Communication Studies, Department of
Date of this Version
2011
Abstract
Existing research has indicated that mentoring in organisations serves a variety of beneficial functions, including socialising new employees, increasing employee self-esteem and competence, and teaching them how to navigate organisational politics. Although the benefits of mentoring are clear and well documented, there is a potential ‘dark side’ to mentoring that has the potential to result in role confusion, interpersonal conflict, the loss of individual power, and diluted organisational culture. It is our purpose in this paper to reconceptualise the role of communication in mentoring as a way to illuminate this dark side of mentoring within organisations.
Comments
Published in Australian Journal of Communication • Vol 38 (1) 2011 Copyright © The School of English, Media Studies, & Art History, Faculty of Arts, The University of Queensland, 2011