An exploratory study was conducted by means of interviews in the Western Cape in South Africa, to gain more insight into the factors contributing to the successful mentorship of female mentees in the South African construction industry. This chapter helped to formulate the objectives and hypotheses of the main study. The following were analysed: the mentoring functions, the indicators of successful mentorship, the attitude of mentors towards female mentees, and the influence of the type of mentor-mentee relationships on the successful mentorship of women.
It was revealed that most respondents, when viewing their performance on the job over the last five years, rated themselves as high achievers; only one person rated herself as an average achiever. Most of the respondents have been promoted twice during their careers. Only one female mentee’s job appointment was terminated once during her career. Most of the female mentees were not interested in having their own business, but preferred to be employed in
organisations; a few of the female mentees were working as full-time employees and also had part-time business. It also emerged that the most influential psychosocial mentoring function that female mentees received, was acceptance-and-confirmation; counselling was the least influential. The most influential career mentoring function that female mentees were provided with by their mentors was challenging assignments, and the least influential career mentoring function provided was protection.
The gender and race of the mentors did not have any impact on the mentorship of female mentees. Findings revealed that the age of mentors does have an impact on their mentorship.
Most mentees gained knowledge and skills because their mentors were older than them. It also emerged that most of the mentees had an open type of relationship with their mentors; while a few had a positive relationship. The type of relationship the female mentees had, had a positive influence on the success of their mentorship. The attitude of most of the mentors influenced the mentorship of female mentees positively. Attitudes of mentors towards the female mentees were identified as friendly, approachable or unapproachable.
In the main study the data from the female mentees and mentors’ survey questionnaires were analysed; this was done by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to test the reliability of scaled questions; and the scaled questions were found to be reliable.
The findings reveal that female mentees perceive that the most influential psychosocial mentoring function provided to them, is the role model function, while the mentors perceive that the most influential psychosocial mentoring function they were providing to female mentees is counselling. The mentors and female mentees perceive that the friendship function is the least influential. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine whether there was no difference in the age and race of female mentees in the psychosocial mentoring function that would influence their successful mentorship. Results prove that the psychosocial mentoring function was not influenced by the race and age of female mentees; therefore, age and race do not influence the outcome of a mentorship programme.
Female mentee participants report that the most influential career mentoring function provided by mentors is coaching, while mentor participants report that the most influential career mentoring function is the provision of challenging assignments and tasks. The mentees and
mentees. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine whether the age and race of female mentees result in significant differences in the career mentoring function that would in turn influence their successful mentorship. Findings show that the race and age do not significantly differ with regard to the career mentoring function and that the outcome of a mentorship programme is not affected by the age or race of mentees.
The ANOVA test was used to test whether the attitude of mentors was influenced by the age and race of mentees, affecting the outcome of the mentorship programme of female mentees.
The hypothesis test reveals that the race and age of the mentees does not influence the attitude of mentors. The findings reveal that the majority of mentors and female mentees perceive that the attitude of mentors influence the successful mentorship of women positively.
In the investigation of the impact of the mentorship programme with regards to the entrepreneurial ability and success of women, descriptive statistics are used to determine if female mentees are progressing in their careers and if they are retained in the construction industry. The findings of the data analysis show that the female mentees are advancing in their careers, performance and remuneration (earnings, salaries and bonuses). The findings reveal that the majority of the female mentees have not been promoted during their careers in the construction industry. With regard to remuneration, female mentees do not receive merit pay or cash rewards. The findings suggest that the majority of the female mentees would intend leaving their current employment within the next three years, but would like to continue working in the construction industry.
The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine whether the age and race of female mentees did not influence the indicators of successful mentorship of women in knowledge gain and productivity; findings suggest that the age and race of mentees does not influence their increased knowledge and productivity.This means that the age and race of female mentees did not influence the outcome of successful mentorship in their productivity and gain of knowledge.
The Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was applied to determine whether the race and age of female mentees affected the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, thereby affecting the outcome of the mentorship programme. Findings reveal that the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills of mentees was not affected by their race. There is however, an effect in the age of mentees; due to the small size of one of the age groups, a post hoc test was not performed to test the effect.
Most of the female mentee participants do not run a private business but half of them have
plans to have such a business within the next three years. It is evident that business entrepreneurial skills is an area in which mentees needs to be improved.
This chapter has also discussed the main findings of the study compared to the reviewed literature. It is clear that the factors influencing the successful mentorship of women are in conjuction with the factors identified in the literature review. The study revealed that the mentoring functions offered to female mentees has influenced the success of the mentorship of female mentees leading to them being productive and gaining knowledge in the industry.
Furthermore, the positive attitude of mentors has influenced the attitude of mentees positively, influencing the success of the mentorship of women. However, the indicators of successful mentorship of women such as entrepreneurial skills, career advancement and retention of women in the construction industry were lacking. Therefore, the influence of the factors of mentorship have a contribution to the successful mentorship of women.
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS