Factors influencing socialization process into ...

Factors influencing socialization process into

international team

Master’s Thesis

to attain the academic degree of

Master of Science (MSc)

in the Master Program General Management

Author: Metlushka Maria

Submission: Institute of Human Resource and Change Management

Thesis Supervisor: Dr.Stefan W. Konlechner

Linz, November 2015

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Content

Sworn declaration .................................................................................................................. 4

Acknowledgment ................................................................................................................... 5

List of tables .......................................................................................................................... 6

List of abbreviations .............................................................................................................. 7

Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 8

1. Introduction.............................................................................................................. 9

1.1. Problem definition.................................................................................................... 10

1.2. Objectives of the thesis............................................................................................. 11

1.3. Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................... 11

2. Literature review .................................................................................................... 12

2.1. Organizational socialization ..................................................................................... 12

2.2. Socialization theories ............................................................................................... 15

2.2.1. Uncertainty reduction theory............................................................................. 16

2.2.2. Social cognitive theory ..................................................................................... 16

2.2.3. Cognitive and Sense making theory .................................................................. 17

2.3. Socialization tactics.................................................................................................. 17

2.3.1. Collective vs. individual socialization process .................................................. 18

2.3.2. Formal vs. informal socialization process ......................................................... 19

2.3.3. Sequential vs. random steps in the socialization process.................................... 19

2.3.4. Fixed vs. variable socialization process............................................................. 19

2.3.5. Serial vs. disjunctive socialization process ........................................................ 20

2.3.6. Investiture vs. divestiture socialization process ................................................. 20

2.4. Newcomers and their adjustment .............................................................................. 21

2.4.1. Model of the newcomer experience................................................................... 22

2.4.2. Adjustment models of newcomers .................................................................... 24

2.5. Group socialization .................................................................................................. 26

2.6. Aspects of group socialization .................................................................................. 31

2.6.1. Organizational structures and processes ............................................................ 32

2.6.2. Interactions with agents .................................................................................... 34

2.6.3. Newcomer characteristics and behaviors........................................................... 36

2.7. Research gap – socialization in an international team ............................................... 39

3. Methodology ........................................................................................................... 42

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3.1. The research approach................................................................................................... 42

3.1.1. Research question............................................................................................. 42

3.1.2. Research context............................................................................................... 42

3.2. Data collection method and instruments ........................................................................ 44

3.2.1. Semi-structured interviews ............................................................................... 44

3.2.2. Interview questions........................................................................................... 45

3.3. Data analysis ................................................................................................................. 47

4. Findings of the Empirical Study ............................................................................ 49

4.1. Within-case analysis...................................................................................................... 49

4.1.1. Team 1 – Leasing ................................................................................................... 49

4.1.2. Team 2 – HR.......................................................................................................... 57

4.1.3. Team 3 – Research ................................................................................................. 65

4.2. Cross-case analysis ....................................................................................................... 72

4.2.1. Similarities and differences .................................................................................... 75

4.2.2. Suggestions and considerations from the interviewees ............................................ 81

4.3. Identification of factors ................................................................................................. 85

5. Discussion ............................................................................................................... 88

6. Conclusion, limitations of the study and recommendations ............................... 108

References ......................................................................................................................... 117

Appendix I......................................................................................................................... 121

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Sworn declaration

I hereby declare under oath that the submitted Master's degree thesis has been

written solely by me without any third-party assistance, information other than

provided sources or aids have not been used and those used have been fully

documented. Sources for literal, paraphrased and cited quotes have been accurately

credited.

The submitted document here present is identical to the electronically submitted text

document.

..................................................

Metlushka Maria November 2015

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Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Dr. Stefan W. Konlechner, for his advice and support during my

work on the diploma thesis.

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List of tables

Table 1: Research context – analyzed cases………………………………………...... 44

Table 2: Socialization process Team 1 – Leasing……………………………………... 55

Table 3: Socialization process Team 2 – HR…………………………………………... 63

Table 4: Socialization process Team 4 –Research……………………………………. 70

Table 5: Cross-case analysis ……………………………………………………………. 73

Table 6: Own socialization process and suggestions for interviewees……………… 82

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List of abbreviations

HRM Human Resource Management

CEE Central and Eastern Europe

EMEA Europe Middle East Africa

AT Austria

CZ Czech Republic

HR Hungary

PL Poland

RO Romania

SK Slovak Republic

DO Dominican Republic

IT Italy

RU Russia

IR Islamic Republic

NL Netherlands

USA United States of America

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Abstract

Newcomers face during their entry to an organization various challenges which

generally influence on their adjustment into a team. Despite an increasing amount of

studies focusing on the socialization phenomenon and individual’s integration into

team or organization, lack of attention has been paid so far to the socialization

processes in international teams. The international aspect becomes in the times of

globalization and existence of cross-boarder management and cross-cultural teams

increasingly more important. The thesis reviews the literature related to

organizational socialization and outlines various aspects which might influence the

newcomer’s socialization. The main aim is to identify factors which influence

successful socialization into international teams. In total there were identified 15

factors influencing successful socialization of a newcomer into an international team.

Further, for better understanding of the research findings the factors were illustrated

in a model. By paying more attention to these factors problems which might arise

during socialization of individuals from different nationalities can be identified in an

early stage and appropriately addressed when creating international teams.

Keywords: Socialization, group socialization, successful socialization, newcomers,

adjustment of newcomers, international team

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1. Introduction

Organizational socialization has been discussed over the last decades by many

scholars and practitioners and has attracted increasing attention in the area of

Human Resource Management (“HRM”). HRM studies have a focus on searching

and developing mechanisms that ensure new employees to be successfully

integrated into their new workplace (Antonacopoulou, Güttel, 2010, 6p).

Organizational socialization is “(…) the process by which organizational members

become a part of, or absorbed into, the culture of an organization” (Flanagin,

Waldeck, 2004, 139p). The period of time, when newcomers enter the organization,

contains new opportunities, as well as complex challenges (Bauer, Morrison,

Callister, 1998, 150p). On the one hand, through organizational socialization new

employees develop their attitudes, norms and behaviors which are fundamental in

order to operate as a well-developed member in organization. (Antonacopoulou,

Güttel, 2010, 6p). On the other hand, on the entry level new recruits have to deal with

different types of challenges and issues that arise during the socialization process.

There are many studies about how newcomers take new opportunities and at the

same time face challenges during their entry into the organization. For example,

Bauer et al. in their research about initial socialization process mentioned four main

reasons of the significant role of socialization for the organizations. First, ineffective

socialization usually causes turnover that is generally very costly and time consuming

for organizations. If new employees will not stay longer after some training program,

the organization will have minimum contribution from those employees and will have

to start the recruitment process from the beginning (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998,

150p).

Second, successful socialization can have influence on the behaviors and attitudes of

current employees and can culminate in productive and committed staff. Third reason

for the importance of effective socialization process is that it is related to the

successful transition and maintenance of organizational culture. With healthy

socialization process, newcomers are able to recognize and adapt to the

organizations` main values and norms. Last but not least, through the socialization

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process newcomers gain knowledge about organizational politics and its power

dynamics (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 151p).

Speaking about successful socialization it is necessary to clarify that this term

indicates a satisfactory situation for newcomer and the organization. From the

perspective of a newcomer this determines a fixed “status” as an employee and

balance between capabilities and needs, as well as values, norms and requirements

which refer to working environment. From the organization’s perspective,

socialization is successful when an employee is fully integrated into team or,

generally, into organizational environment, i.e. when an individual is part of the team

and at the same time is able to reach the balance between adaptation and innovative

behavior, which is relevant to the organizational environment (Feij, 1998, 210p).

1.1. Problem definition

Despite an increasing amount of studies focusing on the socialization phenomenon

and individual’s integration into team or organization, lack of attention has been paid

to the socialization processes particularly in international teams. I have already

discussed above the importance of socialization process for the organization.

Socialization into international teams becomes important due to the fact, that the

business world becomes more and more internationalized. The organizations, in

order to remain competitive, internationalize their activities and often do their

businesses globally, for which purpose they often create international teams.

International teams differ from conventional local teams by team diversity, different

cultural backgrounds of the team members, their various cultural values, personal

characteristics which might be subject to the cultural influences, or language

differences. Due to these specifics, factors influencing socialization into an

international team might differ to the factors influencing group socialization in general.

The research question of my thesis is which factors influence successful socialization

into an international team. This should help the organizations to identify to which

factors they should pay more attention during adaptation of their new employees into

international teams.

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1.2. Objectives of the thesis

The main aim of the research is to identify factors, which might represent higher risk

of failure, resp. increase the chances of success, when socializing newcomers into

international teams. By focusing on these factors, issues that might arise by

socialization of individuals from different nationalities can be identified at an early

stage and appropriately addressed when creating international teams.

The objectives of the diploma thesis are (i) to review basic concepts and definitions

relevant to the organizational socialization, (ii) to examine the phenomenon of

newcomers as major participants of the socialization and the ways of their adjustment

in the organization, (iii) to explore group socialization framework and what might

affect socialization process in a team and, finally, (iv) to identify factors influencing

successful socialization into international team.

1.3. Structure of the thesis

The thesis includes the following main sections. Chapter 2 covers literature review

which is concerned with basic concepts and definitions of socialization theory,

newcomers and their adjustment, and gives insights into group socialization

framework. Chapter 3 describes methodology with detailed information about

research approach and description of data analysis techniques that were applied.

Chapter 4 represents a three step analysis of the data gathered during conducted

research. Chapter 5 discusses the research findings and draws the gap with existing

literature theory. Finally, Chapter 6 concludes the main findings, argues about

research limitations and suggests recommendations for further research.

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2. Literature review

The theoretical part of the thesis includes basic concepts and definitions relevant to

the organizational socialization by review of secondary information sources. The

secondary information sources contain mainly scientific articles, case studies and

research papers related to the topic.

2.1. Organizational socialization

According to Van Maanen and Schein, organizational socialization is a process by

which one is taught and learns “the ropes” of a particular organization”.

Organizational socialization refers to the process by which person collects the social

knowledge and skills that are fundamental in order to accept a role in the

organization. Through the socialization process person is thought and acquires

information about which patterns of behavior and attitudes are acceptable within the

working environment, as well which are not (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 4p).

During the socialization process individuals learn values, norms and attitudes that are

vital for accepting an organizational role and for being member of the organization

(Chatman, 1991, 462p). Moreover, organizational socialization can be described as

“the learning process by which newcomers develop attitudes and behavior that are

necessary to function as a fully-fledged member of the organization”

(Antonacopoulou, Güttel, 2010, 7p).

