Qualitative Research Methods

Traditionally, mentoring has been done by the senior organizational leaders to the younger generations to help them understand what they are supposed to do to improve their performance. This traditional mentoring has been based on the premise that older employees are more experienced and have much to offer the young generation of workers. However, the emergence of new technologies has reversed how mentoring takes place, and young people have much to offer to the older experienced organizational leaders who are less acquainted with the new technologies. Young people are tech Savvy, especially in digital technology, which has slowly dominated the business world in the last few decades. Therefore, reverse mentoring can, therefore, be defined as how the senior executives in the organization create a professional relationship with their juniors for various reasons. In 2020, the generation of millennials constitutes approximately fifty percent of the working population, a factor that is challenging to the workplace leaders (Cran, 2020). Many executives are currently turning to the Millenials for guidance and insights. Generation Y- has become mentors for older executives who want to remain ahead. This calls for leaders who are both agile and adaptive to the changing business environment.

Reverse mentoring is slowly gaining importance in many organizations because of various factors ranging from the popularity of digital technology to the need for engaging the Millennials. Among the pioneers of reverse mentoring includes Jack Welch, who applied the method to help the senior executives learn about the technology in General Electric in the early 90s (Jordan & Sorell, 2019). It is referred to as reverse mentoring because young people seem to be experienced than the senior executives than it has been traditionally. In the organizations where the employee population constitutes both the Millenials and the baby boomers, the Millenials often feel less recognized, a factor that may compromise their motivation and increase resistance. In such situations, reverse mentoring has also gained popularity.

The three 3-H framework refers to an approach that helps to manage people and issue in a holistic version. The key domains of the farmwork are metaphorically represented by Hand, Head, and Heart. The 3-H framework needs its three domains managed synergistically, efficiently, and effectively to give the best organizational performance. The understanding of any management strategy is highly determined by the framework used to explore it.

The workplace demographics have changed in recent years, and all generations x, y, alpha, and baby boomers are working together. Technology is also changing drastically, and young generations are embracing it faster than the older generations holding the senior positions in the workplace. This implies that the young generation would be required to work closely with the older generations to ensure the effective application of technology to improve the performance of the organization (Cran, 2019). This fact has made it necessary to apply reverse mentoring to enable the organizational executives to interact freely with their young subordinates and exchange vital ideas for the good of their organizations. However, before embracing reverse mentoring fully, it is important to understand its benefits to the organizations as well as how well it can be applied to leap maximum benefits (Tanevska, & Žnidaršič, 2019). It would also be important to know how the 3-H framework can help to effectively implement reverse mentoring in the organizations. It is, therefore, important to conduct research to determine whether it is worth implementing a reverse mentoring policy and how it needs to be applied to give maximum benefits.

The current research will be guided by the following questions:-

1. Why should organizations implement reverse mentoring, and how can they benefit from it?

2. What are the key antecedents for the effective application of reverse mentoring in the organization?

3. How can the 3-H framework be applied to ensure the effective implementation of reverse mentoring in the organization?

The findings of the current research would be vital in the successful application of new technologies and the promotion of continuous learning in the organization. This will give the organization a competitive advantage over others who do not embrace reverse mentoring. In addition, it would provide the organizations with an idea regarding how Millenials can be fully engaged in the workplace in a manner that they feel recognized and involved in decision making. The application of reverse mentoring would mean that the Millenials and the executive leaders will be interacting closely, a factor that would make them feel valued (Ensher, 2011). The findings of the research will show organizations how they can reduce conflicts between the Millennials and baby boomers, which often result from form misunderstandings due to the generational gap. Therefore, the research can be said to be of great importance to organizational productivity and growth.

· 3-H Framework

The 3-H framework provides an effective way of managing organizational issues and its people through a holistic approach. The approach ensures that all the necessary conditions needed to meet the requirements of a holistic management approach are sufficient. It is not possible for an organization to sustain itself without excelling in all conditions posited by the 3-H framework. In this sense, the framework can be seen as an ISO template that guides an organization to develop and execute a holistic strategic approach.

The 3-H denotes three domains of the framework includes heart (H1), which focuses on issues related to the organizational behavior, which may include the management of teams and groups, cross-cultural management, motivation, satisfaction, leadership, management, trust, employee satisfaction, among others. Head (H2) relates to management control and planning, organizational structure, and strategic management. The third domain, Hand (H3), is related to functional practices and strategies such as the role of human resources, which involves training and coaching, performance and compensation, recruitment process, and staffing, among others. It is important to note that, in most cases, the works of literature explores each domain at a time.

· Reverse Mentoring

Reverse mentoring is the opposite of traditional mentoring and involves a junior bright team member entering into a professional friendship with a senior executive to exchange knowledge skills and understanding (Marcinkus, 2011). As mentioned earlier, this relationship is necessitated by the need to motivate the Millennials as well as when anew technology is being implemented in the organization.

