Mentoring in the Workplace

Executive Summary Some major business executives may say that earlier in their career they established a mentor relationship that helped them to get to where they are in their career. Research has shown that this statement can be true for some executives but not for all. Some experts believe that just having mentor relationships can or cannot affect someone’s career path and development. The purpose of this paper is to explain exactly what mentoring is and how it successful works within the workplace environment. Using support from various scholarly articles, I was able to discuss define the concept of mentoring and how it relates within the workplace setting. Using this concept, I establish the role of the mentor and mentee in regards to the mentor relationship, and explain how their roles have an impact on the outcome of the relationships itself. Within this paper you are introduced to the dynamics that are involved when actually establishing a mentoring program within an organization. I also discuss in detail the two different types of mentoring relationships and their affect on the workplace. In addition to the types of mentor relationships discussion, the influence of mentoring relationships on career success and corporate culture is revealed. This paper also expresses the difficulties that minorities and women have when it comes to them establishing mentor relationships within their own workplaces. Finally, I give my own personal insight as to how an effective mentoring program is established and maintained by using the mentoring program that my company has established since its 30 years of being in existence.

Mentoring in the Workplace

Within the past thirty years, the concept of mentoring has progressed into a career enhancement tool for many in the workplace. The concept dates back all the way to Ancient Greek times with King Odysseus when he appointed an advisor to look after his son while he was away (Hegstad, 1999, p.383). The role of a

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