Strategy-Driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative edited by Rob Silzer and Ben E. Dowell

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Robert M. Guion. Assessment, Measurement, and Prediction for Per-sonnel Decisions, 2nd Edition. New York: Routledge, 2011, 630 pages,$131.95 hardcover.

Reviewed by Calvin C. Hoffman, Test Development Manager, Los Ange-les County Sheriff’s Department, 101 Centre Plaza Drive, Monterey Park,CA 91754.

Many years ago, when I was a graduate student, Personnel Testing(Guion, 1965) was the required text for my class on personnel selection.That book, along with Nunnally (1978), sparked my interest in selectionresearch and is a major reason why I ended up focusing on job analysis,selection, assessment, and validation during my career as an I-O psychol-ogist. Fast forward about 30 years, and we have the 2nd edition of Guion’sAssessment, Measurement, and Prediction for Personnel Decisions. Thebook is organized in 15 chapters and 630 pages, and is a good mix of olderreferences and more current literature.

Readers of this book would benefit from reading the preface to seehow the 2nd edition has changed compared to the 1st edition of thisbook. Dr. Guion states that he intends to move beyond the bivariatethought “in which personnel assessment has been mired for half a century”(p. xvi) and to move toward multivariate thinking. He also signals a move-ment away from unidimensional traits toward the use of more complexconstructs, both for criteria as well as predictors.

Chapter 1 provides an outline of the research process in personneldecisions, with major steps of analyzing jobs and organizational needs,choosing criteria, forming predictive hypotheses, selecting measurementmethods, designing research, collecting data, and evaluating results. Theemphasis on evaluation is a theme that is repeated throughout the remain-der of the book.

Chapter 2 covers job analysis/analysis of work. It provides an overviewof some commonly used job analysis methods and provides updates toO*Net, discusses the latest version of the PAQ (PAQe), and also toucheson job modeling. Dr. Guion takes the pragmatic view, while there is no oneright way to do job analysis or needs analysis, researchers should considera variety of methods, both quantitative and qualitative, when collectingand interpreting such data.

Chapter 3 covers developing the predictive hypothesis (expected re-lationship over time). Although a predictive hypothesis is typically abivariate relationship (one predictor and one criterion or outcome), Guionemphasizes that multiple predictors and multiple criteria may be needed.After discussing a simplified version of Binning and Barrett’s (1989)model of construct validity, he focuses his attention on criteria andvarious ways of defining and operationalizing criterion measures. This

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focus on criteria and criterion issues before discussing predictors is awelcome change compared with the approach many textbooks use in dis-cussing the selection domain. Among criterion topics discussed, Guionprovides a summary of work-related criterion constructs, theories ofperformance, organizational citizenship behavior, adaptive performance,counterproductive work behaviors, and trainability. Discussion then turnsto predictor constructs, with a valuable discussion of cognitive ability,psychometric g, and hierarchical models of intelligence. Although compe-tencies are mentioned in passing, I would have welcomed a more detaileddiscussion of competencies given the ubiquity of such models in currentI-O practice.

Chapter 4 reviews the legal context for personnel decisions. The factthat Dr. Guion was a key contributor to the variety of guidelines set outby federal agencies prior to the development of the Uniform Guidelinesis important; it is quite beneficial to have the perspective of someone whowas an active contributor when the forerunners of the Guidelines weredrafted. The review of case law provides a good summary of landmarkcases like Griggs v. Duke Power (1971), Albemarle Paper v. Moody (1975),and Connecticut v. Teal (1982). It also covers more recent cases such asRicci v. DeStefano (2009).

Chapter 5 discusses basic concepts in measurement. Although Dr.Guion covers familiar ground in his introduction to classical test theory(CTT), his discussion of sources of unreliability in measures and differentsources of error are insightful. His treatment of CTT prepares the readerfor the transition to generalizability theory (GT) and item response theory(IRT). Dr. Guion’s review of how the conception of validity has evolvedover the last century is a must-read for any I-O psychologist involved inteaching or application of personnel selection research.

Chapter 6 reports on a broad array of more advanced measurementtopics, including test construction, grouping methods such as cluster anal-ysis and factor analysis, EFA and CFA, GT, IRT, bias, and adverse impact.A most welcome discussion in this chapter is Dr. Guion’s demystificationof constructs. As he says:

“For many people, the notion of a construct is mysterious, grand to thepoint of grandiose, and something identified only after extensive research.As pointed out earlier, a construct may be little more than (sic) an ideaabout how people differ in some important way, it should have enough unity(without necessarily being unidimensional) that transitivity is conceptuallysensible, and it should be distinguishable from other constructs about howpeople might differ” (p. 225).

The question of what constitutes a construct is an ongoing debate in ourfield. Schmidt (2012a, 2012b) argues that cognitive skills used in content

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valid tests need not be considered as constructs. Kehoe (2012) agrees withSchmidt’s position, whereas Ployhart (2012) and Sackett (2012) argue thatsuch cognitive skills should be viewed as constructs. Given Dr. Guion’streatment of the term “construct” in this book, I believe he would sidewith Ployhart and Sackett in this debate.

Chapter 7 reviews bivariate statistics, including bivariate regressionand linear and nonlinear functions. The inclusion of expectancy tables inthis chapter is appreciated because most current texts ignore such tools,and expectancy tables are an easy way to explain correlation to a layaudience. The discussion of the correlation coefficient, its assumptions,potential errors, and statistical corrections are also great refreshers. Thechapter concludes with a review of validity generalization/meta-analysisand emphasizes the point that meta-analysis is univariate in nature.Dr. Guion closes this chapter with a call for more multivariate thinking inI-O psychology.