Antonacopou and Güttel in their research paper discussed the significant linkage

between staff induction and socialization process. On the contrary to organizational

socialization, staff induction is described as “(…) arrangement made to familiarize the

new employee with the organization, safety rules, general conditions of employment,

and the work of the department in which they are employed” (Antonacopoulou,

Güttel, 2010, 7p). In other words, staff induction is “(...) the process of familiarizing

new employees with whatever is necessary for them to feel at home and to

understand and perform their duties efficiently” (Mulders, Berends, Romme, 2010,

158p). Staff induction encourages the learning process and allows newcomers to get

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familiar with particular rules, systems, regulations, terms and requirements in the new

environment. On the other hand, organizational socialization requires from

newcomers to adapt their values, norms, attitudes and behaviors which are

fundamental for learning process (Antonacopoulou, Güttel, 2010, 8p).

The authors also analyzed the roles of staff induction and socialization process as

key elements of the organizational recreation. This is because they empower

newcomers to become actual members of the team, and are as well able to sustain

and renew the organization` attitudes and values. Generally speaking, staff induction

and socialization are essential systems not only for the organization but also for the

newcomers. From one side, new members are always required by organization for its

sustainable development and continuous growth. From another side, newcomers

desire to enter the organization without any complications, to be able to easily adapt

to organizational practices. Basically, organizational socialization involves activities

carried out by the organization and activities carried out by the newcomers in order to

successfully adapt (Antonacopoulou, Güttel, 2010, 5p).

Ardts et al. proposed a framework which explains the socialization process from a

different perspective. This framework includes socialization as a process with its

content and outcomes, as well as the socialization behavior of the newcomer and

socialization practices and instruments used by the organization (Ardts, Jansen,

Mandy van der Velde, 2001, 158p).

Socialization as a process

Usually, socialization is seen as a learning process that has a set of stages: an

anticipatory stage, an encounter stage and an acquisition stage. During the

anticipatory stage an individual is getting ready for employment, creates expectations

and chooses type of job and organization where he would like to work by gaining

education and getting support and advice from friends and family. During the

encounter stage individual gets acquainted with the organization. At this stage

newcomers` expectations will be faced with reality and adjustment in beliefs and

patterns of behavior will appear. On the acquisition stage there is lasting adjustment

process in the terms of assignments, roles, values, norms and believes of the

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working team and the organization (Ardts, Jansen, Mandy van der Velde, 2001,

159p).

The content of socialization

In essence, socialization comprises number of areas, meaning that the newcomer

needs to learn about structure, goals, mission, values and believes, history and

traditions, mutual language and policy of the organization. The newcomer also

acquires information about individuals` characteristics, interests, attitudes, behaviors

of the other team members. When the newcomer enters new working environment,

he or she learns how to negotiate or do business with colleagues, mentors, agents;

how to accomplish particular tasks and how everything is functioning in the

organization (Ardts, Jansen, Mandy van der Velde, 2001, 159p). Louis distinguishes

the content of socialization in two forms: role-oriented learning and recognition of

organizational culture. Newcomer needs to dispose with appropriate motivation and

understanding of other` s expectations for successful integration and performance in

a new role (Louis, 1980, 231p).

Outcomes of socialization

There are numerous research studies about various variables and outcomes that

enable to assess the socialization process. These outcomes can be divided into four

categories: (i) motivation and the level of achievement, (ii) the level of commitment

and identification with the organization, (iii) interpersonal characteristics, and (iv) the

level of competence and self-assurance (Ardts, Jansen, Mandy van der Velde, 2001,

160p). The outcomes of socialization process are precisely discussed in the chapter

“Newcomers and their adjustment”.

Socialization behavior of the newcomer

In recent studies many authors have discussed the newcomer’s ability to shape their

own adjustment process. Newcomers apply different strategies and adopt various

methods to seek and study information. For example, some researches have shown

that newcomers know more about job and organization if they seek information

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regularly and demand a feedback. Newcomers usually seek information by observing

their colleagues, asking questions, consulting third parties as external sources of

information, reading job description materials, and so on (Ardts, Jansen, Mandy van

der Velde, 2001, 161p).

Socialization practices and instruments

When newcomers get into new working environment, they face informal socialization

practices and formal personnel instruments. Informal socialization practices are

interactions and relationships between newcomers and their colleagues, for example,

business trips or company events. The examples of formal personnel instruments

are introduction programs, education trainings, career planning, and performance

evaluations. Induction programs aim to build from the beginning loyalty of the new

employees, help them to identify themselves with the organization and recognize

values and norms of the organization. Through the training and education programs

newcomers learn about job assignments and organizational issues. Additionally,

career planning and couching gives more precise picture about content of the job,

and, as a general rule, with mentor’s support newcomers are more quickly adapted to

the organizational environment. Moreover, feedback and performance appraisals are

one of the essential instruments for the socialization process. That is because

appraisals can assess the extent to which new employees are successfully socialized

and positive feedback can be seen generally as indication of a successful

socialization process (Ardts, Jansen, Mandy van der Velde, 2001, 162p).

2.2. Socialization theories

In recent years, there has been major focus of researchers to gain general

understanding of the socialization process as a specific phenomenon. However, not

many theory studies developed which are used in practice nowadays. There are

several theoretical perspectives through which socialization process can be precisely

determined: uncertainty reduction theory, social cognitive theory, cognitive and sense

making theory and six dimensions of socialization tactics (Saks, Ashforth, 1997,

236p).

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2.2.1. Uncertainty reduction theory

Uncertainty reduction theory is one of the most common frameworks in the field of

socialization research. According to uncertainty reduction theory, new employees

face high extent of uncertainty when entering to an organization. Recruits have

usually big motivation to decrease their uncertainty so they will be able to

understand, in some way to predict and control working environment. The key for

reducing uncertainty is information or knowledge which can be gathered though

different communication means and interactions with agents and colleagues. Once

the level of uncertainty is reduced, newcomers start to perform better in

accomplishment of their tasks, become generally more satisfied with job operations,

and are more likely to stay in the organization. In this respect, various socialization

programs have effect on recruits` adaptation by applying approaches of decreasing

uncertainty and anxiety levels (Saks, Ashforth, 1997, 236p).

Basically, based on the uncertainty reduction theory research about socialization

tactics, training methods and approaches to information seeking were established.

For instance, socialization tactics affect the availability and acquisition of information

and feedback that recruits demand to decrease their uncertainty. The extent to which

newcomers` role is determined and clarified is essential factor of socialization tactics.

Factors like the amount of training and how helpful it was for the newcomer directly

influence on the level of anxiety and uncertainty. Finally, the frameworks of recruit

information seeking have their basis in recruits` needs to decrease uncertainty (Saks,

Ashforth, 1997, 236p).

2.2.2. Social cognitive theory

Social cognitive theory together with human behavior and psychosocial framework

can be viewed in the concept of triadic mutual matter in which cognitive, behavior and

personal aspects and environmental external situations collaborate and affect one

another. There are three factors that are related to the successful organizational

socialization: learning and modeling, goal systems, and self-regulatory instruments of

which self-efficacy assumptions are one of the most vital ones. Self-efficacy can be

explained as sum of assumptions or beliefs in one’s abilities to organize motivation,

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cognitive resources, and directions of activities required in order to fulfill particular

needs. Self-efficacy theory links the researches about socialization process and

training mechanisms. One of the outcomes of such studies demonstrates that

newcomers collect information from role models (agents and colleagues) and from

observation and experimentation techniques that in turn lead to clarity of newcomers`

primary roles and tasks (Saks, Ashforth, 1997, 237p).

2.2.3. Cognitive and Sense making theory

According to cognitive theory recruits try to build meaning of events that happen

during socialization, while processes like information seeking and acquisition are

taking the most attention. Sense making can be seen as a thinking exercise in which

recruits make interpretation and ascribe context to situations through cooperation

with associates, given processes, and adjustment to cognitive scenarios. Newcomers

create situational meanings of organizational reality and build role identities by being

involved in the social communication. This is a mechanism of creating a “cognitive

map” of one’s organizational environment. Generally, cognitive and sense making

theory provide gaps which lead to further development and research of socialization.

For instance, the theory has grounded study on information seeking and acquisition

and at the same time has not analyzed the cognitive aspects associated with

information processing and sense making. Another example could be that

cooperation with agents is one of the most essential aspects of socialization tactics;

however, the approach of transformation of social interactions into organizational

sense has not been fully examined. Moreover, the cognitive approach of sense

making was a starting point for many studies that mostly aimed on information

seeking behavior and communication (Saks, Ashforth, 1997, 238p).

2.3. Socialization tactics

Van Maanen and Schein`s framework is closer related to the theory of organizational

socialization due to the fact that it outlines connection to the structure and outcome of

the socialization process.

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The term “tactics of organizational socialization” can be described as the means in

which experiences of person who transforms from one role to another are prepared

and controlled by other individuals in the organization. Such tactics can be chosen

intentionally by the management of the organization. For example, after recruitment

newcomers experience induction training, which should provide an orientation in the

working environment. Or, organizational tactics can be unintentional, when

newcomers acquire information about patterns of behavior on their own. It is

essential to note that no matter which tactics is selected, each includes a distinct

series of events which affect person during transformational stage (Van Maanen,

Schein, 1979, 34p).

The chosen tactic influences newcomer’s learning experience when adapting to a

particular role. The extent to which a tactic is adopted by the organization is not a

mandatory precondition for the socialization process to take place. However, the

chosen tactics can to some degree accelerate and change the direction of the

socialization process. There are six main organizational tactics related to the

socialization process (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 37p). Organizations can apply

these tactics to design the socialization practices of newcomers. In order to

understand how socialization tactics can affect recruits` orientation in a given role

and integration to the organization, each tactic will be discussed in more detail below

(Saks, Ashforth, 1997, 236p).

2.3.1. Collective vs. individual socialization process

Collective socialization process relates to a tactic of settling a group of recruits who

will together share a series of experiences. The examples of collective socialization

process could be a training session or a professional training program for managers

in a firm. Individual socialization process relates to a tactic of separating recruits from

each other enabling individuals to have more exclusive set of experiences. An

example could be training on the job, where an individual gets familiar with the

organizational role on his or her own. In case of a collective socialization individuals`

point of view, perceptions and activities usually follow the group thinking according to

the “we are on the same boat” principle. Changes in individual’s behavior depend on

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how they interpret issues confronted by all group members. During the individual

socialization process people produce less homogeneous views than during the

collective process (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 39p).

2.3.2. Formal vs. informal socialization process

In formal socialization process individual is relatively isolated from other members of

the organization while going through series of experiences tailored particularly for

him. Usually, formal socialization programs include clearly and officially defined

activities for the newcomers. For comparison, during informal socialization process

there are no specifically prescribed activities and no differentiated training programs

for a newcomer and the rest of members of an organization. For the organizations

that use formal socialization process it is essential that new employee masters the

“right” attitudes, values and norms related to his or her role. In contrast, in case of the

informal socialization newcomers choose their own socialization agents. The agents

play here a crucial role due to provision of the relevant knowledge to the newcomers

and due to their ability to transfer such knowledge (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 46p).

