Working with People via Mentoring - Essay Example

Please the following important points about the assignment The contextual background of your chosen organisation should be included in yourintroduction, to act as a backcloth to your assignment. 2. A conclusion is needed, as well as an introduction. Your assignment will thus have six sections. 3. Your assignment should be typed/ word processed on one side of your paper. Please number your pages. 4. You should write in a fluent style, with paragraphs of a reasonable length. A few further sub-headings are welcome, within the six sections which must have the six sub-headings. 5. "Signposting" in your assignment is essential, i.e. by saying exactly what you are doing, e.g. which parts you are emphasising, which parts you are neglecting. 6. At least twelve references to different authoritative sources, are needed, e.g. books or journals articles. If you cite a quotation, the page number of that quotation is needed. These references should, of course, support, sharpen, extend, amplify, reflect and challenge the points you are making. At least four of the twelve references should relate to articles from academic ( refereed, peer-reviewed ) journals. The Harvard System of referencing should be used. If you access a book, journal article, report, etc. via the internet, & the publication is available in printed form (hard copy), you should cite it in the Harvard format for printed materials. A UH Guide on using the Harvard System of Referencing is available on StudyNet. 7. Please include a photocopy of this assignment brief and instruction sheet at the front of your assignment. 8. Length should be 3,000 words, approximately. 9. Reference should be made to theoretical ideas where they help to sharpen, clarify and reflect practical issues. 10. Your assignment should be reflective, analytical and evaluative, rather than purely descriptive. 11. Comparisons and contrasts with a range of other examples should be used to sharpen your own ideas . 12. You can collect and use your own relevant primary data ( for example, by questionnaires and/or interviews ) where you feel this will enhance the quality of your assignment. 13. Diagrams are welcome where they enhance your work. Integrate them and refer to them in your text and label them as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc and give each one a title. It is important that the emphasis in your assignment (which is at Level 3) as a whole is on the higher level academic skills of reflection, discussion, analysis and evaluation rather than on mere description. Working with People via Mentoring Introduction What makes organizations effective and enduring How come many organisations that were founded by great leaders did not close when that leader died or left Are those secrets to institutional success available to beginning entrepreneurs or employees, wishing to establish an organisation available to beginning entrepreneurs or new employees hoping to climb the corporate ladder The answer is yes, and this is available through mentoring. Mentoring is a long-term relationship between an experienced individual, the mentor, and an apprentice or mentee. The usual goal of such relationship is for the mentee to learn from the mentor in a more meaningful and experiential way. The wisdom and experience of the mentor is something that one cannot from reading books alone. Mentorship then is also a process by which an inexperienced person could become properly trained through the guidance of another. It is generally hoped that the mentee will be at par or even exceed his or her mentor. (Wai-Packard, n.d.) Consider a primary school. Such institution serves very young children. A new teacher fresh from Teacher's College will generally have little experience handling children. During his or her time as student-teacher in practicum, a senior teacher will guide, assist, and supervise him or her in classes. But such luxury is not available in real-life teacher. He or she is left alone to sink or swim, to rise or fall in the academe. Should would-be teachers like the author facing the real world for the first time just be allowed to fall No, and this is where mentoring can definitely help. How mentoring can help in the primary school and in other places is the subject of this paper. Theoretical Foundations of Mentoring There are many important reasons why mentoring should be instituted. There are several theories that could account for this, and three of which shall be presented and utilized in this section, namely The Hierarchy of Needs, the Hygiene Factors, and the Stages of Psychosocial Development. The first theory is Abraham Maslow's theory of motivation as represented by a hierarchy of needs. In his model, there are five levels of needs: 1) physiological, 2) safety, 3) belonging 4) esteem 5) self-actualization. There are several factors involved, but basically, one cannot feel the urge to satisfy a higher need without first adequately satisfying the need below it. Therefore, it is implicit that to help a person feel the need to work on fulfilling his highest potential or self-actualization, physiological needs must be satisfied. (Chapman, 2008a) How this is and should be done is beyond the scope of this paper. As far as the purpose of mentoring is concerned, the initial goal of a mentor to his mentee is to help him adequately cope with the demands of a job. This is true in educational institutions where educators are usually over worked yet underpaid. A would-be teacher realizing such dismal situation might have easily quit if there were no mentors to guide them. Even so, a mentor should have achieved a high level of self-actualization so that he could easily encourage the students to find ways by which to actualize their potentials. Moreover, if that mentor has made a permanent mark to a company's history, it would be desirable if he could act as a mentor to a sufficient number of people who will take his legacy to the next level sooner or later. The second theory involves that of Frederick Herzberg. He proposed that several factors are involved in the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of people at work. Up until he proposed his theory, people had always believed that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are simply opposite concepts, and to address dissatisfaction is simply to do the opposite of the things which cause dissatisfaction. He concluded that the following are the real motivators of man: (Chapman, 2008b) Achievement or the sense of joy by doing meaningful tasks Recognition for a job well done Work because it is something that a man can look forward to everyday