員工個人學習與師徒制實施之研究-以彰濱工業區為例

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(2) A Study on Mentoring Implementation and Influence for Employees’ Personal Learning in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. by Pei-Ling Hsieh. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of. MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor: Chih-Chien Steven Lai, Ph. D.. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan June, 2014.

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(4) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. Chih-Chien Steven Lai. Without him, I would not have been able to complete my study at IHRD and finish my thesis. He guided me to enter mentoring research field which became my thesis topic and always motivated us to keep positive attitude. I also want to thank my committee members, Dr. Wei-Wen Vera Chang and Dr. Chun-Wei Yeh, for advising me on writing thesis and providing valuable advices. I also want to thank all my lovely classmates who always accompany me and give me encouragement, especially Sunny, Lulu, Carol, Mandy, Linh, Ampi, Dian, Louis. Life is hard but luckily I have you guys being part of my graduated school life. You enrich my life when I had hard time. Wherever you are in the future, the happy memory with you will be kept in my deep heart all the time. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to those companies in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, especially Mr. Wu who provided me with valuable advises and important opportunity to further understand current human resource policy in manufacturing firms. Also, I want to thank my cousin who helped me access other case companies. Without you, I can’t finish my thesis..

(5) ABSTRACT Due to globalization economics, manufacturing industry in Taiwan face more serious competition nowadays, leading to the increasing emphasis on employee’s personal learning. While a range of topics have been studies in mentoring, few studies focused on how mentoring applied in personal learning at workplace. Therefore, understanding the application of mentoring that may facilitate employee’s personal learning may provide useful insight to not only development of mentor and protégé, but also development of organization.. This study. aimed to understand how application of mentoring facilitates employees’ personal learning through exploring and examining employees’ personal learning of working in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. In this study, the employees who work in manufacturing firms of Changhua Coastal Industrial Park were the research participants. This study adopted qualitative approach and collected data through in-depth interview and participant observation for enhancing the credibility of the research. Finally, this study found mentoring implementation could enhance personal learning of employees in manufacturing firms; especially protégé could learn relational job learning and personal skill development through interactoin with mentor. This study figured out main steps for mentoring interaction which could be reference for manufacturing firms while implementing mentoring in practice. The result of study also could be reference for future studies which are focusing on mentoring application in manufacturing industry.. Keywords: mentoring, personal learning, Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. I.

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(7) TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………...……………………...I TABLE OF CONTENTS……..………………………………………………..III LIST OF TABLES………………….……………………………………..........V LIST OF FIGURES………………….……………….........................…….....VII CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………………………........................1 Background of the Study…………………………………………………………………1 Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………………...3 Research Purpose………………………………………………………………………...4 Research Questions………………………………………………………………………4 Significance of the Study………………………………………………………………...5 Delimitations……………………………………………………......................................6 Definition of Terms……………………………………………………............................6. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………..........................9 Mentoring in Workplace………………………………………………............................9 Personal Learning in Workplace………………………………………..........................14 Mentoring and Personal Learning……………………………………............................16. CHAPTER III RESEARCH DESIGN……………………………………………....21 Research Method……………………………………......................................................21 Research Framework……………………………………................................................22 Research Procedure……………………………………..................................................23 Research Participants and Criteria…………………………………...............................25 Data Collection…………………………………….........................................................27 Data Coding and Analysis……………………………………........................................33 Validity and Reliability…………………………………….............................................35. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS..................……………………37 Mentoring Relationship and Mentoring Type...………………………………………...37 Mentoring Function…………………………………………………………………......43 Personal Learning……………………………………………………………………….49. CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………...........63 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………..63 Suggestions……………………………………………………………………………...64 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………...66. REFERENCES…………………………….........................................................................67 APPENDIX A: COVER LETTER…………..................................................................71 APPENDIX B: CONSENT FORM……………………………………………………73 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR SUPERVISORS…………….75 III.

(8) APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR MENTOR……………………77 APPENDIX E: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR PROTÉ GÉ …………………..79 APPENDIX F: EXAMPLE OF FIELD NOTE……………………………...…80. IV.

(9) LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Mentoring Functions……………………………………………………………....11 Table 3.1 The Description of Interviewees ………………………………………………..…27 Table 3.2 The Development of Interview Questions…………………………………………30 Table 4.1 The Summary of Research Findings………………………………………………63. V.

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(11) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 A Typology of Alternative Forms of Mentoring………………………………….18 Figure 3.1 Research Framework……………………………………………………………..22 Figure 3.2 Research Procedure……………………………………………………………….25 Figure 3.3 An Example of the Coding Procedure……………………………………………34 Figure 3.4 The Process of Data Analysis...…………………………………………………..35 Figure 4.1 Steps for Mentoring Interaction…………………………………………………..61. VII.

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(13) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the study, including five sections, namely, background of the study, statement of problem, research purposes, research questions, significance of the study, definitions of terms, and delimitation.. Background of the Study The development of Taiwan’s industrial park has more than 40 years of history. In Taiwan early economy development, Taiwan strongly relied on manufacturing industry. Until now, there are 60 industrial parks built in Taiwan. Within 60 industrial parks, the total number of firms is up to 11,794. Those firms create 524,996 job opportunities. According to the statistics presented by Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs (2013), manufacturing firms in Industrial Parks created about 4 trillion NT dollars of production annually; accounting for Taiwan’s manufacturing industry output value of 1/3. The operation of Industrial Parks made great contribution to Taiwan’s economy. However, the rise of China and Southeast Asia cause serious impact on Taiwan’s manufacturing firms and operation of Industrial Parks. China and Southeast Asia provide cheap labor, cheap land cost, and large market to attract firms. Therefore, government has begun to strive for transformation of operation of Industrial Parks, and Changhua Coastal Industrial Park is a famous example. In recent year, Changhua Coastal Industrial Park has successfully combined production with recreation, tourism, leisure, and green architecture. Changhua Coastal Industrial Park was located in Changhua coastal area. With strong regional advantage, Changhua Coastal Industrial Park has convenient traffic and integrated industrial park facility. In the north of Changhua, there are Central Science Park and Hsinchu Science Park located. In the south of Changhua, Miliao Industrial Park and Southern Taiwan Science Park are located. Moreover, Changhua Coastal Industrial Park is closed to Taichung 1.

