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An exploration of mentorship as a resource for knowledge sharing in the built environment

Lester, E

Authors

E Lester



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Abstract

As a major source of employment – 7.523 million or 5.03% of the total employment of the United States – the built environment remains mired in challenges, foremost among them the loss of knowledge as experienced professionals age out of the industry. Mentorship is a potential response to these challenges. Yet there has been relatively little scholarship in this area, especially with respect to the built environment. When literature focusing on mentorship and knowledge management was reviewed, mentees were the focus of 70% of the studies. Even mentor-focused studies often focused on mentees; for example, studies that outline mentor characteristics that benefit mentees. Because knowledge sharing is critical to business continuity and competitiveness, and demographic trends point to plummeting levels of trust in the workplace, mentorship and knowledge sharing are becoming even more critical. Tacit knowledge, which predominates in the built environment, makes mentor-mentee relationships a nexus of interest for the researcher. As such, the constructionist / social constructionist view aligned with the researcher’s beliefs and was most suitable to addressing the research question, “Do mentors in New York City’s built environment identify mentorship as an effective means of knowledge sharing?” and the aim of the study: “...to explore how to improve mentorship programs as a resource for knowledge sharing in the built environment.” By using a context-specific, detailed, and comprehensive process, this research garnered individual experiences from a series of one-on-one conversations. Analysis of this data led to a deep understanding of the mentorship process, pursued through iterative, inductive/abductive theory development. Open-ended, semi-structured interviews conducted in familiar settings facilitated a deep understanding of mentors’ perspectives with respect to the research question and aims. What emerged was a holistic view of the mentoring experience and its relationship to knowledge sharing, providing a comprehensive and complex answer to the research question: “Mentorship is an important and effective means of knowledge sharing and retention, but cannot be formulated or forced.” Strict adherence to ethical principles was in place throughout the study. Validation of the data occurred through a series of strategies focused on researcher, participant, and reviewer, and triangulation via multiple techniques of analyzing the semi-structured interview data was pursued. Additionally, a report was shared with participants to confirm the analysis of the aggregated data. Following these efforts, the study focused on several findings that confirmed mentorship as a means of knowledge sharing as expressed through an explicit and implicit linkage between the two best achieved through informal face-to-face, real time feedback loops during in between moments. As these spontaneous, impromptu conversations are not proactively planned, they are not captured by knowledge management systems. When outside forces, i.e., exogenous shocks, occur, these in between moments lessen or completely disappear as mentors revert to contractions of personal investments. Afterwards, critical success factors to counteract these findings were developed, including instilling champions that support mentoring, educating employees and promoting organizational learning as an overall investment. By cultivating communications and encouraging relationships while pursuing agility in response to exogenous shocks, the study also provided recommendations for mentoring programs that will enhance knowledge sharing. These include generating board-level support and creating strategic plans that change business models and build supportive cultures to motivate correct behaviors in mentors and mentees. Thus, these findings contribute new knowledge valuable to both researchers and professionals in the built environment.

Citation

Lester, E. (in press). An exploration of mentorship as a resource for knowledge sharing in the built environment. (Thesis). University of Salford

Thesis Type Thesis
Acceptance Date Mar 7, 2023
Deposit Date Apr 12, 2023
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Award Date Oct 11, 2022

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