Case Study 3
Generation Gap: Mentors and Protégés (Chap 13 ) pg 442
1. I believe in order for a mentor program to be successful there should be a formal type of structure with support from all levels of management. I believe that employees who are going into the mentoring program as either Mentees or Mentors should also be motivated individuals who choose to participate and not instructed to do so. If I were building a mentoring program I would first start with a formal structure that would have a set up of expectations as a mentor and a mentee of what is expected from both parties. I would complete a match process for mentors to mentees that would use a character/trait comparison of what accomplishments both have and attempt to match up the mentors to mentees with strong consideration of experiences both parties have.
2. Protégé’s would benefit from a mentor in several ways, first they gain a better understand of the work culture that exists form the mentor. In that the mentor can show the Protégé much of the culture in the organization in which the Protégé can learn from the mentor how to interact with others throughout the organization. The mentor can also learn from the Protégé in a different manner such as learning a new perspective from that individual. The mentor can also learn a leadership style such as transformational in which they learn how to influence the Protégé to become a successful individual within the organization.
3. I would say the primary trust in mentor relationships would be Knowledge-Based Trust. I believe that most mentoring relationships are created so that the mentor can share their knowledge to the mentee and they establish a trust in that type of relationship so that the Mentor can provide the knowledge they have learned over a long period of time to the mentee. By having a mentor with a fair amount of seniority or experience in the organization the mentee can learn from the mentor what to expect in