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Personnel Review,Vol. 28 No. 4, 1999, pp. 336-355.# MCB University Press, 0048-3486

Received November 1997Revised March 1998Accepted March 1998

Mentoring in retailing: a toolfor success?

Adelina BroadbridgeInstitute for Retail Studies, University of Stirling, Scotland, UK

Keywords Career development, Managers, Mentoring, Retailing, United Kingdom

Abstract This paper assesses the incidence and contribution that mentoring has to the careerdevelopment of retail managers. Previous research has identified the benefits that mentoringrelationships have for the proteÂgeÂ, the mentor and the organisation, although none havecompared the experiences and attitudes towards mentoring within the retail environment.Drawing on a sample of 132 UK retail managers, this research found that half the sample hadexperienced being a proteÂge in a mentoring relationship. No significant differences were foundbetween a respondent's sex, age, position in the organisation and whether they have beenmentored. Mentoring was found to play an important role in the development of a proteÂgeÂ'scurrent job, career and self development. It was less apparent whether the incidence of mentoringaffected retail managers' ultimate career ambitions. However, it appears that the advantages ofmentoring as a management development tool far outweigh any disadvantages for the proteÂgeÂ.

IntroductionLittle has been written about management development programmes withinthe retail sector. However the growing professionalism of the industry hascalled for a more professional approach to training and development.Graduates often join companies on their management training schemes, aformalised programme of training, whereby the trainee spends up to two yearsgaining experience in various different functions of the company, beforemoving up the management hierarchy. Very often, however, there is no specificdiscipline of training provision by retail companies and some don't providegraduate training schemes. Junior managers will tend to receive training intechnical skills, such as stock control systems etc. Middle managers often arethose who receive management development training which will incorporatethe building of certain skills in areas such as leadership, motivation,communication and processing. They will also receive training according toany specialised functions they are performing such as corporate finance,buying and negotiation skills etc. Senior managers will be encouraged todevelop their commercial awareness. Often, no prescribed courses are held forthem, and the provision of senior management training has been described asthe Achilles heel of retailing, with companies perceiving difficulties in ensuringfuture board members have the skills they need (Retail Week, 1996).

The aim of this paper is to try to assess the contribution that mentoring hasto the career development of retail managers, particularly as the lack ofmentors has been identified as one of the top three problems encountered byretail managers (Broadbridge, 1998). Mentoring could be perceived to be animportant area for career development, as more senior managers are able to

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pass on their skills and knowledge to more junior staff, thus ensuring thatfuture management have the requisite skills.

The literatureVarious authors have alluded to the fact that there is no commonly accepteddefinition of mentoring (Burke, 1984; Bowen, 1985; Bogat and Redner, 1985).The Chambers English Dictionary (Chambers, 1988) defines a mentor as `̀ a wisecounsellor; a tutor, a trainer'', and proteÂge as `̀ one under the protection orpatronage of another; a pupil; a ward''. The term in management is used todescribe someone with seniority and greater experience (and usually bydefault, older) who guides, tutors, coaches and advises others while acting as arole model and confidante. The term mentor has its origins in a teacher-studentrelationship in Greek literature (Roche, 1979; Hunt and Michael, 1983), whereOdysseus entrusted the education of his son Telemachus to his trusted andwise friend, Mentor. Mentor became counsellor, guide, tutor, coach and sponsorfor Telemachus, his proteÂgeÂ. Although Wright and Werther (1991) claim thatthe use of mentors has been more successful in the arts, academia, politics andathletics than in business, Pierce (1987) argues that a mentor is the singlethread that connects all successful individuals.

The definition espoused by Kram (1985) succinctly encapsulates themeaning of the term for organisational development purposes. She defines amentor as an experienced, productive manager who relates well to a less-experienced employee and facilitates his or her personal development for thebenefit of the individual as well as that of the organisation. Traditionally it hasbeen regarded to be a dyadic relationship, although more recently, alternativeforms of mentoring have been proposed such as group or peer mentoring(Russell and Adams, 1997). While mentoring may not be confined tomanagerial relationships, it is this area which has incited most research in theorganisational setting (see Roche, 1979; Clutterbuck, 1982; Kram, 1983; Burke,1984; Reich, 1985; Bogat and Redner, 1985; Clutterbuck and Devine, 1987;Ragins, 1989; Arnold and Davidson, 1990; Whitely et al., 1991; Scandura, 1992;Konek and Kitch, 1994), probably because of its growing importance as amanagement development tool. Mentors have been identified as serving twoprimary functions within a managerial context: career (including sponsorship,coaching, challenging work assignments, exposure and visibility), andpsychosocial (including role modelling, counselling, friendship, acceptance andconfirmation) functions (Kram, 1983).

