Employee perceptions of managerial coaching and work engagement using the Measurement Model of Coaching Skills and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale

This study explored the perceptions of an employee’s manager as coach behaviour and the relationship to their perceived work engagement. The Measurement Model of Coaching Skills (MMCS) by Park and colleagues and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) were used as the tools to measure this relationship. The MMCS was also validated further in this study as there is limited psychometric data on this tool in the literature unlike the UWES. A total of 195 MBA students with work experience responded to the survey out of a possible 493 students. The results demonstrate a positive significant relationship between the respondents’ perceptions of their manager’s coaching behaviour and their own perceived work engagement. The MMCS also demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties, however, sub-scales failed discriminant validity. Most likely this is due to the difficulty in separating out discrete functions of the coaching role. As a result the composite score for the MMCS is recommended. The results add to the literature noting the benefits managerial coaching can have on organizational performance measures. Further development of managers is needed to enable them to become effective coaches as demonstrated by the below average result