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Chapter 8 Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
CHAPTER 8
SOCIALIZING, ORIENTING AND DEVELOPING EMPLOYEES
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This chapter is about helping employees adapt to their organizations and work
responsibilities. The opening scenario provides information about Chipotle Mexican
Grill. The company provides language training in response to the diversity of their
workforce. The chapter provides an overview of methods used for employee orientation,
training, employee development and organizational development. Special topics
include the role of change agents, training and development evaluation, and the new
concept of “learning organizations,” as well as issues relevant to international training
and development.
Additional Features of This Chapter
Exhibits illustrate the socialization process, a sample orientation agenda for a
new employee, and a summary of principles of learning, including motivation,
practice, and feedback.
“Diversity Issues in HRM: Training and EEO” involves EEO application to the
training process.
Exhibit 8-4 shows Lewin’s Change Process
“Did You Know: Training Expenditures” discusses per capita spending around
the world.
“Ethical Issues in HRM: OD Intervention” involves the political and relationship
implications of the work done by a change agent.
A “Workplace Issues” insert discusses the role of managers as “coaches” and
the importance of coaching and counseling employees effectively.
ADDITIONAL LECTURE OR ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS
Students enjoy sharing their experiences with orientation. There are a wide variety of
approaches taken, since this is an area that is not regulated and allows a lot of
creativity on the employers’ part. In many cases, there is considerable room for
improvement. A good discussion focuses on why many employers don’t do an effective
job of orientation (lack of awareness, time and other costs, lack of resources) and what
the costs are of not doing a good job.
A good outside-of-class project is to have students critique an existing orientation
process. They can focus on one they went through or interview managers and
employees at a local organization to obtain information on the process.
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Bring in sample brochures for commercial training and management development
programs. Have students review the information, noting the objectives, methods and
costs involved. Discuss how they, in their future roles as managers and business
owners, would decide whether to attend or whether to send employees to a particular
program. How would they evaluate the need for and effectiveness of the program
described?
Have students discuss observations they have made at work or as customers which
indicate a possible training need. (They may describe poor university teaching skills,
for example or poor service at a restaurant). Then, discuss some other factors which
may have led to their observations; i.e., low motivation, poor selection. How does a
manager determine that training is the solution to organizational problems? What type
of program would be effective for the problems they have observed?
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
I.
Introduction
 Socialization, training and development are all used to help new employees
adapt to their new organizations and become fully productive.
 Ideally, employees will understand and accept the behaviors desired by the
organization, and will be able to attain their own goals by exhibiting these
behaviors.
II.
The Outsider-Insider Passage
A.
Socialization: A process of adaptation to a new work role.
1. Adjustments must be made whenever individuals change jobs; the
most profound adjustment occurs when an individual first enters an
organization.
2. The assumptions of employee socialization:
a. Socialization strongly influences employee performance and
organizational stability, by providing information on how to do
the job and ensuring organizational fit.
b. New members suffer from anxiety, which motivates them to
learn the values and norms of the organization. Special
attention is needed to put them at ease.
c. Socialization does not occur in a vacuum. It is influenced by
subtle and less subtle statements and behaviors exhibited by
colleagues, management, employees, clients and others.
d. Individuals adjust to new situations in remarkably similar ways.
All new employees go through a settling-in period.
The Socialization Process
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e. Prearrival stage: Individuals arrive with a set of values,
attitudes and expectations which they have developed from
previous experience and the selection process.
f. Encounter stage:
Individuals discover how well their
expectations match realities within the organization. Where
differences exist, socialization occurs to imbue the employee
with the organization’s standards.
g. Metamorphosis stage:
Individuals have adapted to the
organization, feel accepted and know what is expected of them.
3. The Purpose of New Employee Orientation:
a. Characteristics:
 Orientation may be done by the supervisor, the HRM
staff or some combination.
 It may be formal or informal, depending on the size of the
organization.
 Typically it will cover such things as the organization’s
objectives, history, philosophy, procedures, rules, HRM
policies and benefits, and fellow employees.
b. Learning the Organization’s Culture
 Culture includes long-standing, often unwritten rules
about what is appropriate behavior.
 Socialized employees know how things are done, what
matters, and which behaviors and perspectives are
acceptable.
 The CEO’s Role in Orientation
 Since the mid-1980s, it has become more
common for senior management to be visible
during the new employee orientation process.
 CEOs can: Welcome employees, provide a
vision for the company, introduce company
culture -- what matters, convey that the company
cares about employees, allay some new
employee anxieties and help them to feel good
about their job choice.
 HRM’s Role in Orientation
 Coordinating Role: HRM instructs new
employees when and where to report; provides
information about benefits choices.
 Participant Role: HRM offers its assistance for
future employee needs (career guidance,
training, etc.).
III.
