Just and Inclusive Team Climates Affect Mentoring Satisfaction: The Roles of Negative Mentoring and Race

Abstract

As more work is being conducted in teams, mentees have increased opportunities to develop non-traditional mentoring relationships. We investigate how and when three aspects of team climate (procedural justice, interpersonal justice, and inclusion) influence mentoring satisfaction among mentees with an informal secondary mentor. Using survey data from 116 researchers on environmental science teams, we test whether (a) just and inclusive team climates are related to mentoring satisfaction through positive and negative mentoring experiences and (b) race moderates the relationships between just and inclusive team climates and mentoring satisfaction. We found that negative mentoring experiences mediated the relationships between just and inclusive team climates and mentoring satisfaction. Further, just and inclusive team climates were positively related to mentoring satisfaction, especially for people of color. These results suggest that positive team climates support informal mentoring in teams by reducing negative mentoring experiences and creating a welcoming environment for individuals from marginalized groups.

An examination of whether and how leader humility enhances leader personal career success

“…Helping others develop and grow by giving away power and advice via informal mentoring relationships is a natural expression of humble leadership. Likewise, humble leaders tend to foster psychologically safe, and open environments characterized by authentic workplace relationships and a collective promotion focus (Lehmann et al, 2022; Oc et al, 2020; Owens & Hekman, 2016; Wang et al, 2018), and such supportive contexts are critical for informal mentoring relationships to thrive (Robotham et al, 2022). Furthermore, humble leaders identify and appreciate the strengths of their followers, without feeling threatened or intimidated (Ou et al, 2017).…”

Supervision Encounters “That Are Not So Nice”: Experiences of Teachers in Guyana

“…One of the latest studies on mentoring suggests that negative encounters might be a stronger predictor of outcomes: "Although positive mentoring is important for mentoring satisfaction, it did not account for the effect of more supportive team climates ... [therefore, the need exists for] mentoring programs, and teams to consider ways to reduce negative mentoring" (Robotham et al, 2022(Robotham et al, , p. 1377. Given that the supervision by NFOs includes the element of mentoring, Robotham et al (2022) advice is applicable. Once insights into the weaknesses of supervision are identified, the strategies recognized above might offer some guidance on how improvements can be achieved.…”

“…This strategy has been appreciated by teachers supervised for other programs and seems to have had long-lasting effects on teachers' knowledge and skills (Semple-McBean & Creighton, 2018). Regarding consistency in decision-making and feedback, Robotham et al (2022) argue that this is key for improving the mentor-mentee, or in the NFOs' case, supervisor-supervisee climate and enhancing their relationship. If the supervision of NFOs continues to be fraught with tensions, the "sharing of professional insight, knowledge, and materials" (Leeper et al, 2010, p. 23) and the ultimate growth of teachers' professional competencies might be compromised.…”