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1 – 10 of over 8000Helena Cooper‐Thomas, Neil Anderson and Melanie Cash
The majority of organizational newcomers have prior work experience. Organizational socialization tactics are less effective for such “experienced newcomers”, relative to graduate…
Abstract
Purpose
The majority of organizational newcomers have prior work experience. Organizational socialization tactics are less effective for such “experienced newcomers”, relative to graduate newcomers. Hence experienced newcomers tend to rely on their own actions to become socialized. The aim of this article is to assess and potentially extend the range of adjustment strategies identified as being used by experienced newcomers themselves to achieve positive adjustment.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 86 experienced newcomers entering a professional services organization.
Findings
Nineteen strategies emerged, with seven newly identified in this research. These are compared with strategies found in past research.
Practical implications
HR, and the managers and colleagues of newcomers can use the strategies identified and categorized here to encourage newcomers to use organizationally‐appropriate behaviors. Newcomers can use these strategies to help themselves achieve their own adjustment goals.
Originality/ value
There is an increasing focus on newcomer proactive behavior in organizational socialization research, yet there are few empirically grounded developments of newcomer adjustment strategies. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to focus on what experienced newcomers report doing to help themselves adjust.
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Hui He, Junguang Gao and Liumei Yan
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to facilitate newcomers’ career advancement within an organization and diminish their intention to quit from the perspective of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to facilitate newcomers’ career advancement within an organization and diminish their intention to quit from the perspective of socialization. In addition, the moderating role of the type of newcomers on the relationship between socialization tactics and career advancement, and consequently, on the mediating effect of newcomers’ proactive socialization behavior, will be examined.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal survey research was conducted in the tertiary industry in four large cities of China. Regression analysis and bootstrapping method were used to verify the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Organizational socialization tactics could have positive effects on newcomers’ proactive socialization behavior and promotion prospects. And newcomers’ proactive socialization behavior partly mediates the relationship between organizational socialization tactics and their promotion prospects. The type of newcomers moderates the relationship between proactive socialization behavior and promotion prospects and also the mediation effect of proactive behavior, which says a moderated mediating effect.
Practical implications
Employers should put more value on college recruitment, making good use of social media tools in particular. And they should also select applicants with proactive personality traits. Finally, a series of structured orientation programs should be implemented for all newcomers.
Originality/value
This study contributes evidence for career advancement as one of the distal socialization outcomes, the moderating role of the type of newcomers on the relationship between socialization and career advancement, and the classification as graduates from school and experienced newcomers from other organizations holds significance to examine newcomers’ socialization.
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Lauren Munro, Robb Travers, Alex St. John, Kate Klein, Heather Hunter, David Brennan and Chavisa Brett
This study sought to gain a better understanding of the general life experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newcomer youth, situated within the broader…
Abstract
Purpose
This study sought to gain a better understanding of the general life experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newcomer youth, situated within the broader context of their lives post-migration. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of various forms of oppression experienced by LGBT newcomers and offers recommendations for transforming services to better serve the complex needs of this marginalized population.
Design/methodology/approach
The Teens Resisting Urban Trans/Homophobia (TRUTH) project was comprised of ten focus groups with 70 youth (aged 14-29) living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Another three focus groups were conducted with 13 GTA service providers and teachers working with LGBT youth, in addition to one key informant interview. For this paper, the authors drew from a subset of the data including four newcomer-specific focus groups in which there were 39 youth who identified as refugees or immigrants, as well as key informant interviews with four youth (three of whom also participated in focus groups) and one service provider. Participants were asked about “what homophobia and transphobia meant to them”, “where they experienced it”, “in what forms”, and “how it impacted their daily lives”.
Findings
The experiences of LGBT newcomer youth in this study involved a complex negotiation of multiple systems of oppression. Youth described experiences of homophobia and racism within interpersonal relationships, in the LGBT community, in their respective diasporic communities, in social service encounters and during the immigration/refugee process. Barriers for LGBT refugee youth included difficulties finding work and accessing health care, as well as the additional burden of proving their sexual orientation during refugee claimant hearings.
Research limitations/implications
While the combination of focus groups and key informant interviews is a strength in this study, it also presents challenges for analysis. In focus groups, it is not always clear who is speaking; because of this, the authors were sometimes unable to differentiate between refugee and immigrant youth (or those without status) in our focus groups, making it often unclear which perspective or experience youth were speaking to. Another limitation was the dominance of the “cisgender gay male voice” in our conclusions. Lesbian and bisexual women were present in fewer numbers and the sample only included three trans youth.