Employee Training
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IV.
V.
Chapter 8 Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
A.
Definitions
1. Employee training is a learning experience designed to achieve a
relatively permanent change in an individual that will improve the
ability to perform on the job.
2. Employee development is future-oriented training, focusing on the
personal growth of the employee.
B.
Determining training needs
1. Specific training goals should be based on the organization’s needs,
the type of work to be done and the skills necessary to complete the
work.
2. Drops in productivity, increased rejects, inadequate job performance,
or a rise in the number of accidents may indicate a need for more
training.
3. The value added by training must be considered versus the cost.
4. Training goals should be established that are tangible, verifiable,
timely, and measurable.
C.
Training Methods
1. Training methods are generally classified as on-the-job or off-the-job
training. Exhibit 8-3 provides a summary.
Employee Development
A.
This future-oriented set of activities is predominantly an educational
process. In today’s work environment, all employees, regardless of level,
can benefit from the methods previously used to develop managerial
personnel.
B.
Employee development methods
1. Job rotation involves moving employees to various positions in the
organization to expand their skills, knowledge and abilities.
2. Assistant-to positions allow employees with potential to work under
and be coached by successful managers.
3. Committee assignments provide opportunities for decision-making,
learning by watching others, and becoming more familiar with
organizational members and problems.
4. Lecture courses and seminars benefit from today’s technology and
are often offered in a distance learning format.
5. Simulations include case studies, decision games and role plays and
are intended to improve decision-making.
6. Outdoor training typically involves challenges which teach trainees
the importance of teamwork.
Organization Development
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A.
B.
Chapter 8 Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
What is change? OD efforts support changes that are usually made in
four areas: the organization’s systems, technology, processes and people
in line with the strategic direction of the business.
Two metaphors clarify the change process.
1. The calm waters metaphor describes unfreezing the status quo,
change to a new state, and refreezing to ensure that the change is
permanent.
2. The white-water rapids metaphor recognizes today’s business
environment which is less stable and not as predictable.
C.
OD Methods
1. Organizational development facilitates long-term organization-wide
changes.
2. OD techniques include survey feedback, process consultation, team
building, and intergroup development.
3. Survey feedback assesses organizational members’ perceptions and
attitudes. The summarized data are used to identify problems and
clarify issues so that commitments to action can be made.
4. Process consultation uses outside consultants to help organizational
members perceive, understand, and act upon process events.
5. Team building may include goal setting, development of
interpersonal relationships, clarification of roles and team process
analysis. Team building attempts to increase trust, openness, and
team functioning.
D.
A Special OD Case: The Learning Organization
1. This type of organization values continued learning and believes a
competitive advantage can be gained from it.
2. Learning organizations characteristics:
a. Capacity to continuously adapt
b. Employees continually acquire and share new knowledge
c. Collaboration across functional specialties
d. Teams are an important feature
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VI.
VII.
Chapter 8 Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
Evaluating Training and Development Effectiveness
A.
Evaluation of Training Programs
1. Typically, employee and manager opinions are used, but these
opinions or reactions are not necessarily valid measures, since they
are influenced by things like difficulty, entertainment value or
personality of the instructor.
2. Performance-based measures (benefits gained) are better indicators
of training’s cost-effectiveness. Did the training program achieve its
desired results?
B.
Performance-Based Evaluation Measures
1. Post-training performance method.
Employees’ on-the-job
performance is assessed after training.
2. Pre-post-training performance method. Employee’s job performance
is assessed both before and after training, to determine whether a
change has taken place.
3. Pre-post-training performance with control group method. This
sophisticated technique compares the pre-post-training results of the
trained group with the concurrent job performance of a control group,
which does not undergo instruction. The approach is used to control
for factors other than training which may affect job performance.
International Training and Development Issues
A.
Cross-cultural training is necessary for expatriate managers and their
families before assignments (to learn language and culture); during, and
after foreign assignments (to adjust to changes back home).
B.
Cross-cultural training is more than language training; it includes learning
about the culture’s history, politics, economy, religion, social climate and
business practices and may involve role playing, simulations and
immersion in the culture.
C.
Often, organizations do not do a good job of planning for the return of
overseas managers. This leads to the managers’ being frustrated with
lack of recognition and opportunity back home and to others’ reluctance to
take overseas assignments.
D.
Returning expatriates can be assigned a domestic position, can prepare
for a new overseas assignment, can retire or be terminated.
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DEMONSTRATING COMPREHENSION: Questions for Review
1.
How can a socialization process benefit an organization?
Good socialization adds continuity and stability to an organization.
Communication is facilitated, as members share visions and values. Goals are
easier to set with a shared sense of purpose for the organization and are easier
to attain when workers agree that the business in which they are engaged is
worth doing.
2.
What benefits can socialization provide for the new employee?
