Assessing the influence of mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of new construction employees : a literature review

Abstract: The business world has long known and relied upon mentoring as a proven technique for developing in house talent. Previous studies proved that the implementation of mentoring programme is beneficial for enhancing employee skills and attitudes. Few researchers are devoted to exploring the impact of mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of new graduates. This paper is aimed at examining the effects of mentoring functions on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of new construction employees in the influence of mentoring functions in South African construction industry. The study was mainly a literature review, an exploratory study with a special focus on the impact of mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees within organizations. The data used in the report was mainly qualitative, based on the historical data. The study indicated that career development and role modelling functions have a positive effect on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of new employees. However the psychosocial support function was incapable of providing adequate explanation for these work outcomes. The study suggest that graduate managers should improve the career development and role modelling functions of mentoring in order to enhance the job satisfaction, organizational commitment of new employees. The early success of the initiatives described provide useful lessons for the construction industry and executives who recognize that mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment are critical for sustaining future organizational performance

MENTORING AS AN HR INTERVENTION TO ENGAGE GEN Y EMPLOYEES

The significance of employee engagement in present turbulent business environment cannot be over-emphasized. In particular, the contemporary mutigenerational workforce poses a serious challenge of employee engagement. The importance of mentoring in facilitating employee development, socialization, and is given due consideration in academic literature. However, the literatures on mentoring and employee engagement are largely independent. In this vein, this study explores the linkage between mentoring and employee engagement. After reviewing the limited literature in this domain a conceptual framework is proposed depicting possible relationships through testable propositions. To conclude implications are presented for human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners, emphasizing on the role of mentoring in fostering cognitive, affective, and social aspects of Gen Y employees’ engagement.&nbsp

Peer Relationships, Learning Forums, And Work Outcomes: An Empirical Analysis

The pace of organizational and environmental change seems to demand that such professional organizations as CPA firms become learning organizations in order to compete with other firms.   The flattening or thinning out of traditional hierarchical structures within organizations argues that traditional mentoring and supervisory structures may be inadequate for fostering needed individual learning about (a) organizational goals and politics, and (b) personal learning about job context and skill development, thus the ability of individuals within CPA firms to master new skills may be impaired.   One effect of the lack of such learning may be increased role stress, job burnout, loss of commitment to the organization, intention to leave, and diminished job satisfaction.  Using a sample of 440 accounting professionals from major CPA firms in the southeastern, southwestern, and northeastern regions of the United States, this research studies the ability of peer developmental relationship functions foster the requisite personal and organizational learning, and also to directly and indirectly influence attitudinal outcomes.   We further examine whether the impact of developmental peer relationships on attitudinal outcomes is mediated by personal and organizational learning. A hierarchical regression-based test was used to evaluate our hypotheses.  The results partially supported our expectations that such peer developmental relationship functions were significantly related to attitudinal outcomes, to elements of organizational learning, and to the skill development aspect of personal learning.  Elements of organizational socialization, personal learning, and team-source learning were significantly related to attitudinal outcomes as well

Mentoring Unfolded: The Evolution of an Emerging Discipline

The purpose of this study was to outline the development of mentoring in the fields of business, education, and psychology over the past three decades. With the aim of revealing an organized framework of the theory and practice of adult mentoring in academic and workplace contexts, a systematic review of 25 books and 80 articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 1978 and 2012 was analyzed using two methodological approaches: qualitative meta-summary and qualitative meta-synthesis. Through the analysis of published literature, this study provides a taxonomy of evidence-based mentoring best practices for the creation and maintenance of exemplary formal adult mentoring programs

The role of trust in the mentoring experience of trainee lawyers and its influence on intention to stay in Irish law practices

Trust and mentoring are two well researched concepts within the field of management science. However, very few studies have sought to explicitly look at the role of trust in the mentoring relationship. This study seeks to contribute to the linking of the two fields. The mentoring experiences of 289 second year trainee lawyers who were interns in law practices in the Republic of Ireland were surveyed. Their levels of trust in their formally assigned mentor was assessed and their perceptions of the effectiveness of their mentoring experience using Scandura's (1992) three function conceptualisation were measured. The role of trust in the experience of the three functions is highlighted. The research also reveals how trust in mentor and the experienced career development aspect of mentoring, predict trainee intention to stay or leave their organisation. Implications for mentoring programme development and practice are suggested

How do high performance work systems influence organizational innovation in professional service firms?

Purpose - The aim of this paper is examine how a system of human resource management (HRM) practices, labelled high performance work systems (HPWS), influences organizational innovation in professional service firms (PSFs). In this study, innovation in PSFs is seen as an indicator of firm performance and is calculated as the revenue per person generated from new clients and new services respectively. Design/methodology/approach– Quantitative data was collected from 195 Managing Partners, HR Managers or experienced Partners in 120 Irish accounting firms. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings - The analysis results indicate strong support for the mediating role of employees’ innovative work behaviours in the relationship between HPWS and two types of PSFs’ innovation performance. Practical implications - Managers need to effectively adopt and implement innovation-based HRM practices to encourage and support employees’ creative thinking and innovation. Through the adoption and utilization of these practices managers can enhance the firm’s innovation and its performance. Originality/value - This study contributes to our understanding of the link between HRM and firm innovation by explicating a pathway between these variables. This study also generalizes consistent findings on the HRM-firm innovation relationship to a different context, i.e. professional service firms

Caring for Caregivers: Mentoring and Its Effects on Affective and Behavioral Outcomes

Long hours, in addition to a heavy workload, lack of control over the environment, and inadequate recognition are some factors that have been described as contributing to healthcare workers developing burnout (Ahlin, Ericson-Lidman, Norberg, & Strandberg, 2015), decreasing their job performance, and ultimately leading them to leave their jobs. It is critically important that preventive methods of buffering burnout are studied in this context, and mentoring may be one such method. Drawing on bodies of research related to motivation and stress, this study examined a mentoring intervention using a healthcare population who had engaged in an 8-month mentoring program. This study wanted to investigate the outcomes of mentoring, contextual influences on mentoring success, and the mechanism through which mentoring produced positive outcomes. The results of this study indicated that the outcome of meaningful work was increased in mentors, protégés, and the subordinates of protégés as compared to control groups. The contextual factors of dyad matching and organizational learning climate additionally influenced outcomes as a result of engaging in this program. The mechanism through which mentoring operated did not produce significant results, but did open possible lines of future research. This study, therefore, filled several gaps in the mentoring literature and can inform future mentoring interventions to ensure wide applicability and ultimate success

Fostering Affective Commitment and Work Engagement Through Mentoring

Past research on mentoring has focused primarily on the benefits that protégées and mentors derive from their mentoring relationships. However, little research has been devoted to revealing the ways in which mentoring can benefit organizations. To address this void, a sample of 124 protégées was used to investigate the relationships between satisfaction with a mentor, affective commitment (AC), and work engagement. Perceived organizational support (POS) was hypothesized as the mediator of the aforementioned relationships. Further, in order to identify the factors contributing to satisfaction with the mentor, this study examined the relationship between satisfaction with the mentor and mentorship type and two protégée characteristics: motivation to learn and proactive personality. The findings suggested that satisfaction with the mentor affected protégée levels of AC and work engagement and that the mechanism underlying these relationships was POS. That is, POS was found to mediate the relationship between satisfaction with the mentor, AC, and work engagement. Surprisingly, mentorship type was not a contributing factor to satisfaction with the mentor. Among the protégée characteristics investigated, motivation to learn was positively related to satisfaction with the mentor whether the mentoring relationship was formal or informal