Influences of Mentoring Functions on Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment of Graduate Employees

A significant percentage of the workforce, within the construction sector is nearing retirement age over the next ten years. These employees have acquired a tremendous amount of knowledge about how things work, how to get things done and who to go to when problems arise. Losing their expertise and experience could significantly reduce efficiency, resulting in costly mistakes, unexpected quality problems, or significant disruptions in services and or performance. The business world has long known and relied upon mentoring as a proven technique for developing in house talent. Previous studies proved that the implementation of mentoring programme is beneficial for enhancing employee skills and attitudes. Few researchers are devoted to exploring the impact. This paper is aimed at examining the effects of mentoring functions on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of new graduates in the South African construction industry. The study was mainly a literature review, with a special focus on the impact of mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees within organizations. The data used in the report was mainly qualitative, based on the content analysis, and historical data. The study indicated that career development and role modelling functions have a positive effect on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of new entry employees. However, the psychosocial support function was incapable of providing adequate explanation for these work outcomes. The study suggest that graduate managers should improve the career development and role modelling functions of mentoring in order to enhance the job satisfaction, organizational commitment of new entry graduates employees. The early success of the initiatives described provide useful lessons for the construction industry and executives who recognize that mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment are critical for sustaining future organizational performance.