Title of Dissertation:
Systematic study of coaching ethics: economic approach
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Suchanek
University: HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 7th Cohort, since 2020
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Short Abstract
According to a global study by ICF (2020), the largest coaching association in the world, there were an estimated 71,000 coaches in 2019, which is 33 % more than in 2015. The number of managers using coaching methods has increased by 46 %. At the same time, coaching community is confronted with increasingly complex ethical dilemmas. What understandable and manageable ethical guidance can coaching ethics offer coaches and coaching associations in this situation?
Since there is no binding (legal) coaching regulation (Ebermann, 2018) and no "coaching assessment "pope"" (Geissler, 2016, p. 52) that define coaching and determine its rules, coaching community is confronted with ethical pluralism (Iordanou & Williams, 2016, p.2). Coaching is thus both an expression and a reflection of modern society (Aristu, 2016, p.115). This dissertation project therefore aims to investigate how, despite competing coaching approaches and the pluralistic spectrum of individual, cultural and professional values, an integrative core (Suchanek, 1994) of coaching ethics can be defined that allows understandable and manageable, yet differentiated ethical orientations to be derived for coaches and coaching associations.
The integrative core is defined as do no illegitimate harm (Suchanek, 2017) and represents, within the framework of economic theory, a kind of systematic - in the sense of: theoretically integrated – side constraint (Suchanek, 1994, p.103) of an ethical coaching practice. This side constraint can be understood at the same time as a free-standing point of view (Rawls, 1998) claiming universal applicability independent of pluralism of partly competing purposes (Kirchgeorg et. al., 2019) of various coaching stakeholders. To define the integrative core of coaching ethics, the concept of pragmatic reduction is used, which allows the introduction of a schema "...as a very general, systematic, unifying structure for the manageable overcoming ("calculation") of problems..." (Suchanek, 1994, p.53). A (purely) market perspective on coaching, as an exclusively instrumental action process (e.g., Hannafey & Vitulano, 2013) with rather positivist view on coaching ethics (e.g., Oellerich, 2016; Schermuly & Graßmann, 2019) (Thesis) and its (purely) philosophical-normative viewpoints (e.g., Geissler, 2004; Schmidt-Lellek, 2015) (Antithesis) are integrated (Synthesis) with the help of the economic approach (Suchanek, 1994). The concept of legitimacy (Suchanek, 2019) provides another theoretical foundation.
For exemplary differentiated applications of the integrative core of coaching ethics, the concept of the Ethical Compass (Suchanek, 2019) is applied. The choice of the Ethical Compass as a heuristic can be justified on the basis of the practical syllogism (Suchanek, 2015, p.42 - 45).
Literature
Aristu, J. (2016). Gott schuf den Menschen, und der formt sich selbst. In: Wegener, R., Loebbert, M., Fritze, A. (eds) Coaching und Gesellschaft. Springer, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-09636-6_7
Geißler, H. (2004). Braucht Coaching eine philosophisch begründete Ethik? Zur Begründung eines systemischwertrationalen Imperativs für Coaching. Organisationsberatung – Supervision – Coaching, (2), 173–186.
Geißler, H. (2016). Die Bewertung von Coaching-Prozessen als ethische Herausforderung. In: Wegener, R., Loebbert, M., Fritze, A. (eds) Coaching und Gesellschaft. Springer, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-09636-6_4
Hannafey, F.T., Vitulano, L.A. Ethics and Executive Coaching: An Agency Theory Approach. J Bus Ethics 115, 599–603 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1442-z
International Coach Federation (2020, January). 2020 ICF Global Coaching Study: Executive Summary. Abgerufen am 23, Februar 2022, von https://coachingfederation.org/app/uploads/2020/09/FINAL_ICF_GCS2020_ExecutiveSummary.pdf
Iordanou, I., Hawley, R. & Iordanou, C. (2016). Values and Ethics in Coaching (1. Aufl.). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Kirchgeorg, M., Meynhardt, T., Pinkwart, A., Suchanek, A., & Zülch, H. (2019). Das Leipziger Führungsmodell (3. Aufl.). Leipzig, Deutschland: HHL Academic Press.
Oellerich, K. (2016). Negative Effekte von Coaching und ihre Ursachen aus der Perspektive der Organisation: Eine Mixed Methods-Studie. Universität Kassel. doi:10.19211/KUP978373760303
Rawls, J., & Hinsch, W. (1998). Politischer Liberalismus (1. Aufl.). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Schermuly, C. C., & Graßmann, C. (2019). A literature review on negative effects of coaching – what we know and what we need to know. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 12(1), 39–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/17521882.2018.1528621
Schmidt-Lellek C. (2015) Ethik und ethische Kompetenz im Coaching. In: Greif S., Möller H., Scholl W. (eds) Handbuch Schlüsselkonzepte im Coaching. Springer Reference Psychologie. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Suchanek, A. (1994). Ökonomischer Ansatz und theoretische Integration. Tübingen.
Suchanek, A. (2015). Unternehmensethik. UTB.
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Research Interests
- Ethical Leadership
- Responsible Business Coaching and Training
- Self-Leadership and Purpose
- Competency Diagnostics
- Competency Management
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Education
- 2016, MBA, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany
- 2011, M.A. Philology, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Russia
- 2009, B.A. Philology, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Russia
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Professional and Academic Career
- 2019-2020, Regional Consultant, LAMSA e. V., Halle (Saale), Germany
- 2015-2018, Project Manager, Kontor Lighting & Living GmbH, Leipzig, Germany
- 2012-2014, Project Manager, Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Moscow-Sochi, Russia
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Publications
- N/A
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Conference Contributions: Talks
- N/A
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Conference Contributions: Posters
- N/A
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Memberships
- Forum Gemeinwohl e.V.