Abstract THE SUSTAINABILIY OF A COACHING MODEL FOR BEGINNING PRINCIPALS By Virginia F. Loving A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011 Director: R. Martin Reardon, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Education This phenomenological study sought to determine what coaching-induced practices are acquired during novice principals first year as principal, and the sustainability of coaching-induced practices once the coach has been removed. This study identified skills learned while novice principals participated in a coaching program, and the extent to which these practices continued into the second, third, and fourth year of their principalship (as appropriate) once the coaching had concluded. Face-to-face interviews were recorded, transcribed, and reviewed to provide insight into common themes from the participants. Direct quotations about the experience were then placed in a narrative to describe the phenomenon of the coaching experience as seen through the eyes of the participants. After a careful review of the information, the findings reveal, that indeed, components of the coaching experience are sustainable once the coach has been removed. The common elements were data collection and analysis, confidence, feedback, finding a focus, and self-reflection.

En undersökning från Svenskt Kvalitetsindex har visat på låg kundnöjdhet i en av de svenska storbankerna. Banken har flera kategorier av kunder som ställer olika krav på service. Nöjdheten bland de prioriterade kunderna mäts med bankens egna kundbarometer på en skala mellan 0 till 10 där betygen 9 och 10 indikerar att kunderna skulle rekommendera banken. Syftet med min studie är att utvärdera och analysera kundnöjdheten och bankens rådgivningsprocess mot bakgrund av dess tillhandahållna tjänster. Studien syftar även på att ta fram förbättringsförslag för att nå ökad kundnöjdhet. Därför har jag gjort en litteraturstudie med hjälp av både kvalitativ och kvantitativ dataanalys utifrån Sex Sigmas problemlösningsmetodik, DMAIC (Definiera-Mäta-Analysera-Implementera-Kontrollera). Forskningsfrågorna utgår från teorier inom kundtillfredsställelse och coachning. Resultaten från studien visar att kvalitetsfaktorer som professionalitet, attityd och tillförlitlighet är viktigast för att ge ökad kundnöjdhet och bidra till en förbättrad rådgivningsprocess med stöd av coachning. Slutsatsen är att bankens rådgivare kan tillämpa en coachande rådgivningsmodell genom att koncentrera sig på aktiv kommunikation via uppföljning. På så sätt kan de prioriterade kunderna motiveras att rekommendera banken till andra. / Swedish Quality Index survey shows low customer satisfaction in one of the Swedish banks. The bank has several categories of customers that impose different quality service requirements. Customer satisfaction among the priority customers is measured with the bank's own customer barometer on a scale of 0 to 10 where two highest ratings indicate that these customers would recommend the bank to others. The purpose of the survey is to evaluate and analyze customer satisfaction and advisory process considering the services provided. The work points at developing improvements towards increased customer satisfaction. The thesis therefore consists of a literature study including qualitative and quantitative data analysis based on Six Sigma's problem-solving methodology, DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control).  Research questions are based on customer satisfaction and coaching theories. The results from the study show that quality factors such as professionalism, attitude, and reliability are the most important for increasing customer satisfaction and contributing to an improved counseling process with coaching. The conclusion is that the bank's adviser can apply a coaching advisory model by concentrating on active communication through follow-up. In this way, the priority customers can be motivated to recommend the bank to others.

