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Results of this study help identify those who serve both vocational and psychosocial mentoring functions. Mentoring research has suggested that proteges are drawn to competent mentors (Olian, Carroll, Giannantonio, and Feren, 1988) but has not empirically examined which mentors serve both vocational (career-related) and psychosocial (personal development) functions. Serving in both capacities indicates the most intense mentoring (Kram, 1983). In this study, older mentors who have greater organization-based selfesteem (OBSE), who perceive the protege as competent, and who are influenced by their proteges reported serving more vocational and psychosocial mentoring functions. Proteges indicated that the matter of who initiates the relationship determines whether vocational and psychosocial functions are both served.
Problem Statement
Mentoring has been described as a one-to-one relationship between a more experienced member (mentor) and a less experienced member (protege) of an organization or profession. The member promotes the protege's professional and personal growth by coaching, supporting, and guiding the protege. Through individualized attention, the traditional mentor transfers needed information, feedback, and encouragement to the protege and provides emotional support and organizational leverage (Mullen, 1994). A growing body of research has begun to look at mentoring outcomes for the protege (for example, Chao, Walz, and Gardner, 1991; Dreher and Ash, 1990). Outcomes that have been linked with having a mentor range from intangible benefits, such as recognition and job satisfaction (for example, Aryee, Wyatt, and Stone, 1996; Turban and Dougherty, 1994), to more tangible benefits, such as pay increases and promotions (for example, Scandura and Schriesheim, 1994; Turban and Dougherty, 1994; Dreher and Ash, 1990; Fagenson, 1989).
Kram (1985) describes two broad categories of mentoring functions that distinguish mentoring from other nondevelopmental work relationships. First, vocational functions aid the protege's career development. Second, psychosocial functions help in the development of self-concepts, for example, competence and identity. According to Kram, "Relationships that provide both kinds of functions are characterized by greater intimacy and strength of interpersonal bond and are viewed as more indispensable, more critical to development, and more unique than other relationships in the manager's life at work" (p. 24).
Because mentoring is considered to have important outcomes for the protege and, thus, for the organization, many organizations are attempting to systematize mentoring to ensure positive outcomes. Yet some suggest that...