Chapter 8 reviews a variety of multivariate statistics, including com-pensatory and noncompensatory models, multiple regression (includ-ing moderators, suppression, and mediators), effective versus nominalweights, logistic regression, multiple cutoff and multiple hurdle mod-els, conjunctive and disjunctive models, synthetic validity, meta-analysis,path analysis and structural equation models, and quasi-experimental de-signs. As someone who has extensive experience in applying the PAQJCV model, it was instructive to see how Guion’s thinking about andendorsement of synthetic validity has evolved over time. He discussesincreased application of synthetic validity through the use of “large-scaleVG projects providing a general matrix of personal traits related to perfor-mance in work components” (p. 292). His reasoning echoes that of otherresearchers, including Johnson (2007), Johnson, Steel, Scherbaum, Hoff-man, Jeanneret, and Foster (2010), and Steel, Huffcutt, and Kammeyer-Mueller (2006).

Chapter 9 addresses bias, group differences, and adverse impact, in-cluding fairness models by Cole (1973), Thorndike (1971), and Cleary(1968); differences in mean group scores and the relationship of thisconcept to common conceptions of fairness; differential prediction; andstandardized mean group differences. The discussion of the d-statistic andcommon problems in its interpretation is a worthwhile addition given howcommon it is for d-statistics to be reported in published research.

Chapter 10 is entitled “Challenges to Traditional Ways” and discussescomputer administered tests and interviews, online testing, and challengesto users of this technology, particularly unproctored web-based testing.Dr. Guion closes the chapter with discussions of item generation theory, theuse of multilevel models in selection, and individual growth curve models.In this chapter, perhaps more than anywhere else in the book, the author


emphasizes the need to consider the possibility of nonlinear relationshipsin addition to the linear relationships with which I-O psychologists arefamiliar.

Chapter 11 reports on assessments by tests and inventories, and re-views the basics of construct and domain definition, development of testspecifications, item generation and calibration, item banking, performancetests, and situational judgment tests. The section on establishing cut scoresand standards is likely to be particularly helpful for applied researchers.

Chapter 12 addresses the use of judgment in assessment and pre-diction. Some of the topics covered here include expert judgments ofcriterion-related validity, judgment aids, and statistical versus judgmentalprediction. The sections on use of the lens model, policy capturing, andother, more esoteric topics seem unlikely to be applied in practice but givethe field something to aspire to.

Chapter 13 discusses pretty much any rating scheme one can imagine,from graphic ratings, ranking, forced choice, summated ratings, Behav-iorally Anchored Rating Scales, and Behavioral Observation Scales, to themore recent Computerized Adaptive Rating System and distributional rat-ings. Dr. Guion discusses Landy and Farr’s (1980) moratorium on ratingformat research and notes that, although rating format may not make muchof a difference, relatively few comparative studies were done. He also sug-gests that some rating methods may work better for some purposes thanfor others and notes that the moratorium on rating format research has hadthe unintended consequence of curtailing research into other differencesthat might matter.

Chapter 14 (assessment by resumes, interviews, and personal history)is a particularly good resource for material related to interviews. Dr. Guioncovers the familiar ground of unstructured and structured interviews, alongwith Patterned Behavior Description and Comprehensive Structured In-terviews, and also addresses topics such as interviewee characteristics,interviewer individual differences, incremental validity of interviews, andpolicy capturing of interviewer judgments.

Chapter 15 (multiple assessment procedures) closes out the book. Itmakes a unique contribution by covering individual assessment programs,a widely applied but underresearched area of I-O practice. Although theauthor reviews criticisms of the practice of individual assessment, heforesees continued use of such practices due to the need to fill jobs inthe worldwide economy. The final section of this chapter reviews assess-ment centers, including identification, naming and defining dimensions,development of simulation exercises, and assessor issues. Dr. Guion re-views the criterion-related validity evidence for assessment centers anddiscusses the well-known construct validity shortcomings of this commonassessment procedure.

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In summary, this book does an excellent job of integrating materialcovered in job analysis, selection and criterion development, statistics,and psychological measurement courses. The book merits a place in thelibrary of applied researchers in the area of selection and assessment, andwould make a solid textbook for an advanced graduate course in selectionand assessment. One wonders how many dissertations (and careers) willbe launched by the ideas offered in this book!

REFERENCES

Albemarle Paper v. Moody. (1975). (Vol. 422 U.S., p. 405).Binning JF, Barrett GV. (1989). Validity of personnel decisions: A conceptual analysis of

the inferential and evidentiary bases. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 478–494.Cleary TA. (1968). Test bias: Prediction of grades of Negro and white students in integrated

colleges. Journal of Educational Measurement, 5, 115–124.Cole NS. (1973). Bias in selection. Journal of Educational Measurement, 10, 237–255.Connecticut v. Teal. (1982). (Vol. 457 U.S., p. 440).Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971). (Vol. 401 U.S., p. 424).Guion RM. (1965). Personnel testing. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Johnson JW. (2007). Synthetic validity: A technique of use (finally). In SM McPhail (Ed.):

Alternative validation strategies: Developing new and leveraging existing validityevidence (pp. 122–158). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Johnson JW, Steel P, Scherbaum CA, Hoffman CC, Jeanneret PR, Foster J. (2010). Valida-tion is like motor oil: Synthetic is better. Industrial and Organizational Psychology:Perspectives on Science and Practice, 3, 305–328.

Kehoe JF. (2012). What to make of content evidence for cognitive tests? Comments onSchmidt, 2012. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20, 14–18, doi:10.1111/j.1468–2389.2012.00574.x

Landy FL, Farr JL. (1980). Performance rating. Psychological Bulletin, 87, 72–107.Nunnally JC. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Ployhart RE. (2012). The content validity of cognitively-oriented tests. Commentary on

Schmidt (2012). International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20, 19–23, doi:10.1111/j.1468–2389.2012.00575.x

Ricci v. DeStefano. (2009). (Vol. 557 U.S).Sackett PR. (2012). Cognitive tests, constructs, and content validity: A commentary on

Schmidt (2012). International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20, 24–27, doi:10.1111/j.1468–2389.2012.00576.x

Schmidt FL. (2012a). Cognitive tests used in selection can have content validityas well as criterion validity: A broader research review and implications forpractice. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20, 1–13, doi:10.1111/j.1468–2389.2012.00573.x

Schmidt FL. (2012b). Content validity and cognitive tests: Response to Kehoe (2012), Ploy-hart (2012), and Sackett (2012). International Journal of Selection and Assessment,20, 28–35, doi: 10.1111/j.1468–2389.2012.00577.x

Steel PDG, Huffcutt AI, Kammeyer-Mueller J. (2006). From the work, one knows theworker: A systematic review of the challenges, solutions, and steps to creatingsynthetic validity. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14, 16–36.