2.3.3. Sequential vs. random steps in the socialization process

Sequential socialization relates to the extent to which an organization defines a

particular order of steps which should help the newcomer to accommodate to his or

hers organizational role. Random socialization takes place when the order of phases

heading towards adapting to his or hers role is undefined, ambiguous and

changeable. However, even in case of random socialization process, set of particular

phases leading to accommodation to the target role exist, it is just not strictly defined

in which order are the stages to be carried out. In the case of the sequential process

it is necessary to understand that the extent to which each phase develops depends

on the previous phase (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 51p).

2.3.4. Fixed vs. variable socialization process

In case of a fixed socialization process the organization provides the newcomer with

the knowledge and conditions of what would be needed to accomplish a given task or

phase. Usually companies have career paths which are clearly fixed time frames and

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newcomer must act in accordance with the timetable or task list. Recruits can be on

the “fast track”, when they have to take new tasks every year, sometimes even

against their own preferences. Or, recruits can be put on the “slow track”, in which

case their assignments remain without any changes for four – five years (Van

Maanen, Schein, 1979, 55p).

During a variable socialization process the trainee has only some clue about what to

await, for example, when to await promotion to the next higher level. Generally, in

case of variable socialization unpredictable and uncontrollable factors may exist and

therefore it is hard to forecast when a given boundary will be passed (Van Maanen,

Schein, 1979, 56p).

2.3.5. Serial vs. disjunctive socialization process

Serial socialization is a process in which experienced members educate newcomers

about identical position in the company. Experienced members represent models that

show the newcomer how to proceed in their new role. On the contrary, in case of the

disjunctive process newcomers do not have predecessors who could explain how to

act in the new role (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 60p). During disjunctive process

newcomers make their own interpretations about organization and situations they

faced. The roles undertaken by newcomers are usually created in isolation as well. In

practice, it is much easier and quicker to learn from others. Serial socialization

process is easier for the newcomer than figuring out on his or hers own “how things

are working” in the organization (Phillips, Gully, 2013, 235p).

2.3.6. Investiture vs. divestiture socialization process

These dimensions of socialization refer to the extent to which the socialization

process is designed to approve or disapprove the characteristics and identity of the

newcomer entering the organization. Investiture process “allows” newcomers to take

their own personal characteristics with them to the organization. This process

accepts the newcomer as he/or she is. At the same time, organization does not try to

change the newcomer. Moreover, organization tries to take advantage of already the

given characteristics of the newcomers (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 64p). In case of

divestiture socialization process some particular personal characteristics of

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newcomers are declined or not accepted. Divestiture process takes place during the

phase when recruits enter the organization during which they have to accomplish

certain tasks to prove their competence for being a member of the organization (Van

Maanen, Schein, 1979, 67p).

The above discussed socialization tactics are correlated with each other and they

have a cumulative influence on the newcomer. Moreover, this connection can either

improve and emphasize or disturb and counterbalance the chosen socialization

tactics. Managers with their knowledge about socialization tactics can better arrange

socialization processes which in turn can increase the chances of receiving desired

results (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 69p). Not only managers play crucial role in the

socialization process in the organization, also the newcomers are one of the core

elements in the process. The following chapter discusses newcomers and the way

how they adapt in an organization.

2.4. Newcomers and their adjustment

Newcomers

Newcomers move through the process of socialization from the position of outsiders

into the position of insiders of the organization. Newcomers are seen as players who

take part in sensemaking process of their workplace or environment, gain knowledge,

look for social encouragement, and try to improve their skills through their own

attempts. The more opportunities and challenges the new employees have to master

and have to deal with in their new roles, the better the newcomers will be able to fit

into the new workplace (Bauer, Green, 1994, 211p).

Bauer and Green discussed and analyzed in their paper the level of involvement of

new employees in working activities which can be considered as chances to get

knowledge about their roles and organizational expectations. Work-related activities

can be seen as opportunities for getting to know the job, organization and its

participants better. Also, in the more work-related activities newcomers get involved,

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the quicker and better they accommodate. This is because of the experience and

knowledge which are gained by newcomers and which can be then applied for

learning about the environment. Moreover, newcomer’s socialization process and its

outcomes are directly affected by the extent of activities taken by the newcomer

(Bauer, Green, 1994, 211p). In the words of Van Mannen and Schein: “New member

must be taught to see the organizational world as do their more experienced

colleagues if the traditions of the organization are to survive” (Van Maanen and

Schein, 1979, 3p).

2.4.1. Model of the newcomer experience

Louis in his study about newcomer’s organizational entry experiences and coping

processes introduced a “model of the newcomer experience”. Besides explaining the

processes through which newcomers go through by the entry into the organization

and during their socialization experience, Louis also identified some important

aspects of the newcomer experience such as change, contrast and surprise. These

aspects relate to the entry into new environments (Louis, 1980, 235p):

Change

Change is the first phase of the entry experience. “Change” is seen as a difference in

main characteristics of the new and old contexts of the newcomer. The more distinct

aspects take place in new setting with the comparison of the old setting of the

newcomer, the more the recruit has to deal with. When recruit gets into new

environment, the person usually faces a change in role, in his professional identity.

Role changes can be followed by changes in status (Louis, 1980, 235p).

Some researchers suggest that once newcomer enters into new working

environment, he or she experiences three barriers: functional, hierarchical and

inclusionary. Those barriers represent three aspects of change for recruits. The

recruit has number of assignments within his or hers functional field (for example,

logistics, leasing or management) and has to learn how to carry them out. From the

perspective of hierarchical barrier, the newcomer gets certain position in hierarchy,

for example a manager has authority over his department employees. Inclusionary

23

barrier is related to informal aspects, information and influence networks. Usually, the

newcomers do not transfer their influence and information access from old setting to

the new one. After some time, they might transfer it, however at the beginning of the

transformation process newcomers are still in an outsider position (Louis, 1980,

235p).

Contrast

Contrast as a feature can be individually recognized but can not be expected in

advance. Contrast relates to difference in appearance of the role or its particular

features against general frameworks known to the newcomer. This arises when

newcomers face new situations. What particularly appears to be acceptable is,

generally speaking, influenced by what was acceptable in the earlier setting of the

newcomer. For instance, how employees dress at the new workplace might or might

not be recognized by the newcomer, based on the dress code contrast to his or hers

previous experience at the old workplace. The existence of a difference in dress

codes is important, however not the most crucial requirement for creation of a

contrast in the context of socialization. Contrast has to be understood mainly in the

context of the individual and his or hers specific perception of reality and the

transition process, meaning that two individuals that experience the same changes

may experience different contrasts (Louis, 1980, 236p).

There are cases when newcomers keep applying their old roles and habits in the new

working environment. When engaged in activities for the very first time at the new

setting, newcomer usually behaves in accordance with memories and experiences

from the old roles. Also, newcomer analyzes features of the new role by applying his

old-role knowledge (Louis, 1980, 236p).

Surprise

Surprise as the third entry experience, represents the difference between personal

expectations and experiences in the new environment. Surprise can be positive or

negative. Surprise usually appears at the time of the encounter phase and demands

24

certain transformation on the side of recruit (Louis, 1980, 237p). Several types of

surprise might occur.

(i) One type of surprise arises when anticipations about work are not met in the

context of recruit’s previous job experiences. (ii) The second type of surprise can take

place when expectations about oneself are not fulfilled. It can happen that during the

encounter phase the newcomer realizes that his or hers actual abilities are different

from his or her earlier attitudes and expectations of him- or herself. (iii) The third type

of surprise occurs when newcomer` s job expectations are not fulfilled or when some

characteristics of the job are unforeseen. Some job features which were earlier

considered to be not that important emerge to be essential and required for the given

job. (iv)The fourth type of surprise occurs when complications by the expected

responses to some known new experiences emerge. For example, individual knows

that he will have to work overtime, but could not imagine how he would feel tired and

exhausted after 3 months working in such regime. The individual in the example new

the facts (overtime work) and he accepted them, but did not know how he would

actually feel. (v) Finally, the fifth type of surprise can come from the newcomer` s

cultural believes. Surprise appears when newcomer uses his earlier cultural

assumptions from old work setting and applies them at the new work setting; which

often leads to failure (Louis, 1980, 238p).

Recognition of changes, contrasts, and surprises during the newcomer` s entry

experience is a key factor by creating organizational systems aimed on newcomer` s

successful transformation process.

2.4.2. Adjustment models of newcomers

There are many views in the literature about the factors influencing the adjustment

process in the context of organizational socialization. For example, Fisher views

newcomer adjustment process through tasks and social transitions (Bauer, Bodner,

Tucker, 2007, 708p).Generally, Fisher defines the significance of creating

interpersonal relationships in the working environment and analyzes linkage between

social support, stress and outcomes (Adkins, 1995, 841p). Individuals who have

social support during their integration process experience less negative outcomes

(e.g. depression). Social support plays major role in adjustment process

25

independently of whether or not individuals have stress. At the same time positive

social interactions with colleagues and their support can contribute to successful

management of stressful situations (Grant-Vallone, Ensher, 2001, 265p).

Feldman, on the other hand, proposes an adjustment model with three stages: (i)

anticipatory socialization, (ii) encounter, (iii) change and acquisition. The first phase

involves learning process before entry to organization. In the second phase

newcomer investigates what organization is about. During this stage the process of

transferring values, attitudes and skills appears. The last stage consists of change-

activities like learning skills, playing new roles, making necessary adjustments.

Feldman` s framework works with process and outcome variables. The process

variables demonstrate how person is successfully completing some tasks in the

socialization process, the outcome variables show the “norm” by which the

development through socialization process can be analyzed and measured

(Feldman, 1981, 310 p).

Further, Bauer et al. introduce a model of newcomer adjustment which consists of:

antecedents (information seeking and organizational socialization tactics)

New employees have to always adjust to the conditions of the organization that apply

specific socialization tactics. At the same time, new employees are seeking for

information that will help them to adjust to different situations in the organization.

After newcomers enter the organization their uncertainty is reduced. The reduction of

uncertainty appears when newcomers try to decline uncertainty through getting

information via different communication channels or intercommunication with insiders

of the organization. Due to the fact that organizations` aims for newcomers may vary,

it is important that newcomers know what is required from them for a successful

process of adjustment (Bauer, Bodner, Tucker, 2007, 709p).

three main indicators (role-clarity, self-efficacy, social acceptance)

One of the three key indicators of newcomer adjustment is called role clarity. Role

clarity means the level to which newcomers understand their work tasks, priorities

and time allocation. Role clarity is also about how newcomers view their roles and

26

can make right decisions in conflict situations within team group or organization.

