Humility-Inducing Experiences

Organizations are much more than only a means for providing goods and services. They create the settings in which most of employees spend their lives, and they have profound influence on employees’ behavior. When employees join, they have a very deliberate process of socialization, where they learn the culture and the present organization. Organizational socialization has been defined as “the process by which organizational members become a part of, or absorbed into, the culture of an organization” (Jablin, 1982, p. 256), “the process by which a person learns the values, norms, and required behaviors which permit him or her to participate as a member of the organization” (Van Maanen, 1978, p. 67), and “the process of ‘learning the ropes,’ being indoctrinated and trained, and being taught what is important in the organization” (Schein, 1968, p. 2). Socialization is the process by which organizations bring new employees into the culture.

Organizational socialization is the process of showing new people in an organization what the organization is about--the how and why of the way things are done in that particular institution, and getting the new people to understand and accept this. Organizational newcomers typically have high uncertainty regarding how to do their job, how their performance will be evaluated, what types of social behaviors are normative, and what personal relationships within the organization might be beneficial to them (Miller, 1996). Socialization of new employees consist of learn role, and appropriate values and behaviors. Socialization of new employees is crucial. It fulfilled expectations correlate with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and the intention to remain with the organization. Effective socialization reduces these uncertainties, helps newcomers cultivate productive relationships at work, and ensures that individuals and organizations benefit from their working relationship (Jablin, 2001). Consequently, newcomers and experienced organizational members typically engage in formal and informal organizational socialization activities before, during, and after their entry into the organization.

Socialization often starts with a humility-inducing experience that shows the person that they really do not understand how things work. Humility is the state or quality of being humble; absence of pride or self-assertion (Webster’s Dictionary, 2010). This is followed by an in-the-trenches immersion that inculcates the culture. In solidifying culture, the use of humility inducing experiences causes one to question their values and beliefs and whether to accept them. Humility-inducing experiences that cause newcomers to question prior behavior, beliefs, and values. Humility-inducing experiences promote openness toward accepting organizational norms and values (Gibson et al, 2003). Humility-inducing experiences show the new worker that they still have a lot to learn, especially the organization’s pattern of beliefs, expectations, and values as manifested in organization practices.

References

Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly and Konopaske, (2003). Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes, McGraw Hill.

Jablin, F.M. (1982). Organizational communication: An assimilation approach. In Roloff, M. E. & Berger, C. R. (Eds.), Social cognition and communication. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Jablin, F.M. (2001). Organizational entry, assimilation, and disengagement/exit. In Jablin, F. M. & Putnam, L. L. (Eds.), The new handbook of organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Miller, V. D. (1996). An experimental study of newcomers’ information seeking behaviors during organizational entry. Communication Studies, 47, 1-24.

Schein, E. H. (1968). Organizational socialization and the professional management. Industrial Management Review, 9, 1-16.

Webster's New World College Dictionary. Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.

Van Maanen, J. (1978). People processing: Strategies of organizational socialization. Organizational Dynamics, 7, 18-36.