Socialization in Organizational Contexts

Abstract

The survival of an organization depends partly on its ongoing ability to integrate new members into the fold while simultaneously allowing if not encouraging organizational change. Organizational socialization is the process by which individuals become part of an organization's pattern of activities (Anderson, Riddle & Martin, 1999). This broad definition accommodates the impact of both the organization on the individual and the individual on the organization (the latter is often referred to as individualization or personalization), and-given that socialization is continuous-recognizes that individuals may be organizational newcomers or veterans.Why does socialization matter? First, because work contexts are complex, dynamic, designed for multiple purposes, and, for the newcomer, more or less novel, their meaning is inherently equivocal. As various perspectives (e.g., social learning theory, Bandura, 1977; social information processing theory, Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978; social comparison theory;Festinger, 1954) maintain, individuals socially construct meaning, giving particular weight to the views of credible people-in this case, veteran insiders. For example, Salzinger (1991) studied two cooperatives that specialized in domestic worker placement. In one, management regarded domestic work as stopgap work and provided no training. In the other, management regarded domestic work as a profession, provided training, and held supportive meetings where workers discussed their

Return on Interactivity: The Impact of Online Agents on Newcomer Adjustment

“…This conceptualization is similar to evidence from research examining sales encounters (Williams and Spiro 1985;Williams, Spiro, and Fine 1990) and online group chats (Mathwick, Wiertz, and De Ruyter 2008;Van Dolen, Dabholkar, and De Ruyter 2007) and serves to illustrate that agent-customer interactions consist of both social and functional content. These two content-based dimensions are also referred to as socialization tactics within organizational research (Ashforth, Sluss, and Harrison 2007;Bauer et al 2007;Saks, Uggerslev, and Fassina 2007) and have been linked to increased levels of newcomer adjustment.…”

“…comer adjustment by helping people learn organizational norms and values and by creating a feeling of organizational acceptance (Ashforth, Sluss, and Harrison 2007;Bauer et al 2007;Saks, Uggerslev, and Fassina 2007) and increasing commitment (Sweeney and Webb 2007). The integration of social content in an interaction may help customers feel at ease with and accepted by the company and its representatives.…”

“…Moreover, interaction style and content should not be evaluated in isolation but rather with respect to how they interact with each other. Research has shown that newcomers to an organization can significantly reduce uncertainty and gain more knowledge when they actively pursue relevant functional information (Ashforth, Sluss, and Harrison 2007;Bauer et al 2007;Saks, Uggerslev, and Fassina 2007). The proactive delivery of specific functional content…”

Organizational Socialization

“…This process involves activities for new employees where they are "given broad responsibilities and autonomy, entrusted with "privileged" information, included in informal networks, encouraged to represent the organization, and sought out for advice and counsel by others" (Louis, 1980, p. 231). Organizational socialization is a learning process -newcomers must become proficient in and understand the norms, expectations, roles and responsibilities that define their organizational membership (Ashforth, Sluss, & Harrison, 2007).…”

“…Newcomers themselves also influence how and whether they absorb and internalize new information about their work and the organization (Ashforth, Sluss & Harrison, 2007). Through their proactivity, newcomers seek to further reduce the uncertainties related to their new responsibilities by accessing people and information that may not be available through the channels provided by formal socialization tactics (Ashford & Black, 1996).…”