in a quantitative manner; or, if your problem statement is quantitative, how could you pose it qualitatively?

 

 

 

 

Residency 851 Assessment

(2-3 questions as assigned)

1. Given the following hypothetical gap and need in the literature, provide one sample qualitative and one sample quantitative problem statement. There is a need in the literature to address the effectiveness of residency on the doctoral process.

2. Name at least two sampling approaches.

3. Name at least three GCU approved qualitative designs.

4. Name at least three GCU approved quantitative designs.

5. What does AQR represent?

6. Define Grounded Theory design.

7. What is a quasi-experimental design?

8. Define Narrative Inquiry design.

9. What is a correlative design?

10. Define Case Study design.

11. What is a causal comparative design?

12. Define phenomenological design.

13. What is a qualitative descriptive study?

14. What is alignment?

15. What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods?

16. What is the 10 Strategic Points and what is its purpose?

17. What is the relationship between the 10 SP, the prospectus and the proposal?

18. Name two sections of the 10 SP that are the same in the prospectus.

19. What comes first the 10 SP or a review of the literature? Why?

20. How does a doctoral learner turn a topic of passion into a research topic?