Mentoring relationships in the business arena have been prevalent for thelast four decades (Roche, 1979), although not all managers have experiencedbeing mentored. The reason for this may be explained in terms of whethercompanies use mentoring relationships as a formal or informal managementdevelopment aid. As a formal process, mentoring is part of the formalorganisational policy while as an informal process, it is a private arrangementbetween two individuals (Arnold and Davidson, 1990). The majority ofmentoring relationships are informal (Noe, 1988) and, given the nature of the

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relationship, are those which work best (Clutterbuck, 1982), particularly ifmentoring is endorsed by the company. Formal systems run the risk ofbreakdown of relationships where either or both parties do not benefit fullyfrom the relationship (Chao et al., 1992). Not everyone has the personality to bea good mentor or proteÂge (Bowen, 1985), and so it would defeat the objectives ofthe scheme if mentoring relationships were forced on individuals. In addition,many people may resist the idea of formalising a relationship which is inessence personal (Blunt, 1995; Bennetts, 1995). Hence the width and depth ofsome informal mentoring relationships may be difficult to replicate throughformal ones (Phillips-Jones, 1989). Furthermore, there are claims that informalrelationships are more effective in terms of career advancement and motivationthan any formal system could be (Nicholson, 1996), and that proteÂgeÂs perceivegreater psychological mentoring and receive more frequent communication ininformally arranged mentor relationships (Fagenson-Eland et al., 1997).

Much of the literature about mentoring derives from the USA. Relativelylittle attention has been paid to it in the British organisational context, whilewithin the retail industry it has been overlooked. As with any training anddevelopment technique, mentoring has its benefits and drawbacks, althoughassessed cumulatively the benefits of mentoring relationships offset anydrawbacks (Bowen, 1985). The proteÂge is not the only beneficiary from therelationship; mentors themselves can derive certain benefits from therelationship as can the organisation itself.

Benefits to the proteÂgeÂCareer progression is perhaps the most obvious benefit for the proteÂgeÂ.Mentoring has been viewed as a crucial tool for training and promoting careersuccess (Hunt and Michael, 1983). Mentors provide the proteÂge with careeradvice (Clutterbuck, 1991; Wright and Werther, 1991) and sponsorship (Kram,1983) which helps the proteÂgeÂ's growth, advancement and well-being in theorganisation (Kram, 1985; Clutterbuck and Devine,1987; Barney and Lawrence,1989; Dreher and Ash, 1990; Fagenson, 1989; Davidson and Cooper, 1993;Orpen, 1995). Chao (1997, p. 20) particularly regards the career functions asimportant in mentorships, defining them as:

an intense work relationship between senior (mentor) and junior (proteÂgeÂ) organizationalmembers. The mentor has experience and power in the organization and personally advises,counsels, coaches, and promotes the career development of the proteÂgeÂ. Promotion of theproteÂgeÂ's career may occur directly through actual promotion decisions made by the mentor,or indirectly through the mentor's influence and power over other organizational members.

Fagenson (1989) found mentored individuals had more career mobility(particularly high level individuals), opportunity, recognition, satisfaction andpromotions than non-mentored individuals, while Whitely et al. (1991) foundcareer mentoring was related to promotion rate and total compensation.

As a management development tool, mentors enable proteÂgeÂs to developtheir management skills (Clutterbuck, 1991) and sense of competence andprofessional identity (Kram, 1985; Fagenson, 1989). Mentoring provides the

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proteÂge with more chances to develop their abilities, be creative, make difficultdecisions (Reich, 1985), through the coaching and protection of their mentor(Kram, 1983). ProteÂgeÂs are able to discuss candidly work related issues withtheir mentors (Wright and Werther, 1991), uncover their strengths andweaknesses (Reich, 1985) expand their natural talents and learn how to set jobgoals (Reich, 1985), as well as maturing personally (Kram, 1983; Fagenson,1989), and gaining self confidence (Reich, 1985; Arnold and Davidson, 1990;Clutterbuck, 1991; Wright and Werther, 1991; Davidson and Cooper, 1993;White et al., 1992). Mentoring clearly depends on the goals of any given scheme,but prior research has shown that a good mentor will provide the opportunityfor their proteÂgeÂs to demonstrate their abilities to other management personnel,including senior managers (Reich, 1985; White et al., 1992), thus exposing themand making them visible (Kram, 1983; White et al., 1992), all of whichcontributes to career progression (Whitely et al., 1991). The mentor alsoprovides a psychosocial function of acting as role model for the proteÂge (Kram,1983; Clutterbuck, 1991; Arnold, 1997), providing counselling (Kram, 1983) andfriendship (Kram, 1983; Fagenson, 1989; Hunt and Michael, 1983). Throughtheir mentor, proteÂgeÂs gain a better understanding of the formal and informalstructure of the organisation (Clutterbuck, 1991) which may help theirinduction to the company (Clutterbuck, 1991) and help the proteÂge to feel closerto the organisation (Zey, 1984; Fagenson, 1989).

