Organizational Culture and Preparing the New Employee - Example

Organizational culture and preparing the new employee a. Contents a.Contents 2 b. Executive summary 3 c. Background of the issue 3 d. Importance of the issue 6 e. View of the informants 9 f. Implications from the argument 11 g. Two Federal or State laws relevant to the issue 12 h. Recommendations to organizations facing this issue 14 i. Works cited 17 j. Appendices 18 Appendix 1 18 b. Executive summary The research report is aimed at understanding the role of organizational culture in the preparation of new employees within an organization. This is considered as an emerging issue in the human resource management domain. The research report is supported by suitable background of the topic related to organizational culture and the process of preparation of the new hires in an organization. The reasons why this issue is selected and why this issue may be of critical importance in the future are discussed. The views of selected informants are collected through suitable research methodologies and their views are analyzed to understand the practical implication of this issue in various organizations. Two major federal laws related to the organizational culture and employee nondiscrimination are discussed and explained. The report is concluded by providing suitable recommendations to the organizations facing this issue. The recommendations are given on how these organizations can minimize the challenges related to the preparation of new hires in the organization and how they can develop suitable human resource practices and organization culture to support the preparing and development of the new employees. c. Background of the issue The current business scenario has seen many major changes in the organizational and human resource practices in different businesses across the world. Globalization and workforce diversity have been emerging aspects which have created the importance of maintaining a suitable organizational culture and integrating the organizational culture within the workforce of ate organization. Maintaining a perfectly balanced organizational culture is not an easy task. The Human resource practitioners and managers are facing various challenges in the current globally integrated business scenario evolving from trends like shifts in the political and legal environments across the world, advances in information technology, workforce diversity, increasing practices of outsourcing and offshore business activities and globalization. These changes create pressure on the human resource professionals to recruit, develop and retain talented and skilled employees within the business. These challenges are great in magnitude and cannot be ignored by the organizations and HR practitioners across the globe. The human resource management systems are necessarily built and modified to become enough equipped to meet the challenges brought about by globalization and the integration of cross cultural diversity in the workforce of the businesses. This is especially relevant for the multinational organizations opening up their businesses in different regions of the globe. The employee groups of an organization are heterogeneous in nature and come from different social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This makes it even more important to establish an organizational culture that is unbiased and suitable for the employees from all backgrounds and a culture which is able to function by overcoming the language and behavioral barriers demonstrates among the diverse workgroup. The understanding and acceptance of the organizational culture by the employees is critical in driving the performance of the employees and preparing them to meet unforeseen and emerging challenges in their job responsibility within the organization. Various research made on the aspect of the preparation of new employees within an organization indicate that the employees look for certain basic things from their job. The employees, especially the young employees look for interesting and challenging job roles, excellent management, scope of continuous learning, streamlining the organizational objective with their personal values, flexibility and the ability to participate in the work environment, diversity and biasedness in the workforce, use of advanced technology in the workplace and the scope to be a part of a team contributing positively to the growth and performance of the organization. An organization can ensure the provision of all these factors only through the basic aspect of preparing the new employees to accept and become positively oriented towards the existing organizational culture as practiced within the organization. Organizational culture includes the formal practices embedded in the day to day workings of the cultural members of the organization. The manifestation of organizational culture includes both formal and informal practices. The formal practices include the job descriptions, organizational structure, hierarchical structure and other documented policies of the organization. The informal practices include the behavior norms and how things are to be done form the behavioral perspective in the organization. The manifestations of organizational culture also encompass the values and principles followed on the organization. Therefore, it is essential for preparing the new employees to the organizational culture so that they can understand the values and content themes associated with the organization. The existing cultural values are likely to be interpreted, enacted and evaluated in different ways by the employees depending on their backgrounds and differences in religion, beliefs, experiences, interests and responsibilities. An organizational culture may reflect harmony or conflict depending on the ambiguities existing among the employees and the prevailing organizational culture. The preparation of a new employee to adapt to the existing organizational culture and practices involve the use of a robust and detailed orientation plan especially designed to suit the organization and meet the objectives of the human resource planning in the long term. An orientation program for a new employee should consist of the main elements for engaging the employees, emphasizing on the organizational culture, welcoming the employees onboard with enthusiasm and involving the senior management in the onboarding process. The preparation of a new employee for an organization should not be considered as an event, rather it should be considered as a continuous process over the first 90 days that an employee requires to assimilate the practices and the work environment of the organization. d. Importance of the issue The alignment of the organizational culture with the personal values and beliefs of the employees is critical for the success of the organization in maintaining sustainability as well as for retaining more pool of talent within the organization. The