The researcher investigated whether leadership is not held by one leader only, but by a leadership model where decision making is distributed among to the rest of the senior leadership team and leaders within the school. The researcher’s aims emanate from the research problem, what is the role of distributive leadership as strategy to ensure effective schools in South Africa. The researcher also attempts through the study to define effective school leadership, leadership strategies and distributive leadership and explore how distributive leadership supports change and improves schools effectively. The focus of the study was to obtained data that could facilitate an understanding of the participants’ experiences on the role of distributive leadership as strategy to ensure more effective schools in South Africa. It is the understanding that this data will form the basis for the conceptualising for school management and other leaders that will facilitate the successful management of the implementation of this approach. In order to achieve the aims of this study, a qualitative research design was adopted and the main form of data collection method was interviews. A total of 28 interviews were conducted. Eight themes were identified from the literature and the in-depth interviews and discussed in detail. The study found out that leadership should be managed through the distributed leadership strategy and that the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the OSCAR coaching model as distributed leadership strategy would ensure more effective schools in South Africa. The theoretical clustering of the leadership styles items and the distributed leadership model resulted in the identification of the shared leadership with elements of democratic leadership as significant contributors to the distribution of leadership and the OSCAR coaching model to facilitate meetings. This information is of importance for educational managers as they will be able to provide schools with suggestions for developmental programmes for leaders and managers in order to increase positive perceptions regarding the role of distributed leadership to ensure effective schools in South Africa. The study arrived at the conclusion that the core coaching skills are most likely to promote a successful coaching outcome. The challenge that lies ahead is for leaders to acquire these coaching skills so that they can make the transition to become a coaching leader and develop schools in such ways. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The researcher investigated whether leadership is not held by one leader only, but by a leadership model where decision making is distributed among to the rest of the senior leadership team and leaders within the school. The researcher’s aims emanate from the research problem, what is the role of distributive leadership as strategy to ensure effective schools in South Africa. The researcher also attempts through the study to define effective school leadership, leadership strategies and distributive leadership and explore how distributive leadership supports change and improves schools effectively. The focus of the study was to obtained data that could facilitate an understanding of the participants’ experiences on the role of distributive leadership as strategy to ensure more effective schools in South Africa. It is the understanding that this data will form the basis for the conceptualising for school management and other leaders that will facilitate the successful management of the implementation of this approach. In order to achieve the aims of this study, a qualitative research design was adopted and the main form of data collection method was interviews. A total of 28 interviews were conducted. Eight themes were identified from the literature and the in-depth interviews and discussed in detail. The study found out that leadership should be managed through the distributed leadership strategy and that the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the OSCAR coaching model as distributed leadership strategy would ensure more effective schools in South Africa. The theoretical clustering of the leadership styles items and the distributed leadership model resulted in the identification of the shared leadership with elements of democratic leadership as significant contributors to the distribution of leadership and the OSCAR coaching model to facilitate meetings. This information is of importance for educational managers as they will be able to provide schools with suggestions for developmental programmes for leaders and managers in order to increase positive perceptions regarding the role of distributed leadership to ensure effective schools in South Africa. The study arrived at the conclusion that the core coaching skills are most likely to promote a successful coaching outcome. The challenge that lies ahead is for leaders to acquire these coaching skills so that they can make the transition to become a coaching leader and develop schools in such ways. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Compared to other South African universities, the Department of Social Work at the UNISA has the highest intake of social work students but also the lowest throughput. Through post-graduate research, the Department of Social Work became aware of the often impeding influence of the personal, social and learning contexts of social work students on their performance, and identified a need for social work-specific student support. The following central research question was formulated: What would a life coaching programme to support social work students within an ODL context comprise of? To explore and describe the specific support needs of social work students, the qualitative research approach was used and data was gathered from focus groups of social work students and individual interviews with recently graduated and employed social workers who studied at UNISA. Tesch’s steps (in Creswell, 2009:186) were used to analyse the data systematically and data was verified by integrating Guba’s model (in Krefting, 1991:214-222) with Yin’s (2011:19-20) three objectives for building trustworthiness and credibility. The Intervention Design and Development (IDD) model of Rothman and Thomas (1994) was adapted and selectively employed, concentrating on Phase 1, 2, 3 (only Step 2) and Phase 4 in order to develop a support programme for this specific context. The goals of the support programme were to enhance student success and throughput, facilitate the personal, academic and professional development of students and to empower students to take ownership of their learning process. An online self-coaching support programme was developed and structured around seven actions towards growth, namely, clarifying my strengths, connecting to my context, clarifying my vision, completing my plan, committing to action and growth, confirming my direction and celebrating completion. The programme is divided into eight coaching conversations, two per level, contains many activities, stories and references to resources. It is designed to be compulsory and integrated into the practical work modules. Although activities are to be completed independently by students, support will be provided by e-tutors, workshop facilitators and supervisors. A programme coordinator will be available online as an e-coach to provide ongoing support to social work students. / Social Work / D. Phil. (Social Work)

Compared to other South African universities, the Department of Social Work at the UNISA has the highest intake of social work students but also the lowest throughput. Through post-graduate research, the Department of Social Work became aware of the often impeding influence of the personal, social and learning contexts of social work students on their performance, and identified a need for social work-specific student support. The following central research question was formulated: What would a life coaching programme to support social work students within an ODL context comprise of? To explore and describe the specific support needs of social work students, the qualitative research approach was used and data was gathered from focus groups of social work students and individual interviews with recently graduated and employed social workers who studied at UNISA. Tesch’s steps (in Creswell, 2009:186) were used to analyse the data systematically and data was verified by integrating Guba’s model (in Krefting, 1991:214-222) with Yin’s (2011:19-20) three objectives for building trustworthiness and credibility. The Intervention Design and Development (IDD) model of Rothman and Thomas (1994) was adapted and selectively employed, concentrating on Phase 1, 2, 3 (only Step 2) and Phase 4 in order to develop a support programme for this specific context. The goals of the support programme were to enhance student success and throughput, facilitate the personal, academic and professional development of students and to empower students to take ownership of their learning process. An online self-coaching support programme was developed and structured around seven actions towards growth, namely, clarifying my strengths, connecting to my context, clarifying my vision, completing my plan, committing to action and growth, confirming my direction and celebrating completion. The programme is divided into eight coaching conversations, two per level, contains many activities, stories and references to resources. It is designed to be compulsory and integrated into the practical work modules. Although activities are to be completed independently by students, support will be provided by e-tutors, workshop facilitators and supervisors. A programme coordinator will be available online as an e-coach to provide ongoing support to social work students. / Social Work / D. Phil. (Social Work)