How Do Mentorships Differ from Typical Supervisory Relationships?

This study compared mentor relationships with typical supervisory relationships. Data were collected from 94 managers employed in high technology firms using questionnaires completed anonymously. Proteges were rated more promotable, tended to be more similar, in longer relationships, and hired and placed by managers, but were communicated with less frequently and tended to be physically further away from managers than were typical subordinates. Managers reported providing significantly more psychosocial functions, but not more career development functions, to proteges than to typical subordinates.