Chapter 16

Socialization (Encounter Stage)

2nd Stage of Socialization. Begins the day an employee begins to work in which they compare the information as an outsider to the information learned as an insider.

Goals and Values

Adoption of the spoken and unspoken goals and values of an organization

Stories

Anecdotes, accounts, legends, and myths passed down from cohort to cohort within an organization. Can be a major mechanism through which leaders and employees describe what the company values or finds important.

Specific Culture Types

Customer Service Culture Safety Culture Diversity Culture Creativity Culture

Culture Strength

Degree to which employees agree about how things should happen within the organization and behave accordingly

Advantages of Strong Cultures

Differentiates the organization from others, Allows employees to identify themselves with the organization, Facilitates desired behaviors among employees, Creates stability

Socialization (Understanding and Adaption)

Final stage of socialization, New comers come to learn the content areas of socialization and internalize the norms and expected behaviors of an organization.

Socialization (Anticipatory Stage)

First stage of socialization. Potential employees sees what it would be like to work for the company

Creativity Culture

Focused on creating a creative atmosphere

Diversity Culture

Focused on fostering or taking advantage of a diverse group of employees.

Customer Service Culture

Focused on service quality. 65% of gross domestic product in US is service oriented.

General Culture Types (4 of them)

Fragmented Culture Mercenary Culture Networked Culture Communal Culture

Socialization (Six Dimensions)

Goals and Values, People , Politics , History, Language, Performance proficiency

Communal Culture

High sociability/high solidarity Employees are friendly to each other and think alike. Small companies usually start off as this.

Networked Culture

High sociability/low solidarity employees are friendly to each other, but everyone thinking differently and do their own thing. Companies tend to move towards this as they grow.

Symbols

Images organization uses, which generally convey messages. Ex: Apple ties its logo with Issac Newton and therefore conveys innovation

Politics

Information regarding formal and informal work relationships and power structures within the organization

Basic Underlying Assumptions (center layer)

Ingrained beliefs and philosophies of employees. So ingrained that employees simply act on them rather than questioning the validity of the behavior in a given situation. Ex: Why would you build something unsafe?

Performance Proficiency

Knowledge of the roles required and the tasks involved in the job.

Mercenary Culture

Low Sociability/high solidarity Employees think alike but are not friendly to one another

Disadvantage of Strong Cultures

Makes merging with another organization more difficult, Attracts and retains similar kinds of employees, thereby limiting diversity of thought, Can be 'too much' of a good thing if it creates extreme behaviors, Makes adapting to the environment much more difficult

Reality Shock

Mismatch of information when employee really sees what its like to work for the company. (This isn't what I expected from working here)

Culture Components (3 of them)

Observable Artifacts - (outside layer) Espoused Values - (2nd Layer) Basic Underlying Assumptions (center layer)

Realistic Job Previews

Occur during anticipatory stage, makes sure potential employee has an accurate picture of what working for an organization is going to be like by highlighting negative and positive aspects of the job.

Physical Structure

Organizations buildings and internal office designs

Socialization

Process in which employees learn the social knowledge that enables them to understand and adapt to the organizations culture.

Safety Culture

Specific culture type focused on safety of employees. Positive safety culture has been shown to reduce accidents and increase safety based

Person Organization Fit to Organizational Commitment

Strong Positive

People

Successful and satisfying relationship with organizational members

Changing an Organizational Culture

Successful major changes in organizational culture is less than 20%, Leaders can be a driving force of changing culture, Mergers and Acquisitions can change the culture

Newcomer Orientation

The degree to which a person's values and personality match the culture of the organization

Person Organization Fit

The degree to which a person's values and personality match the culture of the organization

Language

The jargon, slang, and slogans used within an organization. Ex: Yahoo uses CTR which mean click through rate

Person Organization Fit to Job Performance

WEAK POSITIVE

Espoused Values - (2nd Layer)

are beliefs, philosophies and norms that a company explicitly states. Ex: mission statements.

Rituals

daily or weekly planned routines that occur in an organization

Weak Culture

employees disagree and are not united

Ceremonies

formal events, generally performed in front of an audience of organizational members.

History

information regarding the organizations traditions, customer, myths

Mentoring

junior level employee develops a deep and long-lasting relationship with a more senior-level employee. Can provide social knowledge/resources/and psychological support

Fragmented Culture

low sociability/low solidarity employees are distant and disconnected from one another.

Observable Artifacts - (outside layer)

manifestations of an organization that employees can easily see or talk about. Supply the signals that employees interpret to gauge how they act during the workday. Helps show what the organization is all about.

ASA Framework (Attraction selection attrition)

potential employees will be attracted to organizations who culture matches their own personality, meaning that some potential job applicants won't apply due to lack of fit.

Strong Culture

serves to unite and direct employees. They take a long time to create and are hard to change

Organizational culture

shared social knowledge within an organization regarding the rules, norms, and values that shape the attitude and behaviors of its employees.

Language

slang and jargon used in the organization

Subculture

unite a smaller subset of the organizations employees. More likely to exist in large organizations

Counter Culture

when subcultures values do not match those of the organization