Mentoring: Could there also be caveats in it?
本文挑战导师制绝对有益的主流观点，从文献中提炼出四个警示，包括对工作绩效影响不明确、依赖权力政治、助长个人利益策略、可能降低道德标准，呼吁对导师制持谨慎态度。
Abstract Mentoring has long been viewed as an effective tool for human resource development. This paper challenges the mainstream view that mentoring is unequivocally beneficial to organizations and by extent to the wider social system. The argument is built on four caveats that emerge from the available literature: (1) evidence on the relationship of mentoring receipt with protégé job performance (as opposed to career success) is elusive; (2) the mechanism via which mentoring enhances protégé career success appears to rely mostly on power and political processes; (3) the type of learning imparted by mentoring seems mostly related to the understanding and implementation of political tactics for personal gain; and (4) the possibility that mentoring may, at times, impair protégés' ethos and lower their ethical standards. The conclusion is that caution – instead of unconditional enthusiasm – must be exercised with mentoring. The article closes with guidelines for practice and suggestions for future research, which can serve as starting points in the adoption of a more balanced view of mentoring.