Human resource management and effects of mentoring on retention of employees in the construction sector: A literature review

The business world has long known and relied upon mentoring as a proven technique for developing in house talent, mentoring is experiencing resurgence because business leaders not only recognize the benefits of transferring knowledge among employees. The purpose of this paper is to examine past theory, research and practice on mentoring through the lens of (HRD), within the construction industry, in order to identify gaps in what is known about mentoring that are relevant to HRD professionals and furthermore the study describes better practices that organizations can use to address the threat of lost knowledge caused by changing workforce demographics. The study adopted a literature review method of data collection, with a special focus on mentoring. The data used in the report was mainly qualitative, based on the content analysis, and historical data. After reviewing core aspect of mentoring central, to all domains of HRD, the authors summarize the key issues that had been studied regarding mentoring and career development, organization development, and training and development. The study also, indicated knowledge transfer assists employees in improving their skill sets which increases their marketability and the potential for them to pursue career opportunities elsewhere. The early success of the initiatives described provide useful lessons for the construction industry and executives who recognize that knowledge retention and mentoring of employees are critical for sustaining future organizational performance, furthermore mentoring relationships may assist organizations in simultaneously promoting effective knowledge transfer and commitment that assist in the retention of key knowledge workers. The authors conclude with a research agenda that identifies where researchers need to go with mentoring research and HRD to better inform the practice of mentoring in organizations.