Mentoring: Pros and cons for HRM

Mentoring has received considerable coverage in recent decades and this is evident by the proliferation of research and popular literature available to the reader. It has been hailed as an important human resource management strategy, a career tool, and a workplace learning activity for men, women and minority groups in a variety of organisational settings such as hospitals, large corporations, schools, universities and government departments. In this paper we review the literature on this ubiquitous yet elusive concept. We begin by exploring what is meant by mentoring, the functions of mentors, three different categories of mentorship, and the benefits and hazards for the mentor, mentee and organisation. In the final part of the paper we highlight some of the implications of setting up a formal mentoring programme for human resource managers.