1. Chapter 8
Socializing, Orienting, and Developing Employees
Fundamentals of Human
Resource Management
Eighth Edition
DeCenzo and Robbins
2. 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.
3. The Insider-Outsider Passage
• Socialization
– A process of adaptation to a new
work role.
– Adjustments must be made
whenever individuals change jobs
– The most profound adjustment
occurs when an individual first
enters an organization.
4. The Insider-Outsider Passage
The assumptions of employee
socialization:
– Socialization strongly influences employee
performance and organizational stability
– Provides information on how to do the job
and ensuring organizational fit.
– New members suffer from anxiety, which
motivates them to learn the values and
norms of the organization.
5. The Insider-Outsider Passage
The assumptions of employee
socialization:
– Socialization is influenced by subtle
and less subtle statements and
behaviors exhibited by colleagues,
management, employees, clients
and others.
– Individuals adjust to new situations
in remarkably similar ways.
– All new employees go through a
settling-in period.
6. The Insider-Outsider Passage
The Socialization Process
– Prearrival stage:
Individuals arrive with a set
of values, attitudes and
expectations which they
have developed from
previous experience and the
selection process.
7. The Insider-Outsider Passage
• The Socialization Process
– 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.
8. The Insider-Outsider Passage
The Socialization Process
– Metamorphosis stage: Individuals have
adapted to the organization, feel accepted
and know what is expected of them.
10. The Purpose of New-Employee
Orientation
• Orientation may be done by the supervisor,
the HRM staff or some combination.
• Formal or informal, depending on the size of
the organization.
• Covers such things as:
– The organization’s objectives
– History
– Philosophy
– Procedures
– Rules
– HRM policies and benefits
– Fellow employees
11. The Purpose of New-Employee
Orientation
• 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.
12. The Purpose of New-Employee
Orientation
The CEO’s Role in Orientation
• Senior management are often 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.
13. The Purpose of New-Employee
Orientation
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.).
14. Employee Training
Definitions
– Employee training
a learning experience designed to
achieve a relatively permanent
change in an individual that will
improve the ability to perform on the
job.
– Employee development
future-oriented training, focusing on
the personal growth of the
employee.
15. Employee Training
Determining training needs
• Specific training goals should be based on:
– organization’s needs
– type of work to be done
– skills necessary to complete the work
• Indicators of need for more training:
– drops in productivity
– increased rejects
– inadequate job performance
– rise in the number of accidents
16. Employee Training
• Determining training needs
– The value added by training
must be considered versus the
cost.
– Training goals should be
established that are tangible,
verifiable, timely, and
measurable.
18. Employee Training
• On-the-job training methods
– Job Rotation
– Understudy Assignments
• Off-the-job training methods
– Classroom lectures
– Films and videos
– Simulation exercises
– Vestibule training
19. Employee Development
• This future-oriented set of
activities is predominantly an
educational process.
• All employees, regardless of
level, can benefit from the
methods previously used to
develop managerial
personnel.
20. Employee Development
Employee development methods
– Job rotation involves moving
employees to various positions in
the organization to expand their
skills, knowledge and abilities.
– Assistant-to positions allow
employees with potential to work
under and be coached by
successful managers.
21. Employee Development
Employee development methods
– Committee assignments provide
opportunities for:
• decision-making
• learning by watching others
• becoming more familiar with organizational
members and problems
– Lecture courses and seminars benefit from
today’s technology and are often offered in
a distance learning format.
22. Employee Development
Employee development methods
– Simulations include case studies, decision
games and role plays and are intended to
improve decision-making.
– Outdoor training typically involves
challenges which teach trainees the
importance of teamwork.
23. Organization Development
• What is change?
• OD efforts support changes that are
usually made in four areas:
– The organization’s systems
– Technology
– Processes
– People
24. Organization Development
• Two metaphors clarify the change
process.
– The calm waters metaphor describes
unfreezing the status quo, change to a new
state, and refreezing to ensure that the
change is permanent.
– The white-water rapids metaphor
recognizes today’s business environment
which is less stable and not as predictable.
25. Organization Development
OD Methods
• Organizational development facilitates
long-term organization-wide changes.
• OD techniques include:
– survey feedback
– process consultation
– team building
– intergroup development
26. Organization Development
• 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.
27. Organization Development
• Process consultation uses
outside consultants to help
organizational members
perceive, understand, and act
upon process events.
28. Organization Development
• Team building may include:
– goal setting
– development of interpersonal
relationships
– clarification of roles
– team process analysis
• Team building attempts to increase
trust, openness, and team
functioning.
29. Organization Development
The Learning Organization
• Values continued learning and
believes a competitive advantage can
be gained from it.
• Characterized by:
– capacity to continuously adapt
– employees continually acquire and share
new knowledge
– collaboration across functional
specialties
– teams are an important feature
30. Evaluating Training and
Development Effectiveness
Evaluating Training Programs:
• Typically, employee and manager opinions
are used,
– These opinions or reactions are not necessarily
valid measures
– Influenced by things like difficulty, entertainment
value or personality of the instructor.
• Performance-based measures (benefits
gained) are better indicators of training’s cost-
effectiveness.
31. Evaluating Training and
Development Effectiveness
Performance-Based Evaluation Measures
– Post-training performance method.
Employees’ on-the-job performance is
assessed after training.
– Pre-post-training performance method .
Employee’s job performance is assessed
both before and after training, to determine
whether a change has taken place.
32. Evaluating Training and
Development Effectiveness
Performance-Based Evaluation Measures
• Pre-post-training performance with
control group method.
– Compares the pre-post-training results of
the trained group with the concurrent job
performance of a control group, which
does not undergo instruction.
– Used to control for factors other than
training which may affect job performance.
33. International Training and
Development Issues
Cross-Cultural Training
• 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).
34. International Training and
Development Issues
• Cross-cultural training is more than language
training
• Involves learning about the culture’s:
– History
– Politics
– Economy
– Religion
– Social climate
– Business practices
• May involve role playing, simulations and
immersion in the culture.
35. International Training and
Development Issues
Development
• Often, organizations do not do a good
job of planning for the return of
overseas managers.
• Leads to the managers’ being frustrated
• Returning expatriates can:
– be assigned a domestic position
– prepare for a new overseas assignment
– retire or be terminated