Structured Mentorship For New Employees: A Case Study

Abstract

In The Southland Corporation’s Pacific Western Division new field representatives are assigned a “Sponsor”/Mentor. Intentions include the provision of a “neutral” person with whom to talk-over problems. To examine the nature of sponsor/sponsoree relationships and to evaluate participant benefits a study was conducted involving structure interviews with sponsors and sponsorees. Grouped responses, in some of the focused areas of the research, provided indices (of satisfaction with the relationship, for example). In addition, sponsoree perceptions of their sponsor’s adherence to the six prescribed behaviors of the Robert Carkhuff (1971) model for helping relationships were measured. The level of correlation between “Carkhuffian behavior”, by the sponsor, and sponsoree satisfaction was established, and participant suggestions were obtained. Sponsor and Sponsoree satisfaction with the program was found to be high, though sponsors are much more satisfied than sponsorees. The relationship between sponsor satisfaction and treatment in the Carkhuff recommendations was found to be moderately correlated.