Assimilation Processes

1. Assimilation Processes Chapter 7

2. Overview • Looking at the processes through which individuals adapt to organizational life • Assimilation • Those on-going behavioral and cognitive processes by which individuals join, become integrated into, and exit organizations.

3. Assimilation as a Dual Process • Socialization • An organization attempts to influence the adaptation of individuals through formal & informal processes. Individuals learn about the requirements of the job or decide certain things that will help them “fit” in the workplace • Individualization • Employees change some aspect of the organization to better suit their needs

4. Models of Organizational Socialization • Phases of Socialization 1. Anticipatory Socialization • The processes that occurs before an individual enters the organization 2. Encounter • When a new employee enters the organization 3. Metamorphosis • When the new employee is accepted as an insider(Spotlight on Scholarship..p. 124) 4. Should there be another phase?????

5. Content of Socialization Role related information • Information, skills, procedures, and rules that individuals must grasp to do the job (explicit & implicit) • Task, social, maintenance, innovation Organizational culture • There are many different cultures • Complex Geographical / lifestyle information • Job benefits, community features, schools

6. Examples of Communication During Assimilation • The Employment Interview • Newcomer Information Seeking • Role Development Processes • Others?

7. The Employment Interview (both Interviewer & Interviewee) • A recruiting and screening tool • An information gathering tool • A socialization tool • Case in Point “The New Job Hunt” (p. 127)

8. Consider Uncertain Reduction Theory • Relational comm. involves exchanging of personal information • Deals w/ ways in which individuals come to know themselves and others in interaction • Focus on self awareness and knowledge about others

9. Consider Uncertain Reduction Theory • This theory predicts that individuals have a difficult time w/ uncertainty during relational communication, so they want to be able to predict behavior during interactions to lessen uncertainty • They inform themselves about the person and how the interaction might occur • When an individual is in a situation that they are unfamiliar with, such as an interview, she/he attempts to predict & prepare to cope with uncertainty.

10. Newcomer Information Seeking Tactics (critical to adaptation of newcomers during assimilation) • Proactive roles • More than passive • Actively seeking information to adapt to roles and culture • Information seeking strategies (p.130) -Social costs and also a need to reduce uncertainty

11. Role Development Processes (concerned with how ind. interact to define & develop their roles) • Role Taking • Role Making • Role Routinization • In-Group • Out-Group

12. Leader Member Exchange Theory (LMX) • Org. members accomplish work through roles • Theory predicts that individuals develop roles through interaction w/ others in the org. • Relationship levels • Consider nature of relationship (power dynamic) within the hierarchy and direction of communication • Symmetrical=worker to worker (peers)-comm. differences are minimized • Asymmetrical=supervisor to subordinate- comm. Differences are maximized

13. Organizational Exit • Consider: • Process similar to “entry” • Co-workers left behind • Role of communication during disengagement process • Reasons for org. exit? • Ageing and Retirement • Dismissal • Downsizing, Mergers, and Acquisitions • Mobile society

14. Leaving an Organization • Is a process, not an event • A process that influences not only those who leave but those who are left behind • Communication plays an important part