Thorndike RL. (1971). Concepts of culture-fairness. Journal of Educational Measurement,8, 63–70.


Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, The Progress Principle: UsingSmall Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work.Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2011, 260 pages, $25.00hardcover.

Reviewed by Alexis A. Fink, Principal Organization Consultant, Intel Cor-poration, 3100 NE Shute Road, Mailstop 128, Hillsboro, OR 97124.

The Progress Principle is an achievement: useful, accessible, androoted in robust research. It is an example of that rare book that is builton solid and interesting research yet remains conversational in tone andpresents ideas in a highly consumable way for nontechnical audiences.Although the book builds upon long-established principles—the notessection is over 20 pages long—it still conveys the intriguing sense that itis adding a significant twist. Moreover, that additional twist is easily com-prehensible and intuitively appealing. Although the overall managementbook category is overstuffed, this book is worth the time to read.

At the core of this book is a clever research project. Amabile andKramer gathered and analyzed diary reports from 238 people in 26 projectteams representing seven companies across three different industries, allof whom were “knowledge workers.” Those diary reports were quitesimple, but they are a dramatic departure from a more usual retrospectiveanecdote approach. The diaries were e-mailed to participants each dayand contained a few questions about that day, plus an open-ended questionasking participants to describe something that stood out for them that day.The authors report that 75% of these daily e-mailed questionnaires werereturned within 24 hours, which is a flatly astonishing response rate, andsuggests that the participants were also finding the moments to reflect ontheir day useful. The net result was a data set of 12,000 diary entries thatinformed the insights described in the book.

Although the science is an important reason to read this book, theauthors have done a fine job of subtly weaving their clever methodol-ogy with lots of supporting information. Notably, they include numeroushighlights from several decades of academic research, well-known exam-ples from large corporations, and liberal doses of direct quotes from theirresearch participants’ journal entries. As the title suggests, their findingspoint to progress as the key to employee engagement, at least among theknowledge workers studied.

This finding seems like a small thing, but there are two ways in which itstands in stark contrast to much of the conventional wisdom about motiva-tion. First, the authors describe a study they conducted in which managersrated “progress” as dead last as a motivator (p. 89), as well as citing othersimilar findings in the literature. In effect, this research flips on its headthe assumption that happy workers are productive, instead demonstrating

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that productive workers—workers equipped with the resources and orga-nizational support to be productive—are happy. The second contrast iseven more important: Where much literature focuses on organizations at amacro level and essentially lays success or failure at the feet of the CEO,this book and the principles within it are clearly accessible and able to beinfluenced by ordinary managers and employees. For those of us who arenot CEOs, the message that an effective approach to motivation is withinour sphere of influence is welcome news. Further, the authors repeatedlymake the point that events do not need to be “big” to have a significantimpact.

Amabile and Kramer support this central theme with two additional“factors.” The first, the Catalyst Factor, describes project and organiza-tional attributes that either inhibit or support progress. Here, the book is alittle less innovative; much of this is old news. Adequate resources, cleargoals, and the like are clearly important for the progress that this workhas highlighted as so essential for a positive inner work life, but overallthis chapter is a supporting player. It is worth noting that, for the managerstill feeling disempowered, this work showed that the “local” sources ofcatalyst factors (team leaders and coworkers) had a much stronger im-pact on inner work life than the “broad” sources (top-level managers andorganizational systems).

The second additional factor is the Nourishment Factor. As the namesuggests, this factor outlines the role of interpersonal support in inner worklife. Again, the ideas here are not new, but the importance of elementslike respect and emotional support certainly have a place in a theory onthe emotional experience of work. The manager’s role in establishing ahealthy climate receives ample attention in the discussion of this factorand is a good reminder that influence is often indirect.

The authors also note that the inverse of these elements can be tremen-dously powerful—and predictably negative. Each of the three—progress,catalysts, and nourishers—has an evil twin. These villains are setbacks inwork, inhibitors (or obstacles) to progress, and toxins (negative interper-sonal events or relationships). As you might expect, negative events wereshown to wield a stronger influence over engagement and motivation thenpositive ones.

The book is peppered with sidebars, including the occasional check-list or diagram. These are typically fairly utilitarian (e.g., Figure 2-1 onpage 29) and occasionally feel forced. More disappointing, they lack theinnovativeness of the central theme of the book. The final two chapters,designed to help managers translate these principles into action for theirteams and for themselves personally, were somewhat forgettable and arelikely to be unsatisfying to anyone who has gotten that far in the book with-out generating their own thoughts on how understanding these principles


might influence their own approach to leadership. Chapter 8, “At the Endof the Day,” discusses such topics as the fine line between checking in andchecking up, and the key contribution of this chapter is a manager check-list. This checklist consumes two pages (pp. 170–171) and incorporates31 items. Although all are clearly important, it is lengthy and somewhatdifficult to imagine finding it useful on a daily basis as the authors suggest.In fact, they go so far as to suggest going through it explicitly every day,which suggests perhaps a naıvete regarding daily life in organizations.The primary proposal there is that managers practice daily journaling.

This book is unusual in that the Appendix is actually very good reading,at least to those with methodological interests. The appendix runs 29pages and describes the research that undergirds the book. Although verythorough and including several tables, the appendix seems to make apoint of avoiding statistical tables, which is a frustration at least for moretechnical readers.

As the authors note, “managers who say—or secretly believe—thatemployees work better under pressure, uncertainty, unhappiness, or fearare just plain wrong. Negative work life has a negative effect on the fourdimensions of performance: people are less creative, less productive, lessdeeply committed to their work, and less collegial to each other whentheir inner work lives darken” (p. 58). Finally, this work has shown us thatthe opposite of a negative workplace is not a “nice” one but one in whichemployees are able to make progress.

