St. Augustine’s Principles in a Business Setting

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Abstract

Why is mentorship important in organizations? This project focuses on St. Augustine’s principles of teaching in his book, Instructing Beginners in Faith, and how the principles can be successfully applied in mentorship and leadership in a business environment. Mentorship is increasingly becoming a common trend in various sectors the world over, even though some organizations still have not succeeded in this area for various reasons. Most of the cases can be attributed to the organization’s lack of a proper mentorship program for their employees who merit this useful initiative. The poor mentor-mentee relationship is another barrier which this paper will reveal and identify the best way to resolve to the advantage of both the mentor and the mentee (Sampat et al., 2020). Reliance on a traditional approach to mentoring instead of employing contemporary methods by a business can negatively impact their cause for overall growth. A business must consider the recommendations provided by this paper to forestall the side effects of poor mentoring. While critically examining the Augustinian principles, this paper will also propose how they can be used in improving the quality of leadership in an organization. Leadership is agreeably one of the determinants of success in a business, and therefore considerations should be made on how to perfect it. Although the management of several institutions all over the world is still male-dominated, there has been a slight increase in the number of women rising to management positions. This paper will provide a recommendation on how to generally improve leadership and suggest ways of empowering and promoting women and minorities towards leadership positions in a business. The project will perform an in-depth literature review of existing studies that are considered relevant in answering the research question. A critical review of the studies will aid the thesis in proposing recommendations from an informed perspective. The dissertation will end with a conclusion that will recap how the business manager can improve mentorship and leadership in a business environment. In the latter part of the conclusion, it will issue a clarion call to various businesses to contemplate effective mentoring and management procedures if they are to experience positive personal and organizational growth.

Introduction

The concept of mentoring or mentorship originated from ancient Greek literature (Dmytrenko, 2018; Reichert, 2002). According to Adeyemi (2011), “The word “mentor” was first used as the name for the personification of Athene, who took human form to become the teacher that Odysseus selected for his son in Homer‟s Odyssey” (p. 366). Mentorship has been known by different terminologies such as apprenticeship, master, sage, guild, etc., over time to transform into what it is today (Dmytrenko, 2018; Maughan, 2007). As observed by Maughan (2007), “These historic understandings reflect the common activities and beliefs about mentoring today: to guide, counsel, coach, and provide hands-on experiences to advance the protege’s career interests” (p. 23). As per Davis (2005), mentoring is a one-to-one learning relationship and further expounds that these relationships involve an expert with experience and a newbie with comparatively less exposure. As stated by Bennetts (2003), mentoring can be defined as: “the process by which one person assists another to grow and learn in a safe and sympathetic relationship” (p. 70). The expert’s responsibility is to help the less experienced individual to upskill both personally and career-wise.

Today mentorship is used in various organizations and institutions to ensure equity in the form of formal career mentorship initiatives (Dmytrenko, 2018). The major goal of mentorship is professional development and career growth (Petrovska et al. (2018). Although Morgan and Nicholls (as cited in Bennetts, 2003), initially claimed that the role of a mentor is still unknown, further research has highlighted some roles. A mentor’s role is, therefore, to offer solicited guidance, support, and advice to a mentee to promote the latter’s personal and professional development.

In the world today, business organizations have resorted to promoting overall equity by incorporating career mentorship programs into their curriculum (Dmytrenko, 2018). These organizations face several challenges, such as the rapid increase in technology and globalization, and the need to keep high quality and employable staff (Hegstad, 2002). As a result, most human resource departments in businesses have implemented career internship programs in an attempt to obliterate these challenges (Hegstad, 2002). The mentorship programs can take different forms depending on an organization’s decision. It could be traditional on-on-one mentorship where an employee with experience in a particular field is assigned to a new or less experienced member. Or it may be a group mentorship in with a single employee, who is an expert, is matched with a cohort of employees to be mentored. If carried out appropriately, mentorship can have a long-lasting positive impact on the business. This thesis will provide several advantages that a proper mentorship program can bring the organization involved.

Organizations are missing valuable opportunities to achieve the development and success of their operations by not promoting diversity in their system of leadership (Turner-Moffatt, 2019). Some of these measures can aid in diversifying leadership, in the context of Turner-Moffatt (2019), including empowering women, to take up leadership roles. Proper leadership and management are the default gateway to positive changes and advancement in an organization. When the management is in top-gear, other domains in the organization never lag since it is the role of a leader to oversee the success of every aspect of their teams. St. Augustine’s principles, being generic to any leader, can be applied in business leadership to achieve growth.

This thesis will implement an exhaustive review of existing studies on mentorship and leadership and synthesize the information derived from these sources to answer the question satisfactorily. The review will be done by gathering details on areas of business that can become perfect as a result of business mentorship. The challenges facing business organizations today will also be explored, and this thesis will include a comprehensive application of St. Augustine’s teachings in solving the problems.

Thesis Statement

How can the Augustinian principles be applied in business mentorship and leadership?

Statement of the Problem

The establishment of mentorship relationships in an organization is essential because they promote job experience and quality of work among the workforce, according to Raabe et al. (2003) (as cited in Shore, 2017). However, these relationships can thrive when each party has a shared understanding and agreement about their roles in the relationship (Shore, 2017). The same article states that there is a “perception issue” (p. 6) between mentors and mentees in organizations, especially in formal mentoring programs. The same article explains that “They attribute this to authenticity and honesty between the two parties (i.e. a mentee feels that they made a favourable impression where the mentor feels they did not) and that disconnect can be due to many factors.” It results in the underdevelopment of the relationship.

