Mentoring

Mentoring is a relationship. It is a relationship between the mentor and the protégé. Mentoring is
defined as a one-to-one relationship in which an expert or a senior person voluntarily gives time
to teach, support, and encourage another (Santamaria, 2003). Mentor helped the boy become a
young man and on occasion saved his life. The concept of mentoring relates to emotional support
and guidance usually given by a mature individual to a younger person called a protégé
(Successfulmanagers.com, 2004).

There is much refining of the definition in the recent literature on mentoring. According to Zachary
(2002), mentoring passes on knowledge of subjects, facilitates personal development, encourages
wise choices, and helps the protégé to make transitions.

In other research it is stated that most of the literature primarily examines mentoring in relation to
individual career development, with the mentor as a friend, career guide, information source, and
intellectual guide. This review promotes mentoring with peers, where those in the mentoring
relationship are colleagues. Both participants have something of value to contribute and to gain
from the other. Participants in peer mentoring have been known to achieve a level of mutual
expertise, equality, and empathy frequently absent from traditional mentoring relationships
(Harnish & Wild, 1994).

Mentoring programs encourage the mentors to provide their mentees with advice on career goals
and advancement strategies, instruction in technical as well as social-managerial skills, visibility
and exposure, counseling about work-related or personal problems, encouragement, confrontation,
and actual opportunities to perform the new skills that are acquired. A review of several mentoring
programs revealed some features that are critical for success. These include insuring that top
management supports the program, making the program part of a larger career development or
management training effort, and preparing for potential challenges.
The Advantages of Mentoring Program

To understand the need for mentoring program in a better way, one must first
understand the advantages of mentoring.

Acclimatized Atmosphere to Work

A new surrounding always comes with new challenges. Thus, some people utterly dislike the
changes or specifically the new changes. Having a mentor to guide or ask queries to, it becomes
easier to get familiar with the company’s policies, work system, work process, staff and
employees, and the company culture. The mentee becomes more acquainted with the company in
lesser time due to the guidance of a mentor.

Instant Feedback with a Sense of Accomplishment

When a newly hired employee is paired with a mentor, he or she looks forward to completing the
given task appropriately and gain the appreciation. This on a long run also keeps the employee
motivated to strive for betterment. As a result, the employee turns into a productive and trustworthy
asset for the company. Thus, indirectly it benefits both the employer and the employee.

Job Satisfaction and Enhanced Confidence (for the mentor)

Mentoring program provides the mentor with the guidance, which benefits him. On the similar
note, the mentor not only receives respect from the employee he or she is training but also gains a
sense of satisfaction. This sense of satisfaction may be due to the help he or she provided to the
newly hired or due to the self-satisfaction of being capable to guide someone. Moreover, it also
boosts the relationship between the employees.

Self-Development with Stronger Problem-Solving Skills

Any business requires a good amount of strategic working, problem-solving skills and strong
communication. Individuals have to work in order to develop these skills. These skills can not only
improve the employee on a personal level but also help the business flourish along with personal
success.

Improved Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Positive Working Environment

The mentor-mentee relationship strengthens the ability of the learner, as a result, the newly hired
are more confident about their work. This increases their confidence in themselves and promotes
in building a positive environment in the office and it is an efficient way of boosting the loyalty
of the workers towards the company and the employer.

Increased Commitment

Increased commitment has also been identified as a benefit for the organization. Fagan (1988)
found that police officers who were mentored had higher job satisfaction, a stronger work ethic
and less of an age or experience gap with their mentors than those who had not been mentored.
Two of these findings suggest strong commitment and loyalty to the organization.

Cost Effectiveness

According to Murray and Owen (1991), cost-effectiveness is one of the major benefits of
mentoring. As they state, mentors tend to carry out their coaching role in conjunction with their
regular position. Mentees are afforded the opportunity to work with an experienced other and there
is no cost incurred for training, training rooms or trainers.

Improved Organizational Communication

The other benefit to the organization that is discussed here is improved organizational
communication. This is said to occur because mentors and mentees share knowledge and
information regarding important matters in the organization (Antal, 1993).