(14) Port, located at important site. This Industrial Park was also one of the Six-Year National Development Plan conducted by the Executive Yuan. Under government and local government’s assistances, Changhua Coastal Industrial Park successfully formed industry agglomeration and become the regional center for manufacturing. Every year, the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park of annual value of production is up to 3,468 hundred billion NT dollars. Moreover, Changhua Coastal Industrial Park has attracted over 400 manufacturing companies moving in and has positive effect on local development of Changhua. Changhua Coastal Industrial Park not only brings economical effect but also put emphasizes on comprehensive exploitation. Compared with other traditional industrial park, Changhua Coastal Industrial Park possesses diverse development on the basis of the traditional industries. In recent year, Changhua Coastal Industrial Park successfully attracted new technology, new industries corporation stationed. For instance, Google, one of the famous international corporations, had acquired 15 hectares of land in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park with the plans to build a data center. Although nowadays Changhua Coastal Industrial Park is strive for transforming the industry and keeping sustainable development, manufacturing firms rarely have clear strategy on building human resource, not to mention those corporations want to transfer from laborintensive model to human knowledge-intensive transferred production. However, the main human capital, employees, is key factor for development of manufacturing firms in Taiwan. Hence, the ability of employee to learn and relearn is now important within high competitive environment (Arthur & Rousseau, 2001; Hall, 1996). Individual can learn from different ways, for instance, employees could learn from others, especially those who come from different status, background, professional field, such as supervises and senioritis in the organization. This pivotal work relationship which can promote personal learning called mentoring (Kram, 1996). According to Dymock (1999), application of mentoring can enhance employees’ 2.

(15) personal learning in the workplace. Therefore, this study aims to analyze application of mentoring used by manufacturing firms in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park and figure out how application of mentoring facilitate personal learning of employees.. Statement of the Problem Nowadays, overwhelming changes in the environment and in the content of work have resulted in the urgent demand for employee to acquire and develop competency for personal learning. Such competency is an important element of learning how to learn, which can also increase employability and job security for employees, and build competitive advantage for organizations (Ellinger, 2004; Hall, 2002). Personal learning is necessary competence for each employee, since both “personal skill development” and “relational job learning” help employee acquire new skill and have better understanding of job and role in the organization. Especially manufacturing firm in Taiwan facing the problem of new technical skill development, want their employee to adapt new change and acquire necessary competency for job in short time. Due to the practicability and effectiveness in mentoring that contributes to personal growth, many scholars have done researches on this field (Hamilton & Scandura, 2003; Higgins & Kram, 2001; Hirschfeld, Thomas, & Lankau, 2006; Lankau & Scandura, 2002). While a range of topics have been studies on the link between mentoring and personal learning, few studies focused on how mentoring contributes to personal learning, particularly examining “what” is learned or “how” protégés engage in learning. As a matter of fact, based on Lankau and Scandura (2002), even though application of mentoring might help employees learn to adapt to change situations within work environment, the expected outcomes still differ because of different environmental and organizational changes. As a result, organizations need to identify the need of personal learning before considering the application of mentoring. 3.

(16) Despite convenient traffic network and highest standard of construction, most manufacturing firms in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park still face problems of transformation and upgrading. Through changing the business model, such as service strategy in manufacturing, organizations expect deepen value chain and attract more investment. On the other hand, organizations also notice important issues that how employees increase effectiveness of personal learning in response to dynamic organizational change. If organizations ignore the importance of personal learning, employees’ contribution of their competence and performance will decrease. Due to lack of competencies, organizations will not success in today’s fast-paced work environment. Therefore, how mentoring serves as an important resource for personal learning in workplace is really significant and is supposed to catch more attentions from researchers. Similarly, for enhancing competitive advantage of manufacturing firms in Taiwan, more should be known about how application of mentoring facilitate personal learning in practice.. Research Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify application of mentoring used by manufacturing firms especially in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park and to explore how application of mentoring facilitate personal learning through examining actual implementation in manufacturing firms located in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. This study tried to find out “what” is learned and “how” did employee learn under application of mentoring.. Research Questions Four research questions were proposed according to the research purpose, namely: 1. What kind of mentoring is applying now to facilitate employees’ personal learning in manufacturing firms of Changhua Coastal Industrial Park? 4.

(17) 2. What mentoring functions are brought out in manufacturing firms of Changhua Coastal Industrial Park? 3. What does protégé learn to increase personal learning through mentoring implementation? 4. How does protégé learn increase personal learning through mentoring implementation?. Significance of the Study Global economy presents slow growth in 2013. Taiwan’s industry is facing the fierce competition from emerging country in Asia. Nowadays, China and Southeast Asia is emerging, becoming dynamic center of the global economy which has economic impact on manufacturing firms in Taiwan. It’s important to participate in the global economy system and create own competitive advantage to manufacturing firms in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park as well. Especially, work environment now is quick-paced, fluid because of technological advances and organizational changes (Klehe, Zikic, Van Vianen, & De Pater, 2011). In order to create the opportunities for growth, manufacturing firms in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park should require the capability which could make the response to change rapidly in unexpected environment with limited human resource. In other words, manufacturing firms in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park should pay attention to each employee’s personal learning. Since the advancement in technology and competitive market, personal learning should be taken care of. As the personal learning becomes more important, to understand how to facilitate personal learning with mentoring is inevitable.. Understanding the application of mentoring that may facilitate employee’s personal learning may provide useful insight to not only development of mentor and protégé, but also development of organization. This study aims to understand how application of mentoring facilitates employees’ personal learning and to improve current application of mentoring in manufacturing firms. Manufacturing firms can benefit more from recognizing importance of 5.

