Effects of Socialization Processes on Workplace Culture - Essay Example

EFFECTS OF SOCIALISATION PROCESSES ON WORKPLACE CULTURE AND HRM By The objective of this paper is to discuss the effects of the socialisation processes on the culture of an organisation and then to see how this has an impact on the Human Resource Management which is both a functional area as well as a set of activities in an organisation. For that purpose we first need to know what socialisation is. Then we would relate it to the organisational culture and the Human Resource Management. Introduction Socialization is the process by which human beings or animals learn to adopt the behavior patterns of the community in which they live. For both humans and animals, this is typically thought to occur during the early stages of life, during which individuals develop the skills and knowledge necessary to function within their culture and environment. However, this also includes adult individuals moving into an environment significantly different from one(s) in which they have previously lived and must thus learn a new set of behaviors. For a human resource manager socialisation involves immersing the individual in the culture and practices of the organisations, where they become aware of the norms, values and attitudes which are consistent with the organisation and its strategy. It is suggested that such practices help to forge a psychological commitment by the individual to the organisation and perhaps encourage employee behaviours which are less predictable (Schuler & Jackson, 1987).Socialisation of employees in an organisation has shown a great importance in the present business scenario. In the last couple of years, attention to organisation socialisation has increased greatly; this is the learning process by which newcomers develop attitudes and behaviour that are necessary to function as a fully-fledged member of the organisation. . More effective and efficient the human resource management is in socialising its employees, the sooner a newcomer can be productive for the organisation. Socialising means to internalise or in simple words to make the new employees more incorporated in the culture of the organisation. This is especially true for the future managers, as they frequently point out that they are not well prepared for their tasks and their new identity as managers, but are expected to propagate the company policy. (Joost Ardts, Paul Jansen, Mandy van der Velde, 2001) Effects of Socialisation on Organisational Culture: Now let us see what effect the process of socialisation can have on the culture of an organisation. "Organizational culture is the key to organizational excellence... and the function of leadership is the creation and management of culture..." Edgar Schein (2000) Organizational Culture and Leadership To explain how socialisation works on culture, we watch an experiment. A caged group of monkeys is confronted with a bunch of bananas on bungling from the ceiling. There is a ladder placed invitingly just under the bananas. Immediately some monkeys rush to the ladder. As soon as they start to climb it they are all hosed down, not just the monkeys on the ladder but all the monkeys in the cage. As they don't like water they leave the bananas. One hussy monkey tries again but the same thing happens, all of the monkeys are hosed. Now they watch each other to make sure no one comes near the ladder. Then one monkey is replaced by a new one unaware of ladder-water misery. He sees the bananas and rushes to the ladder, but to his surprise is beaten up by the other monkeys. Now a second monkey is replaced by a new one. He approaches the ladder and is beaten up. The first new monkey who himself had been beaten up participates in the mugging because he wont permit another monkey to do something he himself was not allowed. This continues until all the monkeys are replaced by new monkeys none of them having the experience of being hosed down or even having a faint idea about it. The reason why they won't permit each other to reach for the bananas has become of a metaphysical nature, they have learnt the culture of the cage i.e., they have been socialized to the culture of the cage. Same is the case in an organizational culture where employees do what the environment of the organisation asks them to do. Sustenance of culture through socialisation: Culture of an organisation has to sustain itself in every type of situation. Workplace culture sustains itself through socialisation of the employees, i.e. 'that is the way employees do things around in their organisation'. Here they wear ties. Here they work, often, 10 hours a day. With them the client is really the king. This is all due to the socialisation of employees in the culture of an organisation. Socialisation is one of the methods among others which is important in the sustenance of a culture. Socialisation enables an organisation to make the new employees familiar with the culture and thus preventing the culture to deteriorate from its present form. Socialisation and creativity: One of the important characteristics of a culture of an organisation is the creativity of its members. Creative employees are an indication of creative culture and thus creative organisation. Socialisation has an impact on the creativity of employees of an organisation also. In Nonaka's (1998) knowledge creation model socialisation forms a vital component. Socialisation is assumed to enable tacit knowledge to be transferred between individuals through shared experience, space and time. Examples include spending time, working together or informal social meetings. More importantly, socialisation drives the creation and growth of personal tacit knowledge bases. By seeing other people's perspective and ideas, a new interpretation of what one knows is created. This knowledge creation leads to the creativity in an organisation. Only with this effective and relentless creation of knowledge can these companies compete at the forefront. This is the way by which creativity could be fostered and new knowledge creation encouraged needs to be defined. Therefore, this is how socialisation may drive and induce creativity in a typical knowledge intensive organisation. Socialisation and climate: Climate is one of the major elements of an organisational culture. Socialisation has an impact on the climate of an organisation too. A study was conducted using two school districts in a state school system as example organisations to illustrate the formative effect of socialisation on climate. Interviews were conducted with superintendents and principals, while teachers completed questionnaires and documents were inspected. The results clearly illustrate a relationship between the socialisation practices of the two organisations and their climates. The subtle signals sent out by managers were largely responsible for the socialisation processes and it is suggested that managers from all organisations can create the same effects. (David L. Turnipseed, Patricia H. Turnipseed, 