Chapter 5

Orientation and Organizational Culture

Learning objectives

• Explain the importance of orientation in sport organizations

• Describe the stages of organizational socialization

• Describe a variety of orientation strategies and practices

• Understand the importance and process of orienting sport volunteers

• Describe organizational culture and its role in newcomer orientation

Orientation

• the final stage of the recruitment and selection process

• Introduces newcomers to the work that is expected of them and the organization

• assists new staff and volunteers adjust to their job, workgroup, and workplace

Proximal Outcomesof Adjustment

Distal Outcomesof Adjustment

Antecedents of Adjustment

Task masteryRole clarityWork group integrationPolitical knowledge

CommitmentSatisfactionWork withdrawalTurnover

Pre-entry knowledgePro-active personalitySocialization effortsOrganizationalLeaders

Work group

A model of newcomers’ organizational adjustment.

Organizational socialization

• ‘the process by which a person learns the values, norms and required behaviours which permit him to participate as a member of the organization’ (Van Maanen, 1976, p. 67)

Aspects of the organization

• Formal work-related aspects of the organization • Formal personnel-related policies and

procedures • Role and assigned tasks, including the skills

required, and specific reporting requirements• Workgroup, including supervisor(s) • Physical layout of the workplace. • Culture of the organization

Types of newcomers

(1)those who are new to the organization and the workplace in general,

(2) those who are veterans of the workplace but new to the organization, and

(3)those who are veterans of the organization but new to a different part of the organization.

• Not all newcomers have the same experience and this should be considered it their orientation process

Stages of socialization

Anticipatory Socialization

Encounter Socialization

Role Management

Time with the organization

The psychological contract

• social exchange or transaction where member effort and loyalty is given in return for fair rewards

• comprises an employee’s or volunteer’s beliefs about what they can expect to receive from the organization in return for their work effort, performance, and commitment

Person-organization fit

• the compatibility between people and the organizations in which they work

• certain orientation or socialization strategies are associated with person-organization fit: sequential, fixed, serial and investiture approaches

6 strategies

• Collective vs. individual

• Formal vs. informal

• Sequential vs. random

• Fixed vs. variable

• Serial vs. disjunctive

• Investiture vs. divestiture

Van Maanen and Schein (1979)

2 patterns of socialization

• institutionalized socialization - collective, formal, sequential, fixed, serial, and investiture strategies.

• individualized socialization - individual, informal, random, variable, disjunctive, and divestiture strategies

Orientation practices

• job preview - used to give candidates a greater sense of the job and the organization

• mentoring –provides the opportunity to directly observe, interact with, and learn from another member of the organization

• also organizational literature and document review, formal orientation sessions, and job shadowing

Sport volunteers

• the same stages of socialization, adjustment and orientation strategies and practices apply to paid staff and volunteers

• new volunteers - provided with the names and contact information of volunteers/staff, familiarized with the responsibilities of their new role and how it relates to others in the organization, and familiarized with any facilities, equipment or resources that are used by the organization on a regular basis

Sport event volunteers orientation

• Develop a common understanding of the vision, mission and planned legacies of the event

• Outline the management structure and venue management plans, and available positions and responsibilities

• Used to create a good atmosphere and to develop ownership in the volunteers with respect to the event

Organizational culture

• A pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valid and . . . to be taught to new members are the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems (Schein 1985 p. 9)

Types of culture

• ‘strong culture’ - values, beliefs and assumptions about the organization are widely understood and strongly accepted across the organization.

• ‘weak culture’ - values, beliefs and assumptions about the organization are not widely known or not strongly accepted

subcultures

• unique sets of values, beliefs and assumptions that develop over time within an organizational group or unit

• Can be among individuals who work in the same functional area (e.g., marketing, sales, coaching, administration), at the same hierarchical level (e.g., management, staff), or in the same geographical areas (e.g., fitness clubs within a larger parent organization).

• among staff or volunteers who have similar sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., women, former athletes) are analogous to ‘cliques’

Values representing an organization’s culture’

• Member identity - organization or their field of expertise.

• Group emphasis - individuals or groups

• People focus - consider the impact on the task or on people

• Unit integration - operate more independently or interdependent

• Control –the management is quite loose or is based on rules, regulations and direct supervision

• Risk tolerance –restrained or are encouraged to be creative, innovative, and to take risks.

• Reward criteria –rewards are based more on performance or on some other criteria

• Conflict tolerance –conflict is negative and to be avoided or is valued and encouraged.

• Means-ends orientation –methods and processes to achieve outcomes or on the outcomes themselves are important

• Open-system focus –focus on internal processes of the organization or focuses outward on the environment and responding to changes there.

(Robbins 1997 p. 602)

Learning organizational culture

• Newcomers learn about organizational culture through symbols, including such things as office furnishings and layout and employee dress

• through stories that ‘anchor the present in the past and provide explanations and legitimacy for current practices’

• Through company rituals and ceremonies• Observing behaviour of others, seeing what is

rewarded (and not) and what is tolerated (or not)

Summary

• Orientation is the socialization of newcomers to the organization

• 3 stages of socialization: anticipatory, encounter, and role management

• outcomes of orientation and socialization: task mastery, role clarity, work group integration and political knowledge