(18) mentoring. application. on facilitating employees’ personal. learning.. Furthermore,. manufacturing firms can successfully transfer the knowledge from mentor to protégé effectively and maximize employees’ learning outcomes.. Delimitations Based on the concern that personal learning is critical in today’s business environment, where application of mentoring also play indispensable role in manufacturing firms. This study aimed to figure out how application of mentoring facilitates personal learning in current manufacturing firms. This study was conducted in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. The sample of this study was manufacturing firms, comprising mentor, protégé, and supervisor, were selected through the method of convenience sampling.. Definition of Terms This study used these key terms of conceptual definition below.. Mentoring Mentoring refers to a mechanism that exists between mentor and protégé in the workplace where individuals are expected to develop skills and ability for adapting organizational changes (Eby, 1997; Kram, 1988b).. Personal Learning Personal learning includes the concept of relational job learning and personal skill development which means increased understanding about the interdependence of job and new skill and abilities (Lankau & Scandura, 2002).. Manufacturing Firm Manufacturing firm refers to any business that transforms raw material, components into finished or semi-finished goods that meet a customer's expectations or specifications using machines, tools and labor. 6.

(19) Changhua Coastal Industrial Park Changhua Coastal Industrial Park is located in the seacoast of Changhua County of Taiwan, and it’s one of six year national development plan conducted by the Executive Yuan. Changhua Coastal Industrial Park successfully formed industrial cluster and become the regional center for manufacturing.. 7.

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(21) CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW. In this chapter, the study gives an overview and a summary of relevant literatures on mentoring and personal learning in workplace, what is mentoring, the function and advantage form mentoring, the outcomes from mentoring relationship, importance of personal learning in nowadays workplace, the relationship between mentoring and personal learning.. Mentoring in Workplace Definition of Mentoring Regarding origin of mentor term, it came from the Greek mythology. In the story of Odyssey, when Ithaca, the king of country, left for the Trojan War, he entrusted young prince to his old friend, Mentor. Therefore Mentor, as an adviser, sustained great responsibility on guiding and assisting young prince (Daloz, 2012). The term of mentor has been widely used since then, and it turned out to be the meaning of instruction. In the past two decades, there have been relatively many studies documenting application of mentoring which might bring benefit and advantage for not only the organization, but also mentor and protégé at the same time. Kram (1988b) remarked that “mentoring at work” is defined as relationships between mentor and protégé that help individuals’ career development at the workplace, and mentoring relationship can satisfy protégés’ different needs in the early, middle, and later career stages. In the early perspective, mentoring relationship traditionally exist in junior and senior employees within the organization. At that time, relatively many studies focused on outcomes of protégés’ career development, for instance, promotion rate and compensation, after application of mentoring was implemented (Dreher & Ash, 1990; T. A. Scandura, 1992; Whitely, Dougherty, & Dreher, 1991). In addition, Russell and Adams (1997) defined mentoring as an “interpersonal exchange” between a more experienced employee (i.e. the mentor) who provides help 9.

(22) regarding career and personal problems and a less experienced employee (i.e. the protégé). Generally, mentors are frequently expected to play an important role between organization and less experienced employee. In order to improve organizational performance and resolve employees’ problems, organization assigns certain employee who could provide support, direction, and feedback to other employee. Moreover, Noe, Greenberger, and Wang (2002) also stated that protégé can receive support which related to career and personal development such as advice, counsel, feedback during the process of intense interpersonal exchange. Mentoring is also regarded as exchange relationship. Besides protégé, mentor also benefit from application of mentoring. Because when individuals enter the organization, it’s inevitable to go through learning and adjustment process constantly. During the learning and adjustment process, each employee needs to understand own organizational role and develop potential personal networking which is linked with positive outcomes such as career development (Van-Emmerik, 2004). Similarly, Eby (1997) defined mentoring as a mechanism in the workplace where individuals are expected to develop skills and ability for adapting organizational changes. The advantages of mentoring not only bring out positive outcomes of career development, but also encourage employees’ learning in the workplace. Her definition also pointed out that current organizations are undergoing unexpected changes. For instance, rapid technical advancement in competitive market might have impact on organizational strategy, work design, and organizational structure as well.. Mentoring Function in Workplace In the opinion of Kram (1988a), as shown in Table 2.1, protégés generally receive two critical types of functions, career function and psychosocial function, from their mentor. The first type of function is “career functions.” Career functions include numerous behaviors that assist protégés in acquiring skill and facilitating advancement in the workplace. Kram (1988a)’s 10.

(23) study showed that five specific behaviors involve: coaching the protégé; sponsoring protégés’ promotions; protecting the protégés; increasing protégés’ exposure and visibility; and providing challenging assignments. The second type of function is “psychosocial functions.” Psychosocial functions uplift the effectiveness of protégés’ professional and personal growth, identity to the organization, self-worth in the organization, and self-efficacy which helps building up trust, interpersonal ponds in the mentoring relationship. Psychosocial functions also involve a range of behaviors such as serving as role model who could deliver positive attitude, value to the protégé; providing confirmation, acceptance, counseling, friendship and role modeling. Table 2.1. Mentoring Functions Type. Behavior. Career function. Sponsorship Coaching Protection Providing challenging assignments Increasing exposure and invisibility. Psychosocial function. Role modeling Acceptance and confirmation Counseling Friendship. Kram (1988b) emphasized the more the number of functions offered by mentor, the more profitable mentoring relationship will be. However, career function and psychosocial function might have different influence on outcomes of protégés due to various factors. The impact of 11.

(24) career function on the protégés will differ by mentor’s position in the workplace, while impact of psychosocial function on the protégés depends on quality of mentoring relationship. Moreover, as reported by Allen, Eby, Poteet, Lentz, and Lima (2004) and Whitely et al. (1991), different mentoring functions predicted different protégé outcomes. As shown in studies, career function might be predictor of protégés’ compensation and promotions, and psychosocial function might be predictor of protégés’ satisfaction of mentoring relationship. Both career function and psychosocial functions could be predictor of protégés’ job and career satisfaction. Therefore, application of mentoring is widely used within different industry. Both Fulton and Hon (2010) and Sekhosana (2011) supported mentoring functions were beneficial to employees in manufacturing firm. However, manufacturing firms now in Taiwan are facing challenges such as high competition, skill shortage and high employee turnover rate in work environment. Little is known for which mentoring functions should be emphasized on solving employees’ problems which brought out by rapid change in workplace.. Mentoring Relationship in Workplace Because application of mentoring bring out potential benefits, it’s not surprising that organizations have begun to apply mentoring program on employees. Mentoring has been recognized as a vital developmental resource in organization (Crocitto, Sullivan, & Carraher, 2005; Mezias & Scandura, 2005). Mentoring also can stand for organizational vitality because it values and promotes individual and organizational learning. With application of mentoring, employees are better able to manage their own learning and development because mentoring relationship strengthens relationship throughout whole organization (Zachary, 2011). As relationship deepen between mentor and protégé, employee feel stronger connection to the organization as well. According to Zachary (2011), not only protégé and mentor, but also the organization can gain from relationship established. Generally, mentoring relationship could exist formally and informally (Kram, 1983). 12.

