INDUCTION/ ORIENTATION Definitions of Induction (1) Edwin B.

Flippo: "Induction is the welcoming process to make the new employee feel at home and generate in him a feeling of belongingness to the organization." (2) Michael Armstrong: "Orientation or induction is the process of receiving and welcoming an employee when he first joins a company and giving him the basic information he needs to settle down quickly and happily and start work." Meaning of Induction When a new employee joins an organisation, he is completely a stranger to the people, work place and work environment. Therefore, he is likely to feel insecure, shy and nervous. In the absence of information and support, there is likely to be fear and anxiety in his mind. He may undergo a reality shock caused by a gap between his expectations and the real situation. Induction or orientation can help overcome these problems. Once an employee is selected and placed on an appropriate job, the process of making him familiar with the job and the organisation begins. This process is called induction or orientation. The new employee is introduced to the job, coworkers and the organisation. The purpose of orientation is to make the new entrant feel at home and develop a sense of pride in the organisation and commitment to the job. The newcomer is explained his duties and responsibilities, company policies and rules and other relevant information to get acquainted and accommodated with the organisation;

ORIENTATION PROGRAMME

Fig : Strategic Choices of Orientation Formal or Informal In informal orientation, new hires are directly put

on the jobs and they are expected to acclimatise themselves with the work and the company. In contrast, orientation can be formal too. In formal orientation, the management has a structured programme which is executed when new employees join the firm. (Formal orientation will be explained later in detail.) The choice between formal and informal orientation will depend on the management's goals. The more formal the programme, the greater the likelihood that the new hire will acquire a known set of standards.

That is, the new member is more likely lo think and act like an executive, a management trainee, or a management professor. But an informal programme is desirable lo maintain individual differences. Innovative ideas to solve organisational problems and healthy questioning of the status quo are likely to be generated by a person who has been inducted informally. Individual or Collective : Another choice to be made by the

management is whether the new hires should be inducted individually or in groups. The individual approach is likely to develop far less homogeneous views than collective, orientation. Individual orientation is more likely to preserve individual differences and perspectives. Orienting each person separately is an expensive and time-consuming process. It also denies the new hire the opportunity of sharing anxieties with fellow appointees. Collective orientation of the new hires solves the problems stated above. Most large firms tend to have the collective orientation approach. But small firms, which have fewer new appointees to socialise, frequently use the individual approach. Individual socialisation is popular even with large firms when they hire executives whose number is small. Serial or Disjunctive : Orientation becomes serial when an experienced employee inducts a new hire. The experienced employee acts as a tutor and model for the new hire. When new hires do not have predecessors available to guide them or to model their behaviour upon, the orientation become disjunctive.

Each option has its own advantages and pitfalls. Serial orientation maintains traditions and customs. Consistent use of this strategy will ensure a minimum amount of change within the firm over time. But. maintenance of status quo itself may breed resistance to change. Further, if the experienced employee is frustrated and apathetic towards work and the firm, it is likely that he or she would pass on the same to the new hire. Disjunctive orientation almost stands on the other side of the spectrum. Such induction is likely to produce more inventive and creative employees because the new hire is not burdened by traditions. But this benefit needs to be weighed against the potential for creating deviants, that is, individuals who faildue to an inadequate role model to understand how their job is to be done and how it fits into the grand scheme of the company. Investiture or Divestiture : The final strategic choice relates to the need for maintaining or dismantling of the new hire's identity. Investiture orientation seeks to ratify the usefulness of the characteristics that the person brings to the new job. Most high-level appointments follow this approach, because a person is appointed as an executive on the basis of what he or she can bring to the company. The new hires are given freedom to select their office furnishings and subordinates and to make other decisions that will reflect on their performance.

Divestiture orientation, on the other hand, seeks to make minor modifications in the characteristics of the new hire, albeit, he or she was selected based on his or her potential for performance. This is done to seek a better fit between a new member and the firm. This fine-tuning may take the shape of requiring the appointees to severe old friendships, accepting a different way of looking at their jobs, peers, or the organisation's goals. The new hire may even be made to undergo harassment (simulated or mock) at the hands of a senior staff to verify if he or she can be moulded to the requirements of the firm, if required. Divestiture strategies are followed for inducting new hires into military, professional football, police academies, fraternal groups, religious cults, and self-realisation groups. The premise behind divestiture strategies is to dismantle the old mindset of the new member so that instilling a new set of values or norms becomes easy.

