Search results

The study examines the benefits and potential challenges of the mentoring circle as an innovative approach to mentoring among four cisgendered women faculty situated at 4-year universities in various geographic locations in the United States.

Utilizing collaborative autoethnography, we ask: How can mentoring circles be beneficial for diverse early- and mid-career faculty women in higher education? Given our varying positionalities and the development of our sustained mentoring relationships, we drew on the concepts of intersectionality and sisterhood as a framework to understand our individual and collective experiences in the circle. Through a collaborative autoethnographic design, we examined data from four 3-h online video reflective discussions as well as relevant documents and communication, such as emails and texts.

The power dynamics within the circle, fluidity of its borders and how it provided us with a unique ability to read the world contributed to a sense of community and empowerment that were key factors to the circle's success. We created an inclusive space with a defined purpose where trust, authenticity, reciprocity and the expectation for vulnerability served as the solid foundation for relationships. We became sources of holistic support, sharing advice and resources to support our growth as teachers, scholars and community members within our field and beyond.

Our mentoring circle disrupts conventional mentoring structures and highlights the power of a sustainable circle among diverse women faculty rooted in adaptive, flexible and responsive relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of “return to work” schemes by examining their perceived usefulness and their impact on beneficiaries' attempt to return to employment.

The evaluation, which was based on the TAM principles, incorporated feedback questionnaires, observations, focus groups, logbooks, documentation and informal interviews.

It was found that the provision of diverse schemes that were delivered both individually and collectively through multiple forms, allied with the opportunities to explore, interact and share experiences, concerns and ideas, have helped to empower participants and increase their opportunities for return to work.

Although the study was limited to those women who wanted to return to employment, it nevertheless found that there is an interconnected web of impacts which participants experience, in order to develop themselves and achieve a return to employment.

The study can be used by employers, government and industry associations to influence socially‐responsible and ethically aware practices that would advance women's employment in high‐tech jobs.

Using a mixture of data collection methods, the research not only captured women returners' experiences, but also enabled them to “speak for themselves”, ensuring a balance in the discussion and a justification of the interpretations.

The purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of the origins and theoretical frameworks of adult mentoring practices in educational and workplace settings along with an analysis and critique of their application to mentoring processes.

The authors systematically analyzed books and articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 1978 to 2012 using qualitative meta-summary and qualitative meta-synthesis methodological approaches.

This systematic review of the literature resulted first, in an organized, historical framework of theories of adult mentoring in academic and workplace and educational contexts from 1978 to 2012. Second, it provided information regarding the recognized challenges in traditional mentoring endeavors that led to the more expansive concept of developmental networks and participation in communities of practice. Third, it served as a foundation for a critique of the theories as applied to mentoring relationships and programs.

The paper provides the theoretical foundation for future empirical work in the field of adult mentoring in educational and workplace settings.

This paper is the first to condense the vast theoretical frameworks that inform the field of adult mentoring in the twenty-first century.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges and obstacles encountered in the implementation of a mentoring program for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students at the University of South Australia (UniSA) Business School. The paper starts with an exploration into the need for a mentoring program, the trial and subsequent four years of implementation. The paper also explores the network model of mentoring and the reasons why this, rather than a more traditional model, was chosen for the program’s implementation.

This exploratory case study uses data from over 600 students and their alumni mentors over a five-year period to evaluate and improve the program as well as cultivating a critical community of adult learners.

Feedback from students indicates that the mentoring program is regarded by most as a value-added feature of their early learning as it offers support, if and when it is required, from those who have been there before.

Results are limited to one institution. However, as research into mentoring for higher education students is thin on the ground, this study contributes to our understanding of the positive impacts of mentoring on student success.

This paper emphasizes the importance of business leaders giving back to their alma mater through mentoring current MBA students. It shows how mentoring can support learning and management development.