understanding of the basic aspects of the organizational culture and the association of the employees with these values and aspects help to create loyalty and motivation on the part of the employees. New opportunities arising in different organizations make it easier for talented employees to switch their organizations. But an understanding and assimilation of the cultural value of the organization may help the company to retain the employees for a longer period of time (Sims and Julie 59). This is because; an employee is likely to stay in a company if his personal morale is congruent with the organizational values and ethics. The investment of the organizations to recruit new employees and training and developing them is high, both in terms of capital as well as time. This process starts from day one when the new employees come on board. Therefore, it is critical for the human resources management of an organization to design a robust and extensive employee orientation program to make them aware of the organizational values, policies, ethics and other aspects. New comer turnover is a major problem faced by the organizations across the globe. In case a new employee leaves the organization, the organizations have almost no time or scope to recoup the investments that they have done for recruiting and training the new employees. Therefore, the human resource managers are paying a great deal of attention on the job satisfaction and motivation of the employees. This can be done effectively by aligning the interests of the employees with that of the business. If the new employees are able to identify and connect to the exiting organizational beliefs, processes and values, the changes of their staying in the company increase by almost 40%. Socialization is an important trend within the organizations and the recruitment processes. Socialization is described as the process through which the new employees acquire the necessary behavior, attitude and knowledge that are necessary for them to be actively involved in the organization (Coombs 214). Socialization is a continuous process that starts from the pre-joining stage and can go on for almost a year after the joining of the new employee. Socialization acts as an important process which supports the new employees to adapt to the organizational culture and processes, communicate with their co-workers, develop effective work relationships and find a place for them within the organization. The socialization process is of utmost importance for preparing a new employee to suit his job role and develop as an active member of the organization. The process of socialization can be developed in three phases including anticipatory socialization, encounter and settling in for the new employees. The anticipatory socialization stage starts before the new employees come on board in the organization. The interactions with the representatives of the organization including the human resource managers and the recruiters influence the development of expectations and formation of idea about the organization in the minds of the new employees prior to their actual joining. The encounter phase starts when the new employees start doing their job and learn about their job roles and expectations from them. The encounter phase also consists of the training and development phase including the on job training (OJT) phase. In this stage, the managers and human resource practitioners and communicate with the employees to create a positive view on the part of the employees regarding the existing organizational culture. Without being able to perceive the organizational culture as a positive one, the new employees would not be able to relate themselves with their role. On the other hand, creating a proper understanding and positive orientation towards the organization culture would help the organization to build a high quality work environment within the business. Settling in is the last phase of socialization in which the new employees start to become more comfortable and in place with their job responsibilities and their work relationships. In this stage, the new employees would be much interested in appraisals and assessment of their performances and in getting more involved in exploring the career opportunities and growth aspects within the organization. The changing business environment emphasizes on the need to actively involve the new employees in the organizational activities. A high rate of attrition of the employees and a high new employee turnover are greatly non-desired by all the organizations across the globe, irrespective of their capacity or functioning. Therefore, much importance is given to take significant steps for retaining the employees for a long term within an organization. This helps to retain the developed talent within the organization, benefit from investing in the training and development processes as well as save the cost of new recruitment processes and training that would have been necessary to hire replacements for employees leaving the company. Therefore, making the new employees understand and relate to the organization culture is a critical emerging issue in the human resource management domain which if managed carefully may create a high level of sustainability and competitiveness of an organization. e. View of the informants The research is carried out through both primary and secondary research methods. The primary methods involve interviewing at least two relevant informants to consider their responses with respect to the topic of preparing new employees to orient them towards the organizational culture. The informants are selected from a group of human resource practitioners and newly joined employees of a multinational organization. A detailed semi structured interview is carried out with one human resource practitioner and one newly joined employee to understand how a new employee can be prepared for adapting to the organizational culture and how the existing culture can affect the behavior and performance of a new employee within an organization. The focused or semi structured interview is used by setting up an interview with the aim of collecting qualitative data by enabling the respondents to express their opinions and viewpoints on the particular topic. The respondents are encouraged to talk in detail about their opinions and experiences related to the research objective and therefore, this type of interview generates high validity results. The research is mainly exploratory in nature i.e. it focuses on the particular topic of understanding the correlation between organization culture and the preparation of new employees of the organization. The focused interview in done to conduct an in-depth analysis of the research question and explores the various facets of this topic. The interview process use open ended questions to document the views and judgment of the respondents. The focused interview process is a time consuming