Organizational entry is eased, so that new employees do not make as many
mistakes. When new employees know what is expected of them, they have
better organizational performance and less frustration and uncertainty. Turnover
rates are lower for organizations that conduct a good orientation program for new
employees.
3.
Describe the role HRM plays in orientation.
Each function in HRM has a specific role in orientation. Employment discusses
how the promotion from within process works and usually coordinates the rest of
the orientation process. Training and Development talks about development
programs offered and what that means to the employee. Compensation and
Benefits has forms completed and discusses salary and benefit offerings, and
details of the compensation program. Employee Relations discusses the
company's communications programs, health and safety issues, company rules,
and employee recognition programs.
4.
Explain the CEO/senior management’s role in orientation.
The CEO/senior management's role in orientation is to welcome the new
employees, reaffirm their choice of joining the company, and discuss the
organization's goals and objectives while conveying information about the
organization's culture.
5.
What kinds of signals can warn a manager that employee training may be
necessary?
Training is needed when incumbents do not have the skills, knowledge or
attitudes to perform necessary behaviors to do the work of the organizations.
Such needs are signaled in various ways. Low job performance or a drop in
productivity, high reject rates or larger than acceptable scrap, all may indicate
training needs. Other factors that may cause poor performance, such as poor
equipment or bad supervision, should be ruled out before training is offered.
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6.
Chapter 8 Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
Why is evaluation of training effectiveness necessary?
Training effectiveness should be evaluated for several reasons. First, the
benefits gained by training programs must outweigh the costs. Second, training
can not be improved unless its effectiveness is evaluated. Evaluation is a fact of
life for operational divisions of a firm and it helps give credibility to trainers and
the training function. Fourth, tracking training effectiveness is useful to use for
long-term planning and strategic organizational development interventions in the
firm.
7.
Why is cultural training critical for employees embarking on an overseas
assignment?
Most of the problems in overseas assignments are cultural, not technical, in
nature. Language training is essential. Expatriates who have good cultural
training before departure experience less difficulty in the overseas assignment
and re-acclimating when they return. It is costly to send an employee overseas,
and the company loses when a valuable employee must return early because
his/her family cannot adjust or when, shortly after his/her return from the
assignment, a frustrated manager leaves the company.
8.
Describe how selection and training are related.
There can be a reciprocal relationship between selection and training. If both
functions are aware of the needs of the organization, they can work together to
get the right people in the right place, at the right time, at the right price. If
selection has to hire people who are ready to perform, they are constrained by
the external labor market. If training can provide certain skills or sets of skills to
new workers, the selection function has more options and can hire a variety of
workers who can be brought up to speed during training.
9.
Describe how socialization and training are related.
Training and socialization can work together in an organization. If employees
are socialized into thinking that training is a vibrant, necessary part of the
organization, a function that helps them grow and change with the company,
then the job of trainers is an easier and more pleasant one. If training has partial
responsibility for an orientation program, socialization is facilitated. Training that
encourages employee growth and that is competency based helps to create
positive morale in an organization.
LINKING CONCEPTS TO PRACTICE: Discussion Questions
1.
"Proper selection is a substitute for socialization."
disagree with this statement? Explain.
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Chapter 8 Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
Agree. If an individual has the same values and respects the same norms, and
is familiar with the roles used in an organization, then little socialization is
necessary. That individual has already learned and accepted the "Do's" and
"Don'ts" of the organization. Little adjustment remains to be made. This type of
situation may be possible when children of company officers are hired, or when
new employees all come from the “right” schools or sister organizations.
Disagree. Even the most compatible individual needs to learn the peculiarities of
this organization. There are bound to be issues at one time or another where
the individual and the organization are not in agreement. Knowing which human
resource professional area to go to at that time is helpful. Socialization includes
getting to know not only the company, but also the individuals, the groups, and
the nature of the task. Help in making these initial adjustments is good.
2.
Describe what a socialization program might look like if management
desired employees who were innovative and individualistic.
Let the class play with this. Notions of individuality and creativity are important.
The idea that the socialization should be consistent with the desired outcomes is
important. The program would not be a formal, cookie cutter, HRM–prepared
two–day session.
Possibilities include:
Show the new employee the desk, give them a computer and a number to call
for questions.
Schedule an informal discussion session with coworkers to talk about current
projects, current problems, or future plans, etc.
Schedule meetings with clients or users that focus on problems, solutions or
opportunities.
Film other employees’ accomplishments – patents, new ideas, new processes,
etc.
Let the new employee spend the day with an innovative employee with similar
interests.
If schedules or checkpoints are discussed, leave goals open-ended and flexible.
3.
Training programs are frequently the first items eliminated when management wants to cut costs. Why do you believe this occurs?