According to Hegstad (2002), a large body of literature exists to support the advantages which mentorship confers to an organization. Still, little evidence is available on the necessary steps of achieving these benefits and how often they are utilized. In other words, the thesis claims that there are few instances of effective mentoring programs by various organizations. This study aims at providing the best strategies for a business organization to apply in institutionalizing mentorship programs in which every party involved benefits and does not feel neglected.

Mentorship also has an immense contribution to the leadership of an organization. As Zachary and Fischler (2010, p. 53) reveal of the benefits of mentoring, “Perhaps the most significant is that study after study has shown that the majority of leaders attribute their success, in whole or in part, to the mentoring they received.” Another study by Turner-Moffatt (2019, p. 17) indicates that: “Organizations are missing opportunities to achieve successes by not bringing diversity to their leadership teams.” The statement means that women and other disadvantaged groups in an organizational setting are not favoured in taking leadership opportunities because of the existing stereotypical beliefs. This study will also consider recommending suitable ways of spearheading leadership among women and minority groups to achieve equity and balance in an organization.

Research Objectives

The study developed the following objectives to achieve its purpose:

To study the Augustinian principles of teaching and how they relate to business mentorship and leadership.
To identify some of the problems facing business organizations.
To establish how the application of Augustinian principles in solving the identified problems.

Purpose of the Study

Several organizations face a myriad of challenges such as increased globalization, technology advancement, succession planning, retention, and employment of the skilled and well-performing workforce. All these challenges they have to counter in ways possible to enable them to thrive. By performing an in-depth analysis of the previous studies, this thesis is confident in recommending mentorship as one effective way of dealing with these problems. The dissertation is also privy to the existing deficiencies in the system of leadership in most contemporary organizations. It thus seeks to provide clear recommendations on how to improve this crucial area in an organization. A profound search for materials that provide clear guidelines on applying Augustinian principles in mentorship and leadership in a business environment does not give satisfying results. Therefore, this thesis will form the basis for future research related to the subject matter it explores.

Limitations of the Study

This study reviews existing literature, which is a qualitative method of carrying out the research. It has a few limitations which ought to be highlighted at this point. The limitations include:

The proliferation of available materials. The internet is awash with mentorship-related materials ranging from books to dissertations and articles. This makes the literature review limited in its scope. Furthermore, the process of organizing and examining all of them for a good synthesis is rather tedious and time-consuming.
There could be some element of bias in the literature available. Some of the studies were carried on a limited number of organizations and also depended on the experiences of the authors with the organizations under study (Hegstad, 2002).

Definition of Terms

This section provides a comprehensive definition of specific terminologies in the context of this study for easy internalization of the topic since some terms may convey varying meanings depending on the context of use:

Formal mentorship: A form of mentorship in which two or more people form a structured mentorship that is controlled by a third-party, in this case, the organization (Hegstad, 2002). It is done to methodically nurture the skills and abilities of less experienced staff members of a given organization (Maughan, 2007).

Informal mentorship: A spontaneous mentorship relationship developed without the intervention of an organization (Hegstad, 2007; Maughan, 2007).

Mentor: An experienced and well-informed member of an organization, who is devoted to providing personal and professional growth to a protégé (Bennetts, 2003; Hegstad, 2002; Maughan, 2007). He offers guidance, advice, and social support to the protégé (Hegstad, 2002). Consistent with Adeyimi (2011), a mentor is “a trusted and experienced supervisor or advisor who by mutual consent takes an active interest in the development and education of a younger, less experienced individual.” Mentors could be certified professionals, developers, researchers, and teachers (Ilieva-Koleva, 2015)

Protégé: A member of an organization who is new and or less experienced compared to a mentor (Hegstad, 2002; Maughan, 2007). A protégé is also known as ‘mentee’, and so, this study uses the two terminologies interchangeably (Luckey, 2009).

Coaching: Harvard Business School (2004, p. 77) states that “The scope of mentoring is vastly greater than coaching, which is, itself, a small subset of mentoring.” It is a small subcategory of mentoring in which an expert takes the initiative to help, train and support a less experienced person in achieving objectives and improve performance by solving problems (Ilieva-Koleva, 2015; Maughan, 2007). A notable difference with mentoring, as mentioned by Maughan (2007), is that mentoring is a personal activity that focuses on building long-term relationships. According to Stanier (2016, p.1), “Coaching lets you break out of three vicious cycles: Creating overdependence, getting overwhelmed, and becoming disconnected.”

Literature Review

The role of mentorship is captured by Maughan (2007, p. 20) that “mentoring is a suggested strategy for recruiting, retaining, leadership development, knowledge management, and succession planning.” This research needs to do an extensive review of available and related materials, and it confesses that there is a proliferation of this literature. This section is dedicated to exploring the Augustinian principles and their relevance to the topic under study.

Types of Mentorship

The type of mentorship chosen in any setting depends on the needs of an organization or individual (Luckey, 2009). Business organizations, for example, target to maintain and employ a quality and employable workforce (Hegstad, 2002; Maughan, 2007). It is upon an organization, therefore, to implement whichever form which suits them and promises to assist them in achieving their objectives. Two main types of mentorship exist in line with Maughan(2007) and Luckey (2009); they include formal and informal mentorships, while Hegstad (2002) provided two other: group and peer mentorships. Research done by Dmytrenko (2018) revealed two other types: social media and circle mentorship. Furthermore, McCann (2009) describes a special type called spiritual mentoring. Each of them is discussed briefly below:

Formal mentorship

As earlier stated, formal mentorship involves a structured relationship between the mentor and protégé as per the requirements of the organization or an individual assigned to oversee the process. The main objective of this type of mentorship is to develop the skills and abilities of new and or less experienced staff members in an organization (Maughan, 2007).