Second indicator is self-efficacy that relates to newcomers` learning process during

the new job and related activities, achieving confidence in the role and gaining high

level of performance during work. Third indicator, social acceptance, refers to being

admitted and trusted by colleagues, recognizing groups` norms, values and culture

(Feldman, 1981, 310 p).

outcomes (performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment,

intensions to remain and turnover)

Outcomes of adjustment are performance, job attitudes and turnover. Employees

with clear picture of their role and expectations are more likely to have high level of

performance. Also the level of performance is greater when employees believe in the

accomplishment of their tasks and when they are generally accepted by their peers.

Building social relationships with colleagues can be viewed as creation of social

capital which increases newcomer’s job performance. New employees with not clear

roles are usually less satisfied and committed to the organization. Likewise,

newcomers with greater level of self-efficacy are more confident about accomplishing

successfully their job tasks which in turn leads to be more satisfied and committed.

Additionally, having social support is important and generally might affect job

attitudes. The turnover depends on how employees are able to adjust to their roles,

how they understand their role and perform their tasks, how successfully they build

relationships with their peers (Bauer, Bodner and Tucker, 2007, 710p).

2.5. Group socialization

Socialization can be viewed as a phenomenon which arises at the beginning of

process of formation of a group or a team. Generally, the team` s socialization begins

when newcomer enters the team, recognizes the significance of recruitment practices

which often create formal team membership. The team’s socialization reaches its

final point when the group and the new member build fixed relationship between

each other. Usually, this fixed relationship determines the new member` s role within

27

the group, which is settled to the satisfaction of the group as well as of newcomer

(Jackson, Stone, Alvarez, 1993, 59p).

Levine and Moreland introduced a group socialization model. This model provides

description and explanation of relationships between groups and their members. The

model of group socialization determines the passage of individuals through groups.

The main objective of the model is to analyze both individuals` and groups` changes

during the whole process of their collaboration. Levine and Moreland believed that

the relationships between groups and individuals are not fixed, but rather changeable

systematically. Additionally, the groups and individuals can be considered as two

bodies that affect each other (Levine, Moreland, 1994, 307p).

There are three mechanisms that influence group socialization:

Evaluation, which is associated with effort of the group and individual to

evaluate and increase their rewards. Every group has objectives which it

needs to achieve; it appraises individuals regarding their contribution to

accomplishment of goals. Evaluation includes making decisions regarding

which goals an individual needs to assist with, choosing patterns of behavior

through which contribution will be made, creating expectations for each

pattern, and making comparison between expected behavioral patterns and

individual` s actual behavior. In case the individual does not fit under group’s

expectations, group can make some remedial actions for declining the

difference between expected and actual behavior. Similarly, the individual

involves in evaluation process to identify to which extent the group satisfies his

own demands (Levine, Moreland, 1994, 308p).

Commitment, which is affected by the outcomes of the evaluation, underlies

the group’s and individual’s assumptions about benefit of their relationships.

Commitment and behavior of individual and group are related to each other.

For example, when the individual has commitment toward group, he or she

recognizes group’s objectives, values and norms, has well-developed social

communication with colleagues, meets group expectations and accomplishes

its objectives, as well as tries to maintain membership in the group. Likewise, if

28

a group experiences commitment toward individual, then the group admits

individual’s demands and values, aims to positively influence the individual,

tries to meet individual’s expectations and at the same time to fulfill the

individual` s needs. Generally, the level of commitment and the concept of

relationships among individual and group are changing constantly (Levine,

Moreland, 1994, 308p).

Role transitions represents re-characterizing of the individual` s relationship to

the group and through that influencing the way the two bodies influence each

other. Role transition usually associates with certain ceremonies made to

make clear that particular change occurred. After role transition, evaluation is

continuously going on, while generating additional changes in commitment

(Levine, Moreland, 1994, 308p).

Group socialization model

As a result of the above mechanisms, the individual is likely to go through five stages

of group socialization: investigation, socialization, maintenance, resocialization, and

remembrance. Further, those five stages can be divided between four types of role

transitions – entry, acceptance, divergence, and exit.

1. The first stage refers to investigation, where individual is on the position of

potential member of the group. Group is involved in recruitment process and

seeks for individuals who can be involved in accomplishment of group

objectives. At the same time individual searches for group that can fulfill

individual` s needs. If the requirements of both sides meet, the entry role

transition appears and the individual turns into new group member (Levine,


2. During the second stage - socialization, the group tries to influence and

change the individual in a way that he or she can participate more in

accomplishment of group objectives. From the individual perspective, he or

she also tries to affect the group, so it can be more involved in fulfillment of

29

individual needs. Once the commitment levels of both sides meet, the

acceptance role transition takes place and the individual moves to the position

of complete member (Levine, Moreland, 1994, 309p).

3. The third stage – maintenance indicates how the group and individual involve

in role negotiation. The group seeks to find a role for individual which

maximizes accomplishment of group goals. At the same time individual also

tries to identify role for the group which maximizes the achievement of

individual needs. In case of success of role negotiation, the commitment levels

of both sides keep high. However, if role negotiation did not succeed and the

commitment levels are low, then the divergence role transition takes place and

the individual turns into marginal member of the group (Levine, Moreland,

1994, 309).

4. The forth stage of group socialization is so called resocialization. In this phase

group attempts to reevaluate the individual’s position and input to ensure

achievement of group objectives. Similarly, the individual seeks to rearrange

the group` s contribution to the satisfaction of individual needs. When both

sides have succeeded, assimilation and accommodation take place (Levine,


5. The last stage – remembrance can be viewed as the final stage of

relationships between group and individual. When the group succeeds to

repeat previous contributions to the accomplishment of group objectives, the

remembrances turn into group traditions. Individual and group can involve in

continuing evaluation process of their relationships, assuming that they

maintain having effect on each other` s outcomes (Levine, Moreland, 1994,

311p).

By analyzing different stages of the group socialization model, Levine together with

and Moreland emphasize the importance of exploring other different aspects of group

phenomena such as linkage between socialization and group development,

innovation in group, and group culture.

30

Group socialization and group development

The relationship between group socialization and group development can be

explained from various perspectives. The process of group development partly

depends on members who pass through several phases of group membership.

Additionally, the socialization process of new members and re-socialization of

marginal group members can slow down the process of group development. This can

happen due to deficiency of resources and time that are assigned for socialization

and re-socialization which aid to the group development. Potential members also can

influence on group development by requesting additional conditions before entering

the group. On the other hand, ex-members can slow down the development by

requesting the group to stay the same as it was when they were members (Levine,


Not only socialization of group ` s members can influence on group development;

also group development itself has its own effect on organizational socialization

process. For example, some types of group socialization activities take place only in

particular phases of group development. Usually, investigation activities of

socialization occur in the forming phase of group development, the other activities

(socialization, maintenance, resocializaton) do not appear because the norms of the

group have not developed in that phase (Levine, Moreland, 1994, 316p).

Innovation in group

Any changes in relationships between group and individuals can influence the

process and outcome of innovation process. Innovation is linked to the extent of

commitment between individual and group. If the group is highly committed to the

individual than he or she also responds toward the group, such cooperation leads to

the appearance of innovation. Individual` s commitment also influences the

motivation to make an effort toward innovation. Moreover, different forms of

innovation occur during each of the five phases of group socialization model. For

instance, in the investigation phase potential members can generate innovation by

asking questions about the group; such questions “push” group to make self-analysis

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and change some processes as group` s structure, norms, dynamics (Levine,


Another example can be seen during maintenance phase of group socialization. On

that phase full-fledged members often have authority in the group which allows them

to generate innovation. There can be also situations when those members assign

innovation to other representatives of the group. In such situations coalitions form

and cooperation between members becomes essential (Levine, Moreland, 1994,

317p).

Group culture

A culture of group is described as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the

group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration

that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to

new members as a correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those

problems” (van Muijen, n.d., 118p). Culture is created during the learning process

while the group is dealing with issues of internal integration and external adaptation.

External adaptation refers to the process of achieving objectives and negotiating with

outsiders. Internal integration involves development of collective identity and creating

approaches to cooperation and coexistence. Culture of an organization makes its

members socialize through cognitive, emotional and perceptual programs which

enable to interpret organizational and environmental processes and events (van

Muijen, n.d., 122p).

2.6. Aspects of group socialization

In the research about organizational socialization Bauer together with her coauthors

analyzed different aspects of the socialization process. For example, the course of

socialization process might be affected by formal organizational structures and

processes, social interactions with insiders, or newcomer` s characteristics and

behaviors.

32

2.6.1. Organizational structures and processes

Socialization is an organizational process which is affected by organizational

structures and activities. Additionally, also the organization` s attitude towards

diversity can influence on socialization process to some extent. Newcomers can view

the existence of certain attitude towards diversity as indicator how coworkers will

treat them in the team. For instance, in the organizations that popularize the idea of

diversity as a factor which adds value, newcomer might assume that the team will

treat him or her as a valuable resource (Hurst, Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012,

127p).

Organizational tactics

Organizations adopt different tactics for socializing newcomers. There can be various

reasons why organizations apply one or another socialization tactic over another,

however, one of the main reasons is the existing culture. There are differences in

socialization tactics between organizations in individualistic culture and collectivist

culture. In individualistic cultures individuals are more likely to value and maintain

their individuality and independence. Similarly, within a collectivist culture, individuals

more appreciate group membership, loyalty and conformity, and learn to subordinate

their personal interest to the interest of the team. Organizations within collectivist

cultures are more likely to use collective forms of socialization, when recruits are put

through a mutual set of experiences as a team (Bauer, Morrison, Callister,

1998, 183p).

Several studies have been focused on the impact of organizational tactics on

newcomer’s orientation, personal adaption, role innovation and commitment. In

addition, Allen in his study identified that organizational tactics affect newcomer

turnover through embedding them more actively into the organization. Collective,

fixed and investiture socialization tactics were the most significantly linked to on-the-

job embeddedness (Allen, 2006, 251p).

33

Recruitment practices

There have been empirical studies regarding recruitment practices, which are vital in

the process of socialization, because of their ability to influence the newcomer

expectations. One of the views was that newcomers prefer to have formal, structured

orientation and training programs, rather than informal ones. However, newcomer` s

preferences about induction processes may vary with accordance of socialization

tactic that is established in particular organization. There have been studies that

analyzed how internships can affect adjustment process. For example, according to

one study, internship job experience significantly relates to the job satisfaction,

motivation, organizational commitment and job involvement. Another study about

influence of internships on socialization concluded, that individuals with internship

experience faced lower reality shock during entering their full-time jobs. Many studies

have been discussing the gap between expectations of newcomer and recruitment-

related activities. If expectations of newcomer are met, there is a positive link to the

job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intent to remain, and job performance. In

the case of unmet expectations, it is necessary that organization provides additional

support for meeting those expectations and at the same time assistance to

newcomers during the transition period. Generally, if the newcomer’s expectations

are met, it is more likely that there will be successful adjustment process (Bauer,

Morrison, Callister, 1998, 167p).

