A SURVEY OF EXECUTIVE COACHING PRACTICES

Despite the ubiquity of executive coaching interventions in business organizations, there is little uniformity in the practices (e.g., assessment tools, scientific or philosophical approaches, activities, goals, and outcome evaluation methods) of executive coaches. Addressing the ongoing debate about the role of psychology in executive coaching, we compare the practices of psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches, as well as the practices of coaches from various psychological disciplines (e.g., counseling, clinical, and industrial/organizational). Results of surveys completed by 428 coaches (256 nonpsychologists, 172 psychologists) revealed as many differences between psychologists of differing disciplines as were found between psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches. Moreover, differences between psychologists and nonpsychologists were generally small (average d = .26). Our survey also revealed some differences in the key competencies identified by psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches.     

Development of social-cognitive and communication skills in children born deaf

Central to the interface of social-cognitive and communicative development is the growth of a theory of mind (ToM). ToM is mastered by most hearing children and deaf children of signing deaf parents by the age of 5 or 6 but is often seriously delayed in deaf children of hearing parents. This paper reviews recently published research on deaf children's ToM development and presents an original study consisting of eight longitudinal case histories that collectively map late-signing deaf children's ToM performance from 44 to 158 months of age. While five tentative conclusions can be posited from the collective research so far, further investigation of each of these possibilities is clearly needed.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG LEADER AND FOLLOWER PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL,SERVICE CLIMATE,AND JOB PERFORMANCE

Using a sample of 79 police leaders and their direct reports (264 police followers), this study investigated the relationships of leader and follower psychological capital, service climate, and job performance. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) results revealed that leader psychological capital was positively related to follower performance, with this relationship mediated by follower psychological capital. We also found that the follower psychological capital-performance relationship was moderated by service climate such that the relationship was stronger when service climate was perceived to be high versus low. Finally, exploratory HLM analyses indicated that leader and follower psychological capital interacted to positively predict rated performance. We discuss implications of these findings, limitations, and directions for future research.     

Development of a Selection Measure for Access to Public Employment Assistance Programs

The author provides a prototype measure of employability to be used as a tool in public employment programs political and ethical implications pertaining to the use of such a selection instrument for welfare recipients are considered.     

Stress, Glucocorticoids, and Damage to the Nervous System: The Current State of Confusion

An extensive literature demonstrates that glucocorticoids (GCs), the adrenal steroids secreted during stress, can have a broad range of deleterious effects in the brain. The actions occur predominately, but not exclusively, in the hippocampus, a structure rich in corticosteroid receptors and particularly sensitive to GCs. The first half of this review considers three types of GC effects: a) GC-induced atrophy, in which a few weeks' exposure to high GC concentrations or to stress causes reversible atrophy of dendritic processes in the hippocampus; b) GC neurotoxicity where, over the course of months, GC exposure kills hippocampal neurons; c) GC neuroendangerment, in which elevated GC concentrations at the time of a neurological insult such as a stroke or seizure impairs the ability of neurons to survive the insult. The second half considers the rather confusing literature as to the possible mechanisms underlying these deleterious GC actions. Five broad themes are discerned: a) that GCs induce a metabolic vulnerability in neurons due to inhibition of glucose uptake; b) that GCs exacerbate various steps in a damaging cascade of glutamate excess, calcium mobilization and oxygen radical generation. In a review a number of years ago, I concluded that these two components accounted for the deleterious GC effects. Specifically, the energetic vulnerability induced by GCs left neurons metabolically compromised, and less able to carry out the costly task of containing glutamate, calcium and oxygen radicals. More recent work has shown this conclusion to be simplistic, and GC actions are shown to probably involve at least three additional components: c) that GCs impair a variety of neuronal defenses against neurologic insults; d) that GCs disrupt the mobilization of neurotrophins; e) that GCs have a variety of electrophysiological effects which can damage neurons. The relevance of each of those mechanisms to GC-induced atrophy, neurotoxicity and neuroendangerment is considered, as are the likely interactions among them.     

needed: more evaluation,not research

The mandate for greater and more thorough accountability is here. The authors of this article point out that more traditional kinds of research per se are not needed; what is needed is more evaluation. They briefly clarify some of the terminology (namely, accountability, evaluation, and research) and illustrate some of the characteristic differences between evaluation and research. The authors point to some reasons that little evaluation is taking place and, with tongue in cheek, mention some of the more commonly used evaluative approaches. Finally, they provide five basic steps to good evaluation, along with examples.