Informal Mentorship

This approach to mentorship is not structured in the ways that formal mentorship is structured. As Hegstad (2002), Luckey (2009), and Maughan (2007) state, informal mentorship is spontaneous and does not require prompting or intervention by the management. It is rather self-selected in that a mentor and a protégé mutually consent to the exercise. As pointed out by Luckey (2009), informal mentorship may take time to develop, and once it develops, the source says, can last for a long time. While comparing formal and informal mentorship (Maughan, 2007) states that previous studies indicate that informal mentorship is more effective than formal mentorship. The study further claims that many organizations are determined to replicate the benefit of informal mentorship in their formal mentorship programs but without success.

Group mentorship

In this technique, regular gatherings are composed of several mentors in a single group with another party whose role is to supervise the exchange (Dmytrenko, 2018). The groups have their objectives, duties, and responsibilities, which they have to consider to succeed in the program. A study by Hegstad (2002) reveals that group mentorship is steadily becoming a common approach to mentorship. In this approach, the mentorship initiative comes from the group as a whole and not from an individual member. This boosts self-confidence and instills a sense of identity in the team members (Hegstad, 2002). Group mentorship enhances a large group’s development in cases where there is limited access to mentorship materials (Dmytrenko, 2018). Group mentoring is also beneficial to the group members since it promotes collaboration and teamwork among them.

Peer mentorship

Peer or lateral mentorship is a type of mentoring in which two individuals considered to be of equal salary, age, job position, or status in an organization mutually agree to start mentoring themselves according to Kram & Isabella (1985) (as cited in Hegstard, 2002). This approach enhances interdependence and mutual exchange between the parties involved. The research by Kram & Isabella (1985) (as cited in Hegstad, 2002) identified that this type of mentorship lasts for a very long time compared to traditional types.

Circle mentorship

This type is somehow similar to group mentorship (Dmytrenko, 2018). In circle mentorship, there are several protégés with a single mentor holding regular meetings. The circles consist of members from diverse levels and experience, and they can also be peers from the same level. Every member is given a chance to propose a topic of discussion and generally attend to the rest of the members. The circle is like a trusted confidant for the concerns raised by protégés (Dmytrenko, 2018). The circle members can also gain valuable knowledge from the members since they come from other organizations’ departments.

Social Media Mentorship

Social media or distance mentorship uses online media including blogs, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp Messenger, telephone and video conference meetings, emails, etc., to enhance mentorship (Dmytrenko, 2018, Ilieva-Koleva, 2015). The plan may be to settle short-term or long-term requirements. Short term requirements may be targeted at completing a project while long term needs can be based on career development. This form of mentorship enhances the diversity of knowledge and perceptions since the parties could be residing from any geographic location. The approach also gives the mentee a chance to drive the exchange towards the direction which suits her needs.

Spiritual Mentoring

It is a spiritual friendship between on person who is experienced in spirituality and another individual who seeks help, support, guidance and advice from the former (McCann, 2009). Spiritual friendship is a relationship between two people interested in living according t the will of God.

Benefits of Mentorship

Mentorship benefits every party involved in any given mentorship relationship. In an organizational setting, mentorship confers benefits to the mentor and the protégé, and the organization. By guiding, advising, and supporting the protégé, the mentor is also learning and broadening the knowledge base of their field of practice. On the importance of mentorship, Adeyemi (2011) states that “The implementation of coaching and mentoring in the workplace contributes to the individual and organizational level’s overall development. That is why these programs should be incorporated as a regular practice in the organizational system” (p. 369).

Benefits to the protégé

According to Malmgren, Ottino, and Amaral (2010), and Maughan (2007), citing the work of Collins (1994), mentorship leads to greater levels of career growth and contentment together with increased wages. Mentorship promotes a good relationship between the mentor and the mentee, and this gives room for openness and an opportunity for more fruitful exchange. The exercise also reduces or eliminates the feeling of low self-worth and defeat in a protégé (Adeyemi, 2011). Once a mentee is equipped with the requisite knowledge, their expectations also increase while getting access to better opportunities.

Benefits to the Mentor

Adeyemi (2011) states that: “The mentor plays a very important role in transferring knowledge to the individual and helps the person in enhancing his personal and professional growth” (p. 369). However, in supporting the mentee, the mentor also gains in specific ways. Mentors get the motivation to continue dominating their field due to an increase in their knowledge base and constant access to new ideas (Adeyemi 2011; Maughan, 2007). They also get professional development and establish a more professional network, as stated by Kram (1985) (as cited in Maughan, 2007). Consistent with Adeyemi (2011) and Allen Poteet, Russell, & Burroughs (1997) (as cited in Maughan, 2007), a mentor gains greater recognition, self-esteem, and self-confidence among fellow members. Another benefit as stated by Adeyemi (2011) is that: “They equally have an increased sense of being needed and recognized professionally, develop and practice a more personal style of leadership gain additional recognition and respect, learn new perspectives, extend their professional networks and contribute something to others in the organization” (p. 369).

