Mentoring Programs and Jobs: A Contingency Approach‪.‬

Abstract Prior research and practice largely endorse the power of mentoring to transform an organization. There is little discrimination, however, on whether all mentoring activities are of equal value and whether they apply across all settings. Accordingly, we develop a contingency perspective of mentoring that illustrates the importance of aligning mentoring processes and job requirements. To illustrate our point, we apply this model of mentoring-job fit (MJF) to professionals involved with quality and process improvement. We conclude by examining how two organizations differently fuse mentoring and human resource practices to enhance quality initiatives within their organizations.