Job characteristics

The studies related to the impacts of job characteristics suggest that, job

characteristics play important role for newcomer` s motivation and job attitude.

Additionally, autonomy, feedback and job context are significantly linked to the job

satisfaction, organizational commitment and performance. It is necessary that

organizations recognize importance of expectations and support newcomers until

they will pass the phase of “reality shock”. Organizational characteristics such as

size, structure, and technology might have impact on the socialization process as

well; however, there were no researches that would analyze the degree of influence

(Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 165p).

34

2.6.2. Interactions with agents

Not just formal processes and structures of the organization have impact on the

socialization, but also interactions between newcomer and team members play

crucial role in the adaptation process. Agents of socialization are peers, supervisors

and mentors. Such agents provide picture of the organization and its operations to

newcomers. They also can provide recommendations, job instructions and social

support (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 168p).

Social support

Social support can have different forms, such as assistance in accomplishing tasks,

provision of advises, and generally social acceptance into team. Social support is

also significantly linked to the diversity factor. For instance, when new employee

enters the team and has different skills and experiences from his or her colleagues,

the newcomer can be viewed as a valuable resource to the particular team and

perception of interdependence may be promoted. At the same time coworkers

provide support to encourage the sense of interdependence with which the team can

create solutions to specific issues (Hurst, Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012,

122p).

Generally, interdependent objectives and tasks raise the need of communication and

induce individuals to be more motivated to cooperate with each other. Close

collaboration between newcomer and team members leads to exploration of mutual

capabilities and personal characteristics in order to get to know each other (Hurst,

Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012, 126p).

Further, the quality of relationship between newcomer and manager influences

different job attitudes. Managers bring guidance and valuable information to

newcomers. Several studies have analyzed relationships between managers and

newcomers by investigating how agents` behavior toward the newcomer might

influence newcomer accommodation. The findings show that behaviors of managers

have significant impact on newcomer learning process and accommodation,

furthermore have indirect impact on performance (Bauer, Green, 1994, 82p).

35

Network relationships

Recently there has been presented research by Morison, who analyzed how patters

of social relationship affected socialization. She believes that network relationships

can be significant for newcomer` s learning and integration and those different

structures of relationships imply various outcomes for socialization success. Morison

also made a gap about relationship between the range and status of newcomers`

information network and indicators of learning, which consist of organizational

knowledge, task mastery and role clarity (Morrison, 2002, 1150p).

For instance, newcomers who have large information networks across different

organizational units, are more likely to have higher level of organizational knowledge

(knowing about one` s organizational context). Similarly, those newcomers who have

stronger information networks are more likely to master their job tasks and have

greater role clarity. In addition, a network that gives “full picture” will allow newcomer

to find out how his or her position is interdependent with other individuals who play

distinct roles in the organization (Morrison, 2002, 1156p).

Last but not least, what is as well interesting is, that when the newcomer had

friendship networks, which consisted of colleagues from various departments, he or

she had greater level of commitment to the organization. As a result, newcomers

seem to better integrate into organization when they have larger networks (Morrison,

2002, 1157p).

Aspects of the team

Despite the significance of relationships between newcomer and team members, the

general atmosphere in the team, its features and culture are the aspects which also

are necessary to consider in the analysis of socialization process. Every team has its

norms, traditions and habits that can influence the level of newcomer` s adjustment.

Such team` s characteristics either can encourage or discourage socialization

through availability of resources to newcomers. Teams with a high level of identity

usually try to transfer their identity fully to newcomers, which may or may not be

helpful for the newcomer to accommodate. Team cultures, which support or admit the

36

concept of diversity of the team, may establish attitudes that promote integration

process of newcomers (Hurst, Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012, 127p).

Additionally, openness as one of the features of team’s culture may affect the way

how newcomer adjusts. Team` s culture is shaped by personalities in the team and

the team` s tasks. For example, teams which are strongly devoted to particular set of

actions due to their complicated tasks or due to specific personal characteristics of

team members might not accept newcomer who is diverse, presents conflicting views

or knowledge (Hurst, Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012, 128p).

2.6.3. Newcomer characteristics and behaviors

Despite the significant recognition of possible external and internal factors that might

affect socialization process, one of the major role given to newcomers, who promote

and regulate socialization process. Newcomers are active participants in the process

of alignment themselves and their new working environment.

Personal attributes

Newcomers get in the organization with their particular set of principles, values,

norms, experiences and skills. These attributes need to be taken into consideration

during the socialization process. Personal characteristics can influence individuals’

attitudes toward the organization, which in turn influences outcomes of organizational

socialization (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 170p). Individual differences allow

newcomers to play their roles and face challenges variously. The way how

newcomers integrate with their environment and how they behave influences the

process of socialization. In that context, socialization is seen as a process guided by

organizational efforts and by newcomers themselves (Bauer, Morrison, Callister,

1998, 174p).

Work experience

The past work experience may also affect the socialization process, because

experience has an impact on the expectations of newcomers. More work experienced

37

individuals, specifically within analogous jobs or organizations, should experience

less stress connected to the organization ` s requirements, and should adjust to their

new roles more easily and quickly. Previous job experience can assist newcomer` s

coping, because he or she can apply coping approaches which were effective for

newcomers previously. In addition, previous experience is significantly correlated to

the job satisfaction and role conflict (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 171p).

Behavior of newcomer

The extent to which both newcomers and members of the organization are proactive

in making interaction with each other influences the socialization process. There have

been several studies and few frameworks have been proposed with respect to the

patterns of proactive behavior. One of the frameworks was behavioral self-

management which was introduced by Ashford and Black. The self-management

framework consists of self-observation, self-goal setting, self-reward, self-punishment

and rehearsal. According to the results of the framework analysis the self-

management enables to reduce anxiety at the beginning of employment and links to

factors of successful socialization process (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 179p).

Also newcomer` behavior might depend on how their values and the values of the

organization match. Further, behavior might be influenced by the extent, to which

their preferences are incorporated in the socialization tactics and strategies of the

organization (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 180p).

Personality

Personal characteristics such as openness, extraversion and self-confidence can

affect the level of success of newcomer socialization process. Extraversion is

certainly related to the developing relationship with coworkers, creating positive

attitudes and seeking feedback. If newcomer is “different” in some extent to his or her

colleagues and is open to cooperate, he or she might look at the situation as a good

opportunity to learn about coworker’s ways of thinking and how they are dealing with

work tasks (Hurst, Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012, 124p). Newcomer with high

extent of self-efficacy and need for growth can better settle in their new roles and

38

more effectively deal with challenges; thus more easily adjust to new setting and their

cultural knowledge (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998,172p).

Motivation factors

The extent to which the individual will be successfully socialized or integrated into

team also depends on his or her motivation. For example, if the newcomer has a high

level of self-efficacy, it means he is able to solve any kind of task. Such approach

leads to deeper understanding of newcomer’s own role and at the same time

supporting social learning in the organizational environment. Additionally, if the

newcomer has more “freedom” or independence in the new role, then he or she is

highly motivated to succeed in that particular role, which leads to increase level of

socialization (Feij, 1998, 227p).

Aspects of working role

In the organization employees have different roles which are connected to their

particular responsibilities and benefits to the organization. Socialization literature

suggests that there is an interconnection between role dimensions and the extent to

which newcomer is socialized. Fro example, the effective socialization process

depends not only on newcomer’s personal appreciation of his or her role, but also on

the fact, if the choice for the role was made voluntarily or not. Another influential

aspect is the level of performance demand; in other words, the level to which

organization requires newcomer’s commitment to the role, or the extent to which new

skills have to be achieved and to which new employee has to withdraw his or her

identity.

The task aspects (like task content, task characteristics, the level of difficulty to

accomplish, conditions for performance) may also affect the process and the

outcomes of socialization process. In addition to the task aspects, particular aspects

of his or hers working unit are significant for the newcomer to be successfully

integrated and socialized. Aspects of working unit refer to the issues such as: the

extent to which employees of the organization depend on each other with relation to

work flow and assignments that are distributed (Feij, 1998, 230p).

39

The above literature review shows that there are numerous studies, models and

frameworks related to the socialization process. The term socialization process was

defined; several socialization theories and tactics were described. Further,

newcomers and their adjustment was discussed, as well as numerous studies about

group socialization process and its indicators, stages of group socialization and

general interconnection between the group and socialization paradigm were

reviewed. In addition, it was necessary to discuss also what might influence the

socialization process.

2.7. Research gap – socialization in an international team

The literature relatively broadly examines the phenomenon of group socialization and

how an individual adjusts into a new organization or particularly the integration of an

individual into a team. However, during the literature review I noticed lack of research

specifically aimed on the area of international teams. Although socialization in an

international team will be generally influenced by factors influencing socialization into

any group, and the above socialization frameworks and models will apply in an

international team more or less in the same extent as in any other case, there might

be additional potential risk factors influencing the socialization process, or some

factors might play a more significant role than the others. This might be caused

mainly due to certain specifics of an international team, including team diversity,

different cultural backgrounds of the team members, their cultural values, personality

characteristics which might be subject to cultural influences, or language differences.

Due to globalization and internationalization of today’s business , there have been

increased number of expatriate managers who moved for working and living abroad

and face the challenge to adjust to new work culture and environment (Black,

Mendenhall, Oddou, 1991, 291p). Black et al. in their paper examined the issue of

international adjustment, compared it with domestic adjustment and underlined which

factors influence on the international adjustment. Focusing on the review of the

international adjustment literature, he analyzed three predeparture variables

40

(including previous experience, predeparture training, and candidate selection) and

two postarrival variables (including individual skills and non-work factors). The first

three variables determine issues that appear before individuals move from their home

countries, and the other two categories reflect issues, which expatriates face after

their arrival into new foreign working environment (Black, Mendenhall, Oddou, 1991,

295p).

Another research has been made on the expatriate socialization by Feldman and

Bolino, who focus on investigation of how on-site mentors are significant for the

successful socialization of expatriates into their foreign working environment. On-site

mentoring is significantly linked to quick learning of new tasks, better adjustment to

groups and higher commitment to the organization; thus, with the help of on-site

mentors expatriates socialize into new working environment and adjust to new

cultures. Feldman and Bolino studied mentoring in the international context; they

examined the relationship between international environment and the on-site

mentoring which expatriates get. In addition, they investigated how the amount of

mentoring influences the socialization process and how the socialization of expatriate

has impact on job attitudes and behaviors (Feldman, Bolino, 1991, 55p).

Generally, expatriate job assignments demand adaptation to international

environments. Expatriates may face various challenges abroad due to existence of

cultural differences or language barriers and they might find it difficult to adjust into

new setting. Palthe in her study about international expatriates examined the

importance of organizational socialization, self-efficacy and learning orientation on

the cross-cultural adjustment (Palthe, 2003, 38p).