Benefits to the organization

Effective mentoring confers several benefits to an organization if adequately implemented. The benefits are not limited to the ones covered in this section. One benefit is increased retention of a skilled workforce, going by the findings of Ilieva-Koleva (2015) and Zachary and Fischler (2020). A company may lay off workers if they are under-performing and unskilled, among other reasons. Mentoring tends to forestall these cases by ensuring that mentors impact as much knowledge and skills as possible to the mentee. There are also better chances of attaining organization goals, as pointed out by (Adeyemi, 2011) since there is an increase in the skills and competitive know-how among the workers. Adeyemi (2011, p. 370) goes head to state the following:

“Strengthening of company culture and ethics, full utilization of human resources are other benefits which accrue to the organization. An organization that gets it right in establishing and perpetuating an effective mentoring system usually finds its succession planning a better experience, in the long run.”

History of St. Augustine’s Principles

St. Augustine of Hippo, a bishop, wrote his book, Instructing Beginners in Faith, more than six centuries ago today (Immerwahr, 2009). This book was in response to the concerns addressed to him by a deacon named Deogratias, who wanted a hint on how to address Christians who came to him (the deacon) to seek salvation (Immerwahr, 2009). It is clear that the deacon was in dire need of a solution to the congregants’ problems, so he sought help. Instead of the bishop advising him on what to tell the non-believers, he was lenient and kind enough even to go ahead to explain to him through his book how to say it (Immerwahr, 2009). The deacon was given seven principles to follow when interacting with those who came seeking salvation.

These principles are commonly referred to as the Seven Augustinian principles. Although they were exclusively for the deacon, these principles are applicable in various spheres of life. For example, John Immerwahr, a professor at Villanova University, confesses that he found these principles very valuable and applicable in his role as a teacher (Immerwahr, 2009). He posits that these principles are relatable to some of his experiences in teaching. Just as the professor realized that these principles were relevant to his scenario, this study is convinced that some of the principles (as cited in Immerwahr, 2009) can help answer the thesis question.

The Augustinian Principles of Teaching

As earlier stated, Augustine initially created the principles to help the inquiring deacon teach pagans in their bid to become born-again Christians. However, they tend to be generic in certain situations, as the professor had noticed. So this thesis will review the principles to establish if they are relatable to business mentorship. A business mentor is by all means is, or rather should be, a leader in the perspective of his mentee or group of mentees. The mentor may find himself in a similar situation to that of the deacon who approached Bishop Augustine, and these principles are very helpful. With a little interpretation and internalization of these teachings, the mentor can discharge his duties in regards to mentorship. As this study will find out, the relationship between a mentor and a mentee is a dynamic one that, if it works as intended, brings out the full potential of the two parties.

As this research begins to look at the principles stated in the book, Instructing Beginners in Faith, some of the quotations have been shortened and paraphrased by Immerwahr (2009). This section identifies the Augustinian principles and then proceeds to relate how they relate to business mentorship and leadership.

First Principle

We are given a much more appreciative hearing when we ourselves enjoy performing our task. Then the texture of our speech is suffused with the very delight that we take in speaking, and our words flow more easily and more pleasingly. When we see no reaction from our hearer, it is really tiring to continue speaking right to the end of the allotted time (Immerwahr, 2009, p. 1).

As a mentor with the responsibility to guide, counsel, and social support a protégé, it is incumbent on them to establish an environment that motivates the latter to learn and acquire as much knowledge as possible. A mentor must follow due process to achieve full career development in a mentee, instead of using shortcuts and quick-fixes to achieve the set objectives. The right procedure ought to be creating a dynamic mentor-mentee relationship in which the mentee takes delight in learning from the mentor and vice versa ((Sampat et al., 2020) Immerwahr (2009) reports that getting positive feedback from the protégé motivates the mentor to empower their subjects with more valuable content.

In a business mentorship environment, a relationship between a mentor and a mentee will yield more benefits to both if the former is objective in creating a dynamic environment in which both of them gain. A study by Malmgren et al. (2010, p.622) admits that by coaching and offering the mentee psychosocial support, “mentors receive fulfilment not only by altruistically improving the welfare of their protégés but also by improving their welfare.” The same article argues that a benefit on the part of the protégé will mean that a business also gains because the mentee will increasingly be committed to the organization.

A lot of literature shows that a mentor-protégé relationship faces challenges that render them ineffective. A study by Raabe and Beehr (2003) (as cited in Shore, 2017, p. 6) claim that: “They also noted that there is a perception issue between mentors and mentees in organizations, especially those with mentoring programs which are being overseen by a program manager.” They attribute this to the fact that “a mentee feels that they made a favourable impression where the mentor feels they did not” (p. 6). Regardless of the demographic differences, a mentor should be committed to offering the best training and coaching to a mentee. The mentee is expected to give an appreciative hearing to their mentor, reflect on the teaching by the mentor and them set goals for the mentorship program (Mallison & Scripture Union Australia, 1998).

Second Principle

Although we may pay no attention to the beautiful sights of the city where we live, our own enjoyment is revived by sharing in the enjoyment that others derive from seeing them for the first time. And this we experience the more intensely, the closer our friendship is, for the more the bond of love allows us to be present in others, the more what has grown old becomes new again in our own eyes as well (Immerwahr, 2009, p. 3).

St. Augustine addresses the monotony that can come upon the mentor from continually training generations of mentees based on the same concepts repeatedly. At the beginning of the mentorship program, a mentor may find the exercise fascinating and full of captivating challenges. At this moment, it is conceivable that there are chances of learning on the part of the mentor.