Some authors (e.g. Collins, 1983; Noe, 1988; Ragins, 1989; Arnold andDavidson, 1990; Ragins and Cotton, 1991; Leong et al., 1992; Sinclair andEwing, 1992/93; Arnold, 1997; Hole, 1997) have added a gender dimension tothe mentoring relationship. Many of these works recognise the unequal ascentof females to more senior management positions, often owing to discriminationand prejudice stemming from attitudes and organisation climate and policiesembedded in male cultural values/norms. Mentoring it has been argued, mayoffer a particularly useful management development tool for women toovercome such difficulties, and can be especially helpful to women's careerdevelopment (Hammond, 1988). Mumford (1985) even goes so far as to suggestthat the lack of mentors is one reason why women's career development isblocked. Particular benefits of mentoring for female proteÂgeÂs are theiropportunities to prove themselves and their increased visibility in theorganisation (Clutterbuck and Devine, 1987); their increased legitimacy in theorganisation, special guidance regarding company politics and increasedencouragement (Arnold and Davidson, 1990). Mentors help to build theirfemale proteÂgeÂs' self-confidence and self image (Clutterbuck and Devine, 1987),provide career guidance and direction, provide feedback on the managementstyle and effectiveness (Ragins, 1989) as well as friendship (Arnold andDavidson, 1990). They can also help to reduce job stress experienced byprofessional women who often do not have a peer group within an organisationto rely on for psychological support (Nelson and Quick, 1985). Althoughmentors have been criticised as being less effective in cross-gender situations(Whitely et al., 1991), mainly owing to problems of sexual attraction and gossip

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which may destroy the effectiveness of the relationship (Clawson and Kram,1984) and the inability to provide true role models (Arnold and Davidson, 1990),male mentors can provide female proteÂgeÂs with access to power (Ragins, 1989).It may be concluded that any potential difficulties of cross-genderedrelationships are outweighed by the benefits they provide (Bowen, 1985).

Benefits to the mentorPrevious literature has outlined the benefits of the relationship for the mentor,although none mention with what regularity these benefits occur. Mentors toomay benefit from career enhancement/advancement (Zey, 1984; Dreher andAsh, 1990; Clutterbuck, 1991). The proteÂge can assist in the mentor's jobperformance and becomes a trusted adviser (Zey, 1984) providing the mentorwith increased information (Wright and Werther, 1991) and knowledge (Zey,1984; Allen et al., 1997). Their role as mentor may gain them recognition andrespect from peers (Clutterbuck, 1991) and superiors (Kram, 1983). Therelationship can also increase the mentor's job satisfaction (Clutterbuck, 1991;Ragins and Scandura, 1994), rejuvenating them and leading them to higheraccomplishment (Wright and Werther, 1991) and creative and productiveaction (Kram, 1983). The sharing of wisdom with proteÂgeÂs may gain themadmiration and self-satisfaction (Wright and Werther, 1991) and allow them tofeel challenged, stimulated and creative in providing mentoring functions(Kram, 1983; Arnold, 1997). Clearly all of these benefits can provideorganisation benefits as well.

Benefits to the organisationOrganisations may benefit from mentoring relationships in several ways, manyof which ensure the more effective use of human resources (Wright andWerther, 1991). Previous research has shown that mentoring programmes canaid recruitment and induction (Clutterbuck, 1991) by integrating the individualinto the corporate culture (Zey, 1984; Gray, 1989). They help to provide a stablecorporate culture by ensuring management skills are accurately transferredfrom senior to junior levels (Clutterbuck, 1991) and assisting in improvedcommunications between various strata of the organisation (Zey, 1984;Clutterbuck, 1991). They generally help to develop management talent for theorganisation (Hunt and Michael, 1983; Ragins and Scandura, 1994), providingleadership development (Clutterbuck, 1991; Burke et al., 1991), socialisation topower (Zey, 1984) and aiding succession management (Zey, 1984). They havebeen shown to cultivate in the proteÂge an increased sense of commitment andloyalty to the organisation (Gray, 1989; Clutterbuck, 1991; Scandura, 1997),resulting in a reduction in turnover (Zey, 1984; Kram, 1985; Fagenson, 1989;Scandura and Viator, 1994; Arnold, 1997). Other benefits include the greaterutility of older talent (Hunt and Michael, 1983; Arnold, 1997) which may act asa motivator for managers who perhaps feel their career has plateaued. In turn,this may stimulate the mentor's effectiveness in the organisation (Wright andWerther, 1991). Successful relationships have been shown to increase employee

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motivation (Clutterbuck, 1991; Arnold, 1997) and productivity (Zey, 1984;Silverhart, 1994). Former proteÂgeÂs have been found to be better educated, lessmobile and more satisfied with their work and career progress than non-mentored individuals (Hunt and Michael, 1983), and more likely to act as amentor in the future (Ragins and Cotton, 1993). Finally, Ragins (1989) arguesthat cross-gender mentoring provides a highly visible model of men andwomen working closely together in organisations which may offer role modelsfor other cross-gender relationships at work.

The benefits of mentoring programmes to the proteÂgeÂ, mentor andorganisation should not be undervalued. They clearly provide a powerfultraining and development tool (Wright and Werther, 1991) for the organisationand individuals within it and may be recognised as crucial to a self-managedlearning process (Mumford, 1985). However, they do sometimes provideproblems.