Practical implications
The findings reveal systemic discrimination on the basis of race and sexual orientation that illuminate injustices within Canadian society and systems that can enhance the efforts of those working in policy and service environments. Focused anti-homophobia and anti-racism training, and the implementation of policies designed to enhance accessibility, could improve service provision for newcomer LGBT youth. Furthermore, in order to facilitate a more just settlement process, a broader understanding of sexual identity, gender identity, and gender expression is required of the refugee claimant system.
Originality/value
This study examines the experiences of youth in a large and complex, multicultural, and gay-friendly urban centre, thus providing timely and current data about the well-being of newcomer LGBT youth. As such, it is one of the first studies to offer some insights into the life issues and challenges post-migration of Canadian LGBT newcomer youth.
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Anette Kaagaard Kristensen and Martin Lund Kristensen
This paper aims to examine how newcomers’ experience and perception of their exposure to the hazing ritual “quizzing” affects their mode of relating to the workgroup.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how newcomers’ experience and perception of their exposure to the hazing ritual “quizzing” affects their mode of relating to the workgroup.
Design/methodology/approach
Two illustrative cases are selected from a constructivist grounded theory study based on 15 semi-structured interviews with nursing students in clinical internships at somatic hospital wards.
Findings
As newcomers to the nursing profession, nursing students are exposed to experienced insiders’ hazing ritual “quizzing” during their internship at Danish hospitals. “Quizzing” is a public ceremony performed by an experienced insider, e.g. a daily or clinical supervisor. The ritual continues until a bystander intervenes even though the newcomer admits not knowing the answers. “Quizzing” is being met with repulsion and represents a deviation from expectations of social inclusion, civilized behavior and hope of resonance. It leaves newcomers feeling alienated and makes them adopting a repulsive mode of relating to the workgroup.
Originality/value
This paper applies Hartmut Rosa’s resonance theory and theories of workplace hazing to explore how workgroup hazing affects newcomers’ mode of relating to workgroups.
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This paper aims to explore how experienced nurses relate to hazing and uncover the underlying limits of tolerance for newcomers.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how experienced nurses relate to hazing and uncover the underlying limits of tolerance for newcomers.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through eight qualitative focus group interviews (n = 35) and analysed using reflexive thematic coding.
Findings
The analysis revealed three themes in the limits of experienced nurses’ tolerance of newcomers: “Don’t be sensitive”, “Prove your respectability” and “Accept your inequality of rights”.
Originality/value
The paper challenges existing perspectives on hazing motivation since tolerating newcomers is motivated by defending the status quo against threatening and challenging newcomers.
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This paper aims to develop a theoretical model describing how newcomers’ team-member exchange (TMX), team identification and workplace loneliness may be affected by existing team…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a theoretical model describing how newcomers’ team-member exchange (TMX), team identification and workplace loneliness may be affected by existing team members’ rejections to the newcomers’ interpersonal helping behavior (IHB).
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical analysis was performed.
Findings
The authors propose the following propositions. First, higher levels of IHB rejections result in lower levels of TMX and team identification and higher levels of workplace loneliness experienced by a newcomer. Second, a newcomer’s TMX mediates the relationship between IHB rejections and the newcomer’s workplace loneliness and team identification. Finally, a newcomer’s team identification mediates the relationship between IHB rejections and the newcomer’s workplace loneliness.
Practical implications
This theoretical study provides the following managerial implications. First, managers need to proactively implement tactics that help satisfy newcomers’ affiliation needs through the development of strong formal work relationships with existing members. Second, managers are advised to consider the use of tactics that facilitate the development of effective informal relationships between newcomers and existing team members upon the entry of the team. Third, managers need to implement informal social events where newcomers have the opportunity to exhibit their helpful behaviors. Fourth, managers should periodically inform existing team members of some common anxieties and fears of newcomers that are triggered by entering new interpersonal environments. Finally, managers may utilize mentoring programs that help facilitate newcomers’ accurate interpretations of phenomena occurring around them.
Originality/value
This theoretical study is the first study that examines consequences of IHB rejections in organizations.
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Sari Rajamäki and Leena Mikkola
This qualitative study aims to understand young professional newcomers' experiences of communication processes in membership negotiation in their first workplace after graduation.