After an extended period of mentoring the protégé, a natural lethargy sets in somewhat involuntarily. An article by Schaeffer (2020, para. 10) quotes the original words of St. Augustine this way: “We often feel it very wearisome to go over repeatedly matters which are thoroughly familiar, and adapted to children.” The article Schaeffer (2020, para. 11) indicates that St. Augustine’s solution to this problem is: “Find joy in making old things new again.” Whenever a mentor perceives the great excitement that a mentee will express on learning a new and or rather challenging concept, they are bound to renew their knowledge as mentors. Therefore, mentors should not overlook concepts, ideas, or topics that seem boring to them as though they cannot be of help to a mentee. By making it known to the protégé, the mentor gets rejuvenation based on that aspect.

The relationship between a mentor and mentee should make it easy for the mentor to be delighted and encouraged to share the information that seems to be common knowledge to them. This way, the novice employee will get to learn new information (which could be fascinating to them), but the mentor will renew their knowledge of the concept. For that reason, mentors need not overlook any bit of information, thinking it may not be of importance to the protégé.

Third Principle

It often happens that someone who was listening in the beginning with pleasure later becomes tired and now he opens his mouth no longer to express approval but to yawn. We should reawaken his attention by making a remark spiced with seemly good humour and appropriate to the subject under discussion. Or we can relate something that arouses great awe and astonishment (Immerwahr, 2009, p. 2).

Acting as a teacher to the protégé who happens to be the student, a mentor should perpetually employ ways of refocusing the mentee’s attention whenever they seem distracted (Santos & Ruiz-Esteban, 2020; Schaeffer, 2020, para. 12). Schaeffer (2020, para. 12) states that the problem of distraction on the part of students is not only contemporary, but that existed during the times of St. Augustine. St. Augustine hilariously speaks of a hearer who is initially paying unwavering attention to the content being delivered until such a moment when they ‘gape’ and ‘yawn’ and openly show signs of inattentiveness. In a business context, taking for instance in a formal mentorship meeting, a mentee may initially be engrossed in absorbing content provided by a mentee then may, later on, lose concentration. At this point, it is incumbent for the mentee to restore the attention of the protégé for gainful learning to proceed.

Since a mentee could be a novice employee, the comparative to the mentor, the lack of experience, low salary, and job level, among other factors, could impact negatively on their state of mind. During mentorship discourses, their minds can slip out of the current environment to give thought to disturbing aspects of their lives. This is why a mentor should be vigilant enough to notice this and take action. Alluding to what Schaeffer (2020, para. 13) states about St. Augustine’s directives on how to restore lost concentration, a mentor should manipulate the listener’s emotions to restore their attention. While staying on course with the subject being addressed, try adding humour and funny stories that can inspire them to laugh a bit. The same article even proposes telling an overwhelming, sad, or shocking illustration. In so doing (inducing emotions), the mentee is sidetracked from their boredom and will resume active listening.

In the case of group mentorship, a mentor could resort to setting up a group discussion as a way to break the meeting. They can also consider issuing ungraded assessment to further their understanding of the subject matter. Deriving from Immerwahr (2009) suggestions, a mentor may ask the mentee to stand and stretch themselves before resuming their seats. Thus, it is a good practice for a mentor always to find ways of reinvigorating a mentee’s concentration.

Fourth Principle

With gentle encouragement, we should drive out the exaggerated fear that prevents the student from making known where he stands, and we should temper his shyness by instilling in him the value of our fraternal communion. By asking questions we should try to find out whether he understands what has been said, and we should give him the confidence to voice freely any objection he thinks out to be raised (Immerwahr, 2009, p. 2).

The extent to which a student learn relies on bot the teacher and the learner. An article by Stimming (1999) opines that the reception and acceptance of a teacher by students depends on how the former treats them. The same article states that vanity is the greatest sin a teacher can commit against their students. A mentee can possess some incapacitating qualities when compared to a mentor. Some of them include but not limited to: (1) Being a new employee in a business organization, (2) Lack of or little experience in a specific field, (3) Low salary, (4) Low job level or status, (5) Young age. These qualities may create low self-worth and self-esteem, which may hinder their performance and impede their professional development. To facilitate effective learning, a mentor has to expel such feelings. For that reason, it is incumbent for a mentor to invent ways of giving a mentee a chance to express themselves to alleviate their fears.

If it comes to asking questions, a mentor ought to ask open-ended questions which will not frustrate the protégé. A mentor should also be a good listener to a mentee’s questions, responses, or concerns and respond to them with humility. When responding to a mentee’s issue, Vaynerchuk (2017, p. 1) opines that: “To be a true mentor, you must deploy empathy and humility and realize it’s about the mentee. To be a useful mentor, you have to be able to advise with a genuine desire to help the other person.” An article by Engle (2019, p. 1) states: “First, mentors should be excellent listeners. As most will agree, there remain differences between generational attitudes, values, and beliefs. Mentors need to understand their subjects’ views of the world and their strategies for success.” The article states that listening and giving well-thought-about responses can help avoid errors that could otherwise have far-reaching consequences.

Fifth Principle

In my own experience as a teacher, I am swayed now in one way, now in another, according to as the characteristics and background of person that I see before me to receive instruction. And it is in keeping with these various influences that my actual address opens and moves forward and comes to a close (Immerwahr, 2009, p. 2).

Augustine indicates that actual learning takes place if a teacher knows the background and character of the students. In the same vein, a mentor should be willing to learn as much information about the mentee as possible-information such as career development goals, personal interests, background, preferred teaching, and learning styles, etc. The mentor can then give exclusive coaching depending on how much they know about their mentees (Watson, 2020). Immerwahr (2009) says that taking time to learn details about a learner is crucial since the process depends on the latter’s shortcomings, abilities, and motivation.

Sixth Principle

“What we say should touch preferably on the student’s own situation so that, stung by solicitude for himself, he may become alert again” (Immerwahr, 2009, p. 3).

