Encounters in social cyberspace: e‐mentoring for professional women

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to discuss the barriers facing women aiming to progress in their careers, or return to work following a career break, and evaluate the effects of an innovatory e-mentoring scheme designed to overcome such obstacles and promote career development. Design/methodology/approach -An online community of practice was formed for professional women in four UK regions. A survey of the career barriers they experienced was carried out and 122 participants were matched using psychological profiling and computer processing. The e-mentoring process and participants' development was evaluated by means of pre-, mid-, and post-mentoring evaluation questionnaires. Findings -Mentees showed improvements in many key employability skills. For example, their ability to identify their weaknesses and ways to develop professionally improved substantially, as did their networking skills and ability to identify their strengths. Mentors also indicated that they had experienced development, for example, greater self-awareness, increased confidence, improved reflective skills, and development of online skills. A large proportion of participants viewed mentoring as a fundamental aid to women's development. The majority felt that electronic communication was effective in facilitating this mentoring. Practical implications -The e-mentoring programme which has been developed may be transferred to a range of other target groups. Matching mentees and mentors is one of the key challenges in e-mentoring design: an innovative system was designed which was able to provide personalised matching for each mentee. Originality/value -E-mentoring is still relatively under-researched, particularly from a European perspective. This paper provides evidence for the benefits of e-mentoring in the promotion of gender equality.

E-Mentoring: An Innovative Twist to Traditional Mentoring

“…Although women continue to make inroads into management, they still struggle to gain leadership positions. Women also continue to face barriers when it comes to obtaining promotions (Headlam-Wells, Craig and Gosland, 2006). E-mentoring can be a positive intervention, helping women succeed by allowing them the opportunity to call upon individuals with more experience for assistance and encouragement.…”

“…E-mentoring can be a positive intervention, helping women succeed by allowing them the opportunity to call upon individuals with more experience for assistance and encouragement. Rather than replicating the structure of face-to-face mentoring in management, web based mentoring can have positive implications for corporate and organizational strategies to help promote equality (Headlam-Wells, Craig and Gosland, 2006). Senior management has access to information at their fingertips almost instantaneously.…”

Exploring Adult Learners Usage of Information Communication Technology during a Virtual Peer Coaching Experience

“…In some cases attempts were thwarted by software and operational difficulties. This is where stronger guidelines and recommendations are needed to support students (Headlam-Wells, Craig & Gosland, 2006;Rowland, 2012) as understanding and skill in using ICT to support coaching is a requisite (Clutterbuck, 2010;Moreme, 2013). These issues become even more pronounced in online delivery, particularly with students in countries where access to hardware and high speed broadband is an issue.…”

“…The literature suggests that training in electronic arts is important in order to use communication technologies well (Headlam-Wells et al, 2006;Rowland, 2012) and to achieve success and program outcomes (Zey, 2011) even though electronic communication is used in daily personal and professional practice (Murphy, 2011). Instructors also need to understand the communication technology deeply, how it might affect student learning, and structure the learning experience so students use the technology successfully (Proserpio & Gioia, 2007).…”

“…Several students relied solely on e-mail and from the comments provided, consequently did not have the best experience. Integrating media may be the most appropriate strategy for building successful VPC relationships (Headlam-Wells et al, 2006;Purcell, 2004) …”