The Road to Mentoring: Paved with Good Intentions
Abstract
Mentorship is a hot topic in academia, business, and the military. Recently, in "The Chronicle of Higher Education," Robert Gross said it was evident from the Educational Resources Information Center's annual list of publications that virtually nobody was writing about mentors and mentoring in the 1970s, as only 33 articles appeared for that entire decade. He adds, however, "Then the topic took off: 230 pieces in 1980-84; 597 in 1985-89; 1,051 in 1990-94; 1,524 in 1995-99." In February 2002, a subject keyword search using the term "mentor" of Wilson Omnifile, an academic database of articles and publications, resulted in over 2,000 hits. A survey of Fortune 500 executives indicated that 96 percent of them saw mentoring as an important influence in their professional development. Despite the widespread interest in mentoring and hopes that it presents potential for addressing a myriad of problems, the concept is not well understood within the Army. The term "mentorship" has different connotations and currently is used loosely in describing an array of leadership and human behaviors. The term elicits a wide range of responses, from enthusiastic endorsement to adamant cynicism, with confusion in between. In a recent Army War College strategy research project, Merrill Anderson-Ashcraft conducted a content analysis of 64 essays on mentoring submitted by members of the USAWC Class of 2002. Although most essays included positive and negative comments, she observed that 71 percent of the statements in the papers addressed negative aspects of mentoring. Further analysis indicated that misunderstandings regarding mentoring goals, strategies, and implementation methods are a core problem contributing to confusion and cynicism. The purpose of this article is to help inform the developing dialog by assessing the current treatment of the mentoring concept in today's Army and then highlighting the issues, implications, and alternatives relative to a formal Army Mentorship Program.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA490796
Entities
People
- Cortez K. Dial
- George E. Reed
- Gregg F. Martin
- Ruth B. Collins
Organizations
- United States Army War College