Mentoring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Mentoring - Essay Example Metros and Yang (2006) trace back the origin of mentoring as a professional activity back to the ancient Greece where the technique was used to impart personal, spiritual and social values in young men. The modern mentoring borrows from the historical apprentice/craftsmen relationship where trade was learnt by young people through copying the master artisan. It was in the 1970s that mentoring was adopted as a career development strategy. Indeed, this cost-saving approach has been universally applied to ensure continuous professional development. This paper evaluates the application of mentoring as a human resource function in the teaching profession. Establishing what mentorship means in the teaching profession and evaluating the resultant benefits, it would be appreciated that mentoring is a universal and cost effective learning and development approach that results in continuous professional development in teaching. Mentoring refers to a relationship where a senior employee takes u p the responsibility of grooming junior or new employees in an organization (Elkin 2006). Interpersonal, political and technical skills would be conveyed from the more experienced employee in this relationship. This makes experience a key concept in mentorship with mentors expected to exude greater experience, achievement and influence. As such, Donnelley (2008) and Rao (2008) refer to a mentor as a counsellor, teacher, skills and intellect developer, guide, exemplar, host and most significantly, facilitator and supporter in the realization of the vision of the kind of life envisioned by the person being mentored, referred to as a protegee. The main objective of mentorship is to help employees attain psychological effectiveness and maturity and also get integrated into the organization. According to Metros and Yang (2006), it provides career advice and personal and professional enrichment to mentees. This could occur at a formal or informal level based on the work culture and top ma nagement commitment. In the teaching profession, the many associated roles including classroom management and discipline, learning new curricula, individualizing student programs, using technology and coordinating extracurricular activities among others could be a challenge for new teachers to handle (Thomas 2012). This could make the achievement of the institutional goals elusive. Mentoring plays a critical role in ensuring that learning institutions achieve their targets. Specifically making an observation of institutions of higher learning, Metro and Yang (2006) observe that these learning institutions previously did not identify or support the professional needs of its staff, focus having been on managing the diverse student clientele. Such practices have however been overtaken by events as more institutions adopt mentorship programs as a way of ensuring continuous professional development for its staff. According to Walcott, the chancellor of the New York City Department of Edu cation, mentorship means much to them, offering crucial support to new members of the profession (2013). At the commencement of each school year, teachers new to the profession would be assigned a mentor to offer personalized support through the first year of their teaching career. In fact, the organization has a system in place to track the mentoring process by matching and documenting all mentoring interactions between the teacher and the mentor. To have

Why organizations changes as well as why they fail to change Thesis

Why organizations changes as well as why they fail to change - Thesis Example ent 52 Secondary Research 52 Interview 55 Types of research format 59 Structured format 59 Semi-structured format: 60 Unstructured format 60 Survey 61 Likert Scale 63 Data gathering procedure 65 Quantitative data gathering 66 Qualitative data gathering 68 Secondary data gathering 68 Online Interview data gathering 69 Statistical Treatment of data 71 Ethical Concern 73 Secondary Analysis and Discussion: 75 Secondary analysis 75 Discussion: 80 Results and Analysis 94 Questionnaire Analysis: 94 Analysis of the Interviews: 119 Conclusion and Recommendations: 127 Summary of Findings: 127 Limitations 130 Recommendations for further research 132 References 133 Appendix 141 Introduction: â€Å"There has been increasing research on organizational change that seeks to explain both why organizations changes as well as why they fail to change†. Most theories and literatures have been published between 1960s and 1980s. The dual authority in matrix organization has become as a controversial application and a big argument between pros and cons around the world. The main arguments and theories of dual authority in matrix structure have appeared since 1962 and until current days. The following studies show different views and perspectives between some authors and researchers which indicate that dual authority can be a real concern in the organization structure. Therefore I have selected the main arguments and studies which most of them still exist until now.   1- The book â€Å" MATRIX MANAGEMENT SYSTEM HANDBOOK† â€Å"1984   The author â€Å"David Cleland, professor of engineering management, Pennsylvania†Ã‚   Although the book was published before more than twenty years, I have found two critical points about implementing the dual authority in matrix organizations, one of them still take place in many books and many studies but without making sure of its validity   1. Under designing matrix structure and implementing the dual design, the author bel ieves that â€Å"the more differentiated the organizational unit, the more difficult it is to achieve the required degree of integration†. He believes that matrix organization must reflect the external and internal factors before the implementation and he sees the members as critical factor in this case. The author adapts the notion of Gannon which says that the highest degree of differentiation and integration can be attained with the matrix organization design. â€Å"P.234, section III, The human factor in matrix organization, MATRIX MANAGMENT SYSTEM By David Cleland†Ã‚   The question is   Does the implementation of matrix organization on the ground have really achieved the highest degree of differentiation and integration? (This can be tested by comparing the performance of the units based on the degree of differentiation and integration)   2. â€Å"Implicit in much of the thinking behind dual leadership is the notion that satisfaction and productivity can both be obtained simultaneously. One manager, with natural inclination toward the task or goals of the group, can place more emphasis upon planning, organizing, and controlling group performance. The other manager, with a natural inclination toward people can act as the satisfier, consoler, and emphasize. One works toward increased productivity, the other toward improved morale and group cohesiveness. Both styles are needed for group effectiveness