Abstract
Mentoring is a natural setting for senior employees to render ethics advice and consultation to junior employees. Two studies examined the question of whether those who mentor are more practically wise than those who do not. Although four different measures of practical wisdom were used, no differences were detected. However, mentors were shown to be more politically skilled than non-mentors.
References
Ackerman S., Zuroff D. C., Moskowitz D. S. (2000). Generativity in Midlife and Young Adults: Links to Agency, Communion, and Subjective Well-Being. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 50, 17–41
Ardelt M. 2003. Empirical Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale. Research on Aging, 25(3), 275–324
Aristotle: 1985, Nicomachean Ethics (Trans. T. Irwin, Hackett, Indianapolis, IN)
Baltes P. B., Staudinger U. M. (2000). Wisdom: A Meta-Heuristic (Pragmatic) to Orchestrate Mind and Virtue Toward Excellence. American Psychologist, 55, 122–136
Baltes P. B., Staudinger U. M., Maercker A., Smith J. (1995). People Nominated as Wise: A Comparative Study of Wisdom-Related Knowledge. Psychology and Aging, 10, 155–166
Cavanagh G., Moberg D., Velasquez M. (1981). The Ethics of Organizational Politics. Academy of Management Review, 6, 363-374
Chao G. T. (1997). Mentoring Phases and Outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51, 16–28
Chao G. T., O’Learey-Kelly A. M., Wolf S., Klein H. J., Gardner P. D. (1994). Organizational Socialization: Its Content and Consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 730–743
Ferris G. R., Treadway D. C., Kolodinsky R. W., Hochwarter W. A., Kacmar C. J., Douglas C., Frink D. D. (2005), Development and Validation of a Political Skill Inventory. Journal of Management, 31, 126–152
Ferris G. R., Treadway D. C., Perrewe P. L., Brouer R. L., Douglas C., Lux S. (2007). Political Skill in Organizations. Journal of Management, 33(3), 290–320
Gilligan C. (1982). In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Giva A. (2006) A Typology of Moral Problems in Business: A Framework for Ethical Management. Journal of Business Ethics, 69(2), 133–147
Gottlieb M. C. (2006). A Template for Peer Ethics Consultation. Ethics & Behavior, 16(2), 151–162
Jacobs J. (1989). Practical Wisdom, Objectivity and Relativism. American Philosophical Quarterly, 26, 199–209
Johnson M. (1993). Moral Imagination: Implications of Cognitive Science for Ethics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Johnson W. B. (2003). A Framework for Conceptualizing Competence to Mentor. Ethics & Behavior, 13(2), 127–151
Kekes J. (1983). Wisdom. American Philosophical Quarterly, 20, 277–286
Kekes J. (1995). Moral Wisdom and Good Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
Kessler E. H., Bailey J. R. (Eds.) (2007). Handbook of Organizational and Managerial Wisdom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Kidder R. (1995). How Good People Make Tough Choices. New York: Morrow
Landau M. J., Scandura T. A. (2002). An Investigation of Personal Learning in Mentoring Relationships: Content, Antecedents, and Consequences. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 779–790
Meacham J. A. (1990). The Loss of Wisdom. In R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins and Development (pp. 181–211). New York: Cambridge University Press
Moberg D. J. (1990). Helping Subordinates with Their Personal Problems: A Moral Dilemma for Managers. Journal of Business Ethics, 9, 519–531
Moberg D. J. (2007). Practical Wisdom and Business Ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 17(3), 535–561
Moberg D. J.: ‹Mentoring for Protégé Character Development’, Mentoring and Tutoring (in press)
Moberg D. J., Seabright M. (2000). The Development of Moral Imagination. Business Ethics Quarterly, 10, 845–884
Moberg D. J., Velasquez M. (2004). The Ethics of Mentoring. Business Ethics Quarterly, 14, 95–122
Plato: 1973. The Symposium of Plato (R. G. Bury (ed.), Heffer, Cambridge)
Pullins E. B., Fine L. M. (2002). How the Performance of Mentoring Activities Affects the Mentor’s Job Outcomes. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 22, 259–271
Read D., Roelofsma P. (1999). Hard Choices and Weak Wills: The Theory of Intrapersonal Dilemmas. Philosophical Psychology, 12, 341–356
Scandura T. A. (1998). Dysfunctional Mentoring Relationships and Outcomes. Journal of Management, 24, 449–467
Staudinger U. M., Baltes P. B. (1996). Interactive Minds: A Facilitative Setting for Wisdom-Related Performance? Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 71, 746–762
Sternberg R. J. (1998). A Balance Theory of Wisdom, Review of General Psychology, 2, 347–365
Sternberg R. J., Jordan J. (Eds.) (2005). Handbook of Wisdom: Psychological Perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press
Taranto M. A. (1989). Facets of Wisdom: A Theoretical Synthesis. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 29, 1–21
Weaver G. R., Trevino L. K., Agle B. (2006). Some I Look up to: Ethical Role Models in Organizations. Organizational Dynamics, 34(3), 313–330
Webster J. D. (2003). An Exploratory Analysis of a Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale. Journal of Adult Development, 10, 13–22
Werhane P. H. 1999. Moral Imagination and Managerial Decision Making. New York: Oxford University Press
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Catherine Waite and Iskra Astudillo for assistance in coding and James Morris for helpful comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moberg, D. Mentoring and Practical Wisdom: Are Mentors Wiser or Just More Politically Skilled?. J Bus Ethics 83, 835–843 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9668-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9668-5