Workplace mentoring as a human performance technology intervention and its role in changing organizational culture

The primary purpose of this study is to determine to what extent workplace mentoring of new employees in a community college functions as an effective human performance technology intervention to change organizational culture by promoting workplace collaborative behaviors and consequently positively affect organizational development. Most prior mentoring research has examined workplace mentoring in individual rather than in organizational terms. Any organizational benefit from mentoring programs was either inferred or assumed. This study examines mentoring as an organizational change agent. Using a single study case study method, fifty structured interviews were conducted with mentored and non mentored new employees to develop anecdotal data. Pertinent organizational archival records were also reviewed for corroborative data convergence. A chapter on organizational history and culture is included to provide a context for this research. The study organization is characterized as hierarchial and non collaborative. This study examined four research questions. A comparison of collaborative participation rates for mentored and non mentored new employees concludes that a slightly greater percentage of formally mentored new employees exhibited collaborative work behaviors greater than their peers compared with the percentage of non formally mentored new employees who exhibited collaborative work behaviors beyond that of their peer group. Formally mentored new employees generally acknowledged less need to ask for help compared with the non formally mentored new employee group. Prior formal or informal mentoring experience had no significance regarding the success of the new employee mentoring program in terms of measurable workplace collaborative workplace behaviors. The non longitudinal nature of this study limited a definitive response to the research question exploring the extent to which organizational culture changed due to the mentoring of new employees. This research did indicate that organizational culture was beginning to be positively affected by the new employee mentoring program.