Abstract
The benefits of formal and informal mentoring systems in academe and other organizational settings are well documented. However, a third form of mentoring—known as episodic or spontaneous mentoring as well as mentoring moments—offers a different entrée point into the everyday construction of mentoring. Whereas most mentoring either focuses on one-on-one long-term relationships or group/cluster mentoring arrangements, episodic mentoring emphasizes processes, relational aspects of the mentoring experiences, multiple inputs, and individual empowerment. Based on inductive-deductive analyses of in-depth interviews and other empirical data about engineering faculty members' mentoring experiences in a mid-western university, we discuss how episodic mentoring is a way to receive and provide "just in time" career advice and psychological support from colleagues in an informal or unstructured way. This advice and support helps faculty members’ career development, work/life balance issues, and management of workplace politics. In this paper, episodic mentoring is proposed not only as a means of career development but also as faculty engagement and empowerment. We do not propose that episodic mentoring should replace more structured mentoring practices and policies. However, the role of the episodic mentoring has been underestimated in its positive impact on faculty advancement. We argue that without recognizing the value of episodic mentoring, one cannot assess the full extent of a comprehensive mentoring process. We also recommend practical applications of episodic mentoring from our findings in the context of faculty development.
Keywords
mentoring, episodic, career, diversity and inclusion
Recommended Citation
Buzzanell, Patrice M.; Long, Ziyu; Kokini, Klod; Anderson, Lindsey B.; and Batra, Jennifer C., "Appreciating Episodic Mentoring: Reconsiderations of and Interventions for a Comprehensive Mentoring Process for Engineering Faculty" (2014). ADVANCE-Purdue Gender and STEM Research Symposium. 5.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/advancegsr/2013/presentations/5
Included in
Appreciating Episodic Mentoring: Reconsiderations of and Interventions for a Comprehensive Mentoring Process for Engineering Faculty
The benefits of formal and informal mentoring systems in academe and other organizational settings are well documented. However, a third form of mentoring—known as episodic or spontaneous mentoring as well as mentoring moments—offers a different entrée point into the everyday construction of mentoring. Whereas most mentoring either focuses on one-on-one long-term relationships or group/cluster mentoring arrangements, episodic mentoring emphasizes processes, relational aspects of the mentoring experiences, multiple inputs, and individual empowerment. Based on inductive-deductive analyses of in-depth interviews and other empirical data about engineering faculty members' mentoring experiences in a mid-western university, we discuss how episodic mentoring is a way to receive and provide "just in time" career advice and psychological support from colleagues in an informal or unstructured way. This advice and support helps faculty members’ career development, work/life balance issues, and management of workplace politics. In this paper, episodic mentoring is proposed not only as a means of career development but also as faculty engagement and empowerment. We do not propose that episodic mentoring should replace more structured mentoring practices and policies. However, the role of the episodic mentoring has been underestimated in its positive impact on faculty advancement. We argue that without recognizing the value of episodic mentoring, one cannot assess the full extent of a comprehensive mentoring process. We also recommend practical applications of episodic mentoring from our findings in the context of faculty development.