Examine the nature of the distinctive managerial, organisational and Essay

Examine the nature of the distinctive managerial, organisational and developmental characteristics of small businesses vis-a-vis - Essay Example Coaching is more task-oriented whereas mentoring is driven by knowledge sharing meant in a spiritual context with the purpose of developing the personality of a learner. The understanding developed through the work of Garvey et al. (2008) is further strengthened through literary explanation provided by Robert Thurman, Meredith Belbin and Rosemary Ryan. Where Garvey et al. (2008) describes how the definitions of these two terms have evolved over centuries, other three authors explain their relevance to present life. According to Garvey et al. (2008), self-realization is a foundation of coaching and mentoring. The follower has to understand his/ her inner self and then interpret the meaning of knowledge provided to them. Furthermore, they believe that coaching and mentoring are rooted in our cultural norms and values. Like Bruner stated in Garvey et al. (2008), folk wisdom is distributed through interpretations of historical events that later on form our culture; this understanding of cultural norms is further strengthen through dialogues (p.11). In order to elaborate the historical background of coaching and mentoring, frequent references to the work of Plato, Homer, Socrates and Aristotle are given in Garvey et al. (2008). It is stated that frequent questioning and critical debates lead to emergences of true knowledge. Therefore, without questioning the pre-established norms, new ideas cannot be created. While defining their work, it was found that only Plato and Aristotle have used the word mentor for a figure known for disseminating knowledge. Later on, it has been added that Aristotle has introduced a differentiation between practical and theoretical knowledge. He further introduced the concept of productive work which defines creation of something new. Careful analysis of contemporary coaching techniques would reveal that these three concepts are used frequently in present coaching and mentoring. Further referencing to Homer indicated that the word mentor w as introduced into literature around three thousand years back. The word itself meant an advisor. However, Homer’s work has been highly shadowed by unnecessary criticism and relevance to gender issues without giving much attention to social norms. Garvey et al. (2008) further analyzed the literary work with reference to coaching and mentoring in 18th century. According to Fenelon, observing life events is itself a learning process that can provide positive as well as negative lessons. Presence of mentor helps in interpreting important lessons out of these events that helps in attaining better insight of life and virtues. The concept of experiential learning also stemmed out of Fenelon’s ideas of learning and development. The idea was extended by Rousseau in 18th century when he introduced the ideal class size for effective education. The present day concept of multiple students in one group headed by a single teacher was not accepted by Rousseau; in fact he emphasized on having a one-on-one interaction between the student and a teacher whereas the term teacher was replaced by mentor. Where mentor was considered as a figure of knowledge and wisdom, Louis Carccioli attached spiritual attributes to this personality. According to him, a mentor is someone who not only enriches the mind but also lights the heart. Hence, a therapeutic effect of mentoring was introduced by Caraccioli when he writes, â€Å"