Responsibility because man wants the thrill of much responsibility. Advancement or simply the sense of being rewarded for a job well-done. Of course, people gaining advancement are motivated also by the increased responsibility With these things considered, mentoring is a mechanism by which a person could recognize the above motives. Without someone to guide someone to recognize the very things that matter, a person will find quitting easier than experience the necessary pain need to succeed in a certain profession. The third but not least important theory is Erikson's psychosocial theory of development. It is usually discussed in the context of disciplining and guiding children to become responsible adults. However, adults can still benefit from the knowledge of his theory. According to Erikson, there are distinct stages of social development marked by a conflict or crisis, e.g. identity crisis. Adequately settling any issue at each stage is desirable. If this could not be achieved, the person will be seized with many issues later, which should have been resolved earlier. (Chapman, 2008c) In the context of mentoring, it is essential that a person who had been through such phases will help guide any person entering similar phases. This would make the ordeal of the mentee more bearable, not to mention the inspiration from the mentor is priceless. Benefits of Mentoring Having laid the foundation in the previous section, the benefits of mentoring shall be explored. Although much has already been said, this section shall deal with the exact research findings on the benefits of mentoring. More specifically, benefits on the part of the mentee or protg, benefits on the part of the mentor, and benefits on the part of the organization or institution shall be examined. Barnett ( 2008:4) wrote that having a mentor provides several opportunities for the protg to learn skills and attitudes that a typical classroom course is unable to impart to a student. Although there are risks involved in such relationship, the potential rewards that such relationship offers is extremely attractive than working without a trusted guide. Consider the field of medical sciences, in particular nursing. The practitioner is expected to improve well over time; sometimes this is induced by peers and superiors alike. More often than not, such pressure is too much than what a typical person can handle. But mentoring is the key solution to such problems. Nurses ought to help each other through mentoring programs. Old nurses should mentor newer nurses so that transition from school-based work to real-life situations could be smooth as possible. (LS, S., LE, M., & C, S., 2001: 101-107) Some would think that it would be unfair for the seasoned nurses just to impart their skills and wisdom to new nurses who through them might find an easier time than what they had been through. But this is more than offset by the benefits reaped by mentors, which shall be discussed in the next subsection. Although many other examples of institutions or organizations could be provided, this is enough to demonstrate the great service that mentoring could deliver. Mentors are usually doing more than what is required of them as mentors, since they are largely responsible for whatever success or failure that their protg may experience under his tutelage. It would appear that being a mentor is so much work and hassle, but it can be shown that being a mentor is one of the most rewarding experiences that a person could have. It is only a perception by novice mentors to think that the cost is so much with benefits so little that they shun way or try to avoid being a mentor. But succeeding generations of mentoring could help address this issue. (Ragins & Scandura, n.d.: 493-509). Mentors are required to be leaders. Among its many perks, leadership is the leading quality that a mentor must and can develop in a mentorship program. ("Benefits of mentoring, 2006) Often, a mentee will run into many troubles or pitfalls. Without exerting leadership, both will definitely fall like a house of cards. Benefits of mentoring could be seen also at the institutional level. Villar & Strong (2007) made a study on a comprehensive mentoring program in California over a five-year period. Using a cost-benefit approach, they discovered that by investing in such programs, schools are likely to save more than by allowing teachers to fail and quit due to lack of mentoring programs. Such findings have wide implications. For educational institutions, it becomes imperative that schools implement such mentoring programs if they want to stay afloat plus keep the teachers happy and driven to work. Challenges in Mentoring While it is true that mentoring is beneficial, it is not spared from a host of problems. Hansman (2003: 14-16) recognized the following challengers usually encountered: 1. First, the mentor who was assigned and appointed to assist a mentee has no desire to be a mentor in the first place. 2. The mentee is unwilling to listen to the advices and encouragements of the mentor. 3. Mentoring as a process is complex, and factors such as sexual harassment or racial discrimination may complicate an otherwise simple two-person relationship. 4. Expectations placed by mentees on mentors are unrealistic. For the first point, this in itself is disastrous. An appointed mentor can barely be effective if his heart is not set on guiding and helping his protg. This can get frustrating. A mentee will be anxious to perform good enough, much less shine at the very start. The role of the mentor is very crucial at this stage, and it will be even more important down the road. To avoid this, the committee or official selecting the would-be mentor should examine whether that candidate has gained undeniable mastery of the craft and has the heart to share relevant experiences including mistakes that novices should and could avoid. Note also that a mentor who is actually unwilling to mentor someone is trying to avoid the opportunity for further growth. No growth is as good as dying. The person appointed to be a mentor should recognize that mentoring is an avenue by which he can pursue self-actualisation. To the degree that a person can help another be self-actualizing, the same or greater is the degree of self-actualisation he could attain. A mentor by teaching what he knows is really forced to learn and improve. And this is the beauty of mentoring that must motivated people to overcome the first listed challenge. Another common pitfall is the unwillingness to follow to the letter the instructions that the mentor gives. It appears that the newbie wants to make a mark but desires to do it his way. If