The international aspect becomes in the times of globalization, existence of

international management and working teams more and more important. Nowadays

are many companies and their activities internationalized, they operate in more than

one country and often build international teams. Researchers focus on factors

influencing group socialization process as formal organizational structures and

processes, social interactions with insiders, or newcomer` s characteristics and

behaviors, but to which of them should be paid more attention during building of an

international team? Which, if any, might represent a higher risk of failure to socialize

41

a new team member into an international team? By paying more attention to the

factors influencing the socialization specifically in an international team, problems

which might arise by socialization of individuals from different nationalities can be

identified and appropriately addressed when creating international teams.

The following sections of the diploma thesis are concerned with the empirical

research related to the above topics and methodology providing detailed information

about research approach and the description of the data analysis techniques that

were applied.

42

3. Methodology

The methodology part of the diploma thesis describes the research approach, the

data collection method and instruments used to make an analysis of data.

The diploma thesis includes both theoretical part and empirical research. Theoretical

part explores basic concepts and definitions relevant to the organizational

socialization by review of secondary information sources. The secondary information

sources include mainly scientific articles, case studies and research papers related to

the topic.

The empirical part of the diploma thesis includes qualitative research consisting of in

depth, face to face and telephone interviews through Skype with teams which went

through the socialization process. The way in which was the empirical research

conducted is described in more detail below.

3.1. The research approach

The empirical research is based on qualitative research which allows focusing on the

participants’ opinions, attitudes and the reasons behind their opinion, thus analyzing

the research question in depth and detail. Further, in order to achieve the objectives,

a case study approach was used. Research question and how the research was

conducted are discussed below.

3.1.1. Research question

The research question is: what factors are influencing successful socialization of a

newcomer into an international team?

3.1.2. Research context

The identification of factors influencing successful socialization of a newcomer into an

international team is done based on analysis of 3 real life cases and experiences.

There were conducted in – depth face to face (resp. Skype call) interviews with 3

teams which went through the process of socialization.

43

The interviews were conducted with members of 3 international teams from the area

of business organizations and research and development. All 3 teams can be

characterized by international background, size of ca. 10 members, 3 - 6 years of

mutual cooperation and ca. 2 years since the newcomer joined the team.

According to Eisenhardt and Graebner, in order to get rich empirical data from the

interviews, one of the condition is to use numerous and highly knowledgeable

informants who can consider the studied phenomena from different perspectives. The

interviewees should come from diverse hierarchical levels, functional fields and

geographies (Eisenhardt, Graebner, 2007, 28p). Due to this, the interviews were

conducted with 3 people from each team, i.e. in total with 9 people. The interviews

were always conducted with the newcomer, close colleague with whom the

newcomer cooperates on daily basis and the team leader.

Team 1 represents an international team from risk management department of an

international leasing company active in Austria, Germany and 5 central and eastern

European countries, with headquarters in Linz, Austria (further referred to as Team 1

– Leasing). Team 2 represents a team of a shared services center providing HR

services internationally, to different branches of a multinational company in the

healthcare industry, based in Prague, Czech Republic (further referred to as Team 2

- HR). Team 3 represents a team of research workers from a well known university,

conducting research in the area of development of industrial technologies, based in

Linz, Austria (further referred to as Team 3 – Research). More details regarding the

organizations, teams and role of the team members are summarized in the below

table.

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Table 1: Research context – analyzed cases

Team 1 – Leasing Team 2 – HR Team 3 - ResearchOrganization International

leasing companyMultinational corporation in

healthcare services

University

Department/Team function

Risk management and operations –

CEE region

Human resources –EMEA region

Research in the area of industrial

technologies

Number of members in the team

8 10 9

Nationalities in the team

AT, CZ, HR, PL, RO, SK

CZ, DO, IT, SK, RU, US

AT, HR, IRN, IT, NL

Age of team members

29 – 40 years 24 – 38 years 25 – 40 years

Time of cooperation up to 5,5 years up to 3 years up to 6 years

Role of the newcomer

Risk manager Recruitment specialist

Development of research related to

material characterization

Newcomer nationality

SK RU IT

Age of the newcomer 29 27 26Time in organization 2 years 1,5 years 2 years

Role of the close colleague

Senior risk manager

Senior recruitment specialist

Simulations, computer modeling and programming

Role of the team leader

Head of risk management

Head of recruitment Senior scientist –material

characterization

Role of other team members

Local risk managers – CZ, HR, PL, RO, SK

Other areas of HR, including learning &

development, employment contracts etc.

Other research projects

Source: own research

3.2. Data collection method and instruments

To gain insights into the socialization process of the chosen 3 teams, semi-structured

interviews as a data collection method were chosen.

3.2.1. Semi-structured interviews

As the research was mainly focused on the participants’ opinions, attitudes and the

reasons behind their opinions the interviews were conducted using a semi-structured

interview. A semi-structure interview is one of the best techniques for learning about

45

motivation of people, the reasons of their choices and behaviors, their attitudes and

believes. Semi-structured interviews often correspond to the case with small samples

and are appropriate for studying specific situations or for complementing and

certifying information acquired from other sources. Also, semi-structured interviews

are useful for getting insight information regarding complex and sensitive issues

(Laforest, 2009, 1p).

The interviews with all teams and team members took between 25 – 30 minutes. In

case of Team 1 – Leasing and Team 3 – Research, face to face interviews in the

premises of questioned teams or in the nearby coffee places were conducted. The

interviews with the team members of Team 2 – HR were held over Skype phone

calls, as the team is located in Prague, Czech Republic.

3.2.2. Interview questions

The interviews included open questions, theory driven/hypothesis questions,

confrontational questions and a topic guide was used in order to ensure that the

interviews do not derive from the main topic.

Questions for newcomer

The questions addressed to the newcomer included 18 questions containing general

information to make a picture about setting of the case and understand the

newcomers role in the organization, such as nationality, how long is the newcomer

working in the organization, his or her working responsibilities. To identify the task

related and personal factors which might influence the socialization process,

questions about previous working experience, motivation and expectations when

entering new environment, were asked.

To understand how the adaptation process went, questions regarding first days at

work, what helped the newcomer to find orientation, induction process, interaction

with members, colleagues` support, significant events, barriers in communication

among members, or existence of culture in the team, were included. To see to which

extent the socialization was successful, questions regarding the current situation

46

were asked during the interview. This included questions regarding assessment of

the position within team, adaptation period, breaking point/ event, evaluation of

socialization process and ideal scenario of socialization process compared with

actual experience.

Questions for colleague

There were 17 questions for the newcomer’s closest colleague. To understand to

which extent the colleague collaborates with the newcomer questions regarding how

long was the colleague member of the team, collaboration and interaction with

newcomer were asked the interviewee. To gain insights into the adaptation process,

colleagues` involvement in the adaptation process, intercultural differences among

members, teams` culture and habits were investigated.

To see how the team can influence socialization, it was further examined how the

adaptation process of the new member from the colleague’s point of view went, and

further, questions regarding interaction of new member with the team, changes in

newcomer` behavior and reasons behind these changes, were raised in the

interview. To identify factors, which might not have been forecasted, potential factors

influencing the socialization process, description of own socialization process the

colleague experienced and suggestions for improvement were discussed.

Questions for team leader

Questions for team leader included 21 questions. To gain information about the team

characteristics, the team leader was asked questions regarding number of members

in the team, age, nationality, language within the team, professional background of

team members, their working experience, personal characteristics, intercultural

differences, team's culture and general atmosphere in team.

To gain information on how the organization can influence socialization, questions

related to the induction in the organization including role and responsibilities during

adaptation period, approaches and technique to speed up the socialization process

were discussed with the team leader. Additionally, to be able to evaluate how the

47

team influences the adaptation process, questions with respect to the leader` s

expectations from new member, role of the team in socialization process, changes in

team behavior, interaction between members and newcomer, support /help from the

team and differences in relationships in the team with time, were debated. To

determine further aspects of socialization which might not have been forecasted,

opinion about fundamental factors influencing socialization and leader` s socialization

process was explored in the interview.

The interviews were recorded and the results were evaluated and analyzed. Based

on the results of the interviews, hypothesis and conclusions about factors influencing

socialization of new member into international team were drawn. More details about

how the data was analyzed can be found in the following chapter.

3.3. Data analysis

The empirical information gathered during the interviews was analyzed in 3 steps:

Step 1: within-case analysis

First step represents a within-case analysis. Within-case analysis includes detailed

description of the case of each team. Case study descriptions enable to generate

insights into the data and generally help to deal with huge amount of information. In

addition to the description of socialization process of each team, tables summarizing

each case will be provided. It is necessary to get familiar with each case on stand-

alone basis. It provides the possibility to explore particular patterns of each case

before making generalization of common patterns among cases and implying cross-

case analysis (Eisenhardt, 1989, 539p).

Step 2: cross-case analysis

Second step is about making effective cross-case analysis, where data will be

examined in various ways. The cross-case analysis will include presentation of the

similarities and differences between three teams. This analysis will lead to the

identification of the factors influencing socialization process. Such approach will

48

enable to gain better understanding and at the same time may provide new factors

which were not forecasted before (Eisenhardt, 1989, 541p).

Step 3: identification of factors

In this step factors influencing socialization process will be identified based on

detailed analysis of the cases. For this purpose tabular, resp. matrix, approach will be

used.

Based on the outcomes of the within-case analysis a two dimension matrix for each

case will be created. The matrix will be divided into columns representing

interviewees involved in the socialization process and rows summarizing the

available information about the socialization process of the particular cases. The

matrix will be then filled out with data from the interview notes.

According to Miles and Huberman there are several ways how the matrix data can be

entered: “(i) direct quotes, extracts from written up field notes, (ii) summaries,

paraphrases or abstracts, (iii) researcher explanations, (iv) ratings or summarized

judgments, (v) combination of the above “(Miles, Huberman, 1994, 241p). Approach

using combination of the above methods will be used to fill out the matrix data.

Similarly, based on the cross-case analysis a two dimension matrix with columns

representing the 3 various cases and rows including similarities and differences, will

be created.

As Miles and Huberman suggest further, there are several tactics which can be used

to draw first conclusions based on the created matrices. These tactics include: (i)

noting patterns, themes, (ii) making contrast, and comparison, (iii) clustering, and (iv)

counting. By analysis of each matrix multiple of those tactics will be always used

(Miles, Huberman, 1994, 243p). Factors influencing the socialization process will be

identified by noting patterns, clustering information, making comparison, as well as

putting to contrast the interview statements.

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4. Findings of the Empirical Study

The empirical information gathered during interviews was analyzed. The analysis

was performed in 3 steps: (i) within-case analysis, (ii) cross-case analysis, and (iii)

identification of factors.

4.1. Within-case analysis

As already mentioned in the methodology part, the purpose of a within-case analysis

is to describe in detail how the socialization process went in each of the teams on a

standalone basis. The purpose is to explore particular patterns of each case before

making generalization of common patterns among cases and implying cross-case

analysis.

