Chapter 4 How Mentors and Protégés Perceive and Practice mentoring in Thailand

This exploratory study investigates how mentoring is perceived and undertaken by the concerned parties, namely, mentor and protégé, and organizations in the context of Thailand. A qualitative approach using dyadic case studies (of manager and subordinates) was taken to reflect whether mentoring is formally established in Thai business organizations, what benefits are experienced by mentors and mentees (protégés) and how the Thai business organizations can fully benefit from mentoring system. Based on the sample case studies, it is found that mentoring is perceived as teaching and advising how to perform a job well and mainly by one's supervisor. Factors that influence the effectiveness of mentoring system include clear organizational policies, HRM practices (i.e. orientation, training and development, performance appraisal, rewards, etc.), mentoring evaluation, trust and integrity and perceived risk.