process as it leads from one question to another depending on what the respondents say. This helps the researcher to make a detailed analysis of the qualitative perspectives of the topic. The secondary research process involves the study of various academic resources including books, journals, articles and other literary work prepared by researchers and practitioners with regard to relevant areas of the study. The responses of the informants indicate that preparation of the new employees in various ways including an awareness and identification of the organizational culture is an emerging issue in human resource management domain. The proper on boarding of the new employees, especially with respect to the alignment of their personal values with the organizational culture is a significant part of the talent management process followed in various organizations across the globe. The views of the informants establish that an understanding of the prevailing organizational culture helps the new employees to adjust to the work environment and perform better in a short time. Also, it helps them to assimilate their job roles quicker and establish beneficial and healthy work relationships. The human resource management best practices involving proper on boarding supports the new employees to demonstrate improved communication levels, a faster learning curve and helps in creating a more engaged and productive workforce in the organization. According to the views of the informants, the importance of understanding and aligning with the organizational culture has become more crucial in the modern day organizations due to the increasing level of cultural diversity among the employees. The primary research also indicate that establishing first impressions for an organization is important for creating a positive view in the minds of the employees related to the prevailing culture within the organization. The employees respond more positively to a supportive and well managed organizational culture as compared to a misbalanced and restraining corporate culture. A positive organizational culture is effective in supporting the employees during the transition period of entering into the organization and establishing their position in the organization (Bauer 707-721). The organizational culture consists of formal and informal practices encompassing wide areas of the business including policies, code of conduct, dressing code, attendance, job roles and reporting structure. The conceptual structure in which the employees feel more comfortable to work is depicted in Appendix 1. The understanding of these practices help the new employees to get a proper sense of the corporate culture and have a better understanding of how things are needed to be done to fit into the organization more quickly. According to the informants, the involvement of the new employees in the organizational culture perspectives ensures that they get a clear idea of the acceptable and non-acceptable activities within the organization. Thus, the new hires get a clear idea of the expectations of the organization from them. The responses of the informants also indicate that the preparation of the new employees is done properly through the socialization an orientation programs conducted in the organizations. The new employees gain an in depth understanding of the benefits and responsibilities associated with the organization and its cultural setting in the orientation process. The engagement of the employees is indicated as critical perspectives in developing the new hires and involving them as productive members of the organization. f. Implications from the argument A positive organizational culture speeds up the development process of the new employees by encouraging learning and motivation factors for the new employees. The role of organizational culture in developing and shaping up the career path of the employees is critical. An organizational culture which supports multi directional communication among all levels of the business and helps in maintaining transparency in the business practices is desired in all organizations operating in the modern business environment. Organizational culture can provide a supporting framework for the development of the new employees as well as for improving the performance of the individual employees and the organization as a whole (Brown 140-144). In the global dynamic business environment, it is critical to maintain diversity and flexibility in the cultural domain of an organization. The concepts of globalization and inclusion of individual from different backgrounds in the workforces of multinational organizations make it essentially important to maintain a multi-dimensional and multi-cultural environment within an organization (Branham 104). A culture that has the inherent characteristics of being non discriminative, flexible and dynamic in nature would promote learning and growth within the organization as well the inclusion of all the employees as active members of the organization, irrespective of the social or cultural background of the employees. A vibrant work culture would also foster a positive work environment in which the employees are more keen to take on additional responsibilities and more equipped to meet new challenges arising out of their work. It can be established that an efficient work culture is important to maximize talent within the organization through proper talent management strategies and other best practices applied by the human resource practitioners. Also, this will promote organizational diversity, development of a global mindset in the organization, develop employees to make them more skilled and motivated and enable the new hires to take up their job roles and adapt to the organizational environment faster (Noe 46). g. Two Federal or State laws relevant to the issue Two federal or state laws that are relevant to the issue of organizational culture and the preparation of new employees are the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act of 2008 and the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) of 2013. The genetic information non-discrimination Act was established in 2008 to prevent any kind of discrimination or bias faced by the employees on the basis of their genetic composition. This means that there should be no discrimination in the recruitment or development of the employees on the basis of the genetic factors and genetic information related to the employee, the results of any genetic test for the employee, the genetic tests of any family member of the employee and the manifestation of any illness or chronic disease in any family member of the employee. The Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (GINA) is a federal law in the United States of America aimed at protecting the general public from the discrimination done by the employers on the basis of genetic information of the employees. This act is devised to protect the employees