Pragya Gupta. 1

Fundamentals of

Employee Orientation and

Socialization

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Time to Productivity

• Many organizations invest more money in hiring new employees than

in helping them acclimate and become productive.

• Most new hires want to get off to a good start, but need help doing so.

• It takes mid-level managers an average of six months to get up to

speed in a new job.

• Even in restaurants and hotels it can take about 90 days for a new

employee to attain the productivity level of an existing employee.

• On average, the time for new external hires to achieve full

productivity was eight weeks for clerical jobs, 20 weeks for

professionals, and more than 26 weeks for executives.

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Placement

Placement is the process of assigning a specific job to

each one of the selected candidates.

It is the actual posting of an employee to a specific job.

It involves assigning a specific rank and responsibility to

an individual.

Benefits to the new hires:

• Show good results on the job.

• Get along with people easily.

• Keep his spirits high, report for duty regularly.

• Avoid mistakes and accidents.

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Induction/orientation

Induction or Orientation is:

“the process of receiving and welcoming an employee when

he/she first joins a company and giving him/her the basic

information s/he needs to settle down quickly & happily and start

work.”

It is the process of indoctrination, welcoming and onboarding.

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Objectives of Induction

To explain duties & responsibilities, company policies & rules and other relevant

information to the newcomer.

To help the person overcome his natural shyness & nervousness.

To make the new entrant feel at home & develop a sense of pride in the

organization.

To develop among the newcomers a sense of belonging & loyalty to the

organization.

To foster a close & cordial relationship between the newcomer and the old

employees, supervisor.

To give necessary information such as location of cafeteria, restrooms, leave rules

etc.

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Induction Progamme : steps

I. Organizational Issues:

• History of company

• Organizational structure

• Names & titles of key

executives

• Employee’s title &

department

• Company policies & rules

• Disciplinary procedures

• Safety measures

II. Employee benefits:

- Pay scales, pay days

- Leaves

- Training & development

avenues

- Counselling

- Grievance handling

procedure

- Insurance, medical,

recreation, retirement

benefits.

III. Introductions:

− To supervisors

− To trainers

− To co-workers

− To employee counselor

IV. Job duties:

− Job location

− Job tasks

− Overview of jobs

− Job objectives

− Relationship with other

jobs

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I’m new! Now what?

• A new employee NEEDS information.

• Information about tasks.

• Cultural information (often vague/implied)

Organizations spend LESS time communicating their cultures, mission, and values, than they do

explaining the details of tasks.

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Communication and New Members

• Communication can reduce uncertainty

• The more uncertain (equivocal) the message, the more the recipient needs

help from others to understand it

• Communication strategies HELP increase certainty

• When a situation is clear, members rely on rules to guide behavior

• When a situation is unclear, members have difficulty understanding and

following rules

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Culture and New Members

• Being “different” from the dominant group in the organization can create additional barriers to being successful• Differences may be the result of our race, gender, age,

religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, language, political views, etc.

• As new members assimilate, they may feel the need to downplay their culture and adopt the culture of the organization (“selling out”)

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Organizational Assimilation

• Assimilation is the process by which an individual becomes integrated into the culture of an organization (Jablin, 2001)• Two inter-related

processes

Planned and unintentional efforts by the organization to “socialize” employees

Attempts of organizational members to “individualize” or change roles and work

environment to better fit their values, attitudes, and needs

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Assimilation

• Assimilation and Socialization are NOT the same terms

• Assimilation may be based upon three assumptions (Bullis & Stout, 2000)

1. Individuals AND organizations are active agents in assimilation

• They influence each other

• Socialization is HALF of the assimilation process—along with

individualization efforts by the new member

2. Organizations are “bounded” entities

• We adopt language of insiders/outsiders

• Individuals cross through a boundary to/from an organization

3. Assimilation occurs in phases

• Anticipatory socialization

• Encounter

• Metamorphsis

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Phase 1: Anticipatory Socialization

• New member forms expectations

of what it would be like to be a

member of the organization

• Vocational anticipatory socialization

• Information gathered during childhood and adolescence

• Organizational anticipatory socialization

• Information intentionally and unintentionally gathered

as job seeker interacts with potential employing

organization (from a variety of sources)

Think about it…The word “anticipate” is key in the phrase.

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Phase 2: Encounter

• This entry phase takes place as the new member begins to confront the

reality of his or her organizational role.

• “I’m new, I don’t know all of the “insider” stuff that everyone else knows”

• Information shared in formal orientation programs, socialization strategies,

training programs, formal/informal mentoring, media sources, etc.

• Depending on their levels of uncertainty, newcomers may try to learn more

through:

Overt questioning Indirect questioning

Third-party questioning Testing

Disguising conversations Observations

Surveillance

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Phase 2: Encounter (contd.)

• Organizational identification involves an individual's sense of members in and

connection with an organization

• Sources of identification for an organizational member

• IntraOrganizational Sources (work teams, departments, unions, lunch

groups, supervisor, etc.)

• ExtraOrganizational Sources (family, customers, influential public figures,

the media, etc.)

• Targets: organizational members a person looks to for connection

• Pulls: organizations or groups seeking to connect with newcomer

• Disidentification: seeking separateness, disconnection, exclusion

• Related to job satisfaction, performance, decision making, conflict, length of

service, & employee interaction.

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Phase 3: Metamorphisis

• Final phase

• New member begins to CHANGE some of his/her behaviors

and expectations in order to meet the standards of the new

environment

• Alter the requirements of his/her role to match his/her

needs, desires, and skills

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Orientation vs Socialization

• Orientation (or onboarding): the process of completing new hires’

employment-related paperwork, and familiarizing them with their jobs,

coworkers, work spaces, work tools, and the company’s policies and

benefits

• Socialization: a long-term process of planned and unplanned, formal and

informal activities and experiences through which an individual acquires

the attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge needed to successfully

participate as an organizational member

• The primary goal of socialization is to get new employees up to

speed on their jobs and familiarize them with the organization’s

culture, or the norms, values, behavior patterns, rituals, language,

and traditions that provide a framework that helps employees

interpret and understand everyday experiences

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Benefits of Socialization

• Can speed up the time it takes new hires to reach the point at which they start

generating a return on the company’s investment in them.

• Can improve employee retention and employee engagement, lessen the impact of

reality shock, and facilitate new hire adjustment and integration.

• People who are well socialized in their organizational roles tend to have higher

incomes, be more satisfied, more involved with their careers and more adaptable,

and have a better sense of personal identity than those who are less well

socialized.

• Helps to perform jobs effectively, fit into the organization, and establish productive

work relationships.

• Reduce job anxieties and the fear of failure

• Impart a positive image of the company, job duties and future expectations

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Effective Socialization

• Should actively involve new employees, encourage them to ask questions, and

clarify their role in business strategy execution.

• Helpful managers and peers can enhance employees’ learning of the new job.

• The nature and the quality of new employees’ relationship with their managers

have a significant effect on socialization.

• Research suggests that socializing new employees as a group, using formal

activities and materials in a predetermined order within a specified time frame,

giving them access to role models or mentors, and providing social support

enhance newcomer loyalty, reduce turnover, and increase commitment, job

satisfaction, task mastery, and values congruence.

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