Learning organization and mentoring practice: an empirical investigation

Abstract

The Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry (AEC) of the 21st century is undergoing significant changes to address issues such as the economic integration, international partnering and globalization. These changes are initiating a challenge for AEC industry in regard to how to educate personnel to appropriately respond to the rapid change. A needs-driven approach to mentoring recognizes the fact that employees in the workplace are required to engage in continuous learning to keep pace with changes taking place inside the organization The foundation of this challenge focuses on how to facilitate learning organization and establish continuous human resource development throughout all levels of the organization. Organization has a great demand of transforming into learning organization. Quantitative research is designed in order to achieve four main objectives: 1) To validate ‘learning organization’ concept in Hong Kong AEC organizations 2) To set out the benchmark for learning organizations 3) To evaluate differences among demographics characteristics. 4) To determine the relationship between organizational learning cultures, mentoring practice, and organizational commitment. The Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) is adopted in light of the review to access Hong Kong AEC industry toward learning organization. The questionnaire was administered to young professionals, and drew on responses from a total sample of 151 employees to gauge the progress towards learning organization and mentoring practice in local AEC industry. Emphasis has been placed on young professionals’ view towards organization to ensure learning and knowledge transfer as a means of increasing the knowledge base of workers and improving performance. The achievement of either could lead to improvements in overall performance.