This principle implies that learners get intrigued about real-world experiences and applications which concern human life. Similarly, when engaging a mentee, a mentor’s duty is to utilize this pedagogical technique to capture a mentee’s interest. A mentee may use personal life stories and narratives inspired by the context of the discourse. An argument by Crites (1971) (as cited in Rymarz and McLarney, 2011) states: “…stories are so effective on a number of levels because human experience is inherently narrative in form… One of the key features of life-story narratives is that all people are familiar with them in some form and as a result, are inherently engaged.” Martin-Kniep and Picone-Zocchia (2009) (as cited in Rymarz and McLarney, 2011) opines that narratives are useful in that they are extensive and can contain complex ideas succinctly.

From Campbell (2013), in Augustine’s perspective , there are different types of learners: some are eager and ready to learn while others seem dull and disinterested in learning. It is mandatory for the teacher to assess the knowledge level of the ready students. The teacher should however, invent various techniques in order to boost the students’ interest in learning. A mentor can opt to narrate stories that mostly touch on his career or professional life, including their struggles to rise in ranks, successes, failures, and such stories. An article by Turner-Moffatt (2019, p. 17) supports this by quoting the president and CEO of the National Association of Black Women in Construction New York Chapter president and Helberg Electrical Supply LLC:

“When sharing experiences, mentors should share the positive as well as negative aspects of their journey and successes with their mentees. This will better empower and prepare their mentees for the realities of the workplace.”

This approach will most definitely spark the mentee’s interest in the mentorship program and is consequently inclined to learn.

Other techniques that can be applied in a mentorship context, as highlighted by Immerwahr (2009), include simulation of ideas and role-playing the learning process. Rymarz and McLarney (2011) propose using controversial dialogues in teaching concepts by bringing out opposing views. In the words of Brookfield and Preskill (1999) (as cited in Rymarz and McLarney, 2011, p. 58), “It posits that in order to learn a very effective heuristic principle is to examine a number of variations of a particular theme.” A mentor can use this method to invent two opposing perspectives that force the mentee to take sides and gain access to the topic’s critical aspects.

Seventh Principle

The difficult part of our task is not in giving rules about [covering the content]. No, our greatest concern is much more about how to make it possible for those who offer instruction to do so with joy. For the more they succeed in this, the more appealing they will be. But for cheerfulness to be present at the opportune time depends on the compassion of the teacher (Immerwahr, 2009, p. 1).

Besides delivering loads of content to the learner, consideration should be given to providing a dynamic and conducive environment favoring learning. Although a mentor has to be concerned about what information to relay to the mentee, they should also reflect on how much information the mentee is acquiring. They can do that by encouraging a protégé to ask questions on challenging concepts. The mentor should ask didactic and non-didactic questions to assess the learning progress. The mentor needs to find ways to eliminate any negative attitude such as apathy, hostility, and lack of motivation for active and gainful learning.

This principle implies that a positive relationship between a mentor and a mentee exists for the two parties to gain career, professional, intellectual, and personal growth to happen (Augustine-Shaw, 2015). A study by Johnsrad (1990) (as cited in Maughan, 2007, p. 33) proclaims that “Mentoring relationships demand a personal connection that cannot be mandated.” Keele, Buckner, and Bushnell (1987) (as cited in Maughan, 2007) report that a mentee may be merely uncomfortable with a mentorship arrangement, especially if it is an assigned mentorship program, and this may be counterproductive on a mentee’s (or even a mentor’s) development.

Mentorship and Leadership in Business Organizations

Establishing sufficient formal or informal mentorship relationships can have long-lasting positive impacts on organizations (Engle, 2019). Business in the present world has to cope with many operations challenges (Hegstad, 2002). Some of these challenges include but are not limited to the following:

Recruiting and retaining a high-quality, skilled, well-performing, and competent workforce (Adeyemi, 2011; Hegstad, 2002; Maughan, 2007; Shore, 2017).
Succession planning strategies (Adeyemi, 2011; Maughan, 2007; Shore, 2017).
Fast-changing technology (Hegstad, 2002).
Leadership underdevelopment (Adeyemi, 2011; Davis, 2005; Hegstad, 2002; Maughan, 2007).

This dissertation has reviewed several studies that, together with other strategies, establishing an effective mentorship program (whether formal or informal) can almost certainly eliminate these challenges. Adeyemi (2011) and Hargreaves and Fullan (2000) suggest that mentorship programs should be designed and instituted in organizations for several benefits. As earlier mentioned, these programs thrive if there is a reliable mentor-mentee relationship (Sampat et al., 2020). A good relationship is one in which both participants have a role to play and are assured of benefits throughout the process. Inasmuch as most of the attention and benefits go to mentees, they also have little responsibility to observe. They should show cooperation, patience, appreciation, and motivation for the efforts which a mentor expends. In a business environment, as stated by Adeyemi (2011), “Mentors provide support, guidance, friendship, role modeling, assistance, and an attentive ear” (p. 368). As highlighted in Dmytrenko (2018, p. 33), a mentor can guide a protégé on matters such as “trends and changing practices, new strategies and initiatives, company values, history, products, and leadership and career and skill set development.”

Mentors can assist the protégés in creating personal career plans and establishing professional networks by introducing them to colleagues within and experts from outside of the organization (Engle, 2019). The same article says that mentors serve to reduce the time and effort spent by new staff members to learn about various aspects of an organization such as history, organizational values, and competitors, among others (Ilieva-Koleva, 2015).

