Socialization processes are those processes which help an individual to adapt into a new organization. Similarly new employees may use the individualization process to adapt by making changes to better suit them.
The basic stages of the socialization process include the ideas we have before entering a new organization (anticipatory socialization), the sensemaking and understanding we go through once we enter the organization (encounter), and adjusting to fit into the organization (metamorphosis). This last stage has multiple stages within it to help complete this process including training, mentoring, interviewing, research, and relationship building.
This can be demonstrated through the case study “The Church Search” in Miller (2009) explored in the tutorial. Marsha is looking for a job as a pastor at a church, and wants to find one that fits her values and skills. From church profiles, Marsha enters into the anticipatory stage when she likes the look of a church because it is small and seems to hold similar values to her. She then enters the encounter stage when being interviewed by Nancy who informs her of the details of her new schedule. Finally we must assume that she enters the metamorphosis stage when the church helps her to integrate into the community.
The socialization process stresses the importance of information. This is achieved through interviews and other forms of communication which help employees learn of their roles, and employers learn of their employees. Effective communication here is vital as a person’s role within an organization can be very complicated if it involves many activities, or a person is managing multiple offices et cetera (Katz & Kahn 1978). This seeking of information is vital to how we communicate in organizations today.
References
Katz, D & Kahn, RL 1978, The social psychology of organizations, 2nd ed, Wiley, New York.
Miller, K 2009, Organizational communication: approaches and processes, 6th ed, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Boston, MA.
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