The Contribution of Team Coaching to Organisational Learning: an Action Research Study

Abstract

This thesis examines the contribution of team coaching to organisational learning. Teams are increasingly regarded as being important for organisational performance but little is known about the processes by which they contribute to the achievement of organisational learning outcomes. This study is an action research study involving four different team types engaged in a team-coaching process over an 18-month period. The findings show the mechanisms through which team coaching facilitates social learning processes, and the analysis examines how this leads to organisational learning outcomes. First, the analysis indicates the ways in which team coaching can act as a mechanism to disrupt group habitual routines in groups and support teams to develop and share new mental maps. The thesis further proposes conceptualisation of a coaching continuum, related to the disruption of habitual routines, and equilibrium as an important learning-trigger mechanism.
Second, the findings show the potential of team coaching as an intervention to support recognition, by both team members and their organisational stakeholders, of the need for improved intra-team activities as a basis for better inter-team relationships. This extends the conceptualisation of team boundary crossing practices as an outcome of team coaching. Third, the findings indicate the processes of team unlearning as a feature of organisational learning, whereby team coaching acts as a catalyst for disrupting organisational routines. This provides a basis from which the organisation has the opportunity to perceive new possibilities. An important contribution of this study is that it extends the understanding of triple-loop learning through the integration of learning to unlearn as an important conceptual component. The argument of this thesis is that learning to unlearn, enabled by team coaching and the role of the team coach, is an important addition to the conceptualisation of team coaching. The practice of team coaching is conceptualised as a learning mechanism through which new ways of working can be considered that address the layers between the individual, the team, and the organisation, thus enabling organisational learning processes to occur.

Date of Award	18 Mar 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Portsmouth
Supervisor	Valerie Anne Anderson (Supervisor) & Cheryl Joyce Lilian Brook (Supervisor)