Critical issues in mentoring research

Introduction Research into the activity of mentoring has grown at a significant rate in the last twenty years (Allen, Eby, O’Brien & Lentz, 2008; Janssen, Vuuren & Jong, 2015) as has the range of inter-disciplinary subjects associated with mentoring, such as business, education, entrepreneurship, nursing and psychology (De Four, Pegg & Beck, 2015; Kochan, 2013; Laukhuf & Malone, 2015; Underhill, 2006). Allen et al.’s (2008) review of organizational mentoring literature – consisting of two hundred and seven individual research studies, published in sixty different journals acknowledged the growing interest and research on the topic of mentoring. The authors attributed this to the increasing recognition that formal and informal mentoring is associated with behavioral, attitudinal and career benefits for mentees and mentors (Allen et al., 2004; Eby et al., 2008; Ghosh & Reio, 2013). Additionally, over the last ten years there have been an increasing number of evaluations of mentoring research processes and practices (Allen et al., 2008; Bozeman & Feeney, 2007; Janssen, Vuuren & Jong, 2015; Kammeyer-Mueller & Judge, 2008; Underhill, 2006). A broad range of mentoring studies are explored in this chapter within the context of identifying the critical issues involved in assuring the quality of mentoring research. Purpose and Overview The aim of this chapter is to provide an in-depth analysis of the critical issues related to the quality of research processes and strategies used in contemporary inter-disciplinary scholarly literature in mentoring. Further, it seeks to expand researcher and practitioner perspectives about this issues that will ultimately enhance the research about and practice of mentoring. The chapter begins with an outline of the process used to identify critical issues in assuring quality in mentoring research. This is followed by a discussion of each of the eight critical issues identified through this process, referring to specific studies that illustrate the degree to which quality is achieved. The final section posits the way ahead for mentoring research

Facets of sovereignty. Institutions that Spur and Institutions that Retard Tribal Development.

That so many of their assets continue to be held in governmental trusts under outdated policy rationales creates great difficulty for indigenous peoples. But restoring control of those assets to their rightful owners will impose daunting responsibilities on judiciaries. Exchanging assets for a residual share of returns from a joint venture exposes one to shirking by co-investors. Judiciaries known reliably to penalize those who renege on commitments help investors persuade others to sink complementary assets in promising projects. But a court is an arm of the sovereign. Across history and geography justifiable rulings adverse to sovereigns have so often been honored in the breach that private parties are especially leery of sovereigns as co-investors. To attract assets into its realm a sovereign may thus invest in a reputation for abiding by waivers of sovereign immunity, or rely on a still stronger sovereign to bond its waivers. Reputations arise from observed court successes by aggrieved co-investors when their suits against the sovereign are meritorious. But many tribal reservations are small and poor, have offered few investment opportunities, and hence possess thin legal histories. At the same time, investors are skeptical that courts of more powerful sovereigns such as Canada and the United States dependably bond tribal waivers. Thus tribes often must pay investors high risk-premiums, resort to costly tribal ownership, or even forego promising opportunities altogether. The Sovereign’s Paradox refers to the difficulty that an entity with power to compel involuntary outcomes has in negotiating voluntary ones. This chapter explores ways to ameliorate that Paradox and thus improve returns from reservation assets.

Business strategy and the environment Tesco Plc's declining financial performance and underlying issues

The case presents a teaching tool which requires students to: 1) analyze the financial performance of Tesco Plc over the last four years; 2) compare Tesco’s market position with key competitors; 3) identify and evaluate Tesco’s business strategy; 4) evaluate the causes of Tesco’s decline in performance; 5) develop recommendations to address declining performance; 6) identify and evaluate the Human Resource strategic role in addressing and supporting performance. The case is suitable for a business strategy or human resource strategy class. The case is appropriate for use at the undergraduate or masters level. Students should have some familiarity with business and human resource management strategy before being assigned to the case. Students might be assigned to work individually or in teams on the project. Individuals or groups may be required to present their research to the class for discussion and comment. Six to ten hours outside of class should be required to complete the case study exercise. Classroom discussion should be between two to three hours

Talent management and developing leadership talent

An important aspect of talent management in the contemporary organization is the investment and development of leaders including leadership development. Developing leadership talent is viewed as a key lever in delivering competitive advantage in business today. Leadership can be viewed from multiple perspectives: as a personality with special traits or characteristics; an act or behavior shown by the leader; the capability, knowledge, and skills demonstrated by the leader; the process used by the leader to bring groups together; or transformative change and the power relationship that exists between leaders and followers. In essence, developing leadership talent is a multi-layered process, ideally involving a blended learning approach that incorporates formal, informal, and experiential learning. The development of the leader as an individual focuses on building and enhancing the individual's capability to undertake the role of a leader. A key aspect of leader development is that “it is ultimately about facilitating an identity transition” to create new leadership options

Selected Insecticides in the Control of Invertebrates Possibly Associated With Avian Botulism

Avian botulism or \u27\u27western duck sickness has long been a major problem on duck marshes in the western part of the United States. This has been demonstrated to result from the ingestion of products of metabolism of bacterial cells of Clostridium botulinum type C. These products when ingested by waterfowl act as neurotoxins (Coburn, 1942). Studies have shown that many animal tissues are readily utilized as culture media by C1. botulinum type C (Bell et al., 1955). Since 1955 investigations have indicated a close relation between the occurrence of avian botulism and invertebrate population levels. It is thought that when invertebrates reach peak numbers during their most favorable reproductive season, a large die-off soon follows. Large numbers of birds show symptoms of avian botulism approximately one week after this die-off begins. The theory is that invertebrate carcasses provide a suitable medium for the rapid multiplication of C1. botulinum, and hence, the development of high concentrations of toxin. These toxin-laden carcasses are readily ingested by waterfowl which succumb to the neurotoxins (Jensen and Allen, 1960). The prime objective of this study was to find some means of preventing invertebrates from attaining high peak numbers during their most favorable reproductive season and thus possibly reduce botulism among waterfowl. Complete kill of the invertebrate population appeared to be undesirable for two reasons: (1) too large a kill would reduce waterfowl below desirable levels; and (2) excessive kill would increase the number of decomposing carcasses and favor the outbreak of botulism. It was theorized that the kill should be between 30 and 60 percent of the invertebrates present prior to the time when peak numbers were reached. Only those insecticides which have shown little toxicity to wildlife were used in this experiment. Attempts were made to estimate the value of LD 50 for each of the insecticides used in this study. LD 50 is the dosage causing 50 percent mortality in a test population and is considered the most reliable of the LD figures (Rudd and Genelly, 1956). The specific objectives of this project were: (1) to evaluate the relative effectiveness of selected insecticides, (2) to determine the selectivity of the insecticides on several invertebrate groups, and (3) to determine the treatment most effective in reducing numbers of specific invertebrate groups

UK pension sustainability and fund manager governance: agent duties to the principal

Sustainable investing includes the application of non-financial (Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)) criteria to asset selection in institutional investor portfolios (Capelle-Blancard and Mojon 2011). The article explores the implications for applying ESG screening to the institutional investors making the asset selections. Institutional investors are a heterogeneous group of investors, with fund managers specifically being some of the largest listed organisations globally (Ingley and van der Walt 2004). Whether their own corporate management duties to fiduciary governance (the G in ESG) benefiting their shareholders has any material impact on the financial returns outcomes of the pension asset management contract, and specifically whether there is a fiduciary conflict favouring of the exclusive best interest of fund management shareholders is the question addressed by the paper