Development professionals - The BCG Way - Case Study Example

?Development Professionals - The BCG Way (A) Case Table of Contents Solution to the Question No 3 BCG’s Career Development and Mentorship Processes: Strengths and Weaknesses 3 Strengths of the Career Development and Mentorship Process 3 Weaknesses of the Career Development and Mentorship Process 4 Solution to the Question No: 2 5 Analysis of the Actions of Eric Wong and his Mentor Michael Lao 5 Analysis of the Actions of Madeleine Lagarde and her Mentor Eric Peret 6 Solution to the Question No: 3 7 Ways to make Mentorship more Effective 7 Selection of the Right Mentor 7 Maintenance of Confidentiality 9 Establishment of Goals and Purpose 9 Establishment of a Professional Relationship 9 Bibliography 10 Solution to the Question No: 1 BCG’s Career Development and Mentorship Processes: Strengths and Weaknesses The process of career development and mentorship processes that are followed in the organisational structure of BCG are innovative and modern. In this part of the case study analysis, the evaluation of the career development and mentorship program will be taken up with due consideration to the processes’ strengths and weaknesses. Strengths of the Career Development and Mentorship Process The promotion system at the BCG’s career development process is not based on a specific tenure but on the basis of a “time window”. It represents that the employees at BCG gets promoted only when they achieve sufficient amount of knowledge and skill in a particular area of operation. The employees pass through a continuous feedback and consulting session with their respective assigned Career Development Committee (CDC) advisors. The advisors become the mentors of the employees and the employees derive sufficient amount of help from them. As the ratings are done on the basis of various working areas of the employees, there exists an opportunity of improvement in all the operating areas. This is because the employees will continuously try to improve all the working areas for better appreciation. The employees get a chance of excelling in the areas of their choice as they are provided with the option to approach their mentors to get them know their areas of interests. This allows the employees to create interesting mode in their jobs. This is known as the staffing pattern where the scope of becoming a generalist or specialist lies for the employees. Moreover, continuous training process for the newly recruited employees is followed in the BCG that provides a basis for the employees to develop in their skills and socializing nature, create network and expand the sense of BCG as an organization. Besides the assignment of CDC advisors to the employees, mentors are also assigned. The interaction sessions with the mentors are more formal than that with the CDC advisors. Weaknesses of the Career Development and Mentorship Process The promotional process that BCG follows may at times create certain feelings of frustrations among the employees. The frustration can come up due to the pressure of performing the best with no room for failures, as failures might lead to their termination. The BCG employers somewhat try to evaluate their employees’ performance strictly, to ensure that the performance is constantly improving. This is most likely to head a chance of non-believing in the performance feedback system of the company. In the case of staffing, the employees have to be proactive in building their skills as they have to show evidence that they are good at the particular area where they are urged to move. For being proactive, the actual levels of performance might get hampered. Provision of formal training might not always produce fruitful results as the BCG itself believes that “experience is the best teacher”. At times, it might appear that the time allotted for the formal training has resulted in wastage of time, resources and energy with limited facts. Informal mentorship process might not provide appropriate results as too much of advises around the employees can make him/her confused. Moreover, the process may be perceived by the employees as quite casual and they may neglect the actual advice. Solution to the Question No: 2 Analysis of the Actions of Eric Wong and his Mentor Michael Lao Eric Wong was an experienced employee in the manufacturing unit. At the beginning of his career in BCG, he should have been totally focused on the area in which he is accustomed to. This is because, the first 18 months in the BCG are crucial as there is a major risk of losing the job. It can be observed from Wong’s action that he was somewhat reluctant to secure help from his colleagues and mentor. In this situation, Wong should have concentrated more on developing his lacunas such as the presentation and client consultation skills. Instead of blaming his mentor of not providing ‘hand-hold’ help, Wong should have tried to help himself. Another wrong viewpoint that Wong possessed was that he was interested in blaming customers’ demands more than his own flaws in performance. Despite all these drawbacks that Wong had, it was a favourable attribute that Wong used to understand clearly his flaws at certain points of time and accordingly tried to rectify them. The action of the mentor, Michael Lao, was almost faultless as he tried his best to help Wong and make him excel in his job. It may be due to the fact that Wong was reluctant to take help and this is the reason as to why the mentor failed to help him comprehensively. It seemed that the mentor carefully observed Wong’s activities and was really trying to help him out without making him lose his confidence in any of the fields of working. Analysis of the Actions of Madeleine Lagarde and her Mentor Eric Peret Madeleine Lagarde seemed focused on her ambition in life. It is for this reason that she gradually excelled in the performance of her job. Though she received poor point on her performance for the first project, she was appreciated for her dedication towards work along with the success drive, humility and team spirit. But it seemed that she was not enjoying her job. This may be due to the fact that her ultimate aim in life was much bigger than her present job. At times, it also appeared that she became annoyed of advising others about the ways of running an organization as she herself was willing to run one. Furthermore, from the review of her activities at work, it was observed that though she was excelling day-by-day, the ultimate pleasure of doing the work was getting reduced. Thus, from the analysis of her actions in job, it is inferred that she was doing the right thing of dedicating more towards her job roles but she should not have allowed her unhappiness creep in her daily works. The mentor of Madeleine Lagarde, Eric Peter proved himself to be a legitimate mentor as he exactly realised the fact that Lagarde was not enjoying her job. Eric tried his best to make her feel comfortable at workplace by initiating various approaches. He managed to set meeting with her once in every month with the aim that she could feel free to express herself and Eric gets a chance to sort out her problem. There was no erroneous action from the part of the mentor as he tried his best to resolve his trainee’s problems. Solution to the Question No: 3 Ways to make Mentorship more Effective In this section of the case study analysis, a few ways will be suggested for improving the present mentorship program at the BCG. Selection of the Right Mentor The most appropriate mentor needs to be selected for each of the employees. It is not always true that each qualified or experienced personnel within a firm can effectively provide mentorship to his/her trainee. The right pairing of the mentor and trainee is the most essential trait in improving the program of mentorship according to the organisational framework of BCG. There should be a formulation of an emotional bond between the two. As evident from the case of Madeleine Lagerde and her mentor, the bond resulted in the building of the ability within the mentor to understand his trainee. Maintenance of Confidentiality The discussions between the mentor and the trainee should be kept confidential so that both of them can freely express their views to each other. In the firm, the performance review is announced publicly. This decreases the level of confidence of the trainee. Prior information to the trainee and consulting sessions accordingly would have produced better results. Establishment of Goals and Purpose There should be complete set up of aims and objectives of the entire mentoring session. The mentor should communicate to his trainee well in advance what level of performance is expected from him or her. The setting of goals and objectives should be obviously in line with the strategic plan such that the ultimate organizational goals are also taken care of. Establishment of a Professional Relationship Despite the building of the emotional bond, the mentor should focus on the maintenance of professional relationship with his trainee. More personal attachment with the trainee might not result in appropriate outcome required from the entire process. Thus, the mentor needs to develop such a relationship with his trainee that the trainee not only feels free to communicate his/her grievances, but also is successful in maintaining a professional environment within the organisation’s working culture. Bibliography Nanda, Ashish. & Morrell, Kelley. Developing Professionals Harvard Business School, 2006. Read More