Page 312 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

298 enhancing performance through mentoring
managerial succession, power, and productivity. The research literature has supported
the linkages of many of these benefits and mentoring. In addition, Baugh et al. (1996)
found that mentoring also reduced role stress. Kram and Hall (1991) also found support
for mentoring as a stress reducer in organizational turmoil. Mentoring has also been
related to perceptions of “fairness” at the work place (Scandura, 1997). In this study,
those who were mentored were more likely to perceive the workplace as having greater
distributive and procedural justice.
In integrating the individual and the organization, the mentor serves an important role
in helping the prot´eg´e feel closer to the organization, and more aligned with its goals via
the socialization process (Ostroff & Kozlowski, 1993). The prot´eg´e may have a greater
sense of belonging, and be more committed to the organization (Baugh et al., 1996).
Since mentoring relationships may prevent talented prot´eg´es from becoming lost in the
organization, this may increase their tendency to remain in the organization, thereby
reducing turnover (Dirsmith & Covaleski, 1985; Kram, 1985; Scandura & Viator, 1994).
There is a need for additional studies on the role that mentoring may play in employee
retention as an organizational performance outcome.
Communication between various organizational levels or departments can be pro-
moted with the prot´eg´e serving as a “linking pin” (Likert & Likert, 1976). In addition,
organizational communication may be facilitated because the prot´eg´e enjoys multi-tiered
membership status as a result of the relationship with the mentor. By being in a posi-
tion to transfer skills and knowledge to the prot´eg´e that might otherwise be denied, the
mentor is an aid to improved management development. These transfer-of-training skills
support the transformation of a technical worker to a full-fledged executive. Mentoring
may reduce the haphazardness of management development and succession planning.
By communicating corporate values and other key components of the corporate culture
to the next generation of leaders, mentoring may facilitate the smooth transfer of the
managerial reins from one generation of executives to the next. In the socialization and
power area, mentoring produces managers who are comfortable with power and possess
the ability to mobilize people and resources. In addition, mentoring may also be associ-
ated with increased cost-effectiveness of management development and training efforts.
Mentoring may be particularly important in transfer-of-training since mentors may be
able to provide coaching and feedback following a formal training intervention. More
research is needed that links mentoring to the process of management development,
training and executive succession.

DIMENSIONS OF PERFORMANCE

The dimensions of performance in mentoring include both performance and attitudinal
variables. As noted above, mentoring has been linked to individual performance, career
mobility, decreased intentions to leave, learning, job attitudes, lower stress and improved
organizationalsocialization.Theseoutcomesinvolvebothperformanceindicatorsaswell
as work attitudes that may indirectly affect performance.

SUPERVISORY RATINGS AND OBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Research on mentoring needs to begin to link the mentoring functions to objective
measures of productivity, in addition to supervisory performance ratings. The more