4.1.1. Team 1 – Leasing

Main roles and responsibilities

Team 1 represents an international team from risk management and operations

department of an international leasing company active in Austria, Germany and 5

central and eastern European countries (further referred to as the „CEE region”), with

headquarters in Linz, Austria. There are in total 8 team members in the team,

covering the risk management activities in the CEE region. Team members come

from different countries including Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Romania

and Slovakia and are 29 – 40 years old. Three out of the team members are placed

in the headquarters in Linz, the rest of the team is placed in 5 CEE countries

including Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The

communication with the team members placed outside of Linz is done on day to day

basis per telephone and e-mail. The team is led by the Head of risk management

department placed in Linz.

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The newcomer joined the team on a position of a CEE risk manager in the

Headquarters in Linz. The main role and working responsibilities of the newcomer

include assessment of credit risk, evaluation and support by processing of

applications for leasing financing, preparation of reporting for the management of the

Holding and coordination of anti-money laundering agenda for the Group. These

tasks require daily communication with other team members placed in the above

CEE countries and close cooperation with colleagues and the Head of the

department placed in Linz. The colleague closest to the newcomer has more

responsibilities concerning the theoretical part of the job (working on risk

management standards and manuals), having more technical background and

knowledge in comparison with the newcomer, while the newcomer should cover

mainly the operations and communication with the other CEE countries.

Background and expectations

The newcomer worked before in a consulting company providing tax, legal and

assurance (audit) services, participating on several audits of banks and leasing

companies. One of the main clients on which the newcomer worked in his previous

job and in which case he was a team leader on the assignment was a leasing

company. The newcomer was therefore familiar with operations and technical issues

related to leasing and things like credit risk, financial analysis and assessment of

creditworthiness of companies, things which were relevant for his new role. Although

the newcomer was not directly a member of an international team before, he worked

in an international environment: the company language in his previous job was

English; he cooperated with different nationalities and clients from different countries

and was also part of a team under a director from the UK. Thus, the newcomer was

aware of issues which might arise in an international team. These issues included

mainly differences in communication (language barriers) and in working habits.

Before joining the team 5, 5 years ago, the newcomer’s closest colleague has 2

years of experience in a big international company in an accounting and controlling

department and business administration. From the point of view of the team leader,

she had relevant working experience for her role which was proved as well by her

performance in the team before the newcomer joined. Although the newcomer had a

51

relevant background working several years in a consulting company as an external

auditor, he did not have such extensive experience in leasing.

Newcomer joined the organization to progress his career; he wanted to change job

from consulting area to the business, as well as change environment, work abroad

and get some international experience (being a Slovak national, he originally studied

and worked in Czech Republic). When joining the team he expected proper induction

with respect to working issues, provision of coaching into the processes and

workflows, as well as sufficient time to adapt and integrate. In his own words, he

expected that “there will be somebody for me if I have questions”.

On the other hand, the team expected from the newcomer motivation to work, to do

the things which the colleagues told him to do. Expected was also that he will ask

questions rather than making some errors and that he learns from the experience.

Moreover, it was wished to see an initiative from the newcomer and that the

newcomer will be able to figure out own solutions to problems. The organization

expected that the newcomer will have good social skills, demonstrates professional

approach and has the required technical skills. The organization and team leader

expected that the team members will be structured for the job and have analytical

skills. Further, team members should be open - minded, interested in the work, as

well as motivated and have will to work. Moreover, due to cooperation with other

team members abroad, the newcomer should be sensitive with the treatment of

others. Communication and intercultural sensitivity are very important part of the job.

Socialization process

After the newcomer joined the organization he went through a 2-3 day introduction to

working related issues, got to know the team, organizational structure, and some

basic workflows. After that, he participated in an one day training for newcomers,

which was not focused just on his department, but generally on the whole company

and was more concerned with general processes like health and safety rules,

corporate ethics and general overview about the organization. The newcomer was

given ca. a week to get familiar with all necessary manuals, standards and guidelines

which he needed to master in the new role.

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The newcomer worked at the beginning under the supervision of his more

experienced colleague and the team leader. After ca. a year he fully took over

several working tasks and responsibilities were clearly divided in the team. The close

colleague of the newcomer was partly responsible for the induction process, she

explained to him the systems (how to use them) and processes showed and

explained to him the theoretical regulations, however, the newcomer had to read

them himself. She further showed him around and introduced him to all people with

which he should cooperate in the future. The team leader had during this time role of

a mentor and was, in general, responsible for the induction process. He was

providing help and support to the newcomer, assisted to him with developing his

technical skills and also reviewed his work.

The newcomer gained orientation in the organization thanks to his team, a close

colleague, and the team leader. They were helpful to the newcomer, showed him

around, explained everything what is necessary, and were available in case of any

questions. The newcomer learned about what is important in the organization and

about expectations from the closest colleague and team leader by consulting with

them, receiving feedback and further by getting more experience. Moreover, the

newcomer had at the disposal manuals, examples of working processes. He also

went through an induction processes during which got to know organizational

structure and was introduced to other people in the organization, which also helped

him to find orientation. It took ca. one and half year until the newcomer started to feel

comfortable in his new role.

From the point of view of fitting into the new team, the newcomer did not have a

problem to understand written communication in German or discuss work-related

things with colleagues. However, he had trouble at the beginning with the informal

communication and building informal relationships with the colleagues due to

language barriers. Colleagues were, however, always nice, helpful and

understanding, giving the newcomer enough time to adapt and patiently explained

things to him. From the colleague’s point of view, the interaction with the newcomer

at the beginning was a little bit difficult and confusing, because she didn’t know how

much newcomer knows already from the team leader and what she should explain.

53

Moreover, the newcomer seemed to be calm and shy, but at the same time he was

very nice and open for discussion. Generally, the team played an important role.

According to the team leader, without the support of the whole team it would not go.

The team has to be there for the new member to help him get ahead. From the

beginning, there was open and friendly communication among newcomer and

members, as the team leader explained. Besides interaction with the team, the

support of newcomer’s girlfriend who moved to Linz with him was extremely

important according to his words.

What helped the newcomer to integrate were certain team activities and habits, which

can be described as team culture. These included team morning coffee by which

people talk also about informal things and personal life, having common lunches,

celebrating birthdays and participating together on company trips. According to the

team leader are all activities which put the team together and build good informal

relationships important. It helps to build good and informal atmosphere in the team.

However, what, on the contrary, slowed down the socialization process was the

existence of certain barriers and differences. These included language barriers and

cultural differences, which were reflected in how colleagues in different countries

work. At the beginning, the newcomer had trouble to get involved into conversations

and therefore it took longer to build informal relationships until his German, resp.

Austrian, improved.

Moreover, from the close colleague’s point of view, further issues which could slow

down the socialization process included the lack of experience in the field of leasing

financing and lack of the knowledge of the systems. The personal characteristics also

play an important role and influence the socialization process. The newcomer is more

calm and quiet than the other colleague in the team placed in Linz, who is more

outgoing, open and initiative in going to people and talk with them. The approach to

communication may also be reason for existence of barriers. For example, contrast

between a sensitive approach of the newcomer and more direct or aggressive

approach, which is sometimes required in the job. From the working point of view

(accomplishing tasks, working on the projects), the close colleague did not notice any

big differences among the team members placed in Linz. Due to the different

54

previous working experience of the newcomer, he used to ask many questions

regarding different aspects of the job.

What was according to the newcomer important for him to successfully integrate was

the constant support from colleagues and boss, as well as the relations with the

management and within the team, which were more of an informal nature, open and

friendly. From the close colleague’s point of view, a breaking point occurred during

days of work overload, where she learned that she can rely on the new team

member. From the team leader's point of view, it is important to react on any

unwished changes in the team behavior and analyze the situation in the team, in

order to ensure a successful integration of a newcomer.

Currently, the newcomer feels fully integrated and feels comfortable in the new role;

he overcame the language barrier; feels confident with respect to his working

responsibilities. He was able to develop personal relationships within the team and

has healthy and friendly relationships in the working environment. The newcomer’s

close colleague also feels that the integration into the team was successful.

According to the team leader, the relationships got friendlier and more open; some

barriers that might have been at the beginning were overcome.

The above socialization process can be broken down and summarized as shown in

the following table.

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Table 2: Socialization process Team 1 - Leasing


Newcomer Colleague Team leader1. Induction A couple of days of formal

introduction. Week of self-study of manuals, standards, and guidelines. After ca. a year fully took over own working areas.

Responsible for the introduction to work-related issues and other colleagues.

The role of a mentor, development of technical skills and review of work.

2. Learning about organization

Main source: team. Learning through consultation, feedback, and experience. Ca. 1, 5-year time gap until newcomer felt comfortable.

Important as well manuals, induction, getting to know other people in the organization

3. Interactions with agents

No problems in work related issues. Problems with informal communication and building informal relationships due to language barriers. Colleagues were helpful and understanding, patiently explained things, giving enough time to adapt.

The newcomer was at the beginning calm and shy, but at the same time he was very nice and open for discussion.

From the beginning open friendly communication among newcomer and members. The team plays an important role, the team has to be there for the new member to help him get ahead.

4. External networks Support of girlfriend important.5. Team culture Morning coffee, common

lunches, celebrations of birthdays, company trips

Morning coffee, common lunches, celebrations of birthdays, company trips

Activities that put the team together and build good informal relationships important.

6. Barriers and differences

Language barriers, cultural differences which are reflected in how colleagues in different countries work

Lack of experience in the field, lack of knowledge of internal systems. Personal characteristics: calm and quiet vs. outgoing and open.

Sensitive in the communication vs. more direct approach.

7. Significant events Constant support from the team, informal relationships, open and friendly atmosphere.

Learn to rely on each other

Early reaction on unwished changes and developments in the team

8. Outcomes Success - comfortable in the new role; overcame language barrier; healthy and friendly relationships in the team and within working environment.

Success Success – friendly and open relationships, barriers overcome

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Suggestions from interviewees

From the newcomer's perspective, a successful socialization requires that the

newcomer is given enough time to integrate, has a support of colleagues in case of

any questions and has a proper induction to the working responsibilities. The

willingness of the organization to support the newcomer at the beginning can be

decisive. Similarly, the close colleague mentioned, that it is necessary to reserve time

for the newcomer at the beginning, to explain to the newcomer everything from the

work point of view, show him the approach to work, convince him that “I am not only

your colleague, but also a friend who wants to support and help”. The colleagues

should be open and nice to the newcomer. It is beneficial to know better the

newcomer personally and try to understand some cultural differences which might

exist.

The team leader mentioned, that important for successful socialization is also

newcomer` s willingness to become a member of the team. As already mentioned

above, it is necessary to provide enough time to the newcomer to adjust and at the

same time not to expect too much at the beginning from the newcomer. Important is

also to take into consideration the personality of the new member. The socialization

process should be individually adjusted, it is necessary to flexibly react on different

needs of the newcomer. Simultaneously the whole induction process should be well

prepared, the newcomer should have access to all necessary documents to which he

can refer later.

