Meta-analysis was used to review and synthesize existing empirical research concerning the career benefits associated with mentoring for the protégé. Both objective (e.g., compensation) and subjective (e.g., career satisfaction) career outcomes were examined. Comparisons of mentored versus nonmemored groups were included, along with relationships between mentoring provided and outcomes. The findings were generally supportive of the benefits associated with mentoring, but effect sizes associated with objective outcomes were small. There was also some indication that the outcomes studied differed in the magnitude of their relationship with the type of mentoring provided (i.e. career or psychosocial).

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This study applied theory from the employee learning and development literature to examine factors related to employees' perceptions of being job content plateaued and hierarchically plateaued. Results indicated that both types of plateauing were related to support from top management, career planning, job involvement, and education level. Furthermore, career exploration, motivation to learn, organizational tenure, and job tenure were related to perceptions of hierarchical plateauing, while supervisor support was related to job content plateauing. Additionally, the two types of plateauing diered in the relative strength of their relationship with the variables studied. Implications and future research suggestions are provided.

Mentoring is being increasingly used by companies as a means of fostering employee learning and development. Limited research exists from the perspective of the mentor on these relationships. This article presents the results of a qualitative study that investigated the characteristics that the ideal mentor should possess and ways that both mentors and proteges can make mentoring relationships most effective. Findings from the study are used to frame suggestions for future research and practice.The topic of mentoring has received much research attention in the career development literature in recent years. Mentoring reflects a relationship between two individuals, usually a senior and junior employee, whereby the senior employee takes the junior employee "under his or her wing" to teach the junior employee about his or her job, introduce the junior employee to contacts, orient the employee to the industry and organization, and address social and personal issues that may arise on the job (Kram, 1985). The mentoring relationship is distinguished from other organizational relationships (e.g., supervisor-subordinate) in that the involved individuals may or may not formally work together, the relationship is typically not sanctioned by the organization, the relationship usually lasts longer than most organizational relationships, the issues addressed during the course of the relationship may and often include nonwork issues, and the bond between the mentor and protbgb is usually closer and stronger than those of other organizational relationships (Hunt &Michael, 1983;Phillips-Jones, 1982 It is well established that mentoring relationships offer a number of important career benefits to the prot6g6. For example, individuals who are mentored report higher levels of overall compensation, career advancement, and career satisfaction (Dreher & Ash, 1990;Fagenson, 1988Fagenson, , 1989Scandura, 1992;Turban & Dougherty, 1994;Whitely, Dougherty, & Dreher, 1991). In today's turbulent business environment, the development of mentoring relationships can be a key strategy for enhancing individual growth and learning. Furthermore, as the ability to grow, adapt, and develop becomes more essential to organizational competitiveness, organizations are being called upon to facihtate He-long employee learning. To take advantage of the benefits of mentoring and build a competitive advantage through human and intellectual capital, many organizations are implementing formal mentoring programs as a method of fostering career development. Indeed, it has been estimated that a third of the nation's major companies have implemented a formal mentoring program (Bragg, 1989). Moreover, a recent study by Douglas and McCauley (1997) found that many organizations that &d not currently have a program in place were planning on developing one within 3 years. As more organizations implement formal mentoring programs, the effective management of these programs becomes an increasingly important challenge for organizations and career development practitioners....