Ethical dileme

bringing mentors and proteges together

Reserch has revealed that informal mentorships (spontaneous relationships
that occur without involvement from the organization) lead to more positive
careeer oycomes than do formal mentorships (programs that are managed
and sanctioned by the organization). "Random assgnment of proteges to
mentors is like ablind date there is onnly a small cance that the match will be
successful. on the other hand, not all new hires are willing or able actigvely to
seek out opportunities to work with a mentor. for those who do not, is it
ethcally acceptable to assign them randomly to mentors, or to let them sink
or swim, perhaps by finding thir way to networks of like minded
professionals?. how would you advise an organization faced with this
dilemma to proceed? "

for both parties, and both are expected to teach each other. One 27 year old
mentor said the session made her more cmfortable in dealing with her 54
year year old boss. I can teach him things... I know things he doesn't know."
at the same time, she gets to observe first-hand the skills a amanger needs
to run a big operation, such as the abillith to communicate with llots of
different people.
Thus far we have assumed that a mentor is a single indiidual. Yet forces such
as rapidly changing technology, shifting organizational structures, and global
marketplace dynamics have transformed mentoring into a process that often
extends beyond the services of a single mentor. Group mentoring through
peer to peer sharing, anonymous mentoring, and mentoring with
microfeedback are some recent variations of traditional mentoring. The
lesson : Actively strive to build a diverse protfolio of mentors

Early Career : The impact ofthe First Job

Many studies of early careersfocus on the first jobs to which new emplyees
are assgned. The positive impact of intiaal job challange upon later career
suchess and retention has been found many times. In a wide variety of
settings. Among engineers, challenging early work assignemets were related
to strong intial performance as well as to the maintenance of competence
and performance throughout the engineer's career. In other woerds,
chaleenging initial job assginments are an antidote to career absolescencce
The characteristics of the first supervisor are also critica. He or she must be
persoanlly secure; unthretened by the new subordinates training, ambition,

and enrgy, and able to communicate company norma and values. Beyond
that the supervisor ideally shuld be able to play the roles of coach, feedback
provider, trainer, rolemodel, and protector in ana accepting, esteem-building
manner