The Research on & Researching Beginning Employee Needs

By Barry Sweeny

A key role for you may be to help mentoring programs access the general research literature, as well as to design their own research on the needs of the employees who will be mentored. To get you started, try these two.

• Veenman, Simon. (1984), unsupported beginning employees
• Odell, Sandra. (1986), beginning employees who were mentored and oriented.

They are both "meta analyses" which, you may know, means the researcher collected a large number of studies on the topic, compared the findings across the studies, and reached some generalized conclusions based on the patterns found prevalent across all the studies. In Veeneman's case he reviewed 83 research studies of organizations in which no support programs or mentoring were provided the novice employees. This is a very powerful method as it tends to "average out" unusual, or atypical findings which will not occur in most circumstances.

Keep in mind that such research findings are bound by a number of sometimes hidden details, such as the dates of the studies (what's changed since then?) and the kinds of programs included in the studies reviewed. Such factors have to be considered when interpreting the findings of the analysis and using them to guide your own decisions.

A NOTE: As significant as such research is, it may be useful in gaining initial support for starting a mentoring program, but it is unlikely to be support that will last more than 2-3 years. That's why programs will also need their own local needs assessment and program evaluation addressing protege needs.

That's where a researcher like you comes in. Programs must be able to show the extent to which THEIR OWN employees are growing and improving. Since "needs" are like obstacles to that growth, carefully assessing and then effectively addressing their needs as employees and learners is CRITICAL to program success.

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