The applications of neuro‐linguistic programming in organizational settings: A systematic review of psychological outcomes

• Author: William Van Gordon,David Sheffield,Yasuhiro Kotera
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21334
• Date: 01 March 2019

LITERATURE REVIEW

The applications of neuro-linguistic programming

in organizational settings: A systematic review of

psychological outcomes

Yasuhiro Kotera | David Sheffield | William Van Gordon

Centre for Psychological Research, University

of Derby, Derby, UK

Correspondence

Yasuhiro Kotera, Centre for Psychological

Research, University of Derby, Kedleston

Road, Derby, Derbyshire, DE22 1GB, UK.

Email: y.kotera@derby.ac.uk

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to communica-

tion and personaldevelopment focusing on howindividuals organize

their thinking, feelings, and language. While a growing number of

academic articles highlight the application of NLP in organizational

settings, a systematic review synthesizing and evaluating the quality

of this evidencehas not been conducted to date. The aim of this arti-

cle was to follow the preferred reporting items for systematic

reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and conduct a sys-

tematic reviewof empirical studies evaluating the application of NLP

in organizational settings. Targeted outcomes included self-esteem,

trustworthiness, organizational commitment,and occupational stress.

Academic research databases used to identify articles included Pro-

Quest, PsycINFO,Science Direct, Google Scholar,and a specific NLP

database. The literature search yielded 952 titles from which seven

studies met all of the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate that NLP

can be effectivefor improving a wide range of work-related psycho-

logical outcomes including self-esteem and occupational stress.

However, there were concerns regarding methodological rigor. In

general, the benefits of NLP were bothoverpromised and undersup-

ported. Implications for future NLP application and research, with a

focus on the relevance to current issues in the field of human

resource (HR)development, are discussed.

KEYWORDS

coaching, human resource management, organizational

performance, training/training and development, workplace

stress

1|INTRODUCTION

While there is debate concerning a precise definition of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) (Grimley, 2016; O'Con-

nor & McDermott, 2001; Sturt et al., 2012), NLP researchers usually regard it to be a methodology to model human

DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21334

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Human Resource Development Quarterly. 2019;30:101–116. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrdq 101

experience and communication (Bandler & Grinder, 1979). NLP focuses on determining how outstanding results are

achieved in both the personal development and psychotherapy domains, and uses these insights to foster continuous

improvements in human functioning (O'Connor & McDermott, 2001). NLP has its origins in observations that Richard

Bandler made about specific linguistic structures used by the psychotherapists Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir, and Milton

Erickson, to increase the effects of positive suggestions on patients (Bandler & Grinder, 1979). A key assumption of

NLP is that there are common linguistic patterns, which were used by these successful psychotherapists, to elicit suc-

cessful outcomes during therapy (Bandler & Grinder, 1979).

NLP has been used to treat a variety of clinical symptoms including depression, anxiety, and stress (Simpson &

Dryden, 2011; Stipancic, Renner, Schütz, & Dond, 2010), and has been used in a wide range of fields worldwide

including management, business, education, and sports (Karunaratne, 2010; Tosey, Mathison, & Michelli, 2005; Zas-

trow, Dotson, & Koch, 1987). In the UK alone, over 100,000 individuals have attended NLP training courses

(Tosey & Mathison, 2009). Between 2006 and 2009, 326 National Health Service (NHS) trusts and strategic authori-

ties spent more than £800,000 on NLP-related training that included delivering the program to more than 700 NHS

employees (Sturt et al., 2012). In Japan, the NLP Connection organization has certified 1,725 practitioners, 1,321

master practitioners, 373 trainer associates, and 40 trainers (C. Hall, personal communication, March 15, 2016).

NLP is also used as a coaching method in organizational settings, including by (for example) organizations such as

the BBC, Metronet Rail, AstraZeneca, British Telecom, and Burton Foods. Anecdotal reports indicate that within

these organizations, NLP led to improvements in work engagement, work motivation, and job performance (Abrams,

2004; Human Resource Management International Digest, 2010; The Association for NLP, n.d.). One of the key

applications of NLP techniques in organizational settings relates to effective goal setting and strategies to maximize

goal attainment (McDermott & Jago, 2006). While goal-setting methods used in organizations tend to be cognitively

oriented (e.g., the SMART goal), NLP's unique approach to goal setting, such as the well-formed outcome

(O'Connor & McDermott, 2001), invariably makes use of the five-sensory domains as well as include body movement

exercises as a means of helping people envisage how a successfully implemented goal might impactvarious aspects

of their life (e.g., the Disney strategy; Dilts, 1995). These unique NLP features are understood to improve goal owner-

ship and motivation, as well as foster more adaptive psychological strategies relating to goal attainment (Kotera &

Sheffield, 2017).

NLP has also been used by organizations across the remits of self-management, presentation, negotiation, inter-

viewing, team building, leadership, and self-appraisal (Grimley, 2016; O'Connor & McDermott, 2001; Tosey & Mathi-

son, 2009). For example, feedback seeking (i.e., asking for feedback from colleagues to identify areas of

improvement; Anseel, Lievens, & Schollaert, 2009) corresponds to an NLP presupposition (i.e., the guiding principle

that practitioners act upon; O'Connor & McDermott, 2001) that “the meaning of communication is the response you

get”(O'Connor & McDermott, 2013, p. 35). Similarly, reflection refers to the NLP's strategy that involves closely ana-

lyzing one's subjective experience in a certain work-related context (O'Connor & McDermott, 2001). These philo-

sophical approaches and specific skills of NLP, which aim at translating structured learning into applied skills by

facilitating informal learning, are critical for human resource development (HRD), as many organizations still heavily

orientate their staff development around formal learning (Kock & Ellström, 2011). Furthermore, a translational

approach—comprising translation of knowledge from science into the development of new models, and translation of

research into practice (Woolf, 2008)—is achievable in, and aligned with the values of NLP, because NLP is established

on communication models (e.g., adaptation of the TOTE: Test, Operation, Test, and Exit; Miller, Galanter, & Pribram,

1960) geared toward implementing evidence-informed personal and professional development strategies.

Despite its popularity in healthcare and organizational settings, the science of NLP has been criticized for being

underdeveloped (Pensieri, 2013; Sturt et al., 2012; Thompson, Courtney, & Dickson, 2002). These criticisms not only

relate to a poor level of communication between scholars and practitioners that is observed elsewhere within the

field of HRD (Brown & Latham, 2018), but also to issues concerning the methodological quality of NLP research. For

example, a systematic review that investigated the effects of ten healthcare-setting NLP studies concluded that the

quality of the research was weak and that key reporting items were absent (Sturt et al., 2012). Another NLP literature

102 KOTERA ET AL.