Sustainable Management for Managers and Engineers

8Mentoring… Really? And Why Not?

The pressures and competition faced by organizations to attract talent and retain “brains” who hold valuable information and knowledge, increases the need to adopt innovative human resource practices. Mentoring programs are one of these practices, which aim to potentiate the transmission of knowledge from more experienced employees for newcomers’ employees to an organization. Therefore, the implementation and formalization of mentoring as an organizational process and practice aims above all to meet the needs of reception and integration of human resources, and at the same time, serve as a strategy to attract new employees. This chapter aims to contribute to a better understanding of the concept of mentoring, especially in more technological and emerging areas of management. The study highlights that mentoring processes can assume an important role in terms of human resource management, enhancing greater and better interaction between different professional groups. Moreover, the success or failure of this type of practice is a function of factors of varying nature and involves all those who directly or indirectly have responsibilities in organizations.

8.1. Introduction

Due to the high demand for highly qualified human resources and the scarce availability of it, organizations are in fierce competition to attract talent and retain “brains” who hold valuable information and knowledge. It is in this context that mentoring programs often appear. ...