BALMER LAWRIE: DEVELOPING AND SCALING UP AN EFFECTIVE
AND SUSTAINABLE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM CASE STUDY
SOLUTION
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SYNOPSIS
m
Sa
In September 2022, Siddhartha Das Barman, vice-president of human resources at Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd.
(BLC), was required to review the performance of BLC’s newly launched employee mentorship program.
Barman needed to develop a detailed plan for the future of BLC’s mentorship initiative and discuss it in his
meeting next week with Adika Ratna Sekhar, the company’s chair and managing director (CMD).
n
tio
The mentorship program had originated a year earlier due to a mandate from the Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC), a statutory body established by the Government of India (GoI). Recognizing the
potential benefits of a mentorship program, BLC’s leadership team decided to go beyond the minimum
lu
compliance requirements. They hired an external consultant and speedily rolled out the first iteration of the
mentorship program on a pilot basis. Now, Barman needed to strengthen the measurement of benefits, refine
So
the program, and plan a scaled-up rollout across the organization. He also needed to work toward making
the mentorship initiative a long-term, self-sustainable initiative in BLC.
OBJECTIVES
• Explain the importance of mentorship initiatives.
• Describe how mentoring can contribute toward building an organization’s knowledge base.
• Explain how organizations can build leadership capabilities through mentorship assignments.
• Identify the challenges involved in designing and rolling out mentorship programs.
• Describe the role of leadership and human resource policies in mentorship programs.
• Explain how to ensure a successful organization-wide scale-up of a pilot mentorship initiative.
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
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pl
m
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
Sa
1. Why did BLC launch the mentorship initiative?
2. What factors affected the success of BLC’s mentorship program?
3. Was the design of BLC’s mentorship program appropriate? Were any changes required during the
organization-wide scale-up of the program?
4. How should BLC measure and evaluate the success of the mentorship program?
n
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
,ANALYSIS
1. Why did BLC launch the mentorship initiative?
begin by introducing the case, setting the context, and briefly discussing the key issues. The
initial focus should be on defining mentorship and ensuring that students understand the differences between
formal mentorship programs and informal mentorship arrangements. This context setting should be followed by
a discussion of the internal and external triggers that prompted BLC to launch a mentorship program.
Start by asking students to define mentorship. While the literature has many definitions of mentorship, a prevalent
one is that offered by Hoffmeister et al, who state that a mentor is “a senior, more experienced employee, who
serves as a role model and aids in the development of a junior, less experienced employee, the protégé.”1
Next, help students understand the critical differences between informal and formal mentorship programs,
such as the one recently launched at BLC. A formal mentorship program typically has objectives, a start
e
date, a planned tenure, a defined process, criteria for pairing mentors and mentees, and a defined content
framework.2 In contrast, in informal mentorship arrangements, individuals organically take the initiative to
pl
form mentor-mentee pairs without specific organizational intervention or support.
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, EXHIBIT -1: OBJECTIVES OF MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS
Personal and
Attrition Employee Motivation Work culture
professional
management development improvement improvement
development
Connection,
Learning Compliance with
Workplace stress Knowledge rapport, and
environment external
reduction sharing network
development requirements
development
EXHIBIT -2: KEY DESIGN DECISIONS OF MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS
e
pl
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
AND SUSTAINABLE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM CASE STUDY
SOLUTION
e
pl
SYNOPSIS
m
Sa
In September 2022, Siddhartha Das Barman, vice-president of human resources at Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd.
(BLC), was required to review the performance of BLC’s newly launched employee mentorship program.
Barman needed to develop a detailed plan for the future of BLC’s mentorship initiative and discuss it in his
meeting next week with Adika Ratna Sekhar, the company’s chair and managing director (CMD).
n
tio
The mentorship program had originated a year earlier due to a mandate from the Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC), a statutory body established by the Government of India (GoI). Recognizing the
potential benefits of a mentorship program, BLC’s leadership team decided to go beyond the minimum
lu
compliance requirements. They hired an external consultant and speedily rolled out the first iteration of the
mentorship program on a pilot basis. Now, Barman needed to strengthen the measurement of benefits, refine
So
the program, and plan a scaled-up rollout across the organization. He also needed to work toward making
the mentorship initiative a long-term, self-sustainable initiative in BLC.
OBJECTIVES
• Explain the importance of mentorship initiatives.
• Describe how mentoring can contribute toward building an organization’s knowledge base.
• Explain how organizations can build leadership capabilities through mentorship assignments.
• Identify the challenges involved in designing and rolling out mentorship programs.
• Describe the role of leadership and human resource policies in mentorship programs.
• Explain how to ensure a successful organization-wide scale-up of a pilot mentorship initiative.
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, e
pl
m
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
Sa
1. Why did BLC launch the mentorship initiative?
2. What factors affected the success of BLC’s mentorship program?
3. Was the design of BLC’s mentorship program appropriate? Were any changes required during the
organization-wide scale-up of the program?
4. How should BLC measure and evaluate the success of the mentorship program?
n
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
,ANALYSIS
1. Why did BLC launch the mentorship initiative?
begin by introducing the case, setting the context, and briefly discussing the key issues. The
initial focus should be on defining mentorship and ensuring that students understand the differences between
formal mentorship programs and informal mentorship arrangements. This context setting should be followed by
a discussion of the internal and external triggers that prompted BLC to launch a mentorship program.
Start by asking students to define mentorship. While the literature has many definitions of mentorship, a prevalent
one is that offered by Hoffmeister et al, who state that a mentor is “a senior, more experienced employee, who
serves as a role model and aids in the development of a junior, less experienced employee, the protégé.”1
Next, help students understand the critical differences between informal and formal mentorship programs,
such as the one recently launched at BLC. A formal mentorship program typically has objectives, a start
e
date, a planned tenure, a defined process, criteria for pairing mentors and mentees, and a defined content
framework.2 In contrast, in informal mentorship arrangements, individuals organically take the initiative to
pl
form mentor-mentee pairs without specific organizational intervention or support.
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, EXHIBIT -1: OBJECTIVES OF MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS
Personal and
Attrition Employee Motivation Work culture
professional
management development improvement improvement
development
Connection,
Learning Compliance with
Workplace stress Knowledge rapport, and
environment external
reduction sharing network
development requirements
development
EXHIBIT -2: KEY DESIGN DECISIONS OF MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS
e
pl
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