(25) Formal mentoring relationship started with organizational program that specifically assigns mentors and protégés for certain purpose and/or framework in requested period. Compared with formal mentoring relationship, informal mentoring relationship has little or no intervention by organization (Singh, Bains, & Vinnicombe, 2002; Wanberg, Welsh, & Hezlett, 2003). Formal and informal mentoring relationship differs based on numerous dimensions. An informal relationship started from developmental need (Kram & Isabella, 1985). The informal relationship helps mentor lift importance of position in the organization and reaches achievement that making contribution for future generation. At the same time, protégé get guidance, support, and affirmation in the early career development. The informal mentoring develops by mentor and protégé’s identification mutually. Compared with informal mentoring, formal mentoring develops relationship through organization. Both mentor and protégé have to enter the relationship for meeting organizational expectation. As a result, formal mentor and protégé may less be motivated to achieve purpose of mentoring. There are two significant distinctions between formal and informal mentoring relationship. First, formal mentoring relationship is built with support of organization while informal mentoring relationship is built due to natural interaction of mentor and protégé. Second, formal relationship has a limited time frame set by organization while informal relationship continues as long as both mentor and protégé’s involvement exist (Allen, Day, & Lentz, 2005; Lyons & Oppler, 2004). Allen and Eby (2004) compared informal and formal mentoring provided by mentor. They indicated no differences in mentors’ self-report of the career or psychosocial mentoring function. However, some studies pointed out that protégé reported of mentoring provided in difference due to types of mentorship (Ragins, Cotton, & Miller, 2000; Scandura & Williams, 2001). As times change and technology develops, mentoring relationship has developed other type in workplace. 13.

(26) In the past, mentoring relationships tend to only take hierarchical, one-on-one approach in consideration. As organizational development has different structures, organization also change the way for developing the talent. Nowadays, organization may take different form to build mentoring relationship. Theses role of mentor can be superiors, subordinated, peers, team member, or external consultants. Although the position of mentors in workplace is different, they can still offer a variety of mentoring functions such counseling, coaching, sponsoring, skill building, preparing for advancement, role modeling, and giving feedback.. Personal Learning in Workplace Definition of Personal Learning Complicated changes in the nature of work content leads to the urgent need for employees to acquire the capability for continuous learning. From adult learning literature, personal learning involves adjustment in attitudes, behavior, and character of the learner (Rogers & Allender, 1983). Kegan (1995) stated that individuals must acquire capacity of learning how to cope with change within organization. Hall (1996) highlighted importance of learning that ability to increasingly grow and change is essential for employees and organization. Rawson (2000) explained learning is important because learning results in forming a new way of personal development especially in changing world. Kram (1996) defined “personal learning” as a way acquiring knowledge and skills for individual development in workplace. Such personal learning is important element in current workplace which positively related to employability for employee and become competitive advantage for organizations. In this study, author will use two important type of personal learning that reviewed studies above suggested. Hall (2002) proposed the dimensions of career effectiveness which clarified the types of learning in workplace. In the same year, Lankau and Scandura (2002) addressed the more detailed explanation to personal learning especially focusing on the personal 14.

(27) development in short term. The first type of personal learning is relational job learning. Relational job learning is defined as increased individuals’ understanding about the connection and interdependence of job with others. Individual should know the context of work and be able to seek relation to others. The second type of personal learning is personal skill development. Personal skill development is defined as acquirement of new skill that makes individuals have better working relationship. Individual should have ability to solve problems by communicating effectively, listening attentively, and be willing to develop relationship in the workplace. Both two types of personal learning focus on personal development in the short term. Current manufacturing firms should act rapidly to need of customer. As a result, employee in manufacturing firms today should enhance their links of effectiveness between actions and outcomes by accepting others’ feedback and build technical skill through working relationship. Therefore, personal learning becomes important in workplace.. Importance of Personal Learning in Manufacturing Firms According to the statistics presented by department of statistics ministry of economic affairs (2013), manufacturing industry accounting for the proportion of overall economy has declined in recent years. Main reasons result from changes in environment. For instance, the combination of manufacturing industry and service industry lead to new economic system; open but competitive business environment; labor shortage; limited resource; replacement from exported products; investment to foreign enterprises; globalization and outward industries. For the factors in environment above, organization should strengthen unique competitive advantages. For example, traditional manufacturers add servitization to strategy. By creating additional value on products, manufacturers not only successfully defend from competition, but also keep distinctive and long-lived product-service offerings (Baines, Lightfoot, Benedettini, & Kay, 2009). However, in order to change value chain from traditional manufacturing to servitization, organizations need the talent who can learn and act to need of 15.

(28) customers. Ability to learn is important to employee and organization. Through learning, employee and organization can successfully transfer the new knowledge to product and service. As a result, organization can enhance competitive advantage. Nowadays, manufacturing firms have recognized importance of human resource development. For human resource development, organizations need to arrange training course for their employees. The purpose of training is to effectively transfer skill and knowledge to all employees. Both organization and employees can enhance own value. In terms of enterprise scale, large manufacturing firms keep superior capital while small and medium manufacturing firms have limited capital and human resource. However, although training program is necessary, but training program is relatively costly and time-consuming to organization. Moreover, learning from training program is not sufficient to keep pace with demands of work and profession in current workplace. Individuals often observe experienced employees or others to learn new knowledge to keep up with the required skill and ability. Therefore, mentoring is appropriate way for personal learning in workplace (Kram, 1988a; Lankau & Scandura, 2002).. Mentoring and Personal Learning The mentoring has been discussed for over past two decades while only a little number of studies has mainly focus on personal learning. Numerous studies have suggested that application of mentoring may assist employees acquire ability to deal with stressful change in workplace (Kram & Hall, 1989; Scandura & Siegel, 1995). Kram and Hall (1989) conducted the survey of managers and engineers in manufacturing firm which is being reorganized and downsized. Result of survey shows that stressful or poor working conditions are positively associated with interest in application of mentoring. Scandura and Siegel (1995) examined mentoring relationship in two accounting firms which had been merged. Study shows that 16.

