Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-190). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29609

The purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive and descriptive study of the Oregon Mentorship Program. The study examined literature on adult mentorship programs particularly related to education and educational administration, and gathered mentor and protege perceptions on the personal and professional usefulness of program activities and characteristics. The analysis of the data may provide guidance for future formal mentorship programs designed to prepare better beginning administrators in the field of education. Data were gathered utilizing a questionnaire. All participants in the program (77 mentors and 79 proteges) were surveyed with an instrument designed around the follow-up study model. Statistical analyses of the data were based upon 55 mentor and 57 protege respondents. Chi square, mean, t-test, and Kendall's coefficient of concordance were used to determine significant differences among mentors and proteges. Two qualitative methodologies of analysis, phenomenology and development of a category system for analysis which seeks convergence and divergence were also applied to the responses. Major findings of this study were grouped as perceptions, structure, logistics, participant relationships, and demographic. Mentors and proteges had few differences in the way they perceived the mentorship program. Mentors and proteges did not agree on the significance of same/different gender mentor/protege pairings. Age differential between mentors and proteges was also not found to be a significant factor. Structurally, proteges more than mentors felt that directives and guidelines were unsatisfactory. Proteges did not agree that satisfactory year-long goals were established. Logistically, proteges were more likely to come to mentors than mentors to proteges. No significant differences existed in any of the items concerning the participant relationship category: mentors and proteges responded in similar ways to each of the questions. The study recommended future actions to enhance the Oregon Mentorship Program and made recommendations for further research into formal mentorship programs.

Many newly graduated registered nurses (NGRNs) leave the nursing profession within the first 2 years of employment in a rural hospital located in the Southwestern region of Oklahoma. A strategy to address this problem was to introduce a mentorship process that would help support the NGRNs as they transition into independent practice in the clinical setting. The goal of this project was to develop a mentorship program for future implementation. The Partners In Nursing (PIN) program sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and developed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the American Nurses Association, was selected to support the NGRN transition from student nurse to practicing clinician with a goal to improve retention rates by 10 percent. Benner's novice to expert framework and the Psychological Empowerment model were used in the development of activities contained within the mentorship program modules. Barrett's theory of power helped to guide the development of resilience activities for the future participants. An evaluation plan was developed to monitor new nurse progress before and during the program using the Casey and Fink questionnaire to evaluate the needs and job performance of the participants. The target hospital National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) was analyzed to help justify the project abe used in future evaluations. Facilitating mentorship will result in social change through increased autonomy of the new professionals, along with improved retention which positively impacts patient outcomes. Social change will bridge the gap in retention and the cost of replacing a NGRN. Dissemination of this project is planned to occur both within the facility and at the relevant national organizations supporting nurse educators.

Nurses comprise the largest segment of the healthcare workforce. Adequate numbers of nurses help to ensure sufficient and safe nursing care in all settings. The current nursing shortage poses a barrier to optimum nursing care, and the nature of recruitment and retention of nurses has generated research interest because of its association with the labor shortage. The purpose of the project was to develop a nurse mentorship program for possible adoption by a northern state correctional facility. Goals are to aid recruitment and improve retention of nurses in the facility. This quality improvement project was informed by Jean Watson's theory of transpersonal caring. Program development was guided by a team of interdisciplinary stakeholders in the institution, including a nurse educator, institutional directors of both education and nursing departments, and senior staff nurses who agreed agreeing to function as project coordinators. The peer-reviewed literature and institutional contexts informed program conceptualization and planning for implementation and planning. A series of meetings were held in which the project team explored and discussed available evidence relative to institutional context and needs. The primary product of the project was a mentoring program, and secondary products include plans for implementation and evaluation of that program by the institution in the future as part of a broader institutional initiative. The developed program was shared with 5 nurse scholars with relevant expertise as a content validation process, with revisions made in accordance with feedback. The implementation and evaluation plans include all details necessary for operationalizing as well as evaluating merit and worth of the program over time.