Stephen Neale, Lisa Spencer-Arnold, and Liz Wilson, Emotional Intelli-gence Coaching: Improving Performance for Leaders, Coaches, andthe Individual. London, UK; Philadelphia, PA; and New Delhi, India:Kogan Page Limited, 2011 (first published in 2009), 228 pages, $29.95softcover.

Reviewed by Richard J. Chagnon, Senior Talent Management Consultant,EASI•Consult R©, 3727 Three Oaks Lane, St. Louis, MO 63044.

All three words in this book’s title have been used in many contextsand with a wide range of meaning. The word coaching has been a much,and at times strangely, used word and has come to mean a great manythings. A similar case can be made for the words emotional intelligence,which first appeared in a 1985 doctoral dissertation by Payne, and wasthen made popular by Goleman in 1995. Kudos are to be given to Nealeand coauthors Spencer-Arnold and Wilson for giving these words anappropriate definition for today and a very important application in theirlatest book, Emotional Intelligence Coaching. Their approach is wellresearched and builds on the work of those who have already contributed

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in this effort. Detailed references are found at the end of each chapter,immediately following a bulleted summary of that chapter, itself a usefultool that captures the essence of the book.

As an experienced coach I support their approach, and I am preparedto share this work not only with my coaching colleagues but also withthose who are new to the role of coaching, as more and more managersnow are encouraged by their companies to become effective performance“coaches” to their direct reports.

Coaching for Performance

Emotional intelligence is not just the latest in a long line of ephemeralideas to improve management. It is here to stay. My experience tells me thatit is at the very heart of an effective relationship between a manager and anemployee, a relationship that will enable the employee to fully explore themandates of his/her position and then become personally and energeticallymotivated to make a difference. It is, as the authors suggest in the book’ssubtitle, a tool to “improving performance for leaders, coaches, and theindividual.” The performance of everyone involved will improve. Aneffective case is made for coaching for performance through the broaderdimensions of emotions and relationships, and not just by the highlyenergized directives of so many managers putting numbers on the boardwith hard-driving logic. The use of emotional intelligence in coachingensures that both the manager and the employee are successful in thepursuit of reaching ever more challenging goals. Both will succeed as willthe company they serve. It is never one at the expense of the other.

The book touches all the right bases. It addresses the emotional needsof both the coach and the one being coached, and recommends specificapproaches to improving both. Coaching skills are identified and recom-mendations are made for applying these skills with emotional intelligence.For example, an entire chapter is given to the role of values and beliefsin the coaching process. The detailed overview given to the individual,team, and organizational effectiveness tools of Sparrows and Maddocksinvites me to research them further and perhaps incorporate them in myown coaching practice (p. 19ff).

The Book’s Format

A word about the book’s format is in order. The book is logicallywritten and lays out a step-by-step approach to what emotional intel-ligent coaching really means. As mentioned, it is well researched andis properly referenced throughout. Its physical format, however, was a


pleasant surprise to me. It is written more like a training manual than astraight read as we might find in a dissertation or professional publicationon the subject. I believe that it is written in such a way that both newand experienced coaches can benefit from it. The authors have made iteasy to read by liberally formatting each chapter with a steady streamof titles and subtitles. Also of interest are the 30+ activities—typically,questions to generate discussion. These questions are highlighted withinthe ongoing paragraphs, thereby calling specific attention to them. Theseactivities lead the reader to interact with the material by engaging in anongoing connection of relevance with his or her real-world experience. Inaddition to these guided discussions there are 40 “case studies” insertedthroughout the book; they are easily recognized by a graphically distinctdesign as well as with a different type font. The “case studies,” as they callthem, are more like real-world points of reference than the typical casestudies made popular by business journals, which, as we know, describethe problem situation, an intervention, and the resolution that solves theproblem. Several of the “case studies” in this book, however, do tell amore complete story when they summarize a lengthy interview with thepeople involved. The “case study” format used by the authors is effectivein grounding the point of the lesson with a real world reference.

An interesting finishing touch to the book includes four detailed inter-views found as four separate appendices at the end of the book. The fourpeople interviewed are recognized practitioners in the field of coaching.Their insights are well worth the read.

An Effective Training Guide

Being a management trainer, as well as a coach, I can see using thebook itself as an effective tool to guide a group of learners who are ready toalign their own coaching experiences with the examples given in the book.The authors’ intuitive design highlights a key dimension to learning aboutcoaching with emotional intelligence, namely that left-brain logic alonewill not enable us to understand the application of emotional intelligenceto coaching. One case study in particular highlights the inability of “Katethe Reluctant Coach” (p. 48) in even understand the practice of emotionalintelligence in coaching, let alone to actually apply it, even though she isfully committed to improving performance.

Some Important Ideas

I want to highlight several underlying ideas that grabbed my attention.The first is that developing your emotional intelligence will have impact

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on all areas of your life (p. 19). In other words your relationships willimprove not only at work but also at home and in just about any situationyou face. As an experienced coach and counselor that statement reallyrang true for me. When work and personal lives are balanced and in sync,everything improves and is more effective. This is further elaborated uponin the authors’ treatment of both self-regard and regard for others (p. 51ff).

Another point that rang true is the authors’ treatment that good inten-tions are not enough. The authors challenge the well-meaning, but inef-fective, helper when they describe the damage done by a coach withoutemotional intelligence. In fact the authors make the following statement,“Being coached by someone who is emotionally unintelligent is danger-ous.” (p. 48). I agree. The use of the “OK Corral” exercise (p. 56ff) is veryeffective in describing this reality.

Another example of getting it right is their tutorial on asking the rightquestions (p. 145ff). I know from experience how critical a skill this is,not only as a basic counseling approach but also when training others inthe use of emotional intelligence in coaching. This skill will move themanager from one who simply tells another what to do to an effectivepartner in the employee’s self-directed learning experience.

