Mentorship Theory And Current Practice: A Study Of Executives In The Greater Denver Region

Abstract

Mentoring is increasingly seen as a critical skill for modern business. It builds on a team concept that represents a win-win situation for the organization as a whole, for the mentor, and for the mentee.  Mentoring focuses on work-related needs of the company while building the skills of individual employees. Our study incorporates an extensive literature review on best practices in mentoring, along with the results from interviews with 395 business executives in the Denver region. The discussion builds on a series of interviews conducted between 1998 and 2001 with executives who have had served as a mentor for at least one mentee.

In examining mentorship theory and practice, we will focus initially on the challenge and expectations of mentoring programs within organizations, and how specific organizations face these issues.  We will next consider the purpose of a mentoring program, looking at the objectives of the organization as well as of the various individual participants. The method for mentorship practice includes program dimensions such as the size, levels of formality, attitudes of those involved, and the various mentorship roles.  Finally, we report how the mentee participants rated their experience.