The aim of this study is to provide a theoretical background on the knowledge management principles required in determining the current state of knowledge management within the Pyrometallurgical industry. Emphasis is placed on identifying initiatives that is required for embedding tacit knowledge within an organisation. Knowledge is what people know and there is no knowledge without someone knowing it. Knowledge can be present in ideas, judgement, relationships and concepts. Unlike data and information, knowledge is never static but is continually shaped inside peoples' heads through experience, reasoning and the inflow of new stimuli. Tacit knowledge is the information about work processes and products that individuals hold above and beyond what organisations has documented. It is the "tricks of the trade" that promote smooth organisational functioning, overall know-how, and competitive advantage. In order to ensure that an organisation maintains its competitive advantage, special focus must be placed on tacit knowledge management. The state of knowledge management within the Pyrometallurgical industry in South Africa was assessed in the use of survey questionnaires. The Pyrometallurgical industry has still got a long way to go in order to ensure that the tacit knowledge is embedded within their organisations. Key areas of concerns are the lack of experienced mentors as well as enough resources in order to foster tacit knowledge transfer. A practical tacit knowledge management framework is proposed in order to assist management in looking after this critical asset of their organisation. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The aim of this study is to provide a theoretical background on the knowledge management principles required in determining the current state of knowledge management within the Pyrometallurgical industry. Emphasis is placed on identifying initiatives that is required for embedding tacit knowledge within an organisation. Knowledge is what people know and there is no knowledge without someone knowing it. Knowledge can be present in ideas, judgement, relationships and concepts. Unlike data and information, knowledge is never static but is continually shaped inside peoples' heads through experience, reasoning and the inflow of new stimuli. Tacit knowledge is the information about work processes and products that individuals hold above and beyond what organisations has documented. It is the "tricks of the trade" that promote smooth organisational functioning, overall know-how, and competitive advantage. In order to ensure that an organisation maintains its competitive advantage, special focus must be placed on tacit knowledge management. The state of knowledge management within the Pyrometallurgical industry in South Africa was assessed in the use of survey questionnaires. The Pyrometallurgical industry has still got a long way to go in order to ensure that the tacit knowledge is embedded within their organisations. Key areas of concerns are the lack of experienced mentors as well as enough resources in order to foster tacit knowledge transfer. A practical tacit knowledge management framework is proposed in order to assist management in looking after this critical asset of their organisation. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:35:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2886.pdf: 2278999 bytes, checksum: 67238fd050f963f6c57613ddbbfb9fde (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-19 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The objective of this research is to analyze the learning of three beginner teachers during the participation in the Mentorship Program of UFSCar's Portal Teachers. This program was designed to understand and implement processes for professional develop- ment of teachers by through the online interaction between beginner teachers - up to 5 years of career - who teach in grades of elementary school and experienced and successful teachers (the mentors). The theoretical references involve the beginning of the teaching profession; the dilemmas faced by novices, professional development in teaching, with the expectation that teacher training is incessant and that there are di®erent sources of learning how to teach, to build a solid knowledge base and to assist them in their decision-making as a teacher, the career stages, speci¯cally, studies on the period of em- ployability, the di±culties and the initial learning; mentoring opportunities and support for beginners, favoring the presence and professional development and distance learning as a tool for training of mentors and beginning teachers. The research undertaken was qualitative, with descriptive and analytical speci¯city. Data were collected in the area of mentor and novice relationship at the Mentorship Program environment, organized in three case studies. The results point to many dilemmas, di±culties and anxiety present during the teaching initiation. Beginning teachers are insecure about their performance, they can not easy cope with the practice challenges and school rules required, they need to be supported by someone more experienced and successful. / O objetivo da pesquisa é analisar as aprendizagens de três professoras iniciantes durante a participacão no Programa de Mentoria do Portal dos Professores da UFSCar. Este Programa tinha como objetivo conhecer e implementar processos de desenvolvimento profissional de professores por meio da interação online entre professoras iniciantes - com até 5 anos de carreira - que lecionam nas séries iniciais do Ensino Fundamental e professoras experientes, consideradas bem sucedidas (as mentoras). As referências teóricas envolvem o início da carreira docente; os dilemas vividos pelos professores iniciantes; o desenvolvi- mento profissional na docência, na perspectiva de que a formação docente é permanente e que há diferentes fontes de aprendizagem da docência; a construção de uma base de conhecimento sólida e que auxilie o professor em suas tomadas de decisões na atividade docente; as fases da carreira, especificamente, os estudos sobre o período de inserção profissional, as dificuldades e as aprendizagens iniciais; programas de mentoria como possibilidades de apoio aos iniciantes, favorecendo a permanência e o aprimoramento profissional e a educação online como ferramenta para a formação de mentores e professores iniciantes. A pesquisa desenvolvida é de natureza qualitativa, com especificidade descritivo-analítica. Os dados foram coletados no espaço de relacionamento da mentora e sua iniciante, no ambiente do Programa de Mentoria e organizados na forma de três estudos de casos. Os resultados apontam para muitos dilemas, dificuldades e ansiedade presentes no período de iniciação µa docência. Os professores iniciantes sentem-se inseguros com sua atuação, não conseguem enfrentar com tranqüilidade os desafios que a prática e as regras escolares lhes impõem e necessitam de ser amparados, por alguém mais experiente e bem sucedido.

Developing employees to assume leadership positions has never been more critical for organizational leaders given the competitive climate and the shortage of executive leaders. Organizations must develop future leaders at unprecedented rates to assume roles and responsibilities of the current executive leaders who will leave the organization due to retirement and other forms of attrition. Using mentorship theory, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies that business leaders use to successfully improve their mentoring programs for employee leadership development. The target population consisted of 3 business leaders located in central Florida with successful experience in improving their mentoring programs for employee leadership development. Data were collected via semistructured interviews and review of organizational documents. Data were analyzed using methodological triangulation through inductive coding of phrases and words. Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis, which are: mentoring functions are critical for leadership development, multiple modes of mentoring are effective for leadership development, and a mentor's motivation is critical for a successful mentoring relationship with mentee. Business leaders must understand the processes and functions of mentoring to make informed decisions when considering integrating mentorship programs into the organizational processes and initiatives aimed at leadership development. The implications for positive social change include the development of leaders empowered to make significant contributions to their local communities, allowing leaders to effectively respond to challenges associated with lack of proper health, homelessness, environmental sustainability, and violent acts.