Directorate of distance education master of business administration

16.   Mentoring Method 
 
Mentoring is an on-the-job approach to training in which the 
trainee is given an opportunity to learn on a one-to-one basis from more 
experienced members of the organization.  The mentor is usually an 
older, experienced executive who serves as a host, friend, confidant and 
advisor to a new member of the firm. The mentor is given the charge 
of protecting and responsibility of helping the new employee. The 
relationship may be formally planned or it may develop informally. For 
mentoring to be productive, the parties’ interests must be compatible and 
they must understand each other’s learning styles and personalities.  If 
mentors form overly strong bonds with trainees, unwarranted favoritism 

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might result. A highly successful mentor-protégé relationship might 
create feelings of jealousy among other colleagues who are not able to 
show equally good results out of the mentoring process.