Content

Item Introduction

Page 1

Case Study - Mentoring Millennials Question 1

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Question 2

Question 3

Conclusion

References

Introduction

Mentoring

Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be

Is most often defined as a professional relationship in which an experienced person (mentor) assists another (mentee) in developing specific skills and knowledge that will enhance the less-experienced persons professional and personal growth.

Millenials
An abbreviation for millennial generation, is a term used by demographers to describe a segment of the population born between 1980 and 2000 (approximately). Sometimes referred to in the media as "Generation Y," millennials are the children of the post-WWII baby boomer generation.

Case Study

Mentoring Millennials (Page 484-485) Mentoring isnt what it used to be. Traditional mentoring programs usually match an up-andcoming newbie with a seasoned, gray-templed, and usually male executive for a career-long relationship that helps the junior person move up through the ranks of the company. But the work climate has changed, and people dont tend to stick with the same company for an entire career. Plus, the old-school model has its serious drawbacks. Senior executives often say they dont have time for such an intensive, long term commitment. Scheduled lunch meetings with no specific purpose leave both the mentor and the mentee wondering Whats the point? and wishing they were back at the office actually getting work done. Such traditional matches can feel like arranged marriages. And, like a marriage gone bad, they can end in a messy divorce when a mentor takes credit for a mentees work; a mentee vies for the mentors job; or the two are just incompatible in their personalities, values, or work styles. And such sour relationships can be tough to pull out when the matches are imposed from above. Youve read a lot lately about new approaches to mentoring. Instead of formal matches, many involve a mentee seeking out a mentor, sometimes for help with specific question or problem. Such relationships tend to be very focused and short-term, eliminating a number of the problems that plague traditional mentoring programs. There are also a variety of new takes on setting up relationships. Programs like Mentoring Worldwide or Circle of Friends transcend corporate boundaries, connecting mentors and mentees across businesses and industries-even across the globe. The Internet is a key tool in such efforts, connecting people through online databases, wikis, e-mail, and Skype. Some companies, like IBM and Intel, have even adopted such tools for in-house mentoring programs. These approaches have really changed the face of mentoring, which is becoming more about learning than feedback and perks. Whats more, mentoring is becoming reciprocal. No longer top-down, senior executives are learning as much from the up-and-comings as they are offering their own knowledge and experience. In the new knowledge economy, everyone benefits. Youre pleased to read about these new developments because youve been thinking about setting up a mentoring program to help the increasing number of millenials, or Generation Yers, who work for your company. Their turnover rate is very high, about every 18 months or so. You would like to keep them with the company longer so that you can benefit from their creativity and skills. The problem, perhaps more than anything else, is boredom. These folks need to be constantly learning, or they bolt. Ironically, they appreciate stability, but stability for them means support and constant feedback about how to improve and what challenges to take on next. It also means an environment in which they feel others genuinely care about their success in life. You think a mentoring program could really help develop this part of your staff-and even benefit your more senior people- but you know that the traditional approach wont work.
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For this exercise, assemble a team of three to four students to represent the senior management team responsible for this decision. Try using the dialectical inquiry technique discussed in Chapter 5 (Planning and Decision Making) on page 185-186.

Do you think a mentoring program could really help develop this part of your staff? In our opinion, mentoring program can help:

Employee Satisfaction Employees that participate in mentoring programs have a higher job satisfaction. Higher job satisfaction leads to increased productivity and reduced turnover.

Reduce Frustration Employees that don't understand their jobs and don't know where to go for help become frustrated. Frustration leads to morale problems and lead to higher turnover. Mentoring help employee to find resources and answers to problem, also to resolve their problems themselves.

Question

1. Why are traditional mentoring relationships unlikely to work for you in this situation? Use what you know specifically about millennials from this case and the text to help you answer. In the past, people tend to stick with the same company for entire career. Therefore it was difficult for them to quick the job because of bad relationship between mentors and finds a new job in a different company. This is how traditional mentoring works. However, people like milennials who were born between 1977 and 1997 dont tend to stick the same company anymore. They have choice that they quick the job and look for another job that have better environment and mentor because millennials will account for nearly half the employee in the world. Company want them to stay longer. Therefore, if company implement traditional mentoring, millennials could go away. Moreover, millennials want more focused and short relationship. When they need a help, they just want to ask specific question quickly. In contrast, in traditional mentoring it is usually long term relationship and it is difficult to repair relationship once it gone badly. These are why traditional mentoring unlikely to work in this situation.