Problems of mentoringReich (1985) identified several potential drawbacks for the proteÂgeÂ: beingidentified too closely with their mentor by others; blocked promotion whenmentors lose favour with top officials, leave the company or die; stress; toomuch protection and being shielded from the results of their mistakes, andreaching a plateau within the mentor's department. The poor performance ofthe mentor can reflect badly on a proteÂge (Arnold and Davidson, 1990), whileproteÂgeÂs may pick up bad habits from their mentors (Harris et al., 1996). Amentor who has a hidden agenda for the relationship can result in betrayal ofthe proteÂge (Zey, 1984). Mentors who are not trained in the role may result inproteÂgeÂs feeling frustration with their mentor, receiving negative feedback, orfeeling the relationship to be a waste of career time, all of which may damagethe relationship (Arnold and Davidson, 1990). Mentors may also fail to protecttheir proteÂgeÂs adequately (Zey, 1984). Conflict may also arise with colleagueswho are jealous of the relationship (Arnold and Davidson, 1990). Drawbacks formentors include the time needed to put into the relationship, particularly whenorganisational restructuring and downsizing places more constraints on amanager's time (Allen et al., 1997), the risk of exposure and damaged reputationfor the mentor, particularly if the proteÂge is found to be incompetent or resignsfrom the organisation (Zey, 1984). With careful consideration and support fromthe company, however, many of these potential drawbacks may be alleviated oravoided, resulting in an effective means for developing the potential ofemployees within a company. As stated earlier, the potential benefits ofmentoring outweigh the disadvantages and this is further supported by Reich(1985) who found 43 per cent of his respondents could find few or no drawbacksto their mentoring relationships.

MethodWhile there have been many studies investigating the role of mentors in thecareer development of managers, to date, the author knows of no empirical

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study in this country which has examined the experiences and attitudestowards mentoring within the retail environment. This paper aims to begin toaddress this imbalance.

The present investigation formed part of a wider study examining the careerdevelopment of male and female retail managers. Based on judgmentalsampling techniques, quantitative data in the form of a self completed surveyquestionnaire were obtained from retail managers at various levels of theirdevelopment. Because the nature of the research aims could be constituted to beof a sensitive nature, some caution was needed to be applied to the samplingtechnique. Therefore all retail managers who had registered for an MBA inRetailing and Wholesaling by distance learning at the University of Stirlingwere selected for study. These managers are potential high fliers within theircompanies and provided a good base on which to conduct the current research.However, it was also recognised that these managers could be criticised forbeing atypical of the retail management population generally, and so someattempt was taken to counteract this imbalance. All respondents were asked ina covering letter if they would distribute copies of the questionnaire to othermanagers in their organisation to complete. A total of 255 detailed self-completed mail questionnaires were distributed and responses were receivedfrom 132 managers. This represented a response rate of 52 per cent (55 per centfor the managers registered for an MBA and 45 per cent for other retailmanagers).

The objectives of the research were to investigate the experiences of maleand female retail managers in their career to date, examine the factors that havehelped and hindered their careers, and ascertain their career aspirations for thefuture. Because previous studies have identified the importance of mentoringas a developmental aid, the questionnaire included a series of fixed responseand open ended questions about respondents' experience of mentoring.Respondents were asked how many mentors they have had and whether thesementors were male or female. They were asked to describe the benefits anddrawbacks of the mentoring relationship in two open ended questions. Inaddition, they were asked how many people they have mentored themselves,and if they had not had a mentor whether they considered their career wouldhave progressed faster had they had one. The following definition of mentoringwas used: `̀ A mentor is someone with greater seniority and experience who,either on an informal or formal basis, has guided, coached and advised you inyour career to date''.

The sample consisted of 132 retail managers (70 men and 62 women) andrepresented respondents from mainly (77 per cent) large retail UK companies(defined as those with over ten outlets). The sectors included in the sampleachieved were the grocery, convenience, CTN, mixed goods and clothingsectors. The managers' positions ranged from first line retail supervisors to topsenior managers (including director level), and they worked in the positions ofstore management, area management and head office management. Almost allthe respondents (98 per cent) were employed full-time and, on average, had

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16.49 years of working experience. The age profile was relatively young withover three quarters of the respondents (76 per cent) being under the age of 40,their mean age being 35. Most were married, although only half had children.The respondents were in general well educated, with over 80 per cent havingachieved A levels or better, while almost half had first or higher degrees.Furthermore, a quarter of the respondents have additional professionalqualifications.

FindingsIncidence of mentoring relationshipsTable I shows the incidence of mentoring relationships. Almost half the samplehad experienced being mentored at work, with slightly more female managersreporting having had mentors than male managers, although the differencewas non-significant. These findings are consistent with those of Clutterbuckand Devine (1987) where 50 per cent of the females they surveyed had had amentor at some stage in their careers. Males, however, were more likely toreport having had more than one mentor (73 per cent) than women (59 per cent),a finding which supports the research of Collins (1983). With regard to age,managers under the age of 40 were more likely to report having had mentorsthan those over 40. Again, the differences were non-significant, but the trendssupport the findings of Roche (1979). Junior managers were more likely toreport having had mentors than senior and middle managers, with females at

Table I.Incidence of mentoring

relationships

Respondents with mentor(%)

Respondents without mentors(%)

SexFemale 53 47Male 44 56AgeUnder 40 51 49Over 40 43 57

Managerial levelJunior manager 56 44Middle manager 43 57Senior manager 49 51

Location of jobStore 48 52Head office 50 50Area management 43 57

Functional areaGeneralist 51 49Functional specialist 48 52

Total respondents 48 52

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all levels of management more likely to report having had mentors than males,although none of the differences were significant. The location of jobs andmanagerial function also had little bearing on whether managers had hadmentors. It would appear therefore, from this sample, job characteristics anddemographic profiles of the respondents have little bearing on the incidence ofmentoring relationships within the retail environment.

