Transitional Dynamics of Three Supervisory Styles Using Markov Chain Analysis

Abstract

Counseling supervision is a critically important process that depends on the establishment of a supportive, collaborative, and developmentally enhancing working relationship. However, the actual verbal exchanges within the supervisory dyads are infrequently examined in the literature. In this study, we used Markov chain analysis to explore supervision dynamics of 34 supervisory dyads and how these dynamics varied within three supervisory styles (i.e., attractive, interpersonally sensitive, and task oriented). Among the three styles, the interpersonally sensitive supervisory style was the only discriminant variable based on which supervisory dyads exhibited statistically different state‐transitional patterns (i.e., movement patterns across six supervision events). The results of this study provide implications for clinical supervisors, counselor educators, counselors‐in‐training, and researchers who are interested in studying process features at the microlevel.

Multicultural supervision in counseling: A content analysis of peer‐reviewed literature

“…Furthermore, researchers may also consider attending to multiple sources of data (e.g., dyadic data of supervisor and supervisee; tripartite data from supervisor, supervisee, and client; additional perspectives of the supervisors of supervisors) to validate or triangulate and increase the robustness of research findings. Similarly, studies of actual supervision process [e.g., Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR)‐informed interviews to improve supervisee recall; R. M. Cook et al., 2019; innovative statistical methods (e.g., sequential analysis, Markov chain analysis)] to examine the recorded supervisory interactions at the microlevel (e.g., Li et al., 2019; 2020a, 2020b) may offer further directions to multicultural supervision scholars. Specifically, researchers could use these strategies to explore how multicultural supervision is manifested in the moment‐to‐moment reciprocal interactions, enriching our understanding of multicultural competence for both supervisees‐ and supervisors‐in‐training.…”