Mentorship in Business: Augustinian Pedagogical Principles

Topic: Management
Words: 1478 Pages: 6

Introduction

In the contemporary world, businesses rely on organizational theories and leadership models to dictate the performance of workers. Skills and experiences gained by employees are some of the highly appreciated success factors which businesses depend on. Mentorship is one of the factors that define how teachers impact their students learning process as articulated by Bumphus (2017). The basis for the intended research is to identify and describe some of the best models for transforming organizational performance. St. Augustine’s pedagogical principle is a fruitful research area because of its possibility to facilitate continuous engagement in mentorship and the building of positive relationships with mentees. The notion of mentorship in business will be studied through the perspective of Augustine’s seven pedagogical principles.

Research Topic and Research Question

Research Topic

The notion of mentorship in business trough the prism of augustinian seven pedagogical principles

Research Question

How could st. Augustine’s principles from instructing beginners in faith be used to guide mentorship in business?

Study Significance

The present study revolves around the idea of mentorship in the world of business. Specifically, the implementation of leadership theories depending on the intended situation or challenge has remained a challenge. Professionals who embrace such an approach deliver timely results and guide their workers to improve organizational performance (Barshinger, 2018). However, managers in different companies and emerging firms find it hard to guide their workers more efficiently. One of the recognizable frameworks in the fields of business management and child development and pedagogy is St. Augustine’s pedagogical principles – in the field of business management, child development, and pedagogy (Barshinger, 2018). This model indicates that students are usually capable of achieving positive results when educators are aware of their followers’ attention span issues. Various leaders in the business segment struggle with conveying informaiton in a comprehensive way due to lack of pedagogical knowledge. Addressing a theoretical learning framework may benefit the overall approach to mentorship.

The Notion of Mentorship in Business Through the Prism of Augustinian Pedagogical Principles

The Notion of Mentorship in Business Through the Prism of Augustinian Pedagogical Principles

The seven principles are:

  1. Students are likely to have attention span issues, so their focus has to be rediscovered
  2. Learners are more likely to understand things that resonate with them
  3. Key to efficient learning lies in simplicity and ability to re-introduce already known things
  4. Classroom as a dynamic system should encourage students to obtain knowledge
  5. Learners cannot absorb the knowledge without engagement in the process
  6. Finding out about students helps teachers find better ways to present information
  7. Realizing what makes students quiet and shy contributes to the learning dynamics

Literature Review

The success of any business depends highly on the skills and experiences gained in the field. Various scholars have explored how individuals and organizations can perform well in their operations. According to Bumphus (2017), mentorship is one of the main factors that define how teachers impact their students. A mentor or master’s goal is usually to achieve a good relationship with a learner and the relationship results in the mentee’s development. A mentor can help an organization avoid errors, which could have far-reaching consequences in a given establishment. Most young people prefer quick remedies to overcome complicated situations. Masters play a crucial role in supervising protégé’s, performance in every field, including business development.

Research Gaps and the Need for Mentorship

Much research has been done on personal development, business success principles, and leadership. According to Gonza’lez-Rodri’guez et al. (2018), competition is one of the leading forces driving business operation in the present world. To remain in business, companies need to recruit and retain competitive, skilled, and diligent workforce. The ever-changing technology in business environments requires highly adaptive workforce that can quickly grasp new concepts using novel acquisitions.

Good mentor-mentee relationships are instrumental in eliminating challenges that may result within the company. A mentor is supposed to provide guidance, counseling, and support to the protégé during the discourse. Mentors provide help in trends and changing practices, new strategies and initiatives, company values, history, and leadership, and career and skillset development.

How St. Augustine’s Principles are Effective in Teaching and How They Can Be Translated

St. Augustine was a bishop who lived more than sixteen hundred years ago and was known for offering help beyond what was required from him. According to Immerwahr (2009), St. Augustine was asked by one of his deacons to give his junior tips of teaching his students. The instructional tools become applicable to all professionals since they emphasized seven significant principles. The principles included teacher-learner relationship, positive learning environment, knowing one’s students, understanding students’ fears, resetting student attention, and connecting learning to students’ experience.

St. Augustine’s Authority in Servant Leadership

Organizations should incorporate mentorship into their curriculum by using top managers to eradicate unforeseen challenges for future development of the firm. Working relationships should be formed between the mentor and mentee to realize the company’s full benefits.

