and Wright 1987). It is generally viewed as a sequence of significant relations between a more experienced individual, known as the mentor, and a protégé to improve the protégé’s personal growth and professional development (Kram 1985, Shea 1992, Clutterbuck 1991). Gibson and Hezlett (2005) add that mentoring will remain a profitable tool for human resource development as employees are more empowered and have more responsibility for managing their own careers.
Although, outcomes of mentoring relationships are determined by the roles played by mentors and mentees, the functions used by mentors are very important as they contribute effectively to the outcomes of the relationship. Over the years, different researchers have produced different mentoring functions. However, they all classify their functions based on the theory of Kram 1985 (Ragins and Cotton 1999). Therefore, for the purpose of this research, the researcher refers to Kram’s theory in 1985. She defined mentoring function as “essential characteristics that differentiate developmental relationships from other relationships” (p. 22). She further classifies the functions into two: career and psychological. The career functions are further divided into five: coaching, challenging assignment, protection, sponsorship and exposure and visibility. The psychological functions are divided into four: friendship, counselling, role modelling, acceptance and confirmation.
She further explained that a mentoring relationship with the correct mentoring functions has the potential to enhance career development and psychosocial development of both individuals. This means that mentors should be able to assess the expectations of their protégés (mentees) and provide functions that relate to specific expectations in order to achieve positive outcomes. For example, a protégé at an entry level in organisation may require more coaching from the mentor to learn the ropes of the organisation.
Although mentoring is beneficial to individuals and organisations, women are still under represented in SET. Ibarra et al (2010) argue that women seeking career progression need more than mentors to succeed. They add that there is failure in utilising some of the career mentoring functions and recommend the need for sponsorship.
Allen et al. (2004) and Ensher et al (2001) suggest that career functions are more correlated to the development and progression of protégés’ careers than psychological functions. It is argued