Mentorship-Driven Talent Management: The Asian Experience

Editors:

• Dr Payal Kumar, Professor and HR (Chair), BML Munjal University, India
• Dr Pawan Budhwar, Professor of International HRM, Aston Business School, UK

Emerging evidence suggests that research on mentorship has been dominated by the West (Chandler, Kram & Yip, 2011), and that little is known about the cultural variations of the mentoring phenomenon. This raises many questions including that of generalizability, for example, Prof G. F Dreher of Kelly School of Business, USA says: “Can the observed correlational or cause-effect relationships that make up the mentoring literature be generalized beyond low power distance western cultures? [1]. This edited volume aims to provide a deeper understanding of the contextual interpretation of mentoring by focusing on the Asian experience in countries such as China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, amongst others.

While some research on mentoring has begun in countries such as China (Wang, Noe & Greenberger, 2009) and India (Haynes & Ghosh, 2012; Kumar, 2017), in order to move the field forward there is still a strong need for more research. Gaining a deeper understanding of the contextual interpretation of demographic dynamics specific to a country is important given that “existing theories lack appreciation for the multiple contexts within which mentoring relationships operate” (Ramaswami & Dreher, 2010: p. 502). In fact, scholars are increasingly questioning the positivist trend of decontextualizing HRM from the social-historical context of the workplace (Cooke, 2018; Knights & Omanović, 2016). Recent studies do suggest that cultural context does impact strategic HR initiatives differently, implying that business leaders and scholars would need a deeper understanding of what makes development, training and competency initiatives thrive in a particular cultural context under the influence of larger historical and social structures (Srikanth & Jomon, 2015; Barkema, Chen, George, Luo, & Tsui, 2015).

Heeding the call for mentoring relationships to be studied across cultures (Clutterbuck, Kochan, Lunsford, Dominguez, & Haddock-Millar, 2017), it is hoped that this edited volume will move the field forward for scholars of talent management, mentoring and leadership. Given that Asian countries are known for high power distance cultures, and also given that protégés tend to perceive the mentor to be a more paternalistic figurehead, it is expected that the chapters in this volume will both consolidate and add new elements to existing scholarship. For practitioners (within Asia and also for those planning to work in these countries), a richer understanding of the cultural context that is more attuned to the mentor and protégé experience in the Asian context can help to improve their workplace experience in general. Till date there has been no publication that covers the entire gamut of mentoring experiences in Asia from all levels of analyses: 1. Individual 2.  Dyadic and 3. The socio-economic country context. This edited volume attempts to do this.

References

Barkema, H. G., Chen, X. P., George, G., Luo, Y., & Tsui, A. S. (2015). West meets East: New concepts and theories. Academy of Management Journal, 58(2), 460.

Chandler, D. E., Kram, K. E., & Yip, J. (2011). An ecological systems perspective on mentoring at work: A review and future prospects. Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 519-570.

Clutterbuck, D. A., Kochan, F. K., Lunsford, L., Dominguez, N., & Haddock-Millar, J. (Eds.). (2017). The SAGE Handbook of Mentoring. SAGE.

Cooke, F. L., Wood, G., Wang, M., & Veen, A. (2018). How far has international HRM travelled? A systematic review of literature on multinational corporations (2000–2014). Human Resource Management Review.

Haynes, R. K., & Ghosh, R. (2012). Towards mentoring the Indian organizational woman: Propositions, considerations, and first steps. Journal of World Business, 47(2), 186-193.

Kumar, P. (Ed.). (2018). Exploring Dynamic Mentoring Models in India. Palgrave Macmillan.

Knights, D., & Omanović, V. (2016). (Mis) managing diversity: exploring the dangers of diversity management orthodoxy. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 35(1), 5-16.

Ramaswami, A., & Dreher, G. F. (2010). Dynamics of mentoring relationships in India: A qualitative, exploratory study. Human Resource Management, 49(3), 501-530.

Srikanth, P. B., & Jomon, M. G. (2015). Perception of Managerial Competency Needs: An Indian Perspective. South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management, 2(2), 139-170.

Wang, S., Noe, R. A., Wang, Z. M., & Greenberger, D. B. (2009). What affects willingness to mentor in the future? An investigation of attachment styles and mentoring experiences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74(3), 245-256.

 

Chapter submissions are invited on the following indicative themes:

Proposed Table of Contents

Introductory chapter: Contextualizing mentorship in the Asian region

(by Payal Kumar and Pawan Budhwar)

PART ONE

Protégé and mentor identity

Protégé: negative and positive experiences

Leadership styles and mentoring functions, e.g., paternalistic mentor

Personality traits and mentoring, e.g., self-efficacy, propensity to learn

Case studies

PART TWO

Dyadic mentoring relationships

Role modeling behaviours and outcomes

Mentoring Gen Y

Intergenerational challenges

Gender and mentoring

Regional diversity and mentoring

Managing employees’ emotional labour

Formal and informal mentoring

Case studies

PART THREE

The social and economic context

Cross cultural (country) comparison, e.g., Intergenerational mentoring in UK and India

Organizational socialization in state-owned and private companies

Power distance and mentoring relationships

Organizational culture and mentoring

Business networking in Asia and mentoring, e.g., Guanxi, caste relationships 

Case studies

 

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

● 31st August, 2018: Submit your chapter proposal of 700 to 800 words, and details of your institutional affiliation to: Payal Kumar (payalk1@gmail.com).

The following format is expected for the chapter proposal:

1)    Rationale of the chapter

2)      Details of study method

3)      Expected contribution of the chapter

● 15TH October: Notification of accepted chapter proposal

Please note that all contributors are expected to complete at least one chapter review.

● 15th February 2019: Receipt of full chapters for peer review

Expected word count of chapters is about 6000 to 7000 words, not including references. For more details about the style of manuscript submission, see the Emerald author’s guideline page:

http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/ebooks/author_guidelines.htm

● 15th April: Authors notified of chapter reviews

● May 31st: Revised chapters re-submitted to volume editors (if needed) along with 100- word author bios

● 1st August 2019: Approved chapters delivered to publisher

● December 2019: Tentative book publishing date.