Feldman's model of organizational socialization can be very representative of a person's experiences upon entering an organization or company. In any job application, there are expectations that we have of what it will be like to work at the company we are applying to, which is precisely what Feldman calls Phase 1: "anticipatory socialization." Phase 2: "encounter," occurs when employees get an idea of what it is really like to work in an organization, and when they change their expectations based upon their experience. I personally remember learning new about new policies that I didn't think were true immediately after getting hired at Bestbuy, an example of the encounter phase. Phase 3: "Change and acquisition," defines the experiences which show that an employee or member of an organization has come to understand the policies and organizational culture. Getting a raise could be a good example of this because it displays that there is a level of mastery in your present position. It is beneficial for companies and organizations to have some kind of program which helps socialize members/employees into the organizational culture. One example is having an in depth hiring process, in which employees undertake official training sessions learning about the company where they work. Organizational socialization is the third part of the hiring process (Pearson, 2003), and it is arguably the most important. Bringing employees into the organization and associating them with fellow employees will boost employee morale and employees will hopefully enjoy their work more if they feel connected to a community within an organization rather than just part of the muddle. Socialization is thus of great importance to organizational leaders.
I found Feldman's model of organizational socialization to be dead on. Everytime I enter a new work experience i go through the different phases in the model. That was pretty cool and interesting to me.
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