Mentoring Essay -- essays research papers

Managing People Individual Assessment Managing Mentoring With the development of the more organic and less formal organisational structures the role of mentors has shifted with these changes. Unlike previously where mentors where seen as formal trainers who taught newcomers the processes and got them acquainted with the cultures and the systems within the organisation. Which required good interpersonal skills and a good knowledge of the activity or tasks the mentee would have to undertake, and be able to effectively relay or demonstrate the tasks or activities to the mentee. As opposed to more recently where a mentor would have to be more of an emotional counselor and demonstrate more skills than were traditionally required from mentors in the past, such as being emotionally sensitive and sometimes employing diversity mentoring and culture mentoring skills. The term Mentor is derived from Greece. Levinson et al defined the mentor as â€Å"someone who is ordinarily several years older, a person of greater experience seniority in the world the young man is entering† This shows that not all mentoring takes place on an organisational level and in many instances is less organic and more mechanic within organisations. Mentoring also differs depending on the organisation the mentee is entering and the capacity that they are entering that organisation, mentoring is extremely prevalent in the education and training of young people in this context Murray and Owen define it as â€Å"a supportive relationship between a youth or young adult and someone who offers support, guidance and concrete assistance† The is an interesting shift in emphasis when organisational mentoring takes the place educational mentoring the focus changes from the personal nature of the mentor and the mentee to the structure and the processes within that relationship. Which really begs the question â€Å"which mentoring style brings about the best results?† but in order to answer that we must analyse what exactly we want to achieve from the mentoring?†. What facilitated mentoring does is set out to encapsulate the relationships and influence that develop in informal mentoring and transfer it to the organisational framework. One of the reasons organisations influence mentoring because it is a cost effective way training and developing, mentors relive the line managers of the responsibility of training... ... of information over the internet will lead to the emergence of more personal relationships being formed on a work related basis. Mentors and mentoring have been part of organisational culture in some capacity since humans started to organise things. It has survived several shifts in the context it was viewed in and how it was and is applied in the organisation. The challenge for organisations of the day be mindful of these constant changes and aim to be responsive not reactive for them. To diagnose exactly what, when and how mentoring should take place and challenge more staff to aspire to be mentors of the future. Referencing Brian Gay - What is Mentoring? Education + Training Vol.36 No.5 1994 pp 4 –7 Linda Holbeche – Peer Mentoring: the challenges and opportunities Career Development International Vol. 1 No. 7 pp 24 – 27 Leonora Kane - Mentoring For Black Students Education + Training Vol.36 No.8 1994 pp 18 –24 Clutterbuck and Megginson – Mentoring Executive and Directors Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford Ragins B.R.- Mentor functions and outcomes: a comparison of men and women in formal and informal mentoring relationships Journal of Applied Psychology Vol.84 No.4 pp529 550