The welcome manual and the tour to the company are traditional answers. But the real issue in socialization is to balance several key-elements: the job itself (its relevance, autonomy, inovation, etc..); the organization (cultural aspects, mission and vision, etc..); the individual (personality; oppenness, etc..).

A good balance between all these aspects will stop appearing conformism and rebel issues. What we whant from a new worker is to have good alignment with the organization, and yet, to have a solid knowledge of its importance to the organization. This is to say that the instruments should highlight either organizational aspects or the individual ones. The socialization actions should also be alligned with the internal communication policies.

The information that we select to provide to the new individuals, the signals that we choose to send should be selected based on this individual-organization balance. A thing that I used to do, was to get the number one worker of the company (the oldest one) and use him to talk about the organization (values; story telling about past episodes). He was a worker for 30 years in that organization, and with it I was sending a sign for the newly-worker that in that company we are used to value the workers, that we invest on them.

Any new employee's induction to the organization may start with one / two weeks induction program, when he / she gets to know the various departments and people in the organization. This process of acclimatization will help the newcomer to understand the organization and the working environment. The induction program must be followed by class room training by HR department when the newcomer will be explained about the policies and procedures of the organization. This may be followed by pre-placement training where the incumbent may be explained about the expectation of the organization from him / her. Thereafter, the newcomer will be finally placed in the department for which he/ she has been recruited.

Dr. Dattagupta,

Thank you for responding.

I agree insofar as standard procedure is concerned. Even so, socialization of newcomers goes beyond organizational onboarding practices. Research shows that after the first few weeks of onboarding, employees and supervisors tend to do one of the following: lose interest, provide supporting behaviour or undermining behaviour. Thus socialization goes beyond orientation, training and onboarding generally. Based on the journal I have provided, what policy or process might you recommend?

http://amj.aom.org/content/56/4/1104.abstract

Patience, concern, absorbtion, team spirit, orientation and motivation

Daryn, this is a practically sensitive issue to look into. To my mind, it depends on what the individual or individuals being 'inducted' into their new organisation cherish as their socially accepted norm, set of practices, dos and donts. However, others may contend that in order to acclimatise the new employee(s) into a firm, they need to understand what makes the individuals already in post who they are, how tasks/jobs are carried out, communication channels, power dynamics etc....

I agree with you dear John Mendy.