Conclusion

Highlighted in this review are a few examples from the book thatstruck me. There are many more. My experience first in counseling andfor the last 3 decades as a coach to leaders at every level in businessorganizations confirms that the authors of this book got it right. It is apractical book that is focused on the real world challenges of today’smanager. I can use their insights to further sharpen my own coaching withemotional intelligence. And I have found precious new tools for my workin training managers to become ever more effective performance coacheswith emotional intelligence.

Carol Wilson, Best Practice in Performance Coaching: A Handbookfor Leaders, Coaches, HR Professionals and Organizations. SanFrancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010, 881 pages, $80.00 hardcover.

Reviewed by Amy Bladen Shatto, PhD, Senior Vice President, Learning& Development, Ketchum, Inc. 1285 Ave. of the Americas, New York;and President, Leadership Variations, Secaucus, NJ.

Most learning professionals will admit that the concept of “coaching”has been notoriously hard to define and even more difficult to evaluate interms of organizational return on investment (ROI). In fact, there is quite


a lot of conflicting, confusing, and just plain bad advice being deliveredunder the guise of “coaching”—and with a large fee to boot! In their HBRSpecial Research Report, Coutu and Kauffmann (2009) aptly warn, “Inthis market, as in so many others today, the old saw still applies: Buyerbeware! (p. 92). That said, I approached this book with an open mind andhopes for practical clarification, tools, and practices to guide coaches andorganizations looking to navigate this elusive field. Unfortunately, for me,Best Practice in Performance Coaching did not deliver.

Organized into two sections, Part I addresses history, techniques, andmodels; Part II provides coaching tools and a selection of case historiesgiven the author’s “stamp of approval” for meeting guidelines laid out inPart I. On the bright side, the topics the author has chosen to address inPart I seem right on the money for a practitioner’s guide:

(a) What is coaching (distinctions from similar disciplines)(b) Coaching techniques (building awareness)(c) Coaching models (applying the author’s models to coaching)(d) Structure (structuring a coaching engagement)(e) Training as a coach (certification)(f) Running a professional coaching practice (tips for running a con-

sultative business)(g) How to create a coaching culture in organizations (the author’s

perspective on sustainability)

Beyond its surface topics (and what could have offered a compellingguide) and from a psychological, measurement, and business perspective, Iam deeply confused by the manual’s premise and its purported applicationto workplace (vs. personal) coaching.

The author goes to great lengths in Chapter 1 to distinguish betweentherapy, counseling, mentoring, consulting, and coaching (pp. 13–16),yet in my professional opinion, she fails to offer a compelling, business-focused distinction. Citing clinical-/therapeutically based research aboutchildren learning best in a “blame-free” culture (p. 17), Wilson insists thatcoaching is 100% coachee directed—that the role of the coach is “limited”to one of facilitator and supporter “to respond to the desires and expressedneeds of coachees, and to operate with the belief that the coachee hasall the required knowledge to solve his or her own problems” (p. 16).Although not inherently in conflict with the (unregulated) InternationalCoaching Federation (ICF) guidelines, I would argue that this definitiondoes not meet the needs of organizational coaching today.

In sharp contrast to the coachee-led definition prescribed byWilson, The Coaching Forum (a Boston-based, group of PhD psychol-ogists dedicated to raising the ICF standards in business) offers the

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following definition of coaching in their Executive Coaching Handbook(Ennis, Otto, Stern, Vitti, & Yahanda, 2012):

an experiential and individualized leader development process that buildsa leader’s capability to achieve short- and long-term organizational goals.It is conducted through one-on-one and/or group interactions, driven bydata from multiple perspectives, and based on mutual trust and respect. Theorganization, an executive, and the executive coach work in partnership toachieve maximum impact (p. 10).

The handbook further specifies (and I agree wholeheartedly) that ex-ecutive coaching is a highly trained skill demanding four equally honedcompetencies (psychological knowledge, business knowledge, organiza-tional knowledge, coaching knowledge) that coaches leverage to pro-vide expert guidance that helps coachees build awareness that was notpresent prior to the engagement and, hence, commands the high priceorganizations willingly pay for a return on their investment (pp. 59–75).This contradicts the author’s notion that a performance coach is simplya facilitator of information the coachee already possesses and, hence,flies in the face of what follows in her sections on training as a coach(Chapter 5) and running a professional coaching practice (Chapter 6).Although it may be true in personal coaching that coachees possess theinformation to solve their problems, it simply isn’t so in business. Com-panies hire coaches to provide solid, directed, and difficult counsel toraise awareness around things coachees did not know. Even the belovedmanagement “gurus” today preach this message widely (e.g., Goldsmith(2011) in his best seller “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”).

Perhaps most disturbing is the author’s Chapter 1 commentary onbuilding a coaching culture, “coaching . . . can start from small beginnings,with just one person and spread like a happy virus. It spreads simplybecause coaching feels good: when people experience giving or receivingcoaching they want more because it makes both parties feel better” (p. 18).For organizations focused competitive advantage—and I think that is allof them—coaching is serious business; they want measurable behavioralchange on organizationally critical behaviors to ensure managers avoidknown derailers. I almost feel ridiculous stating in Personnel Psychologythat workplace coaching is not about making people “feel good!”

The remaining chapters in Part I rely on acceptance of the author’scoaching premise, thus I have similar critiques throughout. For example, inChapter 2 (Techniques), the author recommends building coachee aware-ness by “clarifying, reflecting, and using intuition” with reliance on activelistening and questioning. Although I agree that these are vital skills,and I rather appreciated several of the author’s questioning tools (e.g.,


