Influences of mentoring on retention and socialization of new employees in the construction sector through knowledge transfer

Introducing new employees into the organization, thereby establishing the organizational culture and values is an often under estimated tool for improving organizational effectiveness and efficiency, especially in a diverse work-force context such as South Africa. 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 main objective of the literature review is that the study will describes better practices that organizations can use to address the threat of lost knowledge caused by changing workforce demographics, to investigate the dual nature of the effects of mentoring relationships through knowledge transfer. Furthermore to evaluate the impact of mentoring on retention of employees within organizations. The study was mainly a literature review, qualitative with a special focus on the influences of mentoring on socialization and retention of new employees within organizations. The data used in the report was mainly qualitative, based on the content analysis, and historical data. The findings reveal mentoring is an integral part of socialization process and is crucial for socializing new employees into the organization. Mentoring is amongst others a training and development tool to assist individuals in the upward progression in companies. Mentoring is also a mechanism by which employees are equipped to adapt to organizational change. The study indicated knowledge transfer assists employees in improving their skill sets which increases their marketability and the potential for them to pursue career opportunities elsewhere. In addition mentoring relationships can assist organizations in addressing this challenge. On average the individual who had been mentored reported high levels of knowledge transfer, were more likely to report higher turnover intentions. The early success of the initiatives described provide useful lessons for the construction industry and executives who recognize that knowledge retention, socialization and mentoring of new employees are critical for sustaining future organizational performance. In addition to this, mentoring relationships may assist organizations in simultaneously promoting effective knowledge transfer and commitment that assist in the retention of key knowledge workers. Future research in this area is recommended to better understand how mentoring relationships may benefit organizations.