(29) protégé seek psychosocial support more than career support from mentors due to stress and uncertainty resulted from merge. In the opinion of Scandura and Siegel (1995), change in the workplace increased requirement for learning, and application of mentoring can be a strategy to improve employees’ performance. Both studies suggest that mentoring may help employees enhance personal learning associated with adaptability, flexibility and reducing uncertainty. Several studies have focused on how environmental and organizational changes affect mentoring relationship. Hall (1996) explained how changes in workplace altered nature of mentoring. Therefore, mentors also have opportunity to learn from protégé. Hall (1996) suggested that different form of relationships enhance personal learning. Clawson (1996) conducted the prescriptive study that report nature of mentoring relationship will alter because of the change in business environment. Both studies pointed out protégé may be coaching mentors on new technologies for coping with fast-paced change. Several studies have remarked that a single, traditional mentoring relationship may not be sufficient to satisfy the learning need of employees especially facing dynamic organizational environmental and job. Eby (1997) emphasized that employee should acquire diverse skills such as job-related skills or career-related skills during organizational transitions. She also proposed an integrated typology of alternative forms of mentoring which could enhance personal learning, as shown in Figure 2.1. De Janasz, Sullivan, and Whiting (2003) emphasized employees need mentors from different background in the workplace who can help them for continuous learning and become an expertise.. 17.

(30) Lateral. Form of the Mentor-Protégé Relationship. . Intra-team Mentoring. . . Inter-team Mentoring. . Co-worker Mentoring. . Survivor Mentoring. . Peer Mentoring for Domestic Relocators. . Peer Mentoring for International. Internal Collegial Peer Mentoring. . External Collegial Peer Mentoring. Relocators . Internal Sponsor-Protégé Mentoring. . Manager-Subordinate Mentoring. . Hierarchical Mentoring for Domestic. Hierarchical. Group Professional Association Mentoring. Relocators . . . External Sponsor-Protégé Mentoring. Hierarchical Mentoring for International Relocators. Figure 2.1. A typology of alternative forms of mentoring. Adapted from “Alternative forms of mentoring in changing organizational environments: A conceptual extension of the mentoring literature,” by Eby, L. T., 1997, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51(1), p.130.. Higgins and Kram (2001) indicated that different types of developmental networks of mentoring would affect the protégés’ personal learning. They also pointed out employees with stronger ties of networks are more likely to possess higher level of personal learning. In other words, the psychosocial functions increase the opportunity for learning. Besides focusing on mentoring relationship in different forms, some studies have indicated personal learning is one of outcomes of the application of mentoring. According to Dymock (1999), mentoring relationship can make contribution to build learning organization by encouraging sharing of knowledge and professional development. 18.

(31) Moreover, both mentors and protégés reported learning during the process. Similarly, Lankau and Scandura (2002) examined the relationship between mentoring functions and personal learning and found that personal learning mediated the relationship between mentoring function and job attitudes. This study noted the link between mentoring functions, personal learning, job attitudes which stressed importance of learning. To sum up, the studies have addressed the positive outcomes from mentoring. These studies can be categorized in two types. First, the studies addressed past researches that suggesting application of mentoring can be a strategy to help individuals in workplace adapt to organizational change. Most of studies are exploratory or prescriptive because it’s hard to measure learning of employee directly. Second, the studies have examined relationship between mentoring and personal learning. However, little is known about process of personal learning. What is learned and how mentor and protégé learn is also important.. 19.

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(33) CHAPTER III. RESEARCH DESIGN. This chapter introduces the research method, research framework, research procedure, research participants, data collection, and validity and reliability.. Research Method This study adopted qualitative research. As Maxwell (2012) stated, the qualitative method was suggested when research questions involve detailed and in-depth information form participants. This study aimed to examine the personal learning process between mentor and protégé in the hopes to understand and gain more insight about developing the employees. Therefore, this study would utilize various empirical materials such as interviews, conversations, personal experiences. Participants for this study were asked questions regarding outcomes and process of their personal learning which may vary from person to person due to type of application of mentoring. This study relied on the mentor and protégé’s own interpretations of personal learning experiences to understand how application of mentoring affected personal learning in manufacturing firms. A qualitative approach was appropriate for this study because this study was attempting to explore outcomes (i.e., skill development) and process of personal learning within application of mentoring (Bernard & Bernard, 2012). Besides, the qualitative approach enabled the researcher to collect descriptive data through the mentors and protégés’ own statements and behaviors regarding the personal learning in workplace. Besides, according to Yin (2009), case study was appropriate for the study of knowing organizational issue and managerial process, because case study helped research understanding contemporary phenomenon in-depth and acquiring important information. Also, case study was appropriate for the research was focusing on investigating a certain phenomenon (i.e. learning situation) with a certain group of people. Furthermore, through case study, researcher could 21.

(34) collect comprehensive information and explore the case systematically especially when the boundaries between real phenomenon and context were not clearly recognized. This study adopted multi-case study to collect data due to the reason as followed. Compared with singlecase study, multiple-case study provides more abundant evident and information. Single-case study was used to test key case or peculiarity case from mature theory while this study aimed to know how mentoring facilitate personal learning which was still not clearly identified. Therefore, this study adopted multiple-case study. In sum, qualitative approach helped researcher analyze complex phenomenon of personal learning presented in the lives of individuals. After reading this study, readers had a better understanding of how and what mentor and protégé learn.. Research Framework The problem identified in this study was that there still lack of research on how application of mentoring facilitates personal learning in the workplace. The framework of this study, shown in Figure 3.1, was conducted based on research purpose and research questions stated in Chapter I. This study aimed to understand what type of application of mentoring was applying to facilitate employees’ personal learning and figured out how and what mentor and protégé enhance personal learning from application of mentoring in manufacturing firms of Changhua Coastal Industrial Park.. Mentoring for Personal Learning in CCIP Dimensions of Mentoring for Personal Learning 1. Mentoring relationship 2. Mentoring type 3. Mentoring function. Interactive process between mentor and protégé 1. How did protégé learn? 2. What did protégé learn?. Figure 3.1. Research framework. 22. Implementation of mentoring facilitating personal learning.