Appendix, p. 202), I disagree with her contention that these are the onlyawareness-building methods. Similarly, in Chapter 3 (Models), althoughthe GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) model may assist in action plan-ning, it in no way describes the full spectrum of coaching as purported.In fact, GROW neglects the essential assessment stage (guiding coacheesto build new awareness of strengths and needs through a combination ofmultirater feedback, personality testing, etc.—which this author does notseem to believe is an essential part of coaching.) Further, in Chapter 3, theauthor replaces the widely applied goal-setting model (Specific, Measure-able, Agreed upon, Realistic, Time-bound—SMART, e.g., Doran, 1981)with EXACT (Exciting, Assessable, Challenging, Time-Framed). Con-cerns include insertion of such concepts as Exciting (positive, inspiring)(p. 44) and removal of “Agreed upon” reasoning that a coachee’s goals areconfidential (p. 48). In fact, it is the organization investing in the coachinginitiative, and although any assessment (360, personality) data gatheredwould be wholly owned by the coachee, the goals and action planningmust reflect a shared partnership between the coach, the coachee, andthe organization to ensure accountability and alignment. The author’sdiscussion of session structure in Chapter 4 actually discourages suchpartnership reinforcing instead a structure solely focused on the coachee’s“most deeply desired goals” (p. 54). With such little accountability to theinterests of the organization, it is not surprising to read Petersen’s (2009)concerns on the value of coaching in HBR (2009), citing discrepancies inthe research about what companies ask coaches to do versus what theyactually end up doing.

Part II begins with a disorganized listing of tools that coaches can em-ploy (e.g., values questionnaires, transactional analysis, appreciative in-quiry, MBTI, 360, neurolinguistic programming). There is neither enoughdetail to utilize these tools nor is there sufficient information on obtainingappropriate training. The most disappointing element in this section, how-ever, is the author’s treatment of 360-degree feedback (p. 125) in whichshe openly expresses her bias against objective assessment by discussingher experiences of poor administration and training on such processes(e.g., giving the wrong person’s results to a coachee; delivering resultswithout proper debriefing). Ironically, one of the key reasons to hire atrained coach is to ensure the value add in the assessment process—onethat will be masterfully debriefed and most certainly not improperly ad-ministered! The section concludes with a compendium of case studiesthat loosely comply with the standards set in Part I of the manual. As Irespectfully disagree with the premises in Part I, it is not surprising thatI do not find many of the cases to be compelling. That said, what shouldbe acknowledged is the author’s diligence in compiling an incredibly in-ternational and wide variety of experiences for the reader to contemplate.

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Examples span the globe (e.g., Australia, Abu Dhabi, California, Japan,and Macedonia) and include individual and team cases in various settingsand serving a number of purposes.

As I stated from the beginning, perspectives on coaching differ, andsome may disagree with mine. Out of respect for the author, who clearlyhas great passion for her clients and the topic, I should note that I mayhave given a different review were goals of this handbook to serve clinical,therapeutic, or personal, rather than business, purposes. Given the author’sstated intent to serve organizations (and the fact that this review appearsin an applied psychological journal where readers likely view coachingas a highly trained skill beyond facilitation), I must unfortunately suggestthat practitioners with a business, psychological, or measurement focuspass on Best Practice in Performance Coaching.

REFERENCES

Coutu, C, Kauffman, C. (2009). HBR special research report: What can coaches do foryou? Harvard Business Review, 87(1), 92–97.

Doran GT. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives.Management Review, 70(11), (AMA FORUM), 35–36.

Ennis S, Otto J, Stern L,Vitti M, Yahanda N. (2012). The executive coaching handbookprinciples and guidelines for a successful coaching partnership (5th ed.). Boston,MA: The Executive Coaching Forum.

Goldsmith M. (2011). What got you here won’t get you there: How successful peoplebecome even more successful. Mundelein, IL: Round Table Companies.

Petersen D. (2009). Does your coach give you value for your money? Harvard BusinessReview, 87(1), 94.

Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, and Robert W. Livingston(eds.). Social Cognition, Social Identity, and Intergroup Relations: AFestschrift in Honor of Marilynn B. Brewer. New York, NY: PsychologyPress, 2011, 423 pages, $85.00 hardcover.

Reviewed by Steven Toaddy, PhD, Industrial-Organizational Psychol-ogy, North Carolina State University, 640 Poe Hall, Campus Box 7650,Raleigh, NC 27695–7650.

Praises, Opening Remarks, and a Caveat

Three brief asides before I get to the meat of this review. First, this booksucceeds comprehensively in celebrating Marilynn Brewer’s scholasticcontributions, personal warmth, and life and times. If you are reading itfor that purpose—to join those many other scientists who have benefitedfrom Marilynn’s presence in their lives—you will not be disappointed.Second, the narrative that the various authors have implicitly and explicitly


interwoven throughout the chapters, which can help one see just howwidely we could aspire to impact our respective subfields of psychology,is in my opinion valuable reading material for any scientist at any point inher or his career. Finally, like any work in social cognition, the theories andevidence contained within this book can change for the better the very waythat we live our lives, interact with others, and conceptualize ourselves.As a reviewer, I profited from each of these elements; unless you have hadsuch experiences before, I warrant that you could do likewise. However,the fundamental question that guides the remainder of my review is this:Is this book likely to be interesting scientifically for the typical PersonnelPsychology subscriber? My answer to that question is not as unequivocalas have been my earlier praises.

I have said what I have to say about the festschrift qua festschrift; itsucceeds in celebrating Marilynn as a scholar and, as an added bonus, as aperson. The book is advertised as interesting to psychologists concernedwith the workplace, though, and it is troubling that the reader needs toput forth more effort to connect the information contained in at least twothirds of the chapters to the topics commonly relevant to the workplace. Weshall return to this issue, but let us first examine the remaining third of thecontent that is (more) clearly applicable to psychology in the workplace.

Where We Come In: The Applications Section

Chapters 13 through 17 capture, more or less, the spirit of our field,namely scientifically grounded bases for technologies that improve or pro-tect the workplace. Topics are all built on the substrate of social cognitionand intergroup dynamics, but include applications in leadership, coopera-tion, moral (dis)engagement, creativity, and organizational justice. Somechapters—such as 13 and 17—much more directly address the conven-tional issues about which we concern ourselves, whereas others, thoughapplicable to other contexts, require creativity on the part of the reader totie to workplace psychology. However, any reader who is acclimated topulling information into her or his research, and practice, from a diversearray of academic traditions should be comfortable with the tone of eventhese latter chapters. Because each chapter summarizes the core psycho-logical concepts being used as the basis for the topic at hand—usuallythose ideas forwarded by Marilynn and colleagues (but not always; seeChapter 16)—it is not difficult to begin the volume in medias res at Chap-ter 13. Thus, the reader can indeed gain some knowledge in relevant areasby picking up this title, reading Chapters 13 through 17, and putting itback down.