Servant leaders understand the leadership and mentorship principles and use them to guide protégés to become leaders using St. Augustine’s philosophy. The learning experience between learner and teacher leads to knowledge and skill development (Pfund, 2016). Career and professional growth are the main objectives of mentorship programs in business and other sectors as medical and educational institutions. Hired employees must be mentored through training programs to acquaint themselves with the system. Mentorships promote effective succession planning and retention of a skilled workforce. Organizations strive to improve leadership skills of employees through mentorship programs.

Need for Mentorship in Business

When exploring mentorship gains, it is imperative to note that it benefits every business party. Although it is only mentors and protégés who are actively involved in the program, the organization which mobilizes the parties, instructs them, and creates an enabling environment for the process, also gains in different ways. The mentorship program benefits the mentor, mentee, and the business. Mentorship leads to a higher career and professional growth levels, wage increase opportunities, and higher job ranks promotions on the part of the mentee. Mentors benefit by broadening their knowledge, career and professional growth. Again, mentor helps mentees realize their responsibilities and abilities professionally (Malmgren et al., 2010).The business is the ultimate beneficiary by retaining a competitive, skilled and well-performing workforce.

Best Mentorship Programs for Business

Studies reveal other form of coaching, which can be applied in a business apart from the traditional mentoring processes. Mentorship programs are chosen based on the organizational goals and existing needs and objectives. Although different types of mentorship keep emerging due to the internet, social media, business diversification, and remote working, some mentoring forms include formal, informal, group, and peer mentoring. Formal mentoring involves developing a structure a structured, planned, and deliberate relationship between a mentor and mentee based on organizational goals. Group mentorship provides a platform for varied perspective on subjects and easier decision making and project development due to teamwork. Peer mentorship involves individual staff members considered equal salary scale, same age bracket, or job rank in the business (Malmgren et al., 2010). Peer mentorship promote trust-based relationship which creates a free and comfortable environment where peers can offer each other feedback about conduct, attitude, or performance.

Thesis

The research will:

  • Assess the notion of mentorship in business trough the prism of augustinian seven pedagogical principles for businesses.
  • Analyze the seven principles of the Augustinian philosophy.
  • Identify the benefit of mentorship programs in the success of the business.
  • Unravel the positive impacts of the augustinian seven pedagogical principles for businesses.
  • Historical research will be adopted in enhancing the understanding of mentorship in business through the selected principles.

Proposed Research Methodology

Research on the notion of mentorship in business through the prism of augustinian seven pedagogical principles will utilize historical research. Historical approaches to data collection and findings will be utilized. Case studies recording various results of past events will be vital in the study since they will provide vital historical information which will be used to develop on the research question.

Challenges in the Research

As with all researches, there exists challenges linked to historical research. The challenge of obtaining reliable sources is the most prevalent challenge since historical resources may not be readily available. Some of the valuable historical materials are not well preserved. Historical research only avail a fraction of past events hence reducing the accuracy of present research.

Conclusion

The research topic will be ‘the notion of mentorship in business trough the prism of augustinian seven pedagogical principles’. The research will try to answer the question, ‘How could st. Augustine’s principles from instructing beginners in faith be used to guide mentorship in business?’. The literature provides the previous work of researchers on the impact of mentorship on businesses. The literature also provides information on St. Augustine’s principles, their application, use, and impact on the mentor, mentee, and the business. The proposal has provided the proposed research methodologies that include data collection, analysis, and interpreted.

References

Bumphus, W. (2017). The next generation of leadership. Web.

Ellis, N., Alonzo, D., & Nguyen, H. (2020). Elements of a quality pre-service teacher mentor: A literature review. Teaching And Teacher Education, 92, 1-13.

Bornstein, S., McMahon, M., Yiu, V., Haroun, V., Manson, H., Holyoke, P., Wasylak, T., Tamblyn, R., & Brown, A. (2019). Exploring mentorship as a strategy to build capacity and optimize the embedded scientist workforce. Healthcare policy | Politiques De Santé, 15(SP), 73-84.

González-Rodríguez, M., Jiménez-Caballero, J., Martín-Samper, R., Köseoglu, M., & Okumus, F. (2018). Revisiting the link between business strategy and performance: Evidence from hotels. International Journal Of Hospitality Management, 72, 21-31.

Immerwahr, J. (2009). Teaching in the inspiration of St. Augustine: Augustinian Principles. In The National Teaching & Learning Forum, 18(4), 5-8.

Malmgren, R., Ottino, J., & Nunes Amaral, L. (2010). The role of mentorship in protégé performance. Nature, 465(7298), 622-626.

Pfund, C., Byars-Winston, A., Branchaw, J., Hurtado, S., & Eagan, K. (2016). Defining Attributes and Metrics of Effective Research Mentoring Relationships. AIDS And Behavior, 20(S2), 238-248.