Abstract
Purpose
This qualitative study aims to understand young professional newcomers' experiences of communication processes in membership negotiation in their first workplace after graduation.
Design/methodology/approach
Instead of a one-time interview, the participants were contacted five to ten times during the three to ten months, beginning when they entered the workplace. The data were analyzed using a constant comparative method.
Findings
Three communication processes during membership negotiation were identified: developing reciprocity, seeking and perceiving acceptance and becoming an active member. To experience membership, newcomers need to achieve acceptance and engage in reciprocal communication in early interaction situations with managers and coworkers.
Research limitations/implications
Only the experiences of newly graduated newcomers were studied. This study illustrates the communication processes and social interaction evolving in membership negotiation during newcomers' entry.
Practical implications
Organizations need to re-evaluate their short orientation programs to support membership negotiations in workplace communication.
Social implications
By recognizing the communication processes during membership negotiation, the practices of newcomers' entry can be developed to support the membership development.
Originality/value
This study contributes to membership negotiation by showing how newcomers join the flow of membership negotiation through the processes of developing reciprocity, seeking and perceiving acceptance and becoming an active member.
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Maria Tomprou and Ioannis Nikolaou
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a number of factors in newcomers' psychological contract development.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a number of factors in newcomers' psychological contract development.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken is a literature review with the development of a conceptual model.
Findings
The paper contributes to the psychological contract literature by adopting a sensemaking perspective and focusing on the role of newcomers' pre‐entry expectations and emotions on the psychological contract creation process. The authors also discuss the differential role of contract makers and facilitators and the modes they employ to influence newcomers' psychological contract creation.
Originality/value
Psychological contract research has emphasized the consequences of psychological contract breach and violation. The paper's aim is to direct attention at understanding the psychological contract in its very initial stages. The authors discuss implications for research and practice on managing psychological contract creation.
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Peter Letmathe and Marc Rößler
With shortening product life cycles and an increasing number of product variants, manufacturing firms perform more production ramp-ups. In this context, learning is crucially…
Abstract
Purpose
With shortening product life cycles and an increasing number of product variants, manufacturing firms perform more production ramp-ups. In this context, learning is crucially important to quickly achieve high production process quality and stability. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a laboratory experiment, this study analyzes spillover learning between consecutive ramp-ups and how this phenomenon is influenced by tacit knowledge transfer through observation and imitation.
Findings
The results prove the existence of spillover learning between consecutive ramp-ups. Moreover, they provide evidence how tacit knowledge transfer through observation and imitation enhances learning of new tasks in consecutive production ramp-ups.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could focus on the specific psychological processes driving tacit knowledge transfer and spillover learning, a topic which is only touched upon in this paper.
Practical implications
The findings show that manufacturing firms should not only aim at reaching a steep learning curve during a single production ramp-up, but should also take into account the effects of spillover learning with regard to future production ramp-ups. Furthermore, the paper provides novel insights concerning the allocation of workers to production tasks with regard to previous experience when introducing new personnel and during ramp-up phases.
Originality/value
Previous evidence on the existence and characteristics of spillover learning in production ramp-up situations is not conclusive. This paper provides new and unambiguous insights by considering different organizational settings.
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Anita Nordsteien and Katriina Byström
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how new healthcare professionals engage with information practices and information culture in their workplace, and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how new healthcare professionals engage with information practices and information culture in their workplace, and the resulting influences on development and change.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal study was conducted on a hospital training programme. Three series of focus groups provided data from 18 recently qualified nurses, supported by observations. Data were thematically analysed applying a framework consisting of six approaches to information use.
Findings
Newcomers take a proactive approach to seek, use and share scientific information, which is negotiated within existing information practices and organisational information culture. Their competencies, such as research skills, values, motivation and sense of integrity to use and share scientific information, often differ from those existing workplace practices. For this reason, they drive towards renewal and change.
Practical implications
Examination of organisational approaches to information use indicates clearly the necessity for improvements to meet the needs of information proactiveness and thus be able to face challenges and changes in an organisation.
Originality/value
This work sheds new light on newcomers’ information use, as they integrate into a workplace and interact with information practices and organisational approaches to information use. A significant contribution is the identification of the dynamics and interdependencies between newcomers’ individual agency in their way of seeking, using and sharing information, and the established community’s social agency promoting existing information practices and the organisational agency represented by information culture.
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