Organizational socialization also known as Onboarding refers to the process through which new employees obtain the necessary knowledge, skills, and Behaviors to become productive organizational members and insiders. Techniques used in this process include formal meetings, lectures, videos, printed materials, or computer-based orientations to familiarize newcomers to their new jobs and organizations. Research has shown that these socialization techniques lead to positive outcomes for new employees such as higher job satisfaction, better job performance, greater organizational commitment, and reduction in occupational stress and intent to quit. These outcomes are especially important to an organization looking to keep a competitive advantage in an increasingly mobile and globalized workforce.
Organizational socialization has become a vital process for Organizations. Whether they are entry-level beginners or corporate leaders, new hires have a higher chance of becoming effective workers and stay with the company if their onboarding experience fully connects them into the employer’s corporate culture. To reduce attrition and make workers stay, businesses are choosing organizational socialization as a gradual, ongoing process rather than a quick orientation to calm first-day anxieties.
Pre-Employment Stage: Usually, employee socialization starts in the pre-employment stage, the time between a new hire’s acceptance of the company’s job offer and the first day of work. The right training during this stage provides required information about a company’s workplace culture to help the new hire to acclimatize mentally. A company will bring up to date the careers section of its website with details about its corporate environment, including answers to frequently asked questions and photographs of staff members at work and play. A company will quicken this familiarity process by sending the new hire a welcome package with an employee manual, HR forms to complete in advance and a planned schedule of activities for day one. Behind the scenes, administrative and technology departments work to ready the new hire’s work station. They set up his/her computer, create his/her email account create his/her security badge and business cards, and even make available a floor plan so he/she knows where to find the copiers and bathrooms.
These pre-employment socialization steps can make a new hire feel at ease in just hours.
Crucial First Day: A business that intends to completely socialize employees into its corporate culture will plan the new hire’s first day so accurately that she feels reassured of having made the right career move,. It will have its receptionist give a proper welcome, then pair the new hire with a personal escort who directs his/ her to a well-stocked work station where a human resources representative explains the orientation plan. Companies are minimizing first-day awkwardness by allocating to new hires a buddy who takes them to lunch and introduces them to coworkers.
Such initiation activities transition a new hire to mainstream employee.
First Week and Beyond: A business that follows a deliberate onboarding plan beyond the new hire’s first week receives a return on its investment because it likely retains the top talent. The business’s administrative leaders understand that new employees must build long-lasting, supportive relationships with coworkers and managers to further bond them with the company. This process can start with daily meetings where supervisors tell new hires the competencies they expect and solicit feedback on what resources new hires will need. To engage employees further, periodic follow-ups where managers share their strategic vision are suggested. A company that fully commits to employee onboarding develops a three-month plan that has recent hires job-shadowing, mentoring and enjoying company-sponsored social events.
Custom Socialization: To avoid confusing its on boarding plan with a one-size-fits-all orientation, businesses must customize its organizational socialization methods. This means the on boarding process develops a new employee’s unique talent by using appraisal methods that takes into consideration individual learning style and ability. A company will ask for an employee’s advice on how she can best add to its enterprise objectives and allow her to develop her own performance goals. By not superseding a new hire’s distinct identity, a company shows that each fully-integrated employee supplements its corporate culture.
Although the result of organizational socialization have been favorably associated with the process of uncertainty reduction, they may not necessarily be advantageous to all organizations. Jones (1986) as well as Allen and Meyer (1990) found that socialization tactics were related to commitment, but they were negatively correlated to role clarity. Because formal socialization tactics insulate the newcomer from their full responsibilities while “learning the ropes”, there is a potential for role confusion once expected to fully enter the organization. Depending on the culture of the organization, it may be more favorable to increase uncertainty despite the possibility of negative connection with organizational commitment. In addition, socialization researchers have had major concerns over the length of time that it takes newcomers to adjust. There has been much difficulty determining the role that time plays, but once the length of the adjustment is decided, organizations can make suitable recommendations regarding what matters most in various stages of the adjustment process.