Why organizations implement mentorship programs

Organizations must consider instituting structured mentorship programs to facilitate systematic interaction between the mentor and the mentee during the learning process. According to Adeyemi (2011), this kind of coordinated mentorship helps an organization achieve specific objectives. Such objectives are discussed below:

Skills improvement

A mentorship program facilitates the transfer of specific skills from established experts to less experienced and incompetent staff in an organization (Adeyemi, 2011). In Shore (2017), two critical aspects define a mentor-mentee relationship: content and context. Content refers to the information concerning a job, day-to-day life, etc., which a mentee is gaining, while context is the ability to comprehend and absorb this information. A mentor’s concern should be the context of the relationship. It is a mentor’s task to widen the context of the content presented to the mentee.

If the context is broad, the mentee can respond, take up more significant tasks, and enhance their career growth. Instead of explaining every aspect of the task, taking time to teach and give instructions, a mentor cooperates with them and improve their (mentee’s) participation until such a point when the mentee is capable of doing the tasks by themselves. In this way, a mentee’s skills in handling their day-to-day tasks increase exponentially.

Career development

As identified in Adeyemi (2011), mentorship programs: “help staff in the planning, development, and management of their careers and to help them become more resilient in times of change, more self-reliant in their careers and self-directed learners” (p. 372). Citing the work of Cummings and Worley (1997) and Pace et al. (1991), Hegstad (2000) states that a mentorship program serves to help employees to define and perform their tasks to achieve professional success. According to Sloan et al. (2020), “career support enables mentees to gain experience and expertise through coaching and being included in challenging work assignment” (p. 7). In the same article, career support may involve sponsorship give them a broader view of the organization by giving them exposure to other departments or sectors. The article highlights other provisions for career support such as social and professional networking; and protection in the organization. A study by Newman, Thanacoody, and Hui (2012) (as cited in Sloan et al., 2020, p. 7) affirms that: “These interactions increase work engagement and allow natural interactions with colleagues from different departments or business units.”

Support and help to women and minority groups

From Hegstad (2002), mentorship, especially a formal mentorship, provides some order and offers maximum opportunities for the entire workforce, including women and minority or disadvantaged groups. Hegstad (2002) claims that if mentors are left to pick on mentees, they are likely to pick them based on demographic factors that favor them (mentors), and hence women and other minorities may be sidelined. A study by Quach et al. (2020) reveals that racism and cultural biases deeply-rooted in an organization have contributed to the sidelining of minorities from a job promotion, pay rise, retention, etc. An article by Waters (2020) alludes from a parable in the Bible, that women and marginalized groups should be empowered. Adeyemi (2011) asserts that mentorship empowers women and minority groups to resolve the inequities at various organizations’ levels.The article adds that mentorship supports these disadvantaged groups and helps them circumvent barriers that hinder their development.

Orientation training for new employees

Along with Adeyemi (2011) and Eangle (2019), new employees, recruits, trainees should be mentored to familiarize themselves with the business setting. Since organizations are composite, the new workforce needs to be guided by a mentor conversant with the policies and standards that dictate how employees need to conduct themselves. The mentor can issue valuable information about every detail about the business and how it operates, thereby reducing the time and effort a mentee will learn by themselves. This orientation instills a sense of belonging and gives them the motivation to concentrate on their jobs.

Promotion of education

Even the most competent employee needs to balance between the theories of knowledge at its practical application. A mentor should offer training that aims to provide theoretical aspects of the field in question and hands-on experience (Adeyemi, 2011).

Workforce retention

A large body of literature concurs that mentorship contributes to employee retention. In the article by Shore (2017, p. 8), “mentorship enhances the work experience of employees, provides an increased satisfaction in their work, and can improve retention even in times of adverse working conditions and burnout.” Hegstad (2002, p. 38) agrees that: “mentorship enhances the work experience of employees, provides an increased satisfaction in their work, and can improve retention even in times of adverse working conditions and burnout.” As for Maughan (2007), mentorship helps to reduce cases of employee turnover.

The knowledge which mentees gather in the mentorship program equips them with the skills and expertise required in the organization hence gaining competency and quality. When the company is considering laying off employees, they have no choice but to retain these successful mentees for promotions to higher levels such as management. When this happens, the business maintains its skills set, which can be applied in mentoring recruits and filling more demanding positions. Therefore, a succession of various positions within the organization’s department is eased since there is a skilled workforce availability.

Improvement of customer care services

Studies by Adeyemi (2011) and Engle (2019) indicate that an effective mentorship empowers the mentee with desired organizational behaviors and habits. In this way, a mentee is motivated to achieve the quality of services they offer and improve their proficiencies. Another purpose of mentorship is to fine-tune an employee’s attitude to embrace the organization’s policies. Employees working in the customer service department become more professional in handling every customer as per the training given to them by the mentors, thus enhancement of customer satisfaction and promoting public relations.

Leadership in Business Settings

Leadership is a critical aspect of the management of a business. It is the leadership skills (or lack thereof) that determine the progress of an organization (Thoroughgood & Sawyer, 2018). While many would think managing, a form of leadership, is similar to mentoring, Vaynerchuk (2018) argues that there is a difference. This article opines that “When you are in manager’s mode, you have a team working for you; when you are in a mentor’s role, you’re working for a protégé.” According to Zachary and Fischler (2010, p. 53), some practices should enable business leaders to achieve ideal outcomes in the organization. These are:

Model the way,
Inspire a shared vision,
Challenge the process,
Enable others to act,
Encourages the heart [my numbering].