Necessary Guidance and Contacts (for newly hired)

Well, a mentor is a person who has already acquired a successful position in the company. He or
she not only has a good experience of the struggling years and present times but also an abundance
amount of strategies and contacts to provide the new hired. The contacts of mentor may help the
employees in more ways than they can think.

The Disadvantages of Mentoring Program

Job mentoring is indeed a helpful way, through which the employee, employer and the mentor
develop. However, some disadvantages of the mentoring program may not be ignored totally.

Generation Gap Hampers the Process

The generation gap between the senior and junior employees may lead to dissimilar ideas. This
can further lead to a not-so-smooth relationship. This forced an unwilling relationship can ruin the
productivity of the mentee and make him feel unwelcome in the company. This will further wreck
the working atmosphere too.

Slow Friction May Lead to Frustration

Mentoring is a patient process, wherein both the members should patiently work with
each other. However, if a mentee is unable to improve his or her performance in a
certain time, the level of frustration in the mentor increases. This frustration decreases
the quality of motivation and guidance for the mentee.

Mentoring is Subjective Based on the Mentor’s Mentality

In a mentor-mentee relationship, the mentor has a very important role. The mentor is
responsible to provide the necessary skills and training to the assigned employee.
However, the work of the mentor is subjective and based upon his mentality. This
makes it harder for the mentee to learn things out of the box.
Raytheon Vision Systems

On July 7, 1922, a great American success story began. A few passionate visionaries created a
high-tech venture in the shadow of a great university and developed a breakthrough product that
transformed a nation. One of the earliest technology start-ups, Raytheon was established in
Cambridge, Mass, home of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as the American Appliance
Company. The company's founders were Vannevar Bush, who would become dean of MIT's
School of Engineering, Laurence Marshall, an engineer, and Charles G. Smith, a scientist who had
done work on the electrical properties of gases.

Raytheon quickly moved to the forefront of innovation in the electronics industry. During World
War II, Raytheon employees contributed to the war effort. They supplied 80 percent of the
magnetron tubes used in U.S. and British radars and developed parts for the crucial proximity fuse
in antiaircraft shells, among other equipment. After the war Raytheon began offering civilian
products, the microwave being among the most famous. Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer
discovered microwave cooking when, as he stood in front of an active magnetron, a candy bar in
his pocket began to melt. Intrigued, he sent out for popcorn kernels – and they began to pop. With
that, a new appliance was soon on its way. In the decades that followed, Raytheon employees
would build on the company's reputation for technology and innovation leadership. Today it stands
as a global technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government
markets.

Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities
in the areas of sensing, effects, and command, control, communications and intelligence systems
as well as a broad range of mission support services. Missile defense, command and control,
sensors and imaging, cyber, electronic warfare, precision weapons, training, mission support,
innovation etc.

Mentoring at Raytheon Vision Systems

Mentoring program at Raytheon Vision Systems is the most effective tool that the organization is
used this program in succession planning. In response to the potential talent drain, the organization
created a mentoring program called Leave - A - Legacy program.

There are many advantages of this program which are as follows.

Creativity by Potential Retirees

Retirees are the only individuals who know how to do something and to invent new products or
processes.

Facilitating Transfer of Knowledge

Vital, proprietary knowledge were paired with high potential subordinate to facilitate transfer of
knowledge. Knowledge sharing activities involve bringing mentees to meetings, introducing them
to customers and involving them in the proposal or design stages of product development.

Involvement of Professional Coach

Coaches work with the employee’s pairs to set individualized plans.

Creating Strong Sense of Purpose and Value Creation

Pending retirees report that the program gives the employees a strong sense of purpose and value
to the organization and ensuring that their legacies are carried on.

Higher Retention Rates

Mentees have higher commitment to the organization and a strong interest in remaining in
Raytheon.

Attracting Top Talent

Leading colleges and universities provide a conduit to inquisitive, motivated people who can bring
new ideas and methodologies that contribute to Raytheon’s innovation pipeline. To attract new
generations of talent, Raytheon invest in advocacy and leadership work at U.S. and international
campuses that connects recruiting, research, learning and branding.