Cost cutting targets nonessential or extraneous items in the short run. Training
often falls into this category because human resource managers do not evaluate
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their programs carefully enough to demonstrate value to the organization. Also,
if training is performed based on what the training department can do or likes to
do, instead of on what skills and behaviors the organization needs to have in its
employees, training is not perceived as part of the strategic goal setting of the
organization.
When training departments are eliminated in long-term strategic plans, they have
not demonstrated their ability to meet needs of the organization, nor
demonstrated their cost-effectiveness.
2.
Explain the effects a learning organization may have on employees in
today’s organizations. What are the HRM implications of this effect?
In a learning organization, employees practice knowledge management by
continually acquiring and sharing new knowledge and willingly apply that
knowledge in making decisions or performing their work. Employees feel a
strong sense of community, caring for each other, and trust. They also feel free
to openly communicate, share, experiment, and learn without fear of criticism or
punishment. This produces an environment that adapts readily to change making
HRM’s job much easier.
CASE APPLICATION 8-A: DELIVERING AT UPS
CASE SUMMARY
UPS focuses on rules, regulations and procedures in order to operate effectively.
However, when considering the demographics of the UPS workforce, the
founder, James Casey, recognized the need for UPS managers to understand
the diverse needs of the staff – and the need to adapt in certain circumstances.
The resulting program is the Community Internship Program – CIP.
1.
How does the CIP program at UPS foster a culture in the organization?
CIP develops management sensitivity to the diversity of today’s workers and the
issues they face. A deeper understanding of things like poverty, inequality and
family responsibilities helps managers understand that, although UPS is
procedurally-based, there are times to be more sensitive to workers’ needs.
2.
What role can human resources play in ensuring success for this
Internship program?
Students’ answers may vary. Suggestions: HR might focus on greater diversity
in hiring, ensuring the program continues to be funded, focus on on-going quality
of the program, and link completion of the program into management
accountabilities, such as annual performance plans.
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3.
Chapter 8 Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
Identify how you would evaluate the CIP program to demonstrate that it’s
beneficial to the manager and the organization?
Again, student responses may vary.
Suggestions:
 “Pre and Post” surveys may show changes in management perspectives
and could focus on specific knowledge learned during the activities.
 Retention of employees may improve
 HR may be able to compare retention and employee satisfaction of UPS
to a benchmark
CASE APPLICATION 8-B: TEAM FUN!
CASE SUMMARY
The new store is almost ready to open and 25 employees have been hired to
staff it. The big decisions to be made now are how to acclimate the new
employees to their new jobs.
1.
Explain to Kenny and Norton why employee socialization is necessary (or
not necessary) for the new TEAM FUN! store.
Socialization has proven to be a positive activity for organizations. It aids in
employee retention and positively influences employee performance. It helps
new employees learn the values and norms of their respective work roles and
how their positions “fit” into the big picture. Socialization helps reduce new
employee anxiety and aids in the outsider-insider passage.
2.
What orientation activities do you recommend? Who should be involved?
Orientation activities can be many and varied. Typically, activities should be
planned that achieve the following:
a. Familiarize the new employee with the organization’s objectives, history,
philosophy, procedures, and rules.
b. Communicate HRM policies such as work hours, pay procedures, overtime
requirements, and company benefits.
c. Explain the specific duties and responsibilities of the new employee’s job.
d. Familiarize the employee with the organization’s physical facilities, usually
through a company tour.
e. Introduce the employee to his or her supervisor or coworkers.
f. Show the new employees that the company really cares about their
successful transition to their new jobs. (A personal welcome from the CEO
displays management commitment from the top.)
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Chapter 8 Socializing, Orienting and Developing Employees
Those usually involved in the process include the CEO, human resources staff,
the employee’s supervisor, and coworkers.
3.
What training needs should they consider?
Identifying training needs is a systematic process. First is an identification of the
organization’s goals. Second is determining what tasks must be completed to
achieve these goals. Third is determining what behaviors are necessary for
each job incumbent to complete his or her tasks. Lastly would be an
assessment of what deficiencies, if any, incumbents have in the skills,
knowledge, or abilities required to achieve the necessary job behaviors. Armed
with that information, Tony will know what training needs exist.
WORKING WITH A TEAM: ORIENTING EMPLOYEES
OVERVIEW
Orienting Employees Benchmarking Activity: Have students attend an
orientation or training program at their university or another local organization.
They can then summarize their observations, compare them to those of others in
the class, and describe the guidelines, policies or standards underlying the
program they observed.
SUGGESTIONS/VARIATIONS
Students can also interview training program participants to obtain the
employees’ perspective. If attendance at a training program is not practical,
students can interview employees about their training needs and/or previous
programs they have attended.
Students can gather information on the career paths of those who do training as
a profession. What do they have in common? How do they differ? What are
the pros and cons of training as a profession?
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