2. What type of mentoring program would you set up? Explain your answer. The type of mentoring that I would set up is Group mentoring. A mentoring group is a collection of mentoring relationships that meets together on a regular basis for an agreed upon length of time. The groups primary purpose is to help mentees accomplish two tasks which are set important development goals and build competence and character to reach those goals. In addition, especially in the workplace, the overarching purpose of most groups is career development often in the context of understanding and working with diversity. Some circles form in order to give members exposure to cross-functional and crossgeographical issues. Groups outside the workplace focus on many other purposes from members spiritual development to the attainment of increased social and emotional intelligence. The multiple mentoring relationships in the circle include those between the mentorfacilitator (or facilitators) and the mentees as well as the peer mentoring relationships among the mentees themselves. The groups typically consist of eight to twelve mentees and one, two, or three mentor-facilitators. Having a group of peers is a huge advantage, because it really helps to hear that they (millenials) are not alone. They get to hear how other people are grappling with the same issues right now and they get an affirmation of how hard it can be, as well as good ideas for how to proceed. It's almost a form of group therapy and validation. Companies that adopt group mentoring find themselves getting results for little initial investment, with many group mentoring solutions employing social networking, with traditional face-toface methods offered as a supplement. The advantages of group mentoring are: 1. An organization can maximize its pool of qualified mentors, because the mentormentee ratio is larger. 2. By working together in a group, mentees often bond and build a network, which is valuable for a cohort of mentees joining the organization together or moving at a similar pace into greater responsibility. 3. Mentees receive multiple sources of feedback, not just that of one mentor. Hearing the same message from many sources can have increased impact. 4. Groups help normalize a mentoring culture throughout the organization.

3. How could the mentoring program you design benefit your senior staff? What challenges might you encounter in bridging the generation gap to make such a program work? What features can you build into your program that will address these issues? i) Mentoring program can give benefit to senior staff through : a) Satisfaction in sharing expertise with others and re-energizes their career.

b) Gains satisfaction in sharing expertise with others.

c) Learns more about other areas within the organization.

ii)

Challenges might encounter in bridging the generation gap to make the program work is : a) The senior staff refuse to be a mentor b) Not everyone enjoys group learning and sharing. In fact, some people dislike it a lot. c) Members may feel pressured by the group when they have difficulty setting goals or making progress.

iii)

Features can build into the program that will address these issues is : a) Awareness Training To raise employee awareness of diversity issues and to challenge the underlying assumption they may have about others. b) Diversity training Teach employee or member the practical skills they need for managing a diverse work force such as conflict resolution and problem solving. c) Diversity Pairing People with different cultural background, sexes, race and ethnicities are paired together to get know each other For instance: within mentor and mentee
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Conclusion

Mentoring program gives employees, both mentors and mentees the opportunity to be better and more productive. Mentor - mentee teams accomplish more than individual contributors because the highly skilled mentor can focus more effectively on the high skilled areas of his works. The mentee will perform more effectively because he working within his current range of expertise and does not get stuck or road blocked trying to handle things outside his skill level. As a member of the team, the mentee not only learns how the mentor handles the highly skilled aspects of the job, but also gets credit for the successes of the team, leading to increased performance in the job. As an added benefit to the mentor, when senior employees mentor others, they hone their own skills more effectively in the process.

References Bateman, T., & Snell, S. (1999). Management: Building Competitive Advantage (4th ed.): Richard D Irwin. Bateman, T., & Snell, S. (2008). Management: Leading & Collaborating in the Competitive World (8th ed.): McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Daft, R. L. Management (4th ed.): The Dryden Press. Dyck, B., & Neubert, M. (2008). Management: Current Practices and New Directions (1 ed.): South-Western College Pub. Williams, C. (2008). Principles of Management (6 International Edition ed.): Cengage Learning.