Excerpt from Ch. 27: The Landscape of Mentoring in the 21st Century
The Handbook of Mentoring at Work: Theory, Research, and Practice
Belle Rose Ragins
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Kathy E. Kram
Boston University
Sage Publication
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Copyright © 2007 by Sage Publications, Inc.
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The Landscape of Mentoring in the 21st Century
Kathy E. Kram Belle Rose Ragins
As the authors in this volume have consistently demonstrated, the garden of mentoring has evolved over the past 25 years, and the landscape of our discipline will be quite different in the 21st century. Through our research and practice, we have uncovered new explanations for why some relation- ships continue to grow and flourish, while others become stagnant or dysfunctional. Our vision of mentoring has expanded with the emergence of new forms and hybrids—such as peer mentoring, cross-gender mentoring, cross-cultural mentoring, mentoring circles, and e-mentoring. Our conception of mentoring has evolved from an acknowledgement of “constellations of relationships” to an emphasis on “developmental networks.” Equally important, the work in this volume highlights how environmental conditions that surround mentoring— globalization, increasingly diverse workforces, flattened hierarchies, team-based organizations, new technologies, and a persistently rapid pace of change—influence the nature and potential of mentoring at work.