Attraction and Socialization

Chapter 3: What is organizational socialization?

Represents the process by which an individual makes the transition from outsider to org member

• when someone is hired, socialization is required to transform the new employee into a new member

• In broad terms, it is learning the culture of an org

What is the ASA model?

Attraction-Selection-Attrition; is a model proposing that people are attracted to orgs that are congruent with their values and needs, the org employs people with attributes that fir the org culture, and those employees who do not fit the org culture leave

Chapter 3: What are the stages of socialization?

1. Anticipatory

2. Encounter

3. Change and acquisition

4. Behavioral outcomes

5. Affective outcomes

Chapter 3: What is the anticipatory stage of socialization?

Refers to the processes that occur before an individual joins an org — typically occurs during recruitment phase

Chapter 3: What is the encounter stage of socialization?

Represents the point at which the newcomer begins to see the job as it really is — becoming acclimated to your role

Chapter 3: What is the change and acquisition stage of socialization?

Employees have become acquainted with their roles and have been mostly socialized

Chapter 3: what are the behavioral outcomes stage of socialization?

The extent that socialization can be assessed by wherever employee are capable of carrying out their assignments

Chapter 3: What are the affective outcomes of socialization?

Refers to things such as attitudes toward work, level of motivation, and involvement in one’s job — when employees are successfully socialized, they tend to show higher levels of Job satisfaction

Chapter 3: What are socialization tactics?

These are they ways people are socialized (group vs individual)

• collective vs individual

• Formal vs informal

• Sequential vs random

• Fixed vs variable

• Serial vs disjunctive

• Investiture vs divestiture

Chapter 3: What are some disadvantages of the socialization tactics model?

Most orgs aren’t one or the other in socialization efforts (they are neither formal nor completely informal) and they may occur in combination

• ultimately it depicts socialization as a one-way process, which may not be accurate

Chapter 3: Describe Figure 3.2, the Model of Newcomer Information-Seeking Behavior

Shows that an individual is now part of an org and outlines how they get information they don’t know now that they are part of the org

Ex: Newcomer’s perceptions of uncertainty or social costs for asking for info affect the information seeking tactics they use (overt questioning, testing limits, disguised conversations, observation, surveillance, third parties)

What is the main takeaway of Chapter 3?

There’s a lot of different ways to socialize employees. It’s not just about how companies socialize us, but how employees socialize themselves as well

1. Attraction is bidirectional (orgs seek ppl who fit their needs and vice versa)

2. Effective recruitment strategies are important (poor recruitment can lead to turnover and misfit)

3. Person-organization fit (strong fit usually means better performance)

4. Socialization is a learning process

5. Diversity challenges in socialization (ppl from diverse backgrounds have unique barriers in socialization)

Cooper-Thomas Article

Muchinsky Article: What is actual fit? What is perceived fit?

Perceived fit: how well newcomers feel they align with the org

Actual fit: objective alignment based on value congruence; actual fit

How would a manager use the articles on person-environment fit and apply it to their org?

Kristof-Brown Article: What is fit?

The degree of match or compatibility between two constructs

Kristof-Brown: What is person-environment fit?

Degree of match between the person and the environment

What is supplementary fit?

Fit based on similarity of characteristics, like values, goals, etc. ASA framework uses this

What is complementary fit?

This fit is about needs fulfillment. Orgs have demands and supplies and people have demands and supplies. Person has gaps that the org is filling and the org has gaps that the person is filling (needs-supplies fit)

Kristof-Brown: describe the supplementary/complementary fit model

The dotted lines in this model are telling us that the characteristics of the person or org are going to influence the demands or supplies of that person or org. Your goals (etc.) are going to influence the resources you bring to an org, as well as things you need back from an org and vice versa.

The solid supplementary fit line shows that fir between an org and a person comes from shared charactersitics

The solid complementary fit lines show that the supplies and demands of the person and the org are was make the two fit

What is person-vocation fit?

Involves matching a person’s needs, abilities, interests etc. with the demands and supplies of a vocation or career path

This would be complementary fit

What is person-job fit?

Refers to compatibility between a person’s charactersitics and the a specific job

This is complementary fit

What is person-organization fit?

Congruence in personality and organizational climate

This is supplementary

What is person-group fit?

Focuses on interpersonal compatibility between a person and their peers/work teams

Could be supplementary or complementary depending on if the fit is based on matching characteristics or a need for that person to be on the team

What is person-individual fit?

Fit between a person and significant others in their environment (coworkers, etc)

This is supplementary

What happens if we only hired based on similarity? What happens if we only have complementary fit?

Hiring only on similarity could lead to lack of growth within the org and too much homogeneity

Hiring only on complementary fit could lead to lack of feeling fulfilled with values that don’t match

Which is better? Supplementary fit or complementary fit?

It depends on the purpose of selection. If purpose is to get people with similar values and establish a cohesive culture—supplementary. If you need someone with a specific skill or increased knowledge—complementary.

Can fit vary in degree of fit?

Yes, it can vary and can be between perfect fit and misfit

How do we measure fit?

Direct measures and indirect measures

How do direct measures measure fit?

Asks if you feel like you fit in the org (ex: “How well do you fit in this org?”

How do indirect measures measure fit?

Indirect measures have two approaches: objective and subjective

How do indirect objective measures work?

P & E are measured separately (ex: might have a manager fill out the values measure and then have an applicant fill out the values measure and compare them)

With these two diff scores on one value dimensions (one from manager, one form person) we can assess for fit by

• looking at different scores (can take person minus environment and see the difference. If we are looking at supp fit we would want a difference as small as possible. If we are looking at comp fit we want a large difference or nonzero difference_

• Can use correlations

• Could do profile analysis. Could say the org is really characterized in this way (imagine a graph). If we got a profile from an applicant that differed from the graph, we would have comp fit. This looks at overall profile of all the traits together giving you a score telling you whether or not the scores are similar. If you want comp for you look at things that are different between the profiles. If you want supp fir you look at things that are similar

How do indirect subjective measures work?

They measure P & E from the same source (ex: might give you a measure of your values and also give you a measure that asks what the org’s values are)

How do we know mathematically that there is fit?

• Mean difference (P-E)

  • For supplementary, you want a perfect fir to close enough fit. If not 0, there’s a range in which the differences can be that allows fit to still occur

• Profile matching

  • Do P and E comparison on a whole profiles of characteristics

• Polynomial regression

  • P+E+PxE+e

  • PxE is the interaction between P and E. If the interaction is statistical y signification, this implies fit

What is the predicted outcome when using polynomial regression to assess fit?

The predicted outcome is any of the outcomes we are interested in (ex: turnover, satisfaction, etc.) In the context of fit, we are not measuring fit, we are using fit variables and the interaction between the person and the environment predicts some kind of outcome of interest