Supporting Career Development

Success in business requires a deep understanding of employee aspirations and a commitment to

invest in their success. Raytheon provides leadership development opportunities for high-potential
employees early in their careers, followed by mid-level and executive training programs. And
their focus on employee sponsorship and mentorship is helping people build networks and connect
with mentors and advocates.

Potential Model of Any Organization

Organizations that are concerned with the loss of experience, skills, and contacts from a resulting
large scale retirement of employees who are part of the Baby Boom generation, should follow
some strategies such as mentoring program.

Mentoring Program at Intel

Intel Corporation (commonly known as Intel ) is an American multinational corporation and

technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in the Silicon Valley. It is the
world's second largest and second highest valued semiconductor chip manufacturer based on
revenue after being overtaken by Samsung and is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors,
the processors found in most personal computers (PCs). Intel ranked No. 46 in the 2018 Fortune
500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

Intel supplies processors for computer system manufacturers such as Apple, Lenovo, HP, and Dell.
Intel also manufactures motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers and integrated circuits,
flash memory, graphics chips, embedded processors and other devices related to communications
and computing.
Intel Corporation was founded on July 18, 1968, by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and
Gordon Moore (of Moore's law), and widely associated with the executive leadership and vision
of Andrew Grove. Intel was an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips, which
represented the majority of its business until 1981. Although Intel created the world's first
commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the success of the personal computer
(PC) that this became its primary business.

Advantages of Intel’s Mentoring Program

Increase Knowledge Transfer

The company focused on restructuring, launching new products, and focused on growing market
share in corporate data-centers and exploring new ways to add semiconductors to more stuff. They
want to share their knowledge to the potential subordinates effectively.

Disseminate the Skills

Intel is more concerned with up skilling and relevant domain expertise than experience, their
mentoring program is focused on peer-to-peer mentoring. Employees of the company are
encouraged to drive their own mentorships, and connect with a number of employees, embedding
a mentoring culture within their organization.

Create a Matching System

Intel’s mentoring program creates a matching system that eliminated guesswork. They turned
to the employee database in order to create an intranet-based questionnaire that could match
partners with the right mentor. Partners select topics in which they want to master, such as
leadership, Intel culture, or networking.

Keep the Politics Out

By weeding out the politics, Intel is able to make use of an important asset that many companies
never tap into: their employees’ vast knowledge. It’s a great medium for the exchange of ideas.
Keep Trying New Ways

While Intel has a few hard and fast rules about mentoring, the company tries to stay open to
experimentation. “The great thing about mentoring is that it shifts easily to meet training needs,
whether you’re expanding your business or you’re not hiring.”

References

Raytheon: Attracting, Retaining and Developing Top Talent. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.raytheon.com/responsibility/workforce/talent

Job Mentoring: Definition, Types, Advantages & Disadvantages. (2018, October 03). Retrieved
from https://content.wisestep.com/job-mentoring-definition-types-advantages-disadvantages/

Ehrich, L. C., Hansford, B., & Tennent, L. (2004). Formal Mentoring Programs in Education and
Other Professions: A Review of the Literature. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(4), 518-
540. doi: 10.1177/0013161x04267118

Raytheon: What We Do. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.raytheon.com/capabilities

Gaille, B. (2017, January 14). 8 Pros and Cons of Mentoring in the Workplace. Retrieved from
https://brandongaille.com/8-pros-and-cons-of-mentoring-in-the-workplace/

Mentorloopadmin. (2017, December 14). Which Companies Use Mentoring? And How Do They
Use It? Retrieved from https://mentorloop.com/which-companies-mentoring/

Fast Company Staff. (2012, July 30). Inside Intel's Mentoring Movement. Retrieved from
https://www.fastcompany.com/44814/inside-intels-mentoring-movement

Ramaswami, A., & Dreher, G. F. (2010). Dynamics of mentoring relationships in India: A

qualitative, exploratory study. Human Resource Management, 49(3), 501-530.
doi:10.1002/hrm.20363
Inzer, L. D., & Crawford, C. B. (2005). A Review of Formal and Informal Mentoring. Journal of
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