MENTORING EFFECTIVENESS IN A

CORPORATE SETTING :AN

EVALUATION
BY :SUMEDHA DAHIYA
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

DR. ABHA SHUKLA

MENTORING (INTRODUCTION)

Dates back to the time of Homers Odyssey.

In 1931 the jewel tea company implemented formal

mentoring program for the first time.

Is beneficial for organization , mentor ,

mentee/learner .

Mentoring can be via informal or formal mentorship

programs/schemes .

Informal mentoring is more individualistic in nature

and high on social intensity .

Mentoring can be functional or dysfunctional.

ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS

Organizational politics is related to POPS (perception

of politics ).

Its more subjective in nature .

Mentor motives have an impact on the overall

mentoring relationship.

Mentor motives can either be self enhancement

motives or benefit other motives .

OBJECTIVE OF THE
STUDY
Mentoring becomes increasingly important in todays age of
social learning , where the economic climate is such that it
has made mentoring a necessary activity for continuous
development and learning.
The study here intends to focus on

The importance and effectiveness of mentoring in

development of the protge.

Evaluating the characteristics of effective mentoring.

The impact of organisational politics on mentoring

relationships.

Research methodology

Data collection: primary and secondary data

Data collection instrument : A self-designed questionnaire

consisting of 30 questions is used for collecting data

Sample Size :53 samples were collected

Sampling Process :Convenience Sampling

Tools for analysis:

1.

Percentage Analysis

2.

Chi-square analysis

3.

Correlation

QUESTIONAIRRE
1.Mentoring

is offered to everyone on an informal or formal basis.

2.Is mentoring compulsory or voluntary in nature in your organisation?
3.Does the organisation provide you with any special training as a mentee or mentor before
you become a part of the mentoring relationship?
4.My general attitude towards mentoring is:
5.I would rate my knowledge of mentoring as the following.
6.My knowledge of mentoring is based upon the following sources of information:
7.Has their been a mentoring moment in your career so far.
8.Mentoring is an effective method of developing your potential.
9.My current supervisor freely offers advice and counsel to those who need it.
10.
I am comfortable going to my boss asking for help with a problem that I cannot solve.
11.
My peers are the best source of help and information about jobs, promotions, assignments
etc.
12.
Are their any monetary incentives linked to the mentorship program in your organisation ?
13.My desire to participate in the Mentoring Program is:
14.
If I apply, it would be as one of the following:
15.
Factors that would keep me from applying:

QUESTIONAIRRE(cont.)
16.
How

effective and fruitful the overall mentoring relationship to you is:

17.
How politicised is the climate in your organisation.
18.
People in this organization attempt to build themselves up by tearing others down.
19.
There is no place for yes-men around here; good ideas are desired even if it means disagreeing
with supervisors.
20.
I cant remember when a person received a pay increase or promotion that was inconsistent with
the published policies.
21.
Sometimes it is easier to remain quiet than fight the system.
22.
My mentor is unwilling to delegate responsibility to me.
23.
My mentor has taken credit for work that I have done.
24.
My mentor seems to have more important things to do than to meet with me.
25.
My mentor is more concerned about his/her own career than helping me develop in mine.
26.
My mentor has conveyed empathy for the concerns and feelings I have discussed with him/her.
27.
My mentor gave me assignments or tasks that prepared me for a higher job.
28.
Do personal favours for your mentor to show him/her that you're friendly.
29.
How bad is the impact of office politics on mentoring .
30.
Who is or was your most recent mentor?

PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS(cont.)

Mentoring is offered to everyone

on an informal or formal basis.

Formal/informal mentoring

Compulsory/voluntary nature of mentoring

highly informal; 6% highly formal; 2%

Is mentoring compulsory or
voluntary in nature in your
dont know ; 4%
organisation?

informal ; 30%

formal; 60%
dont know ; 2%

voluntary; 47%

compulsory; 49%

PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS(cont.)

Are there any monetary

incentives linked to the
mentorship program in your
oraganisation?
Monetary incentives (if any) linked to mentoring

dont know; 13%

no ; 68%

yes; 19%

My desire to participate in
the mentoring program
is:

Desire to participate in mentoring program

neutral; 19%

low ; 2%

high; 58%

very high; 21%

PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS(cont.)

