ORIENTATION AND SOCIALIZATION:

The definition of orientation is " familiarization with  and adoption to a situation with or an environment." . Orientation is often just a superficial  indoctrination  into company's  philosophies, policies  and rules;  sometimes  it includes  the presentation  of an employee handbook and a quick tour of  the office or   plant. This can be costly.

 In one way,  a displaced worker from the factory who  is hired into  another  environment  is similar to  a new college graduate.  Upon starting a new job, both will face a kind of  "culture shock" . As they  are exposed  for  the first time to a new  organizational  culture, both find that the new job  is not quite  what they imagined it to be. While  visiting a foreign country you are told about the local customs, or else you learn them on your own by a process of trial and error.

A new employee's experience during the initial within an organization can have a major impact on his/her career. A new hire stands on the boundary of the organization- certainly no longer an outsider but  not yet  embraced by those within. There is a great stress, the new hire wants to reduce the stress by becoming incorporated  into the "interior"  as quickly as possible.

THREE TYPICAL PROBLEMSS FACE THE NEW EMPLOYEES:

1)      PROBLEMS IN ENTERING A GROUP:

When starting a new job, many new employees wonder . will I be  able to do a job, or will I fit in around here; or will the boss  like me, whether I will be free from physical and psychological harm. these first day jitters may be natural but they reduce the new employee satisfaction and ability to learn.  Psychologists say that  initial impressions are strong  and lasting because  new comers  have little else to judge. To make employee become a satisfied  and productive member  the manager and the HR department  must make these initial  impressions favorable.

2)      NAÏVE EXPECTATIONS:

Organizations find it  much easier to communicate factual  information about pay and benefits, vacations and company  policies than information  about employees norms, company attitudes. Simple  fairness suggest that  employees ought  to be told about  these   intangibles.

3)      FIRST JOB  ENVIRONMENT:

Does the new environment help or hinder  the new employee  to climb aboard,  can peers  be counted on to socialize the new employee to desired job standards.

SOCIALIZATION:

 The HR department  efforts help  integrate  new comers into the organization  and enables socialization to take place.

Socialization  is the ongoing process through which an employee begins to understand and accept the values, beliefs  and norms held by  others in the organization . the socialization  process helps  the organization meet its  needs for productive employees while enabling new employees to meet their needs. An important  objective of  HR management  is to assist  employees in achieving their personal goals,  atleast insofar as those goals enhance  the individual  contribution to the organization. The success of  orientation  programmed rest on a notion that how faster  socialization  process inculcates  organizational values beliefs and norms.

Orientation programs are  particularly  effective  socialization  tool because they are used among  new employees. Since  most new comers have a strong desire to be accepted , they attempt  to internalize the way things are done in the organization and make  their way too.  Training furthers  the socialization process by having employee actually learn and perform the desired behavior.

CONTENT AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR ORIENTATION:

 Formal  orientation  program usually rely on the HR department and  the supervisor . this two  tiered  orientation program is used because  the issues covered din an orientation fall into tow broad categories: general topics of interests to most new employees  and specific  job related issues of concern only to specific job holders. The  topics included in an orientation program are labeled under  organizational issues and employee benefits are general concerns for virtually  every new employee  and so they  are typically  explained   by representatives  from the HR   department .  the coverage of organizational  issues and fringe benefits often is supplemented with  an employee hand book  that describes company policies,  rules , regulations, benefits  and other terms.

In addition  to the HR department's  presentation, the  orientation  is continued by  employee's supervisor,   who handles  the job related introduction . this  tier   of orientation program  include  introducing  new employee to their co-worker  . sometimes  new comers also need to meet other who work in different department. Inspectors, supervisors,  accountants part of social network to which  a new employee  becomes attached.

TOPICS OFTEN COVERED IN EMPLOYEE  ORIENTATION PROGRAM

ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES:

·         History of employer

·         Organization of employer

·         Names and titles of key executives

·         Lay out of physical period

·         Probationary period

·         Product lives or services provided

·         Company policies and rules.

·         Employee hand book

·         Safety procedures and enforcement.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS:

·         Pay scale and pay days

·         Vacations and  holidays

·         Rest breaks

·         Training and education benefits

·         Counseling

·         Insurance benefits

·         Rehabilitation programs

·         Retirement programs

·         Employer-provided  services for employees

INTRODUCTIONS

JOB DUTIES

The effectiveness of orientation program rests upon the role of  supervisor and  its success demands  complete  absorption of supervisor's  energies. .

A helpful supplement to the new comer orientation is the assignment  of the buddy.  Under the third  tier, the buddy system of orientation, an  experienced employee is asked to show the new worker  around,  conduct introduction for the  supervisor and answer the new  comer's questions.

OBJECTIVES OF ORIENTATION:

BENEFITS:

·         A well designed  orientation program reduces anxiety, nervousness, absenteeism and employee's turnover.

·         Effective induction also helps integrate the new employees into  the organization  and foster the feelings of belongingness  to the new organization.

·         Induction also  binds the new comer and the present employee  in a team.

ORIENTATION FOLLOW UP:

Successful orientation program include built in  follow  up procedures. Follow up is needed because   new employee's  often are reluctant  to admit that  they do not recall everything  they were told in the initial orientation session . the HR department  often uses a pre scheduled  meeting or a simple checklist that ask the employees to critique  the weakness of the orientation program. Weakness  presumably  are topics  about which an employees need more information . the checklist  also serves  as a feedback  to help the HR  department  identify  the  parts of program that are strong.  The face to face  meeting between the employee and supervisor is the most important type of orientation follow up.