The findings from Table II reveal that, in the main, mentors are male. Overthree-quarters of the sample have had only male mentors, against just very few(6 per cent) who have had only female mentors, while just under a fifth of thesample have experienced both male and female mentors. These findingssupport others' claims that even today most mentoring relationships arebetween male mentors and male proteÂgeÂs (Clutterbuck and Devine, 1987); thatfemales report opposite sex mentors most frequently (Kaufman et al., 1986;Burke and McKeen, 1997); that relatively few women have acted as mentors formale proteÂgeÂs (Hunt and Michael, 1983); and that female mentors primarilyhave female proteÂgeÂs (Ragins and Cotton, 1993).

Turning to whether the respondents themselves have mentored, Table IIIshows that almost two-thirds of the respondents reported that they have beenmentors for other staff members, with slightly more females than males havingacted as mentors. Clutterbuck and Devine (1987) also found that 60 per cent oftheir female respondents had been mentors. In addition, this survey, like that ofClutterbuck and Devine (1987) found that more female managers had beenmentors (Table III) than had been proteÂgeÂs (Table I). For those acting asmentors, females were more likely than males to have mentored only oneperson. However, the majority of respondents reported having mentored morethan one person, often over three people, a finding which is consistent with thatof Allen et al. (1997). Ragins (1989) claimed that women may be overloadedwith requests to act as mentors. The evidence from this survey showed that ofthe respondents who have been mentors, only slightly more women than men

Table III.How many peoplerespondents havementored

Male (%) Female (%)

None 40 36Have mentored ofwhich:

60 64

One 9 16Two 20 14Three or more 31 34

Table II.Gender of mentors

Male mentor (%) Female mentor (%) Both (%)

Male proteÂge 87 3 10Female proteÂge 67 9 24Total 76 6 18

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have mentored over three people. Although Ragins (1989) suggests femalementors may be scarce the results of this survey are less clear. Most proteÂgeÂsreported having had male mentors, yet a high proportion of female respondentsreported as acting as mentors themselves. This may be partially attributed tothe high percentage of female senior managers (25 per cent) in the samplewhich is atypical of the retail industry in general. Thus there may be somesupport for Ragins' (1989) claims here, that female senior mangers tend to bedisproportionately overloaded with requests to act as mentors.

Managers over the age of 40 are more likely to have been mentors (75 percent) than those under the age of 40 (59 per cent) which is likely to be indicativeof the position they hold in the organisation. As may be expected, seniormanagers are more likely to have mentored (71 per cent) than junior (60 percent) or middle managers (56 per cent). Senior managers also are more likely tohave mentored over three proteÂgeÂs (44 per cent) than junior (27 per cent) andmiddle managers (24 per cent). All these differences were non-significant. Atwo tailed t-test, however, revealed that respondents who had been mentoredthemselves, were significantly more likely than respondents who had not beenmentored to have acted as mentor to more than one individual (t = ±4.30; p <0.001).

Benefits of mentoring for the proteÂgeÂThe next stage of the research asked proteÂgeÂs, in an open ended question, todescribe the benefits they had derived from their mentoring relationship(s).Over three-quarters (79 per cent) of the respondents who had had mentorsreported that the relationship(s) had provided certain benefits to them. Veryfew (5 per cent), stated that they had derived no benefits from suchrelationships. A further 16 per cent left the question uncompleted, butinterestingly, none of these respondents reported any drawbacks to thementoring relationship, perhaps suggesting an ambivalence towards therelationship. Although this was an open ended question and analysedqualitatively, it was possible to quantify some of the responses in accordancewith the functions defined by Kram (1983). Table IV shows some of the trendsfound. The benefits of the mentoring relationship for the proteÂge can broadlybe described as threefold. The results of this survey found that mentoring plays

Table IV.Perceived benefits of

mentoring

Benefits (%)

Guidance and support 46Advice 22Honest discussion, confidante, friendship 17Career development and sponsorship 21Encouragement 8Role modelling 8Acceptance and confirmation 11None 5

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an important role in the development of a proteÂgeÂ's present job, career and self.These can be related to Kram's (1983) description of the mentoring function:career (aspects of the relationship which primarily enhance careeradvancement) and psychosocial (aspects of the relationship which primarilyenhance sense of competence, clarity of identity and effectiveness in themanagerial role).

A considerable number of respondents mentioned the benefits in terms oftheir present position, many of which also aid their general career development.Mentors were particularly mentioned for their guiding, supportive andadvisory role. Mentors were described as someone with greater experience tocall on, and proteÂgeÂs often felt they had learnt from this knowledge andexperience. ProteÂgeÂs mentioned being guided in the key disciplines of themanagerial role, including action planning, objective setting and thedevelopment of management style and interpersonal skills. Mentors were alsoreported as providing the proteÂgeÂs with an improved knowledge of theorganisation, and its political side, and helping to integrate them in to theorganisation by guiding them into the corporate culture.