Methods of induction (1) Induction Guide: Such guide books are prepared by the personnel department with information on what induction steps have been taken and what are still to be covered. Various steps to be taken and by whom and when the instructions are to be given recruitment, to be given are listed in the guide book. In some large concerns guide books containing the information about the company and its various personnel policies are distributed among the new comers. (2)CounseIIing: The supervisor may induct the new employees working under him by introducing and counseling them by reassuring and reinforcing the confidence Grid guard against false impression.

(3) Follow Up Interview: On the basis of this interview, personnel department can take action to mow the employees feelings and to remove the difficulties faced by him through personal talks, guidance and counselling. It may be co-ordinate by the joint efforts of job supervisor and the personnel department. Periodic following is required to ensure that the employee is properly placed and feels at home. The best method of induction training is talk plus pictures followed by printed materials. A tour of the plant and the department should be arranged acquaint the new employee with the overall operations of the company. (S) Socialisation Socialization is the process of adaptation. It is the process by which new employees attempt to learn and inculcate the norms and values of work roles in an organization. Learning and inculcating the norms and values of work group are necessary for proper adjustment of new employees and job performance. People who do not learn to adjust with the culture of organization are labelled as `rebels' or `non-conformists' and may even be turned out of an organization. No matter how effectively employees are recruited, new employees are not fully indoctrinated in the organizational norms and values. Therefore, socialization, as an adaptive process, is required. Some people consider induction and socialization as synonymous. However, the two are different from each other. In fact, induction is only a part of socialization. Induction is confined to new recruits only, whereas socialization also covers transfer and promotion.

Socialization performs two functions: (a) It creates uniform behaviour in members, increase understanding, reduce conflicts, etc. (b) It reduces role ambiguity of employees as they will come to know what is expected of them.

Assumptions of Socialisation For organisations to assist new employees to adapt organizational norms and values, several matters, known as assumptions of employee socialization are to be understood. These assumptions are as follows: (a) Socialization strongly affects employee performance and stability of the organization. (b) New employees suffer from anxiety and require adjustment. (c) Socialization does not occur in a vacuum; it requires certain supporting elements. (d) The way in which new employees adjust to new situation is remarkably similar.

Definition of Socialisation Feldoman Socialisation is acquisition of work skills and abilities, adoption of appropriate role behaviour and adjustment to the norms and value of work groups

Socialisation Process Socialisation is an adaptation process. It goes throughout the career of an employee at his job, both in terms of content and context, goes on changing even in the same organization. However, socialisation is more critical at the initial stage of an employee's career. Since socialization is a process, it consists of various stages. Maanen and Schein have conceptualized three stages in the process of socialization pre-arrival, encounter and metamorphosis or transformation.
Commitment Pre-Arrival Encounter Metamorphosis

Fig. Stages in socialization process

Productivity

1. Pre-arrival Stage The pre-arrival stage recognizes that all the new recruits arrive in the organization with a set of values, norms, expectations and learning. These include, both the work to be done and the organization. For example, in business schools, students acquire certain ideas regarding the nature of their future job, pay package and career progress. These ideas are supplemented from what they learn from their friends and other acquaintances. At the recruitment stage, many organizations give job previews which help the prospective employees to learn more about the job and the organization. These type of people must be selected who might be able to fit into the organization's culture. The candidates must be made aware of the organization's values and expectations during the selection process, so that the chances of wrong selection are reduced to the minimum. 2. Encounter stage Upon entry into an organization the new employee enters the encumber stage. When the new employee joins the organization, he faces the realities of the situation in terms of his job, work culture, superiors, subordinates and peers. If there is a difference between expectations and realities, the new employee must undergo socialization to replace his previous assumptions with realities. At the other extreme, the individual cannot reconcile with the values and norms of the organization and quits the job.

3. Metamorphosis stage / Transformation stage Under this stage, the real transformation in the new employee takes place. The new employee acquires the skills required to adjust with the organizations norms and values. He becomes comfortable with the organization and his job. His internalization of organizations culture wins him acceptability among his colleagues and creates confidence in him. This makes him a contended (justified) employee and he likes the place of work and enjoys the company of his colleagues. As a result, he will feel committed to the organization and his productivity will increase. His search for job elsewhere will also come to an end. If, in any case, the employee is not able to adapt himself to the organization culture, the result may be low productivity, lack of commitment and even exit from the organisation. The completion of socialisation process is characterized by feelings of competence in the new employee for the job, feeling of commitment to the organisation and feeling of confident about himself.