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Ethics and Executive Coaching: An Agency Theory Approach

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Abstract

In recent years executive coaching has become an important management development practice in many organizations. Executive coaching is a partnership between a management level client and a coach hired by an organization to assist the executive in becoming a more effective and successful manager. While executive coaching has become a frequent and important practice in organizations, there has been relatively little serious consideration of the complex ethical issues that arise for persons and organizations. This study proposes that executive coaching involves an agency relation with specific moral duties that go beyond the usual standards of professional ethics. Agency theory, and in particular a focused understanding of the agency relationship, can provide a needed ethical grounding and basis for moral thinking about executive coaching.

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Notes

  1. For helpful descriptive treatments of executive coaching ethics, see Brotman and Liberi (1998), Judge and Cowell (1997), Law (2006), and Sherman and Freas (2004).

  2. See Peltier (2010, pp. 358–359).

  3. See Peltier (2010, p. 354).

  4. Kaufmann and Coutu (2009).

  5. For a helpful discussion of agency relations and their associated duties, see Boatright (1999, pp. 40–41).

  6. See Heath (2009, p. 499).

  7. See Heath (2009, p. 499).

  8. For helpful discussion of this distinction in agency theory, see Boatright (1992, p. 189).

  9. Heath (2009, p. 523).

  10. Boatright (1992, p. 188).

  11. Boatright (1992, pp. 188–189). Interestingly, conflicts of interest are one major type of ethical problem that executive coaches frequently encounter.

  12. Eisenhardt (1989, pp. 57–74, esp. p. 57).

  13. See DeGeorge (1992, p. 59).

  14. Boatright (1992, p. 187).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT, USA

    Francis T. Hannafey

  2. Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Lawrence A. Vitulano

Authors
  1. Francis T. Hannafey
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  2. Lawrence A. Vitulano
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Correspondence to Francis T. Hannafey.

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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

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1442-z

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