Many respondents reported that their mentors had offered them muchsupport. The relationship was seen as a regular opportunity to express anddiscuss ideas, opinions and work related problems. This was regarded by therespondents as helping the proteÂge to make the right work-related decisions.The honesty and openness of the relationship was regarded as an importantaspect for proteÂgeÂs: several respondents argued that their mentor gave themunbiased opinions and criticism, acting almost as someone from the outsidelooking in. Mentors were looked on as someone for the proteÂge to confide in, aswell as providing constructive and honest feedback on their proteÂgeÂ's progress.Mentors were also perceived as providing much helpful and impartial advice totheir proteÂgeÂs. They were a point of contact for respondents' queries, and oftenadvised their proteÂgeÂs on how to deal with work related problems or difficultbusiness situations, as well as giving practical company advice. In general,mentors were described as providing the proteÂge with a greater understandingof what is required of their job and how to perform it in an efficient manner.

Mentors also were reported as providing a role in the proteÂgeÂ's careerdevelopment, with many of the respondents stating the benefits of theirmentoring relationships in terms of their career development and enhancement.Mentors were described as providing role models for their proteÂgeÂs to aspire to.They help the proteÂge to have a greater understanding of their own position inthe company and to set targets for their individual achievements. They provideencouragement for the proteÂge to succeed, and provide advice and guidance inthe proteÂgeÂ's career planning, including aid in specific career moves. They werealso seen as very important in providing recommendations/sponsorship fortheir proteÂgeÂ's job moves and promotion.

The role the mentor provides in the individual's self-development mainlycomes from helping the proteÂge to build their self confidence. A fewrespondents also mentioned that the mentoring relationship provided security

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for the proteÂgeÂ, while others mentioned benefits such as confidentiality and thecreation of personal relationships, all of which may contribute to their sense ofself confidence.

Drawbacks of mentoring for the proteÂgeÂIn response to an open-ended question regarding the proteÂgeÂs' perceiveddrawbacks of the mentoring relationship, only a third of the respondentsspecifically reported any drawbacks. Females were less likely than males toperceive there to be any drawbacks of the mentoring relationship (although thedifference was not statistically significant). The incidence of specificdrawbacks in the relationship were mentioned with much less regularity thanthe incidence of specific benefits of the relationship. In all instances, less than10 per cent of the sample reported any one drawback of the relationship. A fewrespondents mentioned the risk of over reliance on their mentor as a drawbackwhich meant they perhaps do not think through their own views thoroughlybut rely on those put forward by the mentor. Linked to this was a fewrespondents who felt they picked up bad habits or biased views from theirmentors. Occasionally the mentors' and proteÂgeÂs' ideas conflicted or theproteÂge felt uncomfortable in expressing their feelings to the mentor. OneproteÂge felt that mentoring was the only form of career planning in theirorganisation, which is not a drawback of the mentoring relationship per se, butmust be placed in the context of a limitation with the overall managementdevelopment process. There was also some concern expressed that having amentor meant the proteÂge was alienated from other sources of expertise in thecompany. This led a few proteÂgeÂs to claim that their mentoring relationshipshad actually restricted their career progression. Other drawbacks expressed byrespondents concerned the loss of benefits when the mentor or the proteÂgeÂchanged jobs or resigned from the organisation. Arranging to see their mentorwas reported as a drawback for a few proteÂgeÂs. A couple of female proteÂgeÂsadditionally reported that the advice of female mentors may be limited, andthat women generally don't get the mentoring that men do. While thesedrawbacks are supported by the literature, the respondents in this survey didnot report the many drawbacks which have been identified in the literature.Overall, the retail managers from this survey reported many more benefits thandrawbacks from their role as proteÂgeÂs in the mentoring relationship whichsupports the findings of Bowen (1985). It appears that the reported advantagesto proteÂgeÂs of mentoring as a management development tool far outweigh thereported disadvantages, and that retail organisations have much to benefitfrom the encouragement of such relationships.

Respondents without mentorsAlthough respondents with a mentor reported the various benefits in terms oftheir career development, over half the sample (52 per cent) had not hadmentors. Previous research has found a high percentage of those who had noexperience of mentoring to believe their career progress would have improved

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if they had been able to develop a mentoring relationship (Clutterbuck andDevine, 1987; Arnold and Davidson, 1990). The present survey asked thoserespondents without mentors whether they considered their career would havedeveloped faster had they had a mentor. The findings are shown in Table V.Just over a third (34 per cent) of the retail managers believed their career wouldhave developed faster with a mentor. Females, those under the age of 40, andmiddle managers were most likely to agree that their career progression wouldhave been faster with a mentor.

Interestingly, almost a third of the respondents (31 per cent) stated that theabsence of mentors had not affected their career development. Females weremore likely than males to consider this, which may support other researchwhich found that women fail to recognise the importance of gaining a mentor,naively assuming that competence is the only requisite for advancement in theorganisation (Ragins, 1989). Senior managers were also more likely to believethat their career progression had not been impeded by the absence of mentors.This is perhaps understandable as they have already achieved a high positionwithin the company. Another third of the sample (34 per cent) were unsurewhether their careers would have progressed faster had they had a mentor.Males and junior managers were particularly unsure whether having a mentorwould have enabled them to progress their careers faster.