Does the organisation provide you

with any special training as a
mentee or mentor before you
become a part of the mentoring
relationship?
Special training (if any) provided to mentor/mentee

Mentoring moment( if any) in career

Has there been a mentoring

moment in your career so far?

dont know ; 11%

yes ; 49%

no; 28%

no ; 40%
yes ; 72%

ANALYSIS USING PERCENTAGE METHOD

How politicized is the climate

in your organisation?
Impact of politics on mentoring
How politicised the climate is at your organisation

very apolitical; 2%
apolitical; 11%

slightly political; 40%

How bad is the impact of office politics on

positive impact; 2%
mentoring ?

very negative impact; 11%

highly political ; 15%

moderately political; 32%

negative impact; 64%

no impact; 23%

PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS(cont.)

I would rate my knowledge of

mentoring as the following:
Mentoring is an effective method of developing potential
Knowledge of mentoring

no knowledge; 2%

excellent; 9%

Mentoring is an effective method

4% disagree; 2%
ofneutral;
developing
potential and an
strongly
agree; 30%
evolving
career.

moderate ; 34%

very good; 55%

agree; 64%

Data analysis(Rank
correlation)

ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEES DESIRE TO PARTICIPATE

IN THE PROGRAM AND HOW FRUITFUL THE
MENTORING RALATIONSHIP HAS BEEN TO THEM

INFERENCE :Its positively correlated .

Desire to X

Rx

Effectiveness

Ry

[ Rx- Ry ]

participa

D2

te
Very

11

Highly

3.5

0.5

high
High

31

effective
Effective

1
3

Neutral

10

Cant say

1
1

3.5

-0.5

1.5

0.5

Low

Ineffective

1
0

Very low

Highly

1.5

-0.5

ineffective

D2 = 1

Rank correlation

EFFECT OF DEGREE OF POLITICS PREVALENT IN

THE ORGANISATION ON THE DESIRE TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE MENTROING PROGRAM

INFERENCE :Its negatively correlated .

Desire

Rx

Degree of

Ry

[ Rx- Ry ]

politics

Very

Highly political

-2

low
Low

Moderately

-2

-2

Neutral

Slightly

7
2

High

0
3

political
Apolitical

1
6

Very

1
1

Very apolitical

high

D2 = 30

ANALYSIS USING CHI-SQUARE

DO EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE HAD A MENTORING MOMENT IN THEIR

CAREER HAVE A MORE POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS MENTORING

Null Hypothesis Ho: There is no association between having a mentoring

moment in your career on the attitude towards mentoring.

Calculated value [O-E] 2/E = 2.462

Degrees of freedom (m-1) (n-1) = (3-1) (2-1)= 2
The tabulated value for1 degrees freedom at 5% level of significance is 5.991.
The calculated value is lesser than tabulated value. Therefore we fail to reject
the hypothesis.

Inference:Having a mentoring moment in your career or not doesnt

necessarily affect your attitude towards mentoring.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING

IF FORMAL TRAINING OF THE MENTOR/MENTEE MAKES THE OVERALL

MENTORING RELATIONSHIP MORE EFFECTIVE AND FRUITFUL TO THE
EMPLOYEE

Null Hypothesis Ho: There is no association between having a formal

training and the effectiveness of the mentoring relationship .

Calculated value [O-E] 2/E = 5.2975

Degrees of freedom (m-1) (n-1) = (3-1) (3-1) = 4
The tabulated value for1 degrees freedom at 5% level of significance is 9.488.
The calculated value is lesser than tabulated value. Therefore we fail to reject
the hypothesis.

Inference:Having a formal training doesnt necessarily ensure a more

effective and fruitful mentoring relationship .

HYPOTHESIS TESTING

DO MONETARY INCENTIVES LINKED TO THE MENTROING PROGRAM

INCREASES THE DESIRE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM

Null Hypothesis Ho:There is no association between employees desirability to

participate in the program and monetary incentives linked to it .

