Mentoring in engineering careers: a case study

Mentoring is a work relationship in which a more senior member of an organization is committed to providing guidance and support to a less experienced colleague. Mentoring relationships have been shown to enhance organizational success as well as individual career development and career satisfaction. In a survey of 57 engineers and managers working at a plant site of a large Canadian petrochemical company, respondents reported mentoring activity frequencies consistent with those reported in a previous study of a more general business population. Responses to fourteen of the eighteen survey questions showed no statistically significant difference between the two study groups. Therefore, within the study group population, mentoring appears to be used effectively in developing the careers of engineers and engineering managers. Two differences observed in the engineering group were: less psychosocial mentoring was reported compared with the general business population; and more mentoring experiences were reported by people in managerial roles than by those in technical roles. Further research is recommended to better understand the causes of these differences