With the results of this survey showing that less than a third of therespondents disagree that having a mentor would have enabled their careers todevelop faster, there would appear to be scope for encouraging theserelationships at the workplace, particularly given the variety of benefitsmentioned by those experiencing mentoring relationships, and the fewperceived drawbacks.

Respondents' career ambitionsThe research tried to identify whether the experience of having a mentoringrelationship could be associated with the respondents' ultimate career

Table V.Non-mentoredrespondents: wouldyour career haveprogressed faster witha mentor?

Yes (%) No (%) Don't know (%)

SexMale 33 26 41Female 36 39 25AgeUnder 40 36 30 34Over 40 29 35 35

Managerial levelJunior manager 21 21 57Middle manager 46 25 29Senior manager 32 39 29

Total non-mentored respondents 34 31 34

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ambitions. Only a quarter (24 percent) of those having experienced being aproteÂge in a mentoring relationship stated they had never set themselves acareer life plan, against over a third (37 per cent) of those who had not hadmentors. Most of the respondents (92 per cent), however, were able to state theirultimate career aspirations and these are shown in Table VI. No associationwas found between the ultimate career aspirations and whether or notrespondents had been mentored. It is interesting to note that respondentswithout mentors were more likely to desire board level positions, while thementored respondents were more likely to aspire to senior managementpositions. These findings relate to the respondents' current positions (see TableI) and is indicative of the junior managers who aspire to senior managementrather than board level positions. Although the benefits of mentoring wereapparent, they do not seem to affect respondents' ultimate career aspirations.However, if more mentored individuals are likely to set themselves a career lifeplan than non-mentored individuals, there may be some indirect correlationbetween the incidence of mentoring, the setting of realistic goals and theachievement of ultimate career ambitions. This clearly would require furtherlongitudinal research to confirm these speculations but it would tend to supportother research that there is a connection between mentoring and theclarification of career plans (White et al., 1992).

Finally, two-tail probability t-tests were performed on the other variablesmeasured in the questionnaire to ascertain whether any significant differencescould be found between respondents who have been mentored and those whohad not. Table VII shows that mentored respondents were significantly more

Table VII.Significant differencesbetween mentored and

non-mentoredrespondents

t valueTwo-tail prob.

p value

I have received individual coaching 2.07 0.04I have received career counselling 2.54 0.01I have been given an individual development plan 2.83 0.005Having a career plan has helped my career development to date 4.02 0.001Access to networks has assisted my career development 2.98 0.004I have turned down an offer of promotion 2.31 0.02I need training in delegation skills ±2.25 0.026Fewer employers 1.94 0.05

Respondents with mentors(%)

Respondents without mentors(%)

Board level 32 52Senior management 34 21Middle management 5 2Already achieved 23 13Othera 5 13

Note: a Includes unstated position, career outside retailing, don't know

Table VI.Ultimate career

aspirations ofrespondents

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likely than non-mentored respondents to have received more individualcoaching, more career counselling and an individual development plan. Thosewith mentors were also significantly more likely to state that having a careerplan has helped their career development to date, that access to networks hasassisted in their career development and to have turned down an offer ofpromotion maybe because it didn't fit their career plan. They also have hadfewer employers than non-mentored individuals, a finding supported by otherresearch (Hunt and Michael, 1983; Clutterbuck and Devine, 1987; Clutterbuck,1991). Respondents without mentors were significantly more likely than thosewith mentors to feel the need for training in delegation skills, and to considerthat lack of career development advice (an important function of the mentoringrole) is one reason why women are under-represented at senior managementlevels in retailing. Interestingly, although other research (Hunt and Michael,1983; Fagenson, 1989) has found proteÂgeÂs to be more satisfied with their workthan non-mentored individuals, the results of this survey found respondentswith and without mentors to be equally satisfied with the various aspects oftheir current jobs.

ConclusionsThis paper examined the role of mentoring as a management development aidin retailing, drawing on a sample of 132 retail managers within the UK. Whilethere are limitations of the research (for example, the method does not allow foran in-depth insight into the mentoring process, the duration of the proteÂgeÂ-mentor relationship was not explored, and it could be criticised for being one-sided as it explores only the advantages and drawbacks of the mentoringrelationship from the proteÂgeÂ's perspective), the findings do provide somevaluable information on mentoring within the retail managerial environment.

