The aim of this paper is to explore the scope of coaching in the context of organizational change considering peculiar issues associated with the use of coaching in Latvia and Lithuania. This two-stage study seeks to answer the following research questions. How is coaching defined? What is the aim of coaching? Who are involved in coaching? What coaching outcomes are expected? During the first stage, the definitions of coaching are extracted from the literature and analyzed to identify the distinctive features of coaching. During the second stage, the experts are interviewed to explore the views of practitioners in coaching about a place of coaching in organizations. Literature review, content analysis and comparative analysis are used for the purposes of this study. Triangulation of research results is obtained through cross verification from two sources. A total of 41 definitions of coaching were extracted from the literature and taken for analysis. Based on the established criteria for selection, nine experts participated in an interview. As a result, content analysis and comparative analysis have revealed that coaching is defined as a regular, synergetic, learning and development, goal-oriented process. Facilitation is a primary aim of coaching. Coaching is more beneficial for people who provide decisions. Achieved results and personal growth is considered as the key expected coaching outcomes. Coaching provides greater goal clarity, better alignment with the roles in the organization. However, the possible threats and challenges, such as stereotype and misunderstanding, lack of systematic approach to coaching engagements as well as its alignment with organizational change needs, have also been detected. It is difficult to explain how effective coaching can be because coaching is not homogeneous and it is difficult to measure the results of coaching.

Organizations need innovation to be competitive and sustainable on their marketplace. Sustainable performance is an important precondition for growth and development. In spite of a body of literature, non-financial factors of sustainable performance remain an open issue. Coaching has gained considerable attention in the business world for its impact on sustainable performance. The current research investigates the use of coaching interaction to facilitate organizational sustainable growth and development in the context of Miller and Friesen’s five stage life-cycle model. The expert opinion survey is chosen as a central method of research. The questionnaire is developed on the literature review that is focused on the drivers for sustainable development throughout the life cycle, and the features of coaching that accelerate these driving forces. Fifteen experts took part in the survey conducted from November 2017 to January 2018. The results are estimated by considering the competence coefficient for each expert. The findings led to creation of an open innovation model, which displays relationships between the appropriate coaching forms and types and the organizational life cycle stages. The developed model enables choosing the optimal way of coaching delivery at any life cycle stage. This model is particularly valuable for the coaching support programs.

The paper aims to study how coaching can accelerate the innovation processes in organization considering the peculiar issues of the use of coaching in Latvia and Lithuania. For this purpose, literature review and a qualitative dominated mixed method approach to obtain and analyze the data are implemented. A literature review was undertaken to find out the current trends in the theory and practice of coaching in the context of innovation and organizational change. The findings of the literature review are compared with the results of two surveys. The aim of the first survey is to explore the experts' opinion about the manifestation of coaching in organization. The aim of the second survey is to find out the importance of conditions to promote coaching in organisational context. The results of literature review and surveys demonstrate that coaching can accelerate the leadership development, strategic thinking and collaboration within and across teams. These processes are crucial for organization's innovation capabilities.

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The purpose of the research was to study the relationship between the elements of a company’s ethical responsibility and the outcomes of the digital transformation of work, considering the dynamic processes of open innovation. Based on the results obtained, the paper proposes a conceptual model to address the following research questions. How does the ethical responsibility of a company impact the digital transformation of work? How does the digitalization of work relate to the ethical responsibility of a company? How does open innovation advance the ethical responsibility of a company? The research follows the logic of the elaboration of a conceptual model. The theoretical novelty of the article is expressed in the fact that 25 criteria, through which the relationships between the studied concepts are manifested, were identified and systematized. To assess the significance of the criteria, a survey of experts was developed and conducted to obtain a diverse opinion. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (w) and Pearson’s chi-squared were used to measure the level of agreement of the experts’ evaluation. A conceptual model established the relationship pathways as well as inbound and outbound flows, and highlighted the key findings of the research. Namely, the guiding role of open innovation as the external circumstances for corporate ethical responsibility, and the necessity to apply all elements of ethical responsibility to ensure the viable digital transformation of work.