Socialisation and Culture
Dr Felicity Gibling
Chartered Business Psychologist, Adept (Business Psychology) Ltd
1. Socialisation
Socialisation is the complex process by which newcomers acquire and learn the social knowledge, tasks, required behaviours, values and attitudes necessary for assuming a role in an organisation and learn what the organisation expects from them. Schein (1967) defines socialisation in employment as:
‘The process of learning the ropes, the process of being indoctrinated and trained, the process of being taught what is important in an organisation.’
Van Maanen (1982) identified that the first period of socialisation can be identified as having the longest lasting effect on individuals in the organisation.
As individuals enter organisations, they undergo a transformational process. They enter as naïve newcomers, going from being outsiders to becoming insiders through a process of accommodation to adjust to and make sense of these new environments and contexts. Hence, this period of organisational entry is characterised by knowledge acquisition, and knowledge is sought principally in the areas relating to the task, role, work group and culture. Over time, they have an improved understanding of what is expected of them in their role and what is provided by or in the organisation. Research shows that organisational socialisation significantly affects individual values and behaviours (Van Maanen, 1975; Fielding, 1986; Butler & Cochrane, 1980).
Newcomers enter an organisation with a set of expectations regarding the new context and their specific roles within that environment, and impressions are formed by experiences prior to entry and during recruitment and selection. Due to the novel and uncertain environment which they are entering, socialisation can be a stressful period for newcomers. One of the more critical problems faced by newcomers arises when expectations about the organisation and their role within it do not match the reality of organisational life. Newcomers with unmet role expectations can suffer from the dysfunctional effects of ‘reality shock’ (Major et al., 1995).
Newcomers often attempt to reduce this uncertainty by actively seeking out information for themselves about the organisation and how to effectively function within it. At the start, they are vulnerable and uncertain and, most importantly, are anxious to be accepted by their peer group. Individuals will therefore turn to their peers initially and will quickly learn the ‘accepted’ way of behaving from them and their work group. Their peers will have the most influence on what they learn and how they adjust. Attitude change occurs swiftly and is most pervasive during the initial ‘breaking in’ period when the individual has learnt few behavioural guidelines.
In general, there appear to be three primary or core activities, based around the acquisition of task and social information, that make up the socialisation process and which influence newcomer adjustment and accommodation (Wolfe Morrison, 1993):
· Role Knowledge
In order for a new entrant to be able to get up to speed, he or she needs to understand the role to which they have been assigned. This includes learning the specific tasks and duties in order to feel competent in the new job and to increase their self-efficacy. It also entails learning individual responsibilities and accountabilities, colleagues’ expectations of how the role should be conducted, acceptable performance standards, behaviours and role boundaries.
· Social Integration
It is important for a new entrant to learn about their work group, to establish relationships with and integrate into their team. In particular, it is important that the new entrant understands the social and behavioural norms that exist in their team, so that their colleagues will accept them. Developing positive relationships will also help them to learn the commonly accepted formal and informal procedures, norms and systems. In addition, the new entrant will aim to develop support networks.
· Organisational Knowledge or ‘Acculturation’
The final area is learning to make sense of the organisational context, which includes organisational culture, norms and structure. Having a shared culture usually leads to increased feelings of membership and commitment. Acquiring contextual information is viewed as essential for new entrants if they are to conduct their roles successfully in accordance with organisation norms and values. This is a process of learning and adjusting to the culture and to the behaviours and attitudes expected and rewarded.
2. Culture
The context into which a newcomer to an organisation has to fit, in order to be accepted, can be called its culture. Culture has been variously described as:
‘How things are done around here’; ‘The values and expectations which organisation members come to share’; ‘The collection of traditions, values, policies, beliefs and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything we do and think in an organisation’.
Culture is evident to the newcomer, but not necessarily visible to the established individual. Culture can create stability and comfort, but it can also create an “approved” way of doing things which inhibits creativity and diversity and is an impediment to change. This can be particularly difficult and damaging for newcomers, who are unused to the cultural norms and the established practices. Suppressed potential may lead some to disillusionment and frustration, resulting in the individual either leaving the organisation or complying and switching off.