The results showed that half the sample had experienced a mentorshiprelationship at work and, in general, the perceived benefits of the relationshipoutweighed any perceived drawbacks. Mentoring was found to serve the twoprimary functions (career and psychosocial) identified by Kram (1983). Itplayed an important role in the development of a proteÂgeÂ's current job andcareer, as well as self development. The findings from this research areconsistent with previous research studies. As found by Fagenson (1989)mentoring worked equally well for male and female proteÂgeÂs. The importanceof mentoring as a career function was evident by the responses of the retailmanagers, and supports others' research (Kram, 1983; Kaufman et al., 1986;Noe, 1988; Clutterbuck, 1991; Wright and Werther, 1991; Traves andBrockbank, 1995). The psychosocial function of mentoring was equally foundto be important to respondents. For example, the proteÂgeÂs in this sample ofretail managers benefited from the development of their general managementskills which supports the findings of others (Reich, 1985; Kaufman et al., 1986;Fagenson, 1989; Clutterbuck, 1991; Wright and Werther, 1991). In addition, thepsychosocial function of the mentor's role in acting as friend and confidanteand helping the proteÂge to gain self confidence is supported by prior research

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(Kram, 1983; Hunt and Michael, 1983; Reich, 1985; Fagenson, 1989; Arnold andDavidson, 1990; Clutterbuck, 1991; Wright and Werther, 1991; White et al.,1992). Adding the gender dimension, the benefits reported by femalerespondents of their mentoring relationships were consistent with research byothers (Clutterbuck and Devine, 1987; Ragins, 1989; Arnold and Davidson,1990). Females mentioned the benefits of increased exposure and visibilitywithin the company, the importance of the role in sponsorship and careeradvancement, confidence building and the creation of personal relationships.

The differences between a respondent's sex, age, position in themanagement hierarchy, location or function of their job and whether they havebeen mentored were non-significant. The incidence of mentoring did not appearto affect a manager's ultimate career ambitions and only longitudinal researchcould ascertain the influence of mentoring on whether managers actuallyachieve their career ambitions. However, mentored individuals weresignificantly more likely than non-mentored individuals to have engaged incareer planning activities, received career counselling and have access tonetworks which enhance their career development. All of these may enablethem to be more realistic in their ultimate goal setting. It appears that theadvantages of mentoring as perceived by the proteÂgeÂs far outweigh thedisadvantages, and that retail organisations have much to benefit from theencouragement of such relationships as a management development tool.

Organisations benefit from increased management succession, managementdevelopment, reduced turnover and increased productivity (Zey, 1984). Thoseresponsible for developing human resource strategies in retail companies needto be aware of the benefits of mentoring for the individual, mentor andorganisation, and provide interventions to facilitate the development ofmentoring relationships. As Harris et al. (1996) identify, in an era of increasingspans of control and shrinking training budgets, mentoring offers anopportunity to complement existing formal training experiences. The fact thatthe lack of mentors has been found to be among the problems encountered byretail managers (Broadbridge, 1998) is indicative that such schemes are valued,regarded as beneficial and should be adopted by retail companies. However,mentoring should not be introduced just for the sake of it otherwise proteÂgeÂswill perceive only low benefits from the relationship (Arnold and Johnson,1997). Rather, it should aim to add something not achieved by other training ormanagement development interventions (Arnold, 1997). For example, it canplay an important role in the development of the self managed learning process.The objectives of any mentoring scheme should be aligned with key businessconcerns, be responsive to individuals' learning needs and be consistent withcurrent management practices. Used in this way, mentoring can become a verypowerful support mechanism for management development purposes in retailcompanies.

To ensure retail organisations derive maximum benefits from mentoringand the development of its future managers (both in career and psychosocialfunctions) they need to recognise the relevance of mentoring as a management

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development tool and its role in self-managed learning. Mentoring can offer avehicle for the passing on of skills and knowledge, and may be particularlyappropriate in an era when there is concern whether future retail boardmembers will possess the relevant skills needed for their role (Retail Week,1996). The changes ongoing within the retail industry (e.g. increasingprofessionalism of the retail industry together with recent companyrestructuring) enable the merits of a mentoring scheme to be taken to fulladvantage, particularly if the formation of relationships is encouraged andlegitimised as part of an informal development process. In terms of theimplications of cultivating or developing mentoring relationships, attentionshould be paid to the role of female managers who, because of their underrepresentation at senior levels, may find they are over loaded with requests tobe mentors. However, they can act as good role models for more junior staff toaspire to. The benefits mentioned by the female retail managers demonstratethe importance of these relationships in the promotion of equal opportunities.These benefits are particularly important in a cultural climate which isdominated by male values and norms (Broadbridge, 1998). It is important forretail companies to provide counselling and initial training to mentors todevelop their skills in the mentor role (Alleman, 1989). Such provisions willcontribute to organisational effectiveness through the development of theproteÂge and mentor.

This paper has given an insight into the incidence of mentoringrelationships within the retail managerial environment. A variety of benefits ofthe relationship were reported by those who have been proteÂgeÂs. Furtherresearch is now needed to explore some of these issues in more depth, such asthe relative importance of the mentoring role in career development, roledevelopment and self development. Further qualitative research with proteÂgeÂswould provide a more in-depth insight into the nature, role and benefits of sucha relationship, and arguably longitudinal research would enable an evaluationof the incidence of mentoring to the proteÂgeÂs' career progression. Otherresearch avenues could be conducted with mentors, finding out their perceivedbenefits and drawbacks with the mentoring role, exploring the synergybetween proteÂgeÂ, mentor and organisational benefits. The evidence to dateindicates that retail organisations have much to benefit from the developmentof mentoring relationships. Further research into the nature of theserelationships can only help to exploit them to their full potential.

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