A leader should leverage the Augustinian principles in running the business. This can be achieved by creating a dynamic environment that will encourage the employees to work. The leader is not supposed to be obsessed with controlling the workers, to realize how the employees are working. If the employees are not motivated to work, there will be no constructive work going on. So it is prudent for the manager to find ways of creating a positive and dynamic working environment.

St. Augustine advises that a leader should know the background and interests of their junior staff. They have to understand their pressures and fears in life, career progress, working techniques, strengths, and weaknesses. Having this information enables the manager to customize their relationship with the employees and seek better ways to handle them. Augustine suggests that if the information gathered hampers an employee’s delivery of duties, a manager could help them overcome these challenges. Relieving the worker of these challenges makes them stress-free and psychologically fit to go about doing their jobs. A leader should find ways of motivating employees for them to stay focused on their careers. Initiatives such as increasing their wages, relieving them of tedious tasks, giving rewards to well-performing employees, and providing vacations and leaves, among others, can help recapture their focus on their duties. An article by Reynolds (2015) suggests that leaders should make a habit of using engaging stories and pictures when issuing directives and organization’s goals. In so doing, the article says, the leader touches on the emotions and rational thinking of the subjects thus engaging them fully in the process.

Recommendations and Conclusion

Recommendations

This thesis has proved that business organizations need to institutionalize mentoring if they wish to record tremendous success in their operations and forestall the challenges that it presents. This dissertation is confident that the following recommendations can help business organizations improve their mentorship programs after a thorough literature review.

First of all, mentors are issued with comprehensive training packages before they are assigned mentees (Adeyemi, 2011; Steinbauer et al., 2020). Not all higher-level employees are qualified and suitable for the mentorship task. As said by Steinbauer et al. (2020), mentors should be subjected to training to equip them with good leadership, ethical, creative, and critical thinking skills. Hegstad (2002) opines that this training can be in the form of orientation just before the program’s commencement or an in-depth training session that develops the necessary mentoring competencies.

Secondly, organizations should institutionalize mentorship. Previous research reveals that modern businesses do not pay much attention to mentoring, and for that reason, the results of the mentorship relationships which are formed are not appealing. This thesis suggests it is about time for organizations to consider incorporating mentoring, be it a formal or informal mentorship, into their curriculum to continue experiencing the mentoring outcomes. The goal should be establishing successful mentorship programs and incorporating mentorship to align itself with the mission and strategy of the business.

Before implementing a mentorship program in an organization, the program designers should perform a thorough needs analysis. A needs analysis will determine whether a mentorship program fills the gap between the present and the required performance (Hegstad, 2002). The needs analysis is expected to evaluate the current status of employees and the organization to ascertain whether the mentorship program will be promoted or hindered.

This dissertation suggests that the mentor and mentee should evaluate mentorship programs. An evaluation form is presented to a participant either periodically or at the end of the mentorship period. In a sample form, the participant should evaluate the program based on its effectiveness, the activities which they carried out during exercise, and the barriers that hindered the development of the mentorship relationship and, if possible, provide suggestions on how to improve the program. The insights gained from this evaluation process can further strengthen similar programs in the future and work on minimizing the barriers. This thesis created a sample evaluation form that can be used in any random evaluation.

Another recommendation in this thesis is the introduction of awards and recognitions to successful participants and teams. When the participating pairs are rewarded for exemplary performance, they get motivated, resulting in job satisfaction. When assigned another mentee, a mentor is likely to replicate the previous performance they got awarded to increase the chances of getting higher recognition by their employer. A mentor will most probably take up a mentorship role for recruits to start a relationship that will succeed just as theirs did. Overall, the organization will gain since their employees will remain committed to it.

Conclusions

The purpose of this study was to establish how Augustinian principles can be applied in business mentorship and leadership. It also considered various aspects of mentorship, such as the origin and types of mentorship. It also highlighted the mentorship benefits or outcomes to a mentor, mentee, and the organization. A section of the thesis sought to highlight some of the challenges faced by modern business organizations and how to resolve them regarding the Augustinian principles. To explain how Augustinian principles can be related to business mentorship and leadership, each of the seven principles adopted from Immerwahr (2009) was explicitly stated in block quotes followed by an extensive discussion on how they can be leveraged in business.

The study found out that for mentorship to bore the expected results, both the mentor and the mentee should get into a relationship that enhances the participants’ mutual benefits. It was also established that organizations are not objective about implementing mentorship programs but instead do it for formality. In the mentor-mentee relationship, a mentor’s role is to guide, support, counsel, and advice the mentee on matters which touched on the mentee’s personal and career or professional life. A mentee is expected to be cooperative, appreciative, and willing to learn as much information from the mentor as possible.

As identified by previous research, some of the challenges that modern business faces include the need for businesses to recruit and retain employable, high-quality, and well-performing employees. Another challenge that was mentioned was a strategy for the succession of roles in the workforce. Inadequate leadership skills in business organizations continued to be a challenge, according to the study. Current organizations also have to cope with fast-changing technology, which means that they should have qualified employees who can readily respond to these changes.

Last but not least, this study proposed some practices to observe when developing mentorship programs. It suggested training to the mentors before taking up mentorship roles, evaluating mentorship programs, introducing rewarding schemes to well-performing mentorship pairs that are the mentors and their associated mentees, among others.

Studies show that indeed mentoring is becoming a popular human resource exercise among various corporate, government and academic institutions the world over. However, there are not established legal frameworks for the implementation of mentorship programs. This, as this research has found, has not given the desired results of the process. If such organizations can take the initiative to make mentorship an integral part of their existence, then some of the problems they face may be eliminated.

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