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However, could that reader obtain this information elsewhere? Chap-ter 13—one of the two most applicable chapters in the volume, inmy opinion—does indeed present the results of original, not-elsewhere-published empirical work. Not one of the remaining four chapters does,though; all of the empirical content can be found in the original publi-cations to which the respective authors refer. Of 18 chapters, then, oneprovides empirical content that is both (a) clearly relevant to the reader-ship of Personnel Psychology and (b) not available in other publications. Ifyour interests include the mediation of the linkage of perceptions of trans-formational leadership and employee outcomes by organizational identity,Chapter 13 of this volume is a must-read report. If you are not interestedin such things, the book may not be as valuable to you.

Having made this observation, I must say that, on balance, there isgreat value to be had in a volume that concisely organizes a great dealof information that shares a common root and states it in an accessibleway. That is, access to all of the journals cited in the four review chaptersdiscussed earlier would not ensure that the reader was able to draw thesame conclusions that the authors of those chapters forward, and certainlydoing so would entail a prohibitively momentous effort on the part of thereader. If you do have interest in social cognition and intergroup dynamicsas they apply to the workplace, you could do much worse than to pick upthis volume as a primer to the rich tradition of work that underlies eachof them. This work may have flown under your radar in sociological orsocial psychological journals or, more likely, in special-topic books. Thus,I forward hesitant support for the third section of the book, but what ofthe first two sections?

The Harder Sell: More Basic and Less Applicable

The remaining chapters of the book carry more of thefestschrift/celebration weight, and I can categorize them only in suchterms. Though Marilynn’s work serves as the underlying basis for eachof these chapters, it is difficult to connect them to each other—a chapteron collective identity via religion (Chapter 8) is sandwiched between oneon computer-based modeling of social behavior (Chapter 7) and one onthe application of one of Marilynn’s scholastic contributions to Internethate groups (Chapter 9). This variety is exhilarating and interesting butcarried out in a manner that makes each chapter seem somewhat a nonsequitur. Three other variables cement this impression in my mind. First,Marilynn’s work operates as anything from a passing mention to the focalbasis of these chapters; authors cite Marilynn’s work anywhere from twice(Chapter 10) to 17 times (Chapter 11). Second, the connections between


the chapter authors and Marilynn are not always clear. Marilynn mentionspersonally at least one of the authors of about half of the chapters and citesthe work of approximately the same proportion in her personal reflections(Chapter 18), but this leaves the authors of five chapters (3 and 9–11) withlittle apparent tie to Marilynn’s career. Finally, the tone of the chapters—from no-nonsense reports (Chapter 3) to a chapter containing a dedicationto Marilynn in a footnote (Chapter 10) to more personal and warm discus-sions of Marilynn’s impact on a stream of research (Chapter 12)—is, ina word, inconsistent. These factors, taken together, may leave the readerconfused until he or she remembers that this volume is first and foremosta celebration of a specific scholar by those who have been—directly orindirectly—impacted by her work and her life. Where does this leavethe typical reader of Personnel Psychology? As a festschrift for MarilynnBrewer, an illustration of how deeply one can influence colleagues in asingle career, and a pocket guide to living a better life, this is a great work.As a stand-alone introduction to the state of the art in specific areas ofsocial cognition and intergroup dynamics, the book is solid (if scattered)but somewhat undermined by its personal feel and inconsistent tone. As areference for those interested in psychology applied to the workplace, it iswhat you make of it. The patient cross-curricular reader can benefit fromthe variety of topics covered and viewpoints explored, but a reader seekingsummaries of advances in methodology, new and cutting-edge findings,or a comprehensive list of ways that social cognition has benefited ourpractice should, in my assessment, look elsewhere.

Rob Silzer and Ben E. Dowell (eds.), Strategy-Driven Talent Manage-ment: A Leadership Imperative. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010,881 pages, $80.00 hardcover.

Reviewed by Christopher T. Rotolo, Senior Director, Organizationaland Management Development, PepsiCo, Inc. 700 Anderson Hill Rd,Purchase, NY 10577; and Adjunct Associate Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10012.

As we emerge from one of the most daunting economic crises inour history, organizations have a heightened talent challenge. Againsta backdrop of intense cost pressures from both traditional and emerg-ing competitors, new markets, and more demanding customers, compa-nies are faced with the need for knowledge transfer from retiring babyboomers, impending skill shortages, an increasingly cross-generationaland diverse workforce, and significant leadership gaps. Strategic talentmanagement has been a topic of discussion for many years. Yet few candeny that talent management has reached a heightened level of impor-tance. Strategy-Driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative is

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in many ways a call to action for human resource (HR) researchers, aca-demics, and professionals to think about talent management more strate-gically and provides a wealth of advice for organizations who want to getthere.

The editors state two primary goals of the book: (a) to identify anddescribe the leading-edge organizational practices with regards to strategictalent management and (b) to demonstrate the importance of linking talentmanagement practices to the organizations business strategy. Both goalsare more than adequately reached, as demonstrated in more detail below.

The book is divided into five major sections. Part I focuses on generalframeworks and lays the foundational argument for strategic talent man-agement and its importance to business success. In doing so, the authorsalso discuss the concept of talent and differentiate strategic talent manage-ment from less evolved approaches to talent management. The reader isalso provided with several models such as integrating strategic talent man-agement with other business processes and the evolution of organizationstoward a full strategic approach to talent management. Chapter 2 detailshow integrated talent practices help to build a competitive advantage inorganizations and introduces the concept of talent stewardship.