(35) Based on theoretical foundation and empirical evidence, dimensions of mentoring were both examined and identified. The dimensions of mentoring comprise mentoring type, mentoring relationship, and mentoring function (Kram, 1988a). Through these dimensions of mentoring, researcher aimed to investigate real application of mentoring in manufacturing firms and figured out how application of mentoring facilitate personal learning of protégés and what did protégé learn.. Research Procedure The research procedure in this study included nine steps which were described below as Figure3.2.. 1. Identify Research Topic After discussing with the advisor and subject matter experts, author was able to recognize the current issue of mentoring application and personal learning in manufacturing firms now. As a result, author based on ideas and topics of interest to identify research topic.. 2. Review Literature When the final topic was determined, literature reviews on mentoring and personal learning were done to figure out what research and information were already done on the topic and subject for identifying gaps between knowledge and practical experience.. 3. Determine Research Questions and Purpose After reading related literatures and discussing with the advisor repeatedly, the author was able to set the research questions and the purpose specifically.. 4. Determine the Research Method In order to explore specific outcomes and process of how does mentoring facilitate employees’ personal learning in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, this study adopted the qualitative research to get better information. 23.

(36) 5. Set Research Framework Based on the past literature, research purpose and research question, this study constructed the framework.. 6. Design Interview Questions Interview questions were developed from research purpose, research questions and literature review.. 7. Conduct Expert Review/Peer Review The interview questions underwent peer and expert review. The peers are classmates who are familiar with qualitative research methods and have knowledge and experience in the interview process. The expert is the manager in manufacturing firm who has practical experience and could provide useful suggestion.. 8. Conduct Interview Once interview questions were finalized, author began to interview the participant.. 9. Analyze Data Interview recording was transcribed and checked. Through interview verbatim and records, relevant documents were all used for analysis.. 10. Conclude Research Findings After complementing the data analysis, this study applied reviewed literatures and finding of the analysis to respond to research questions. Suggestion were provided for conducing strategy in manufacturing firms and for the future researches.. 24.

(37) Identify Research Topic Review Literature Determine Research Questions and Purpose Determine the Research Method Set Research Framework Design Interview Questions Conduct Expert Review/Peer Review Conduct Interview Analyze Data Conclude Research Findings. Figure 3.2. Research procedure. Research Participants and Criteria This study aimed to understand how application of mentoring facilitate personal learning in manufacturing firms, at same time, this study also adopted qualitative multiple-case study to collect data. Based on research purpose and research questions, this study selected the information-rich case in the hope to get comprehensive information. For collecting most abundant information from sample, the samples of the study were chosen through convenience sampling. The convenience sampling focused on the companies which were willing to providing abundant information and easily to access. To summarize, samples were companies which were selected in accordance with the criteria listed below: (1) Types of industry: manufacturing firms in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, (2) Case companies with application of mentoring. 25.

(38) To collect multiple evident, this study interviewed the participants who were drawn from case companies. This study selected 3 companies and interviewed 3 to 4 participants from each company. Participants were divided into three types, protégé, mentor, and supervisor. For criteria of protégé, protégé should work in R&D department where mainly department for receiving new technical information and demand from customers. Protégé was assigned to a mentor or mentors to enhance learning in company. Protégés had at least 1 year tenure of service in the current company at the time of the interview. These criterion allowed for the collection of data on how application of mentoring facilitate personal learning that participants had experiences and viewpoint to share concerning the outcomes and process of personal learning. For criteria of mentor and protégé’s supervisor, once participants of protégé had been decided, mentor and supervisor also could be decided as well. The description of interview participants was shown in Table 3.1. Concerning case companies, three case companies all located in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. All three case companies belonged to small scale manufacturing firms, and number of employees was below 50 people. Company A started operation from 1991, has been designing and manufacturing silicon pressure sensors for OEM applications, providing customized sensors service to meet customers’ OEM needs, had around 30 employees, started operation from 2000, has been developing and manufacturing ester type oleo-chemical products, offering a variety of customer oriented products, had around 40 employees. Company C started operation from 1986, has been developing and producing all kind of knitting products, providing products including shoe materials, sportswear, washing net, suitcase net, had around 26 employees.. 26.

(39) Table 3.1. The Description of Interviewees. Case Company. Interviewee Number. Job Title. Gender. Work Experience. A A A. A01 A02 A03. Equipment Engineer Production Operator Production Group. Male Male Male. 3 years 3 years 6 years. A. A04. Leader Assistant Engineer. Female. 9 years. A. A05. Manager. Male. 9 years. B. B01. Equipment Engineer. Male. 3 years. B. B02. Male. 3.5 years. B. B03. Instruments and Electronics Engineer Equipment Engineer. Male. 3 years. B. B04. Environmental Engineer. Male. 2 years. C. C01. Equipment Engineer. Male. 5 years. C. C02. Production Control Staff. Female. 6 months. C. C03. Quality Control Staff. Female. 1 year. Data Collection The data was collected mainly through in-depth interview and some supplementary data was obtained via observation.. In-depth Interview According to Silverman (2013) stated the interview is a good approach to get necessary and important information for research when researchers are interested in how people interpret the world and phenomenon in front of them. Similarly, Glaser and Strauss (2009) suggested interview help research directly receive pivotal and real information from participants compared to observation. In this study, the research would like to understand how application of mentoring facilitates personal learning in workplace. Therefore, the interview was the top priority when deciding methods for data collection. 27.