that is the case, he should have not agreed to have a mentor. This attitude defeats the very purpose of mentorship, which is collaborative learning. A person might succeed without a mentor and be self-taught. But this path is difficult, and time and effort are two intangibles that could be saved via mentoring. Issues such as sexual harassment or racial discrimination always appear as challenges. Such is not limited and it is beyond the scope of the paper to discuss in detail all possible issues and solutions of similar nature. However, as a rule of thumb, a mentee should make self-actualisation as a daily endeavor, and a self-actualising person will always assert his dignity. Finally, a mentee is expecting so much from the mentor. The mentor is just human, and there is a limit in terms of time, energy, and effort where he is willing and able to assist his protg. This ought to be recognized at the very start of the mentoring program. Having state this, the protg should commit to do his share of the bargain, so any improvements in mentorship could possibly be achieved in a relatively short amount of time. There are other problems existing that are not mentioned in this section. Perhaps, even more complex problems in mentoring may arise due to the rapid technological changes that this world is offering. But these problems should be overcome, since these are nothing compared to the benefits that could be gained, which were discussed in the preceding section. Recommendations for Further Improvement in Mentoring First of all, there should be a mentoring system tailored specifically for an organization in the form of a written manual. While different people will have different mentoring styles, it cannot be denied that all will face common problems like those discussed in the previous section. The company should develop a system that can easily by implemented by would-be mentors, even by those without such experience. This way, those reluctant to be mentors will have no excuse when a system tested to work is put in place. While the above suggestion is aimed at eliminating completely if possible the challenges mentioned earlier, it would only gain limited results if not mixed with new technology. Before the advent of the internet, mentoring cannot occur if the mentor and protg are miles apart. Today, thanks to email, instant messaging, video-conferencing, mentoring could continue practically anytime and anywhere. This is called e-mentoring, and this is related to e-learning. For example, suppose a student or new worker needs to learn a subject but cannot physically attend classes or trainings, a mentor can leverage on the power of technology to help the mentee. This is being done in the University of Hagen, and the figure below is a sample of the process that they use. In this example, it is how to teach software engineering. Figure 1 - Structure of a Learning Unit (Weber-Wulff, 2007.) As can be seen, with the help of technology, a mentor could make instructions or learning units that a mentee could refer to. It does not matter whether the mentor is awake at any given time or not. This way, the mentor could be a very effective model, while doing other more important tasks. So far, such innovations are not fully implemented yet; but it is the hope of the author that e-mentoring shall soon be a daily phenomenon, which would make life easier for all. Perhaps, there are other ways by which the mentoring system could be improved. But the above are sufficient improvements by themselves, and the author does not wish to use more examples when two are already enough. Conclusion Doing this paper has opened the eyes of the author into the wonderful world of opportunities in mentoring. She has started to appreciate the efforts being given by her professors so that she could become a better professional in the years to come. Seeing the benefits of mentoring, a person wishing to improve his craft ought to seek a mentor: ("What is mentoring 2009) In business, Richard Branson had Freddie Laker. In politics, Alexander the Great has Aristotle. In Hollywood, Heath Ledger had Mel Gibson In sports, Greg Norman had Charlie Earp. With such great people as exampled, this assignment has encouraged the author to seek mentors in finance and social relationships to improve her probability of succeeding. It is also her hope that her friends will find the person whom the Goddess Athena shall pour out her wisdom in the form of Mentor. References Barnett, J. 2008. Mentoring, boundaries, and multiple relationships: opportunities and challenges. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 16(1), 3-16. Retrieved April 29, 2009, doi:10.1080/13611260701800900 Benefits of mentoring. 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2009, from http://www.hr.unsw.edu.au/osds/leadership/mentoringhow.html Chapman, A. 2008a. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved 25 April 2009, from http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm Chapman, A. 2008b. Frederick Herzberg motivational theory. Retrieved 25 April 2009, from http://www.businessballs.com/herzberg.htm Chapman, A. 2008c. Erikson's psychosocial development theory. Retrieved 25 April 2009, from http://www.businessballs.com/erik_erikson_psychosocial_theory.htm Hansman, C. 2003. Reluctant Mentors and Resistant Protgs: Welcome to the Real World of Mentoring. Adult Learning, 14(1), 14-16. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database. LS, S., LE, M., & C, S. 2001. Mentoring benefits and issues for public health nurses. Public Health Nursing (Boston, Mass.), 18(2), 101-107. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from MEDLINE with Full Text database. Ragins, B., & Scandura, T. n.d. Burden or blessing Expected costs and benefits of being a mentor. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20(4), 494. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from SocINDEX with Full Text database. Villar, A., & Strong, M. 2007. Is Mentoring Worth the Money A Benefit-Cost Analysis and Five-Year Rate of Return of a Comprehensive Mentoring Program for Beginning Teachers. [Abstract] ERS Spectrum, 25(3), 1-17. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from Education Research Complete database. Wai-Packard, B. n.d. Definition of mentoring. Retrieved 29 Apr 2009, from http://ehrweb.aaas.org/sciMentoring/Mentor_Definitions_Packard.pdf What is mentoring 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2009, from http://www.usq.edu.au/beyondeducation/mentoring/whatis.htm Weber-Wulff, D. 2007. Learning software engineering via internet. Retrieved 30 Apr 2009, from http://eleed.campussource.de/archive/2/206 Read More