· Benefits of Reverse Mentoring

Various works of literature have looked at the benefits of reverse mentoring. The findings of the study conducted by Kaše, Saksida, & Mihelič (2019) showed that reverse mentorship only promotes the development of the mentoring skills of the younger mental while the skills of the mentee are mainly driven by intrinsic motivation. In this sense, the reverse mentorship can be seen to benefit the young mentor only and not the older mentee. The findings of this study are contrary to one of the studies conducted by Gadomska-Lila (2020), which showed reverse mentoring to have numerous benefits to both the mentor and the mentee as well as to the organization. The study also found reverse mentoring to be an effective tool for promoting intergenerational relationships, developing leadership. Creating engagement and promoting knowledge sharing in the organization. This notion is supported by Smith (2019), who also associated reverse mentorship with leadership development. These findings suggest a positive relationship between reverse mentorship and leadership development.

Reverse mentoring has been associated with reduced resistance in the workplace. According to Raza (2020), resistance can be dampened and invaluable learning opportunities created when the members of the staff are given an opportunity to share insights and mentor. The author recommends reverse mentoring as one of the mechanisms through which the staff members can be involved in shaping the subcultures within the organization. Reverse mentoring gives the staff access to their leaders and thereby cementing the relationship between organizational leadership and the subordinates. This notion is supported indirectly by Thomas (2019), who reverse mentorship to strengthen leadership by bringing the employee closer. This suggests that reverse mentorship does promote not only the transfer of knowledge between the Millenials and the executive leaders but also promoting the working relationship in the organization.

· 3H Framework can Effective Implementation of Reverse Mentoring

There is no previous literature exploring the application of 3H in the implementation of reverse mentoring. The existing literature seems to explore the domains separately. Among the theories related to the heart domain explored in the literature includes the motivation of employees, leadership, and organizational culture as well as communication in the organization. De Vito et al. (2018) identifies eight theories of motivation, including Locke's goal-setting theory, Adams' equity theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, Skinner's reinforcement theory, Herzberg two factor theory, McClelland theory, Alderfer-ERG theory, and Maslow theory. The authors recommend the provision of a motivating environment, especially in organizations that do not have the capacity to motivate the employees through monetary means. Concerning the organizational culture, the findings of the study conducted by Chong, Shang, Richards, and Zhu (2018) showed that persuasive influence strategy and supportive leadership style promotes innovation culture and teamwork compared with other leadership styles. The culture-leadership-outcome showed similar results even when reversed to leadership-culture-outcome. Although this information may not be directly related 3-H framework, it provides vital insights regarding how the first domain of the framework may influence the relationship between leaders and followers. Effective organizational communication has also been associated with improved performance. According to Haroon & Malik (2018), communication plays a crucial role in the nurturing motivation of the employee, monitoring the demeanor of the employees, providing a medium for the gratification of social desires. All areas fall in the first H1 of the framework and are likely to influence reverse mentorship in that they mainly focus on the relationship between the organizational leadership and the followers.

The second H (Head) of the framework focus on the management theories applied in organizational studies. Ansoff et al. (2018) define strategic management as a long term management process involving setting objective, analysis of the competitive environment and organization, and the evaluation of various strategies employed by the organization to ensure that the management alines with the employed strategies throughout the organization. This is important in reverse mentorship in that it can help how the management of the organization supports the practice. The third H (hand) relates to the functions of human resources, with the one most related to mentorship being coaching. According to Milner, Milner, & McCarthy (2020), the creation of coaching culture in the organization requires transparency, the involvement of the top management, and the embracement of values, including respect, collaboration, empowerment, and ownership. This information can inform the reverse mentorship because it emphasizes the values that can promote its implementation. Since reverse mentorship involves an older person mentored by a younger one, it would be important.

The existing literature relates to reverse mentoring with leadership development. Various authors agree that the engagement of young people in reverse mentoring sharpens their leadership and mentoring skills (Gadomska-Lila, 2020; Smith, 2019; Raza, 2020). However, the study conducted by Kaše, Saksida, & Mihelič (2019) shown this development to take place only on the side of the mentor and not the mentee. Concerning the application of the 3-H model in the implementation of reverse mentorship in the organization, no study has applied it. Other studies explored various issues affecting the performance of the organizations and that they do not utilize the 3-H framework comprehensively. These authors include Chong, Shang, Richards, and Zhu (2018) and Malik (2018), who explores the relationship between supportive leadership and persuasive influence strategy and Malik communication in the workplace. The current literature does not address the research questions, and those exploring the benefits of reverse mentoring are contradictory. The reviewed literature also does not show how the 3-H framework can be applied in the implementation of reverse mentoring or the key antecedents of its application. It is, therefore, important to conduct the current study to address the gaps identified in the current literature.

Ansoff, H. I., Kipley, D., Lewis, A. O., Helm-Stevens, R., & Ansoff, R. (2018). Implanting strategic management. New York: Springer.

Chong, M. P., Shang, Y., Richards, M., & Zhu, X. (2018). Two sides of the same coin? Leadership and organizational culture. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. 13 (1), 13-17.