from genetic discrimination done on the aspects of employment and health insurance in the country. Genetic discrimination is a biased process in which the employers and the insurance companies treat their employees or insurance claimants differently on the basis of genetic changes that may create or increase the risks of a chronic illness or genetic disorder. GINA is a state law implemented by the US government to shield the people of the United States from such forms of discrimination. The Act has two parts. The second part of the Act aims at prohibiting discrimination on the basis of genetic information in the employment of the people in decisions like recruitment and promotion. The Employment Non Discrimination Act of 2013 is devised to protect the employees in US against any sort of discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation or ethnic background of the individual. This Act prohibits the organizations in the United States from firing, demoting or displaying any other form of biasedness towards the employees (Kilduff 112). This Act is implemented with the aim to improve the organizational culture and motivate all levels of people to find employment for them in the country. The Act also ensures that all the employees in the country stand in the same position when seen from the eyes of law. Discrimination in workplaces based on gender identity and sexual orientation are abolished under this law. This Act is aimed at establishing open and diversified work culture in the organization conducting their business in the United States and at evolving the cultural practices with the emerging global trends. h. Recommendations to organizations facing this issue Building a suitable organizational culture is specifically important in the evolving global trends of human resource practices. The preparation of new employees to adjust themselves to the organizational is a critical activity taken up by the human resource practitioners in all types of organization, irrespective of their scale of operation or the industry to which it belongs. The alignment of the organizational culture with the personal values and beliefs is an important step necessary to manage and maximize talent within the multinational and multicultural organizations. The organizations should focus on building a value driven organizational culture on which the importance of contributing to the society, the stakeholders and the development and well-being of the employees is sufficiently considered. The organization should take a step by step approach to establish a supporting work culture. This should start from the pre joining phase of the new employees and continue till almost one year. This whole phase should involve the identification of the job expectations, building work relationships, finding a place for the employees in the organization and developing the skills of the employees. Creating opportunities in the organization would be a way to establish a successful and sustainable organizational culture. A culture that involves appraisals for performances, sufficient rewards and recognition, motivation, non-discrimination, flexibility and open mindedness is guaranteed to ensure sustainability and competiveness of the organization in the changing business world. This is done through the engagement of the new employees in the activities of the organization quickly and developing a faster learning curve for the new employees. The organizational culture should encompass developing suitable opportunities, aligning the personal valued with the organizational goals, boosting performance of the employees, supporting the employees to actively participate in the organization and setting proper directions for the employees. A culture of commitment and openness can be built by abolishing any discriminatory policies in recruitment and promotion processes and by ensuring an equal and fair treatment for all the employees of the organization. Abiding by the state laws related to organizational culture, workforce diversity, non-discrimination and labor rules would ensure that an impressive and compliant work culture is developed within an organization. A suitable organizational culture for the new employees would be on in which their concerns are appropriately addressed , their queries are promptly solved and in which they are continuously supported and guided by the managers or supervisors as well as the human resource personnel in understanding their job role and the expectations form their day to day activities. Also, the guidance of the managers in planning the career growth of the employees, communicating clearly with them about the organizational goals, objectives, culture and code of conducts is of critical importance to support the new employees for the day of their joining in the organization. Employee engagement is seen as an effective process in meeting the emerging issue of preparing the new employees within an organization. Employee engagement is a continuous process aimed at supporting and motivating the new employees to grow fast in the learning curve and become more interested to participate in the organizational activities. A major key to employee engagement is motivation and identification of the values of an individual employee. Informal human resource practices that can help in raising the level of employee engagement are mostly derived from the exiting cultural aspects of the organization. These practices ensures sustainability initiatives on the part of the employees and may include learning, challenging, supporting, recognizing, rewarding, leveraging and tapping in quick wins with respect to the involvement and performance of the new employees. Conducting training programs and workshops to assimilate the organizational culture with the preparation of the new employees are other significant human resource practices that can be implemented to meet the emerging challenge of preparing new employees in the organization. i. Works cited Bauer, Tallya. Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization: A meta-analytic review of antecedents, outcomes and methods. Journal of Applied Psychology 92 (2008): 707-721. Print. Branham, Leigh. The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave. New York: American Management Association. 2005. Print. Brown, Tim. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation. New York: New York: Harper Collins. 2009. Print. Coombs, Joseph. The Future of Recruiting Consulting: Recessing Has Forced Leaner Operations, Innovations in Hiring Process. London: Routledge. 2009. Print. Kilduff, Mauren. Organizational culture from a network perspective. Stamford: Cengage. 2000. Print. Noe, Ryan. Employee training and development. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2005. Print. Sims, Doris and Julie Wilson. Creative Onboarding Programs: Tools for Energizing Your Orientation Programs. New York: McGraw-Hill Co. 2010. Print. j. Appendices Appendix 1 Read More