Calculated value [O-E] 2/E = 4.9119

Degrees of freedom (m-1) (n-1) = (4-1) (3-1)= 6
The tabulated value for1 degrees freedom at 5% level of significance is 12.592.
The calculated value is lesser than tabulated value. Therefore we fail to reject the
hypothesis.

Inference:There is no necessary association between employees desirability to

participate in the program and monetary incentives linked to it .

HYPOTHESIS TESTING

IMPACT OF GENERAL POLITICAL CLIMATE ON MENTORING

Null Hypothesis Ho: There is no association between general political

climate and its impact on mentoring

Calculated value [O-E] 2/E =2.4225

Degrees of freedom (m-1) (n-1) = (3-1) (3-1) = 4
The tabulated value for1 degrees freedom at 5% level of significance is 9.488.
The calculated value is lesser than tabulated value. Therefore we fail to reject
the hypothesis.

Inference:There is no association between general political climate and its

impact on mentoring .

FINDINGS

Majority of the organisations have a formal approach towards mentoring , they have
organisation supported formal mentoring programs .

Many organisations pre-train their staff before they are allowed to enter in a mentoring
relationship .

Most employees have a good knowledge of mentoring , which seem to have been gained
majorly from personal mentoring experiences.

Almost three quarters of employees surveyed have had a mentoring moment in their
career .

Almost all employees agree that mentoring would help them have an evolving career and
develop their potential .

Most employees have a high to neutral desire to participate in such programs .

Time commitments, office politics and lack of support from the top management are some
of the reasons that would keep employees from applying to such programs .

Most employees find mentoring to be effective and fruitful .

Majority of the organisations have significant amount of politics prevalent at their offices .

Traditional form of mentoring where somebody senior in rank is the mentor is still the most
common form of mentoring .

FINDINGS(cont.)

The higher the desire to participate in the program ,the more fruitful the
relationship is.

Higher the degree of politics in the organisation, less is the desire to

participate in the program .

Having a mentoring moment in your career or not doesnt necessarily

affect your attitude towards mentoring.

There is no necessary association between employees desire to

participate in the program and monetary incentives linked to it .

Having a formal training doesnt necessarily ensure a more effective and

fruitful mentoring relationship .

There is no association between general political climate and its impact

on mentoring .

Both mentor and mentees should be provided with special pre-training

so both can extract the maximum benefits from their mentoring
relationship .

RECOMMENDATIONS

Top management supported mentoring programs would have a greater

impact , so management should show its commitment towards such
programs from time to time .

Since a lot of employees reported that time commitments are keeping them
from applying to such programs , so what the organisations can do is
allocate some special time solely for mentoring purpose so that employees
dont have to take out time from their own schedule .

Rather than finding the source of motivation in monetary incentives , the

companys should focus on the benefits of the programs to increase the
desirability of such programs .

To keep the effect of politics away from such programs one should encourage
formal programs where matching the mentor with the mentee is not left to
the employees themselves .

Mentoring should not be limited to high performance employee or the higher

ranked employees , but should be offered to everyone .

Mentoring should be kept voluntary in nature as nobody should be

forced to get into something that they dont believe in, but at the same

RECOMMENDATIONS(co
nt.)

Organisations should diverge their focus from

traditional forms of mentoring to newer
methods like peer mentoring ,backward
mentoring etc.

Mentoring relationships should be monitored

and reviewed and see if they are working well
or else try to bring in a change in them .

LIMITATIONS

Best way to examine a mentoring relation would have been to get the
question answered from both mentor and mentee in a dyad , but it was
difficult to spot such dyads and make them participate in the study.

We chose not to include the perspective of the mentors in the study as

most of them were at a higher position and it was difficult to find them
and get them to fill up the questionnaire .

There was no perfect metrics to measure the prevalent politics ,we were
only dependent upon the perception of politics of the respondent .

Only the domestic business organization is the focus of this study. We

have not studied the international mentoring programs in much detail
here.

Sampling used was convenience sampling, which is not the best

sampling technique .

The no of respondents were limited and at times may have given false
information.

THANKYOU