Date of Award

2-1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Valuation Sciences

Department

Business

First Advisor

Arlene Taich

Second Advisor

Martha Heric

Third Advisor

Mamie Nalley

Abstract

The purpose of the study of mentorship within the appraisal profession is to determine the extent and perceived value of any existing mentorship within the profession in the Northern Virginia area. Employees indicate that of those persons having mentors, they advance professionally and monetarily more rapidly than those employees who don't have mentors. The employees who have no mentors indicate that the system is unfair, in that, the mentored employees are better "taken care of" when it comes to promotions, project selection, and training.

The literature bears out the employee comments . Many articles have been written extolling the virtues of having a mentor, citing the many professional and monetary advantages . Company's have recognized the value of mentors within an organization, with some going so far as to implement formal mentoring programs to pair new employees with older more experienced employees . Company's have found that mentoring promotes a closer bond between workers and managers, that men tors learn as much from the proteges as the other way around, and that many proteges learn the corporation and product lines faster under a mentor than in seminars or formal training.

A survey instrument was prepared and distributed to a randomly selected representative sample of the Northern Virginia area appraisers. The instrument was designed to capture responses in each of three objective areas. These areas consisted of determining the current extent of mentoring, determining the perceived value of existing mentoring, and determining the proposed extent of support if a formal mentoring program were to be established. The intervention was to be based on the numerical results of the survey instrument, as applied to a formal matrix.

The investigator recommends that the Director of Education consider the implementation of a formal mentoring program. This recommendation is based upon the results of a survey instrument randomly distributed to the appraiser candidates in the Northern Virginia area. The resultant data indicates that in excess of 70 percent of the respondents would support such a program, that there currently is a very low level of participation ( 25 percent) in an informal mentoring program, and that well over 70 percent of those that have mentors perceive their extra attention as valuable.

Based on the results of the survey, the main benefit to the appraisal profess ion is one of increased appraiser knowledge at a lower cost than seminars or formal classes. The survey reveals that 45 percent of the appraisal staff felt that up to 25 percent of their professional education could be attributed through their mentor . The training methodology used predominantly by the mentor was "through example", which accounted for 53 percent of the responses. This indicates a cost effective methodology for providing continuing training and personnel support.

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