(40) Interview is classified into different forms. In this study, the semi-structured interview was considered. Semi-structured interview helped researcher get in-depth and insightful information and material for respondents could provide unique perspectives (Myers, 2013). Semi-structured interview was carried out based on outline of interview. The purpose of the establishment of the interview outline was used for checking whether the respondents had completed all interview questions. In the process of interview, respondents had abundant opportunity to state and share the information related to research question (Creswell, 2013). Interview questions were developed from the research questions: 1. What kind of mentoring is applying now to facilitate employees’ personal learning in manufacturing firms of Changhua Coastal Industrial Park? 2. What mentoring functions are brought out in manufacturing firms of Changhua Coastal Industrial Park? 3. What does protégé learn to increase personal learning through mentoring implementation? 4. How does protégé learn increase personal learning through mentoring implementation? Based on literature review in chapter II, the questionnaire was developed from four concepts which are mentoring relationship, mentoring type, mentoring function, personal learning, as shown in Table 3.1. Mentoring relationship could exist formally and informally (Kram, 1983). Formal mentoring relationship started with organizational program that specifically assigns mentors and protégés for certain purpose in requested period while informal mentoring inform naturally. According to Eby (1997), mentoring types could distinguish into several types based on type of skill development and form of mentor-protégé relationship. Based on Kram (1988a), mentoring has two critical types of functions, career function and psychosocial function. Career functions include coaching the protégé; sponsoring protégés’ promotions; protecting the protégés; increasing protégés’ exposure and visibility; and providing challenging assignments that assist protégés in acquiring skill and facilitating 28.

(41) advancement in the workplace. Psychosocial functions including providing confirmation, acceptance, counseling, friendship and role modeling uplift the effectiveness of protégés’ professional and personal growth, identity to the organization. Personal learning has two dimensions which is relational job learning and personal skill development. Relational job learning is defined as increased individuals’ understanding about the connection and interdependence of job with others. Personal skill development is defined as acquirement of new skill that makes individuals have better working relationship. The interview questions covered these four concepts mentioned above which were address from past studies. Through interview, researcher aimed to know current mentoring implementation and how mentoring facilitate personal learning in manufacturing firm of Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. The interview questions conclude 7 questions in total. Interview questions were shown in Table 3.2., covering every aspect of research questions. Interview questions were listed at the appendix C, appendix D, and appendix E. of this study.. 29.

(42) Table 3.2. The Development of Interview Questions Concept. Dimension of concept. Interview questions for supervisor. Interview questions for mentor. Interview questions for protégé. Mentoring relationship. Formal Informal. How does your company organize application of mentoring?. Who is responsible for assigning your mentor/ protégé?. Mentoring type. Team Mentoring Co-worker Mentoring. How does your company pair the mentor and protégé?. Who is your mentor/protégé?. After application of mentoring, what kind of influences, such as career function or psychosocial function do employees. After application of mentoring, what kind of influences, such as career function or psychosocial function do you receive from your mentor/ protégé?. Survivor Mentoring Peer Mentoring Sponsor-Protégé Mentoring Manager-Subordinate Mentoring Mentoring function. Career Function Psychosocial function. receive?. 30. (continued).

(43) Table 3.2. (continued) Personal learning. Relational Job Learning. Personal Skill Development. After application of mentoring, what kind of relational job learning, such as knowledge or skill or attitude do employees learn?. After application of mentoring, what kind of relational job learning, such as knowledge or skill or attitude do you learn?. How did employees learn. How did mentor help you learn relational job learning,. relational job learning, such as knowledge or skill or attitude?. such as knowledge or skill or attitude?. After application of mentoring, what kinds of personal skill development,. After application of mentoring, what kind of personal skill development, such as communication skill or networking do you learn?. such as communication skill or networking do employees learn? How did employees learn personal skill development such as communication skill or networking?. 31. How did mentor influence you to learn personal skill development such as communication skill or networking?.

(44) Participant Observation Participant observation is a form of data collection, because it helps researcher study the social world as being part of participants. Moreover, participants observation is a distinctive opportunity that researcher can perceive reality from the viewpoint of someone who is really “inside” a case (Yin, 2009). In this study, the researcher got permission of working as 3-days intern in case company A, thus, had the opportunity to see, to observe, and to further understand the mentoring application, interaction between mentor and protégé, and personal learning of employees in the manufacturing firm. According to Kathleen M. Dewalt and Bille R. Dewalt (2010), research should develop a participant observation plan for systematic observation based on research purpose. As a result, researcher developed a participant observation plan which included research purpose and research questions before participant observation activity. With assistant of managers, researcher worked as normal employees and stayed in productive department A, productive department B and product development department from 27th January to 29th January. At same time, researcher also was assigned three mentors while staying in productive department A, productive department B, and product development department and played role of protégé in the company. During the 3-days intern job in case company A, the main focus of the researcher’s observation were on what kind of mentoring was applying to facilitate employees’ personal learning, how did mentor and protégé interact, what did protégé learn, and how did protégé learn. Field note was written and used as research material in this study. Example of field note was shown in appendix F. During 3-days intern job in case company A, researcher found informal mentoring was applied in case company A. Each employee had similar situation as researcher entered company on the first day. Manager assigned a co-worker as mentor to take care of new hired without any clear instruction, time frame. However, researcher found mentor and protégé interacted frequently. Co-worker relationship helped protégé enhance personal learning, such 32.

(45) as communication, work-oriented skill because protégé felt less pressure and was willing to address questions. During 3-days intern job in case company A, researcher observed interaction between mentor and protégé. Three mentors whom were assigned to researcher have different positions, work contents, work experiences but each mentor had similar teaching procedure, for example, interpretation, demonstration, helping protégé acquiring work skill and better understanding work content. Through assignment, protégé had real operation opportunity. Moreover, even though each department has only 4 to 6 employees, the atmosphere in each department was so good that employees were willing to joining discussion. Other employees regarded researcher as new hired and they also were willing to share rich information.. Data Coding and Analysis According to Stake (1995), there are two way to enrich data: one is direct interpretation, and the other is categorical aggregation. Researcher looks at a single instance and draws meaning from data in direct interpretation while researcher seeks a collection of instances from the data in categorical aggregation. This study will use method of direct interpretation to collect and process data for the purpose of data analysis. Each interview will be recorded by the digital voice recorder, taken notes, and analyzed simultaneously. Because of the recorder, the research could mainly focus on taking notes of key information instead of verbatim. After interview, all the recording will be transcribed into verbatim. The verbatim will be reviewed and compared with notes taken during the interview for figuring out important message behind lines. Data analysis procedures include two steps, namely, data coding and data analysis.. Coding Coding is necessary phase in the processing of data because it help researcher screen and encode data simultaneously. Coding also help researcher classify and categorize data derived 33.

