How mentorship is perceived to contribute to the well–being of an employee in an explosives manufacturing organisation

Abstract

The title of the research is “How mentorship is perceived to contribute to the well-being of an employee in an explosives manufacturing organisation”. This research was conducted within AEL Mining Services, an explosives manufacturing organisation that is part of the AECI group of companies. The object of the research was to gain a better understanding of the association between mentorship and well-being, based on how the experience is perceived by the employee that was either part or not part of such a program, be it formal or informal. During the literature study authors such as Keating (2012:91), Govender and Parumasur (2010:2) and Masango (2011:1) felt very strongly that mentorship begins on the day of birth and continues throughout one‟s entire life where competencies in the mentor role entail understanding self and others, communicating effectively and developing employees and it is clear that great leaders would not have achieved their full potential without effective mentoring. During the literature study it was also found that advantages as well as disadvantage are linked to mentorship, but that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Research identifies the need for sustainable development and although a variety of mentorship models exist that are currently used, it is evident that mentorship does have an impact on whoever is subjected to it. The study adopted a quantitative methodology, in which more than one questionnaire was utilised. Mentorship was identified as the independent variable and well-being as the dependent variable. For this study, the respondents were required to disclose geographical information concerning themselves and in addition to this, the Mental Health Continuum and General Health Questionnaire was utilised in order to determine the level of well-being as perceived by the respondents, based on mentorship or the lack thereof. The Statistical Consultation Services of the North-West University determined the statistical methods and procedures for the analyses of the research. Ellis and Steyn (2003:51-53) make it clear that in many cases it is important to know whether a relationship between two variables is practically significant. The research made use of triangulation where Gratton and Jones (2010:121) propose that triangulation can strengthen the validity of research, and is useful as a means to demonstrate trustworthiness in the analysis. Based on the results generated from the statistical analysis, the mentored group has a better overall state of health and psychological well-being than the non-mentored group. The deduction is thus made that with mentorship there is a significant difference in the overall well-being of an employee that was subjected to such a program. Recommendations were made regarding further research that needs to be conducted, in which a mentorship program is tailored for a specific company/organisation within the explosives manufacturing industry, then implemented and the results of it measured over a period of time.