Meanings of formal mentoring to women managers’ career
development
Anna-Maija Lämsä
University of Jyväskylä
School of Business and Economics
Sanna Mutanen
Sandvik Mining and Construction Ltd.
Human Resources, Tampere
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
ics
BackgroundNASTA, Women’s leadership – a research and education development project
A joint project between three universities in Finland during 2005-2009.
Consists of several subprojects
www.nastaproject.fi
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsThe purpose of the study
The purpose was to investigate empirically the mentoring experiences of women mentees in relation to their careers.
The focus was on a formal mentoring programme in a large business organization. The programme was targeted only for women to advance their careers in management.
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsWomen’s career development in
management and leadership
Difficulties in hierarchical career development: glass ceiling and glass labyrinth, double bind, tokenism
A challenge for gender equality and the full use of human competence
Recently, special programmes to support women’s career development in management: HRM practices, a part of HRM strategy
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
ics Mentoring: a way to advance
women’s careers
Mentor was the name of the person to whom Odysseus entrusted the care of his son, Telemachus, when he set out on his wanderings.
A developmental and confidential relationship between two people, a more experienced mentor and a less experienced mentee, which enhances both individual’s growth and advancement.
Formal and informal mentoring
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsMentoring functions
Kram (1983) identified two main functions:
Career development functions: sponsorship, coaching, protection, challenging assignments as well as exposure and visibility.
Psycho-social functions address interpersonal aspects of the mentoring relationship and provide four functions: acceptance and confirmation, counseling, friendship and role modeling.
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsMentoring and gender
The underlying view of a good and successful mentor in a business management context: a man.
Formal programs can be useful for women by facilitating their possibilities to initiate mentoring relationships.
Differences in the quality of mentoring relationships may depend on partners' gender: - same-gender relationships are more desirable since women have more concerns about the image of the relationships. - mentees tend to believe that a same gender mentor is important from the viewpoint of role-modeling
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsMethod
A qualitative research focusing on the experiences of five women case-managers who have acted as mentees. The aim was to get “an inner look” at the experiences, and in that way to interpret the meanings of mentoring for the women: the main point was to learn what the women say that mentoring is for them.
Taped, in-depth interviews, transcribed word by word.Interviews when two years had passed from the mentoring experiences. Two of the women had had a male mentor whereas three a female mentor. Women from a same company in a finance sector, participated in the formal mentoring programme; age varied from 28 to 48 years.
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsResults
“A career focus” refers to mentoring as a way to advance consciously the mentee’s managerial career.Women started to think more deeply about the direction and future of their careers. This meaning construction emerged particularly in male mentor – female mentee relationships.
“In the same boat” refers to mentoring as sharing of experience and wisdom which ties two women together. The meaning construction came up particularly in female-female relationships. A common topic of the discussion was the career path of the mentor and the obstacles she had had to overcome to get to her position.
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsResults
“An emotion handling space” refers to mentoring as a socially secure and open space, where the expression of (also negative) emotions was allowed instead of having to suppress them.
This kind of a heart-to-heart relationship seemed to develop more easily between two women.
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsSummary and conclusion
It is concluded that a male mentor was experienced to act following a traditional masculine way of behaving in a mentoring role, whereas a female mentor was experienced to act following a traditional feminine way of behaving.
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsSummary and conclusion
It is proposed that the appropriate mentoring model depends on what stage of a career the woman mentee is. In different stages of the career, women are likely to have different needs and expectations for mentoring.
Women may need both a woman and a man mentor at different times during their careers to be able to advance in a managerial rank.
Sch
ool o
f Bu
siness a
nd
Eco
nom
icsSummary and conclusion
The gendered nature of the women’s experiences can also be interpreted as a stereotypical generalization.
It is proposed that the view of a career boosting mentor may have become masculine in the same way as is the view of an “efficient” manager.
A stereotypical view may limit both mentor’s and mentee’s socio-cultural space of thinking and acting in mentoring processes.
It is suggested that it would be crucial also to study the “dark side of mentoring.