This is an original study which explores ways to increase the learning of higher education students for positive social outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which an innovative higher education women’s faculty mentoring community model fosters supportive networking and career-life balance. The secondary goal is to better understand the factors that both promote and limit retention of women faculty at a large, metropolitan university.

The paper examines data from the survey component of an applied research project on understanding and supporting the complex processes of women faculty’s pathways toward self-defined success. Adopting a mixed method research approach, this manuscript focuses on the survey questions related to four key issues related to retention: mentor experiences, gender-based obstacles, a sense of support and community, and goal attainment. In addition to quantitatively examining shifts in perceptions between pre- and post-survey Likert scale questions, the authors performed a qualitative analysis of the supplemental open-ended questions, utilizing a social constructionist lens to further understand perceived influences of the mentoring community on these issues.

The findings revealed qualitatively important shifts in increased awareness surrounding mentoring, gender-based obstacles, interpersonal support, and career-life choices, offering critical insight into the intangible, and thus often difficult to capture, forms of support a mentoring community model can offer women faculty. Findings also reveal how definitions of success can be integrated into community mentoring models to support retention and empowering women faculty.

This study is limited by its exploratory nature with one mentoring community cohort. Ongoing implementations are in place to increase the participant size and further test the mentoring model, while future research is encouraged to implement and expand the research to additional higher education institutions.

This research offers a model that can be implemented across higher education institutions for all faculty, along with offering insight into particular points that can be emphasized to increase perceptions of support, offering concrete mentoring options.

This paper contributes to the advancement of mentoring models, helping to address concerns for better supporting and advancing women faculty, with implications for further supporting marginalized faculty. It offers insight into the ways in which a mentoring model can help to address key issues of retention. Additionally, analyzing quantitative and qualitative findings concurrently allowed for insight into areas that may otherwise be overlooked due to seemingly contradictory or non-significant statistical findings.

Female executives in the USA were surveyed to determine characteristics of and interactions of mentors and protégés. Questions focus on preparation for roles, selection process, gender issues, relationship of mentor/protégé, number of mentors each protégé has had, benefits to careers, and other relationships derived from mentoring. Major findings are that an individual who has been a protégé is more willing to become a mentor; that an individual who has had a mentor is more willing to enter subsequent mentoring relationships; and that more women are mentors today as compared with the number of women mentors ten years ago.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the formation, maintenance and sustenance of a mentoring dyad in higher education. By investigating the reflections of a female mentor and mentee, who both engaged in a formal Mentoring Program, the intention is to inform the design of future programs and expectations of participants, enhance the quality of future practice and understand the benefits mentoring might offer to the academic community.

The researchers utilised a self-study research design to explore their reflections of a mentoring dyad in higher education. The project was informed by a personal–constructivist–collaborative approach, with participants maintaining journals throughout the partnership. These reflections were then compared in order to understand the perceptions of the participants as their relationship developed.

Six themes emerged from the analysis representing the mentoring dyad experience under three categories: (1) forming – making the match, (2) maintaining – flexibility, responsiveness, and persistence, and (3) sustaining – desire to not disappoint and reciprocal learning.

While this paper focuses on the experiences of two participants, the in-depth nature of this exploration draws out significant practical considerations that can be applied to the development and/or reinvigoration of formal mentoring programs and/mentoring dyads in other contexts.

These unique insights into their mentoring dyad over a significant period of time add to this dynamic body of knowledge. This study gives voice to female academics and lays bare their vulnerability and openness in sharing their lived experiences of participating in a formal mentoring program.

Examines the effectiveness of management development programmes for women to determine if these programmes are achieving the three objectives that they intend to serve: developing knowledge and skills necessary for effective leadership; reducing negative prejudice against women; and helping women to advance into and through the ranks of management. Three types of programme are considered: single sex management training programmes, mixed‐sex management training programmes and mentoring programmes. Concludes that some programmes are making more meaningful contributions towards these objectives than others. Offers recommendations for the most appropriate use of each type of programme.