In <i>The Hedgehog Effect</i>, Manfred Kets de Vries presents the case for leadership group coaching as an experiential training ground for learning to function as a high performance team. His group coaching model, incorporating living case studies, has been developed over more than 20 years of delivering programs to top-level executives and sets the standard in the field of leadership group coaching. <p>Written for coaches, consultants, leadership development directors, and anyone working in or with teams, <i>The Hedgehog Effect</i> begins with an in-depth analysis of what teams and groups are all about. The intricacies of leadership coaching are illustrated with an elaborate example of a team coaching intervention. In Part Two, the author applies a psychodynamic lens to the dynamics of teams and groups, taking a close look at relationship patterns, how groups evolve, and the phenomenon of the group-as-a-whole. Part Three takes a more systemic perspective, addressing the challenges that change processes pose for people in organizations, and how to create best places to work. Kets de Vries supports the whole with the story of an organizational change initiative accomplished through group coaching.</p>
The growing use of the internet in education and its enormous potential for the future raise important philosophical questions about, for instance, teaching and learning, equality and access, the structure of digitised knowledge or the social role of education. Much depends upon how, and against what background assumptions, these new technologies are used. This volume critically explores key philosophical issues in the rise of technology in education, including assumptions about the inevitability of radical change, the virtues of networking, and the need for adaptability in learning and employment. It also looks at the growing practices of Distance Education and Open Learning as well as on-site uses of the internet, examining the social and cultural dimensions to assess the genuine benefits for education. While resisting easy utopianism, this volume is in no sense pessimistic. On the contrary, it highlights the genuine potential of new technology to transform education, and its critical importance in global and political terms.