1990) Socialisation and induction: Induction of the new employees is an integral part of every organisation's culture. It is the training given to new employees to make them aware of the work culture of an organisation. Thus socialisation leads to better induction of employees. Socialisation of employees enables the management of an organisation to induct the employees into its culture easily. Socialisation and motivation: Socialisation of employees leads to their motivation to do the job. Motivation towards the job is necessary for an organisation to sustain its culture. Socialised employees will treat the culture of their organisation as their own and thus their moral will be higher. The above discussion helps us to understand the impact of socialisation on the workplace culture. Now let us move towards the second part of the paper i.e., how does the relationship between socialisation and culture effect the human resource management. Socialisation and HRM The intent of socialisation in human resource management is to help achieve the best possible fit between the individual, the job, and the organization. Socialization of newcomers begins with Orientation-a set of activities designed to familiarize new employees with their jobs, coworkers, and key aspects of the organization as a whole. Proper orientation of the new employees will ensure a better fit between the employee, his job and the organisation while as poor orientation will lead to problems for HR managers later when the employees form a different behaviour from the overall organisational culture. In other words, more socialised the new employees into the culture of an organisation, less problems are faced by the human resource management. A study conducted by Helena D Cooper-Thomas, Annelies van Vianen and Neil Anderson examines the impact of socially oriented socialisation tactics on changes in newcomer perceived and actual value-based person - organization fit, and on the relations between these two measures of fit. Newcomers' fit was measured at entry and again after 4 months using the organizational culture profile. The results show that socialisation tactics influence perceived fit, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, but not actual fit. As hypothesized, perceived and actual fit become more congruent over time, suggesting a shift in newcomers' perceptions of the organization. Recruitment and Selection Recruitment and selection is one of the most important activities of human resource management in any organisation. At the time of recruitment, HR managers interact directly with the candidates and thus have an opportunity to socialise them into the culture of their organisation. Thus during recruitment and selection, human resource managers are directly involved into the practice of socialisation of new recruits. Recruitment and selection experiences are part of a process of pre-entry organisational socialisation, also known as anticipatory socialisation. HRM practices are thought to contribute to the socialisation of newcomers into the culture of the organisation and the initial psychological contract between graduates and employers. The present study found that students in traditional professions reported greater exposure to employers than students in an emerging profession through work activities, more proactive engagement in recruitment events, and more extensive experience of selection processes at similar stages of study. (Dora Scholarios, Cliff Lockyer, Heather Johnson) Training Through recruitment and selection, the new employees are exposed to the environment of the organisation. After that, their socialisation through exposure to professional employers begins during training. This is important for HR managers to incorporate them into the internal culture of their organisation. Training is a process by which the employees are given inputs not only regarding their job but also regarding the whole culture of the organisation. Thus, they are socialised in true means through training and it is the obligation of the human resource management to do that. Motivation Motivation is another area of great importance to human resource management. The main aim of HRM is to get the work done through employees. For that purpose they need to motivate the employees. Socialisation of new employees is the best way to motivate them. A socialised employee is well aware of the goals and objectives and also the policies of the organisation. Thus he works hard to achieve these goals and objectives and through them he achieves his own goals also. Thus, more the socialisation of employees, higher is the degree of motivation in them. Hence one more factor by which socialisation of employees into the culture of an organisation has an impact on the activities of human resource management is the motivation of employees. Conclusion In this paper, we first developed a relationship between the socialisation and the culture of an organisation where we saw how the socialisation of new employees into an organisation has an impact on its culture. Socialisation affects the climate, creativity and innovation, the sustenance of the culture itself, induction and motivation which are all the aspects of the organisational culture. There is also a relationship between the socialisation and the human resource management where socialisation affects the activities of human resource management. This relationship is developed through recruitment and selection, training and motivation functions of HRM. Thus a relationship is developed between the socialisation, culture and human resource management where it is concluded that human resource management has to take steps to incorporate the new employees of an organisation into its culture through socialisation. Bibliography 1. Ardts J.;Jansen P.;van der Velde M 2001, The Journal of Management Development, Volume 20,Number 2, , pp. 159-167(9) 2. David L. Turnipseed, Patricia H. Turnipseed 1990,International Journal of Career Management Volume: 2 Number: 3 3. Dora Scholarios, Cliff Lockyer, Heather Johnson 2003, 'Anticipatory socialisation: the effect of recruitment and selection experiences on career expectations' Career Development International Volume: 8 Issue: 4, pp. 182 - 197 4. Edgar Schein 2000, Organizational Culture and Leadership 5. Helena D Cooper-Thomas , Annelies van Vianen , Neil Anderson 2004,European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology Volume 13, Number 1, pp. 52 - 78 6. Joost Ardts, Paul Jansen, Mandy van der Velde 2001, 'The breaking in of new employees: effectiveness of socialisation tactics and personnel instruments', Journal of Management Development, Volume: 20 Issue: 2, pp. 159 - 167 7. Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. 1995, The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation, Oxford University Press, New York. 8. Schuler, R.S., & Jackson, S.E. 1987, Linking Competitive Strategies with Human Resource Management Practices. Academy of Management Executive, 1 (3), 209-13. Read More