Beyond Mentoring: Alternative Sources and Functions of Developmental Support

Abstract

Content analyses were used to explore alternative sources and functions of developmental support other than mentoring among nonfaculty university employees. The majority of participants reported that they had an alternative source of developmental support outside of a mentoring relationship, that the developmental functions (i.e., kinds of support) provided by these sources varied, and that there were differences in sources and functions by participant age and gender. The alternative source of support most frequently mentioned was coworkers. The results also suggested that alternative sources of support may provide many of the functions associated with traditional mentors, although the full range may not be represented.

Effect of Mentorship Program on Mentees’ Psychosocial Development

“…Several studies were conducted using a direct effects model to investigate mentorship program based on different samples like perceptions of 88 participants of a large south eastern university in United States (Allen & Finkelstein, 2003), perceptions of 18 students at University of Brighton, United Kingdom (Dutton, 2003), perceptions of 110 students in Canadian colleges (Bernier et al, 2005) and perceptions of 196 students in teaching based higher learning institutions in Sarawak . These studies found that the ability of mentors to properly implement comfortable communication and provide adequate support in formal and/or informal mentorship relationships had been important determinants of mentees' psychosocial development in the respective organizations (Allen & Finkelstein, 2003;Bernier et al, 2005;Dutton, 2003;.…”

“…These studies found that the ability of mentors to properly implement comfortable communication and provide adequate support in formal and/or informal mentorship relationships had been important determinants of mentees' psychosocial development in the respective organizations (Allen & Finkelstein, 2003;Bernier et al, 2005;Dutton, 2003;.…”

“…Mentors and mentees have played a significant role in teaching, inducting and developing the skills and talents of mentee. Mentorship has been receiving substantial attention among practitioners and academics as a means to professional and personal development (Little, Kearney & Britner, 2010) and/or counseling services (Gregson, 1994; Even though the nature of this relationship is significant, little has been left unexplained about the role of mentorship program as an important determinant of mentee outcomes in the mentorship program research literature (Allen & Finkelstein, 2003;Bernier et al, 2005;. Many scholars argue that this situation is related to the emphasis of many previous on the internal properties of mentorship program, employment of a simple survey method to explain different respondent perceptions toward particular mentorship program models and usage of a simple correlation analysis to measure the strength of association between mentorship program and mentees' psychosocial development.…”

A self-determination theory perspective on mentoring relationships at work

“…Their biographical interview study of significant peer relationships identifies the information peer (sharing information with the protégé), the collegial peer (providing career strategizing, job-related feedback, and friendship), and the special peer (providing confirmation, emotional support, personal feedback, and friendship). Based on the answers on two open-ended questions of a larger survey, Allen and Finkelstein (2003) found that family members, supervisors, colleagues, subordinates, and friends provide comparable developmental support as mentors do. However, for a long time, mentoring studies ignored the influence of others on the protégé's career development.…”

Learning to notice

“…that which has helped you learn, grow and develop on the job (Allen & Finkelstein, 2003). McDougall and Beattie (1997) In the literature many models of coaching can be found that represent a range of staff development practices.…”