Literature Review
Overview of Mentorship
Mentorship is a personal development relationship in which a more experienced person offers guidance from a real world perspective. Effective mentoring involves building a continuous learning relationship between the mentor and the mentee. Research has shown that matching mentors and mentees helps create effective mentorship programs (Bokeno, 2003).
Organisations have designated mentoring administrators consisting representatives of human resource and training and learning departments. The administrators scrutinise the mentoring profiles and match the mentor and the mentee depending on training needs, career goals, and competence. Moreover, mentees can use technology to choose the most appropriate mentors and mentorship programs.
There are many types of mentorship. However, they fall under two categories, namely, monologic mentoring and dialogic mentoring. Mentoring administrators help mentors to select the best programs with reference to the prevailing needs. Some of the benefits of mentoring include enhancement of self-efficacy and productivity.
Types of Mentorship
Business managers should choose mentorship programs that meet the needs of employees across the various levels of organisational structure. Whether the managers choose dialogic or monologic mentoring, they need to structure objectively the mentoring programs.
Dialogic mentoring
Dialogic mentoring is the best organisational program for learning. The most recent re-emergence of interest in dialogic mentoring is traceable to many organisational learning theorists. Current research has confirmed that there are patterns of communication and tactic theories in use that are obstacles to the invention of mutual learning efforts. Dialogic mentoring attempts to eliminate the obstacles and enhance learning (Bokeno, 2003).
Dialogic mentoring relies on the aptitude and readiness to express one’s ideas and feelings authentically, the aptitude and readiness to take part in both collective and individual reflection, and a natural care and respect for the mentor and the mentee. These aptitudes have productive impact on learning and organisational change.
According to research, the concept that the dialogic mentoring is highly effective is based on the understanding that collaborative mentoring creates a two-way communication strategy that enhances learning (Mezirow and Taylor, 2009).
However, dialogic mentoring has certain shortcomings. Notably, the mentoring approach requires facilitation, episodic interventions, and structuring. These requirements make dialogic mentoring partly ineffective for creating therapeutic solutions for top leadership personnel.
Conventional regulations, responsibilities, and proprietorship roles limit the scope of the learning approach to deliver the desired results. Besides, the success of dialogic experiences depends on the learning ability of the client. As a result, outside its therapeutic context, the client determines the success of the distinct learning model (Wallbank, 2012).
Monologic mentoring
Monologic mentoring is an appropriate approach for the reinforcement of culturally relevant behaviour in a given context. Research has established that monologic themes reflect some positioned objective goal steered by common believes of the right manner of doing things. These themes function on equilibrium and stability. When a person deviates from the standard norms, the society provides a correctional response (Manley, 2005).
Additionally, developmental relationship enacts monologic themes. According to Manley (2005), the interaction is not permeable to new structured meanings. Managing supervision and providing information that reflects organizational reality characterises monologic interaction practices. Sometimes, the interactions are weakly unilateral and coaching characterises it. The core function of the mentor is interpreting reality in a form that is less scripted, but experience based.
The most appropriate mentoring program
Choosing the most appropriate mentoring program depends on the experience of the employee in a particular organisation. Mentoring programs have a variety of purposes. However, they sometimes have explicit goals, for instance helping to resolve performance deficiencies, advancing career objectives, and transferring technical knowledge.
Research has indicated that dialogic mentoring has more advantages than most emerging mentoring techniques (Bokeno, 2003). However, it cannot reinforce culturally appropriate behaviour. Monologic mentoring is useful in reinforcing culturally appropriate behaviour in a given context. Therefore, the most appropriate mentoring programs enhance business experience of employees.
Effects of Mentoring Programs on Self Efficacy
Mentoring programs create an environment that promotes a healthy self-efficacy, which is a core component of the larger social cognitive theory (Nabi and Clark, 2008). Mentoring programs help in building confidence in employees across the various levels of organisational structure.
The programs expose employees to new environments where they can interact with their colleagues who have excelled in their careers. The colleagues reassure them of their ability to deliver the desired results. The reassurance increases self-efficacy, which has positive effects on productivity.
Mentorship also exposes leaders to opportunities that influence how they learn in a social context. The learning opportunities model their behaviour. The leaders watch others with experience performing tasks and learn to repeat the behaviours (Nabi and Clark, 2008).
Mentorship enhances social interaction and improves employee satisfaction. The constant reassurances that mentees get from their mentors give them hope in life and eliminate frustrations. Mentorship, therefore, equips employees with virtues that enable them to face life challenges with incredible confidence.
Effects of Mentoring Programs on Productivity
Mentoring programs help reduce turnover. When mentoring shows employees that they are valued and provide an individualized experience, they get motivated to work hard. Effective mentorship pays off by increasing satisfaction, which results to reducing the rate of turnover (Villani, 2009).
Additionally, group-mentoring programs help employees learn from each other, understand their roles, and reduce redundancy. Group mentoring is beneficial for both organisations and senior executives nearing retirement. It provides them with culturally specific resources to motivate them to work hard while executing their roles and passing on their knowledge to the younger generation (Emelo, 2013).
Effective mentorship is a tool for identifying and developing talents. Mentors can groom high performers to execute leadership roles and realise their full potentials. Mentors can also identify, redirect, or retain employees with essential skills and expertise.
References
Bokeno, R. M. (2003). Appraisals of organizational learning as emancipatory change. Bradford, England: Emerald.
Emelo, R. (2013). Creating a modern mentoring culture. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.
Manley, M. (2005). A Day In The Life: Mentor:. Academic psychiatry, 29(4), 383-383.
Mezirow, J., & Taylor, E. W. (2009). Transformative learning in practice: Insights from community, workplace, and higher education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Nabi, R. L., & Clark, S. (2008). Exploring the limits of social cognitive theory: Why negatively reinforced behaviors on TV may be modeled anyway. Journal of Communication, 58(3), 407-427.
Villani, S. (2009). Comprehensive mentoring programs for new teachers: models of induction and support (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin
Wallbank, A. J. (2012). Dialogue, didacticism and the genres of dispute literary dialogues in an age of revolution. London: Pickering & Chatto.