(46) from interviews based on research purpose and research questions. The Figure 3.3 described how coding works.. Number: A_01_R1_01 stands for Company A, personal value, interview question 1, important concept 1.. Number. Content: From the transcript, relevant meaningful replies were underlined and extracted.. Content. Important Concept. Code. A_01_R1_01 We work in the forms of. Friendship between. Psychosocial. team. However, when I have mentor and protégé. function of. technical skill problems, I. mentoring. always ask my mentor firstly. He is like my friend, and we can exchange technical idea.. Important concepts: Important concepts will be summarized. Code: Important concepts will be categorized. according to the content.. and coded.. Figure 3.3. An example of the coding procedure. Data Analysis After coding work is done, data can be analyzed and interpreted into explanations and categories in relation to context of the research framework, research questions, and reviewed literature. Figure 3.4 described the flow of data analysis. 34.

(47) Transcribing data into transcripts. Reading the transcripts. Segmenting and coding data. Comparing, categorizing, and inducing. Identifing relationships and answering the research questions. Figure 3.4. The process of data analysis. Validity and Reliability Three criteria were established to examine the trustworthiness of a study, which are credibility, transferability, and dependability (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). Credibility (i.e. internal validity) means fitness of findings to the research questions. In this study, the research will use digital recorder and take note for making sure the completeness of the interview content. Also, comparing content of recorder and note taking could avoid any bias or mistake. To further understand how application of mentoring facilitates personal learning, this study would interview mentor, protégé, and supervisor. Through different perspectives of mentor, protégé, and supervisor, researcher can further measure the phenomenon of personal learning. Transferability (i.e. external validity) means generalization of finding of the study. To increase transferability, researcher would record, describe, and analyze information as extremely thorough. 35.

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(49) CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS In this chapter, the main findings of this study were presented. The main findings were divided into four parts, which were introduced through summary of research findings and illustrated with details in the following sections. To gain critical results, the material of study went through the coding and analysis process based on theoretical framework presented in the Chapter III (Figure 3.1.) and concluded with new findings as presented. The main findings were classified into four parts which responded to four research questions.. Mentoring Relationship and Mentoring Type In this section, the findings regarding mentoring relationship and mentoring type were presented and illustrated with details. As for mentoring relationship, the finding used instruction, time frame, and number of people to explain informal mentoring in manufacturing firms. As for mentoring type, the finding used duty relationship and interaction to explain coworker type mentoring in manufacturing firms.. Informal Mentoring Mentoring relationship could connect mentor and protégé formally or informally. Formal mentoring relationship started with certain purpose and structured framework within limited time frame. For instance, company might pair mentor and protégé due to certain purpose, and mentor clear understand what assignments should be accomplished during limited time restriction. In contrast, informal relationship relatively has been kept under no or little domination of organization. Formal relationship formed naturally without any direct or clear restrictions. Both forms of mentoring are valuable and beneficial, and may co-exist within the company. In three case companies, all companies adopted mentoring toward to informal mentoring to help protégé learning. The main finding related informal mentoring are classified into three parts and further elucidated with details below. 37.

(50) Instruction. Manufacturing firms have been attempted to encourage learning in the workplace through the use of mentor. However, those three case companies only started with pairing mentor and protégé but without any structured framework; for instance, training course and/or guideline and/or evaluation phases. During interview, researcher tried to understand what kind of mentoring is applied in company. Their responses are shown in the following statements. “Usually, it is company that provides job offer based on need of that department or certain condition, like manpower demand. As a result, it’s very clear that new hired entered the company, and he or she will be assigned a mentor who tends to be most experienced worker or leader of department.” (A-05-R1-A2) “When new hired entered the company, I have to be responsible for it, and I have been played the role of mentor for around 6 years.” (A-04-R1-A3) “No clear regulations that how long will mentor guide us.” (B-01-R1-A3) “Company didn’t have a clear guidance that leads mentor to teach us.” (B-03-R1-A2) “No specific rule or guidance for mentoring in our company, and it just depends on learner’s acceptance.” (B-04-R1-A3) “Yes, company clearly assigned him as my mentor, and we keep mentoring relationship for a long time. Even though I have entered company for over one year, I still counsel him when I got questions”(C-03-R1-A1). “If I don’t encounter great difficulty on job, we rarely interact.”(C-01-R1-A3) The above statements explicitly point out that company clearly assigned mentor to protégé formally only when new hired entered the company. In the following mentoring interaction, companies have little or no interruption. All three case companies don’t provide any training courses which related to mentoring. According to A5 participants, the manager of A case company, said, “We don’t’ provide training program for mentors in our company. Therefore, it 38.

(51) turned out that they (mentors) might encounter lots of challenges or problems, and we will base on their performance and problems to give them feedback for helping improvement.” (A-05R1-A6) Although there is no clear evaluation phases for mentoring in company, mentor and protégé reported knowing how to improve their interaction relationship. A03 participants of case companies, production group leader, she has been assigned as mentor for around 3 years, said, “I will also make self-examination once my protégés quit their job or have bad performance. Someone also told me the reasons and I knew how to make improvement next time based on their feedback.” (A-03-R1-A4) When deciding on mentor-protégé pairing, the case companies do have certain considerations for instruction, such as duty relationship, distance of office desk. A01 participant of A company, equipment engineer, recalled when he entered the company on the first day, he was assign a mentor by supervisor, because of distance of office desk and duty relationship. His mentor just sat next to him so he could request advising or counseling from mentor immediately. He said, “Thanks for assigning a mentor to me, so at least there is an employee who is responsible for answering my questions.” (A-01-R1-B5) Also, he mentioned, “It’s easier to communicate or discuss with mentor once I got the questions because arrangement of office desk.” (A-01-R1-A2) Similar replies were received from case company B and case company C. B04 participant of B company, environmental engineer, said, “ New hired will stay at department which provide job offer. Therefore, new hired will be assigned a mentor who has experiences and has stayed at same department for several years.” (B-04-R1-A2). According to his description, each. department has a leader who always plays the role of mentor and is most familiar with whole affairs. On the first day, new hired will be assigned mentor formally based on department arrangement. Due to work content, protégés often have to follow mentor wherever he/she goes. 39.