EFFECTS OF MENTORING ON THE GROWTH OF QUANTITY SURVEYING FIRMS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Mentoring has been associated with many positive outcomes ranging from promotion, increased pay, job satisfaction, knowledge retention in organisations, reduced employee turnover as well as employee development. In spite of all these outcomes, there is a scarcity of literature on the importance of mentoring to the growth of firms. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of mentoring of Quantity Surveyors on the growth of Quantity Surveying (QS) firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. Data was collected through the administration of questionnaires on Quantity Surveyors in their firms. The data collected was analysed using Mean Item Score, Standard Deviation, Kruskal Wallis Test, Factor Analysis, Gap Analysis, and Spearman Rank correlation. The results indicated that Role Modelling is the most important and exhibited mentoring practice, coaching and friendship were also found to be very important while protection was rated the least important mentoring practice. Furthermore, the study found that the important mentoring practices for the graduate/trainee QS, the intermediate QS and the Senior QS are Coaching, Challenging Assignments and Friendship respectively. However, protection still remained the least important mentoring practice in Quantity Surveying Firms. The results also revealed that educational background, availability of supportive learning environment, mentors’ attitudes, mentees’ attitudes, past experience of mentor and mentee are the major factors affecting mentoring of Quantity Surveyors. The study also showed that knowledge and experience in the firm is the most important growth indices in the QS firms. The study further found that mentoring has great effect on the growth of Quantity Surveying firms especially on the knowledge and experience in the firm since the core of mentoring is transfer of knowledge from a more experienced employee to the other. Mentoring was also discovered to have high effect on the job satisfaction and job performance of Quantity Surveyors in the Quantity Surveying firms, since job satisfaction and performance of employees are pivotal to the growth of firms. Based on the findings of this study, the study recommended that QS firms should put in place, measures to ensure retention of employees and hence retention of knowledge in the firms as knowledge and experience in the QS firms is resident in the employees. Retention of knowledge in the firms would enhance the career advancement of new employees and hence the growth of the firm.