Skip to main content

Mentoring for Career Development: Organisational Approaches to Engage and Retain Employees

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mobility ((LNMOB))

Abstract

Managing one’s career is becoming more complex as the external environment races towards increasing uncertainty. Rules that were familiar to individuals in the past are now opaque. This paper explores the career experiences of global rail professionals from a wide cross section of countries. It identifies findings that are applied to the development of a model for mentoring that could be utilised by organisations to development professionals. Related to ‘soft skills’, mentoring is a learning and development tool that is widely used in organisations through formal processes that develop skills for special groups including apprentices, graduates and those identified with talent. As a result of changing workforce demographics, it is argued that more focus on the soft side of a predominantly hard or technical industry would benefit rail industry organisations with this paper highlighting new insights into mentoring.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barnett B, Bradley L (2007) The impact of organisational support for career development on career satisfaction. Career Dev Int 12:617–636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berg ME, Karlsen JT (2012) An evaluation of management training and coaching. J Workplace Learn 24:2

    Google Scholar 

  • Burrows L (2014) Spirituality at work: the contribution of mindfulness to personal and workforce development. In: Harris R, Short T (eds) Workforce development: perspectives and issues. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke M, Patrickson M (2008) The new covenant of employability. Empl Relat 30:121–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kram KE, Isabella LA (1985) Mentoring alternatives: the role of peer relationships in career development. Acad Manage J, 110–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers MD (2009) Qualitative research in business and management. Sage Publications, London, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Orazi D, Good L, Robin M, Van Wanrooy B, Butar Butar I, Olsen J, Gahan P (2014) Workplace leadership: a review of prior research. Centre for Workplace Leadership, Melbourne, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Piip J (2014) Exploring leadership talent practices in the Australian rail industry. Doctor of Philosophy, University of South Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Piip J (2015) Leadership talent: a study of the potential of people in the Australian rail industry. Soc Sci 4:718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piip J, Harris R (2013) Matching mentoring partners through technology in Australian rail. In: 2nd UIC world congress on rail training. St Polten, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Ragins BR (1997) Diversified mentoring relationships in organizations: a power perspective. Acad Manage Rev 22:482–521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Short TW, Cameron R, Morrison A, Ebrahimi M, Piip JK (2012) Mentoring and coaching: a literature review for the rail industry. CRC for Rail Innovation, Brisbane, Australia, Feb 2012

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janene Piip .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Piip, J. (2019). Mentoring for Career Development: Organisational Approaches to Engage and Retain Employees. In: Fraszczyk, A., Marinov, M. (eds) Sustainable Rail Transport. Lecture Notes in Mobility. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78544-8_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78544-8_15

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78543-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78544-8

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics