The Wiley International Handbook of Mentoring

4Mentoring in the Human Resource Development Context

Shinhee Jeong and Sunyoung Park

Louisiana State University, USA

Since Kram (1985) introduced her foundational book, Mentoring at Work, mentoring has gained popularity and has received considerable attention both in academia and in practice. A Google Scholar search of mentoring in the workplace generated more than a thousand published articles. It is also easy to find public press information that delineates the benefits of mentorship in the workplace, reports best practices, or advertises mentoring programs. According to the Association of Talent Development, more than 70% of Fortune 500 companies have launched some type of mentoring program as part of their human resource development (HRD) strategy, and about a quarter of all small‐ and medium‐sized companies have adopted a mentoring system (Jones, 2017). In addition, a wide range of nonprofit organizations including government agencies and professional associations have incorporated formal mentoring programs (Hegstad & Wentling, 2004).

Researchers have found that mentoring benefits both protégés and mentors with respect to their careers and job attitudes, and is beneficial for the entire organization. Compared to nonmentored individuals, the benefits of mentoring for protégés include greater job satisfaction, a higher promotion rate, and higher salaries (Allen, Eby, Poteet, Lentz, & Lima, 2004). The advantages of being a mentor include organizational commitment and job ...