Part II, by far the largest section in the book, delves into key practiceareas that cover the employee lifecycle, such as recruiting, onboarding,high-potential identification and assessment, leadership development, tal-ent pools, and employee engagement. It is perhaps most helpful to revieweach chapter in this section. Chapter 3 is entitled “Building the TalentPipeline” and discusses the importance of building effective employeevalue propositions and employer brands aligned with the talent manage-ment strategy. Chapter 4 focuses on executive onboarding and effectivelycovers the latest research on socialization and newcomer adjustment. Thechapter includes a useful five-stage onboarding model with tips and tem-plates for the practitioner, as well as a healthy discussion on successmetrics and overcoming typical challenges as experienced by the authors.

Chapter 5 covers high-potential assessment and provides a nice bal-ance of conceptual dialogue and practical advice. Much of the chapterhighlights the survey results of 20 major business corporations on theircurrent practices and approaches to high-potential assessment. In doingso it provides a useful demonstration of the diversity of practices in suchthings as defining potential, factors and tools used to identify potential,nomination and identification processes, and talent tracking. Chapter 6discusses leadership development through formal programs. It providesa brief history of leadership education and suggests a typology of for-mal leadership development initiatives. A set of best practices as well aspitfalls for each of the design typologies is provided.


Chapter 7 focuses on developing leaders through experiences. It pro-vides a highly practical discussion that begins with advocating for a tal-ent management taxonomy that relates experiences with other key talentmanagement concepts like competencies, relationships, and learning ca-pabilities that individuals need as they move through the organization. Itthen discusses how to build such a taxonomy that incorporates the orga-nization’s strategy and best practices from research, and goes into detailabout building experiences into each talent management system (e.g.,succession planning, performance management, training).

Chapter 8 focuses on individual changes and is probably one of themost theory-laden chapters in the book. It covers a large landscape ofpsychological theory including behaviorism, cognitive behavioral psy-chology, work motivation, and adult learning. The real-world applicationof this discussion is minimal. However the chapter ends with a more prac-tical discussion of coaching including characteristics of effective coachingand measuring coaching’s effectiveness. Chapter 9 is entitled “ManagingLeadership Talent Pools” which is really about the talent review process inorganizations. It provides a good overview of stakeholder roles, design ap-proaches, and lessons learned of the author. However, the chapter wouldhave been enhanced by including more practical demonstrations of thetopics (e.g., by conducting a survey of leading companies to demonstratethe diversity of practice, much along the lines of Chapter 5). Chapter 10is a relatively brief chapter that attempts to address employee engagementin the context of talent management. The intent of the chapter clearlyis not to survey the research in this area but does provide some usefulresearch for the reader to ponder and successfully points out the role ofengagement in strategic talent management. However, the brevity of thechapter relative to the others leaves it lacking the impact that the topiccould potentially have in the book.

Part III addresses critical issues facing organizations today, from thebroad to the specific. Chapter 11 focuses on building functional exper-tise and includes a robust discussion on buying versus building func-tional expertise, with extensive advice for organizations wanting to dothe latter. Chapter 12’s discussion on measuring the talent managementfunction provides a nice balance of rationale and challenges, how-to, andcase studies to make this important chapter more tangible to the reader.Chapter 13 tackles the increasingly important topic of managing talent inglobal organizations. Although the chapter provides a rich set of issues,advice, and practical examples of talent management in a global setting,a more robust discussion on how these issues and recommendations aredifferent in a global setting versus more traditional settings would havebeen more impactful to the reader. Chapter 14 turns to managing talent in

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China, and provides what amounts to be an excellent primer on the talentissues facing China today.

Part IV offers an opportunity to put all of the book’s previous topics intoplay. The section provides different perspectives on talent managementand how the practice is implemented in companies that are known to beat the forefront of strategic talent management. Each of the five chaptersin this section performs a deep dive into a single organization. As aresult, the reader gets an intensive “peak behind the curtains” of talentmanagement practices at PepsiCo, Microsoft, The Home Depot, Allstate,and Cargill. The last chapter in this section is a useful conversation thatone of the editors had with three chief human resource officers who sharetheir experiences and views on a variety of talent management issues.

Part V ends the book with a view toward future directions for practiceand research, and addresses topics such as building sustainable talent andcritical research issues. Here, the editors provide a nice summary of keythemes that cut across the approaches discussed in the book and challengesthat organizations face in implementing solutions. The last chapter inthe book summarizes key research areas that the editors recommend asneeding to be addressed to move the field forward. There is also anannotated bibliography that summarizes relevant references for readerswho want to explore the topics further.

In summary, this book is an extremely comprehensive resource onstrategic talent management. There is an abundance of theory, recommen-dations, case examples, and best practices for the reader at each stage ofthe employee lifecycle. The annotated bibliography is a nice bonus that isnot seen in most texts of this sort and enables any reader who wishes todelve deeper into the literature that forms the basis for each of the chaptertopics.

The shortcomings of the book are relatively minor. There are somestyle differences between the chapters, and some chapters are more aca-demic than others. There is also some overlap of content between thechapters, and in rare cases some conflicting views (e.g., the stages oftalent management integration described in Chapters 1 and 2). However,relative to the rest of the content, I found these shortcomings neitherdetracting nor concerning.

There are two areas that I would have liked to have seen in the bookto enhance it even further. The first area is in regard to the topic ofleadership development. The book does a good job of describing the state-of-the-art items in terms of formal programs, development by experience,and developing functional capability. A more robust discussion of howleading companies combine these approaches (e.g., “70–20-10” model) tomaximize their strategic potential would have been beneficial. The secondarea is in regard to emerging markets. The chapter on practices in China


is an excellent overview of the issues faced in that country. However,additional chapters equally focused upon other emerging markets (e.g.,India, Brazil, Russia) would have rounded out the discussion.

Finally, a note about the intended audience. Although the book isgeared toward the practicing professional, I believe it will equally appealto those who teach or are learning the field. The editors have put togethera highly approachable resource that successfully breaks down complextalent management issues and provides a wealth of advice for tacklingthem. As a result, I am confident that this book will be often consulted tothose savvy enough to have it in their arsenal.

Documents

Strategy-Driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative edited by Rob Silzer and Ben E. Dowell