Thus, the more rigorously an organisation attempts to influence its members, the more similar members’ values become to those of the organisation, since effective socialisation inspires individuals to think and act in accordance with organisational interests. An organisation’s value systems, communicated through its culture, guide individual’s actions, attitudes and judgements. Pervasive influences on individual behaviours and attitudes arise from the social environment and its central values. It follows therefore that it is vital for the organisation to communicate its culture, in terms of desired behaviours, performance standards, values and attitudes, effectively to newcomers during socialisation.
3. Views and Perceptions Prior to Joining an Organisation
Newcomers enter an organisation with a set of expectations regarding the new context, the nature of the organisation and work and their role within that environment. Impressions are formed by experiences prior to entry as well as during the recruitment procedure. Van Maanen (1975) states that:
‘The protracted screening factor associated with police work is a most critical aspect of the socialisation process.’ He indicates that the nature of the long and arduous selection procedure causes ‘anticipatory socialisation’ and assures that those who join will have strong positive attitudes concerning their new job. ‘A potential recruit is made to feel by virtue of the special attention paid to him that his is important and valued by the organisation.’
Workplace
The workplace is the first time the new member of staff comes into contact with the realities of the employment and nature of the work, and it is the first time peers and line managers can influence the process. Haralambros (1980) identified that the first workplace experience is likely to assume greater importance than the formal training environment, particularly if workplace practices are markedly different from the formal training. ‘Over time, the impact of formalised training and its desired culture is diminished’.
Van Maanen (1975) noted that:
‘The greater the separation of the newcomer from the reality of the job during socialisation, the less the newcomer will be able to carry over or generalise any abilities or skills learned from the socialisation setting. Formal environments concentrate more on attitude than action’. He found that ‘recruits commonly denounced their training experiences as ‘irrelevant, abstract and dull. Yet at the same time they also expressed an attraction for components of the training ethos, such as autonomy, reflection, personal independence’.
The presence or distance of a coach or mentor to assist the newcomer through some of the socialisation stages has an undoubtedly potent effect. Van Maanen found that ‘the one-to-one relationship between the individual and tutor leads generally to an intense, value-oriented socialisation program in which the outcome is dependent on the quality of the relationship formed. The newcomer becomes more concerned with satisfying the expectations of the coach than with satisfying the expectations of the organisation – and these are not always congruent’.
Change
It is inevitable that some changes will occur in new members of staff as they adjust to the organisation and become fully participating members of the work group.
Socialisation is a natural and essential learning process which occurs at different life stages. It is an on-going process of development and adjustment that is however most marked when we enter a new work environment.
Fielding (1986) suggests that ‘socialisation is a process of identity transformation…self-identity can be influenced crucially by the role performed at work’. Butler and Cochrane (1980) found significant shifts in attitudes towards key groups at work, such as colleagues, supervisors, senior mangers, as they gained experience. They report greater self-assertiveness, independence and social isolation.
Van Maanen (1975) found that, while some members of staff entered as highly motivated and committed, this can decline swiftly. In addition, he noted that sometimes the less motivated staff could be perceived by their supervisors as ‘better’ than their more motivated peers. Some new members of staff can come to believe that working hard was linked to few if any available rewards. This denotes the swift and powerful effect of the socialisation process in the working environment.
In police work, for example, Stradling et al. (1993) suggests that:
‘Officers emerging from the initial socialisation period of probationary training have set aside some of their commitment, have lowered their emotional openness and have shed large amounts of their sensitivity to and consideration for the feelings of others. This reduction in emotional openness and empathy may be seen as a coping strategy for dealing with the exigencies of the job. This is consistent with the donning of a more instrumental and pragmatic ‘working personality’ – a protective cynicism – serving to armour officers against the imperfectability of the kinds of persons they routinely encounter.’
In this context, the importance of the line manager cannot be over-stated. It is the line manager that establishes the values and attitudes that become accepted and rewarded in the team and department. The importance of the first line manager is identified by Schein (1982):
‘It is the boss who plays the key role in moulding the employee to the organisation. There is considerable evidence that the first boss is especially crucial in giving new employees a good start in their careers and that the training of supervisors in how to handle new employees is a valuable organisational investment’.
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