Based on own experience, the colleague who trained the newcomer focused on

being clear and detailed when explaining working issues, she exactly knew on which

aspects of working issues to focus on more. The team leader was coached by a

director who provided to him all necessary things and information he needed for the

work, his induction and socialization process was more informal. Nowadays there are

more instruments for the newcomer to get introduced to the work, now it is more a

formal process, also all working activities are now more structured and filed. It is

necessary to work with manuals and workflows and develop a more formal induction

to help the newcomer to get into working processes and to help the newcomer to

develop relationships with the team and the whole department.

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4.1.2. Team 2 – HR


Team 2 represents a team of a shared services center providing HR services to

Europe, Middle East and Africa region (further referred to as the “EMEA region”), to

different branches of a multinational company in the healthcare industry, based in

Prague, Czech Republic. There are 10 members in the team, who are working on

hiring new employees and improving recruiting processes in the company. Team

members are representatives of various countries such as the Czech Republic, Italy,

Slovak Republic, Dominican Republic, the United States and Russia and are 24-38

years old.

The newcomer is recruitment specialist in the HR team and her main responsibilities

are stuffing, seeking new employees into the organization, organizing team building

activities, preparing related documentation, and also working with HR systems. Such

responsibilities require daily collaboration with the rest of the team members. One of

the members, with whom the newcomer co-operates the most on daily basis, works

with newcomer on common projects, interacts with her everyday on different tasks,

and also sits next to her in an open space office.


The newcomer worked before as a sales assistant in the company which was

organizing different types of conferences. Her primary responsibility was introducing

the conference events to the clients of the organization including Chief Executive

Officers and top managers. Basically, previous newcomer’s working experience was

not related to the current job position and newcomer did not have experience in HR

field before entering into the team. However, the newcomer had experience in

working in an international environment: all employees at her previous work were

different nationalities and closely cooperated with each other in one office, the

communication was done mostly in English language, which was foreign language for

most of the workers.

58

The main motivation of changing from the sales to HR services was individual

interest of the newcomer in the area of Human Resources. The newcomer’s primary

objectives were to get experience in the new role, attend various trainings provided

by the organization in order to grow her technical skills and grow personally, as well

as to open new opportunities in her career growth. When entering the organization

newcomer expected to be part of a good team, meaning to be surrounded by people

from whom she can learn a lot, by people who can help her with possible issues and

concerns, and as well support her in different situations.

On the other hand, the team expected from the newcomer to successfully complete

one month training, to accomplish a development test which proves that the new

employee went through the studying materials of the organization and gained

knowledge about new role. In addition, it was expected from the newcomer that she

will try to find a solution on her own before asking for help, will have the willingness to

learn and will be initiative. The team leader further expected that new employee will

respect different cultures and has cultural sensitivity; that she will be able to work in a

diverse environment, will be able to adjust quickly in new working setting and will be

a fast learner. Also, newcomer's technical, presentation and analytical skills are

expected to be on high level.


Newcomer’s journey from the outsider position in the organization to the insider

started from the induction process, which included a one month training program.

The training consisted of one to one sessions with the team members where they

introduced to the newcomer all processes and activities that the newcomer is

supposed to do within the organization. Usually, there is assigned particular buddy

who prepares one-month training program for the newcomer. At the same time, every

member of the team is responsible for some specific duties that should be presented

and explained to the new employee. During this process, the newcomer could

address her problems to the respective team members providing the training or ask

for advice her buddy. She could, of course, contact as well her manager and refer her

concerns. The close colleague of the newcomer was partly participating in the

induction process; she also explained to her some processes and how to work with

59

specific HR systems. Similarly, the team leader was involved in the induction process

of the newcomer, where she was responsible for the explanation of all technical

aspects of the job including access to the systems and provision of all equipment

needed for work. Moreover, team leader organized weekly meetings where she

asked newcomer how the process of being involved in the team goes on, what

newcomer already learned and what needs to be more clarified and explained. The

team leader had meetings also with other team members, where she asked for their

feedback on the newcomer and discussed how is the socialization process between

the new employee and the rest of the team going. The team leader analyzed as well

the situation in the team, observed development of relationships between the

newcomer and existing members, and tried to support both parties.

The orientation in the organization was provided basically by the team members and

the leader. The team leader introduced to the newcomer the whole HR department

and told about the main pillars of the organization and its structure. During the

induction process, the scheduled meetings with team not only helped newcomer to

find orientation in the organization, but as well provided opportunities to get to know

better all team members. Also one month after newcomer joined the organization

there was a teambuilding event for more than 300 employees. Attending this event

allowed the newcomer to feel to be part of the organization and it provided an

additional opportunity to get to know the team members more personally outside of

the working environment. Another aspect through which newcomer learned what is

important in the organization was training. There were trainings which were

organized by colleagues from different departments throughout the company, to

basically polish newcomer` s skills, which were needed within the organization. By

taking part in these trainings, the newcomer could understand the main values,

beliefs and norms of the organization.

From the colleague’s point of view, the best approach to learn about organization is

to give the newcomer a project which needs to be build up from the scratch and while

working on it, he or she will understand how the organization works and how the

things should “be done”. Generally, after one month of extensive training newcomer

got familiar with the organization, created general overview about the organization

and learned what is important in the organization.

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The interaction between newcomer and team members from the beginning was open

and quite easy going. Colleagues provided to newcomer a lot of guides and studying

materials, assigned to her buddy and regularly asked for her feedback, if she

understood everything. Generally speaking, all team members were supportive,

understanding and very helpful. Also, the colleague in the conversation about the

team’s support pointed out, that the way how her socialization process went

influenced on the way how she interacted with the newcomer. For example, the

colleague during her socialization process did not have coworkers around, who could

provide some formal training and give her answers on questions. All information was

provided through conference calls with colleagues located in another country.

Through those conference calls, the coworkers coached the colleague how particular

processes should be implemented and operations organized. Such experience

provided the colleague understanding about how support from the colleagues in a

team could play a major role in the socialization. This is one of the reasons why the

colleague trained the newcomer using shadowing, meaning that after newcomer

completed her one-month training, she was still supervised and observed by one of

the team members by her work. The team leader described the atmosphere within

the team as friendly and nice. Once the newcomer got to know other team members,

the communication was fully open.

What also helped the newcomer to adjust into the new team were teambuilding

activities and traditions or habits, which can be viewed as part of the culture existing

in the team. In addition to various officially organized team building events, all

members use to go for lunches and on special occasions as well for dinners together.

The team members often organize small parties, for example when somebody

celebrates birthday. Although the people in the team connect on the personal level,

there is still a healthy competitive spirit among the team members and strong focus

on outputs and the external users to whom are provided services and support.

According to the team leader, team culture is created by the team members. She

characterized members as flexible individuals, who are able to adjust their behavior

in different situations and know how to communicate within an international team.

Members also very good understand each other and have similar interests and topics

to discuss, that makes the team more close-knit. Despite unofficial and friendly

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relationships among the team members, all employees respect the individuals, who

have an authoritative position within the organization.

Generally, there is always open and friendly atmosphere within the team and usually

informal ways of communication, but again it depends on the situations. As

newcomer explained, the team leader uses outside of the working environment

usually informal communication, but at work the communication between her and

other team members is formal. The team leader believes that team atmosphere can

influence not only on the team effectiveness, but also on the general performance of

the whole organization. Moreover, with a good atmosphere in the team, the

newcomer is more likely to quickly integrate and feels comfortable from the beginning

during his or her socialization process.

However, there were as well certain barriers and differences in the team, which

slowed down the socialization process of the newcomer. These included some minor

misunderstandings during discussions about work related issues, personality

differences among members, differences how members approach and organize their

work, and also differences between norms that were settled in previous newcomer’s

job and norms existing in the new organization. For example, the newcomer had

difficulties in the beginning to get used to norms that existed within the team

members in the new department. Newcomer previously worked in the sales

department where all members of the team talked with each other all the time and

there was a noisy atmosphere in the office. In the new working place, newcomer

experienced cultural shock due to the silence in the open space office, and the fact,

that it was not usual to engage in non work-related issues at working desk. It took

some time until the newcomer got used to the new norms and habits at the

workplace.

Moreover, from the close colleague’s point of view, all team members have

personalities with different psycho types and have different approach how to organize

daily activities and accomplish tasks. Such differences also play an important role

and influence the socialization process. The team leader also pointed out, that if

there are misunderstandings in the team; they are usually quickly solved because

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any issues are always openly discussed among the team members.

What further helped the newcomer to integrate into the team was attending the

different type of trainings (like psychological classification, time management,

presentation or business communication skills), which helped her to develop

technical skills which she needed for her work and helped her to feel more

comfortable in discussions with colleagues or supervisor about work related issues.

From the close colleague’s point of view, a breaking point, which positively influenced

the newcomer’s socialization into the team, was the pressure from manager by one

project. The manager requested the newcomer to develop an independent approach

to a new project. During this project, the newcomer had not only to collaborate with

colleagues from different countries, but also to be more involved in the business

processes that were not very much familiar to her, which helped her to move forward.

The colleague believes that immediate involvement in new projects and having a lot

of responsibilities helped newcomer very quickly to adjust into the new team and get

to know people. From the team leader’s point of view it is essential that newcomers

understand that once they are in team and need any help or support, the other team

members are the first individuals who can help them, give the answers on their

questions and share their knowledge.

Currently, the newcomer feels that she is part of the team and is surrounded by

supportive and friendly colleagues. She feels convenient in her new role and feels

that her knowledge and the work she is doing is appreciated by the team. The

newcomer built healthy and open relationships with other team members. The

newcomer’s close colleague also thinks that her socialization process went well

without any problems. During the discussion about newcomer` s socialization

process, team leader made a comparison with her own experience when entering

into the organization which showed her how important is to help and support a

newcomer.

The socialization process can be broken down and summarized as shown in the

following table.

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Table 3: Socialization process Team 2 - HR

Newcomer Colleague Team leader1.Induction process One month of training that

consists of sessions with team members and team leader

Trained the newcomer in work related issues and processes

Conducted weekly sessions with newcomer and separately with the team to evaluate socialization process; provided support and help to newcomer

2. Learning about organization

Main sources: team members and the team leader. The induction process, trainings, and teambuilding activities also contributed to the process of learning

Provided consultation and answered on the newcomer’s questions

Introduced HR department and told about the main pillars of the organization and its structure


From the first days it was quite easy to communicate with colleagues, they provided a lot of guides and assigned to newcomer buddy for questions

During training sessions explained all working activities and got to know the newcomer

Friendly and nice atmosphere within the team, once the newcomer got to know other team members the communication was fully open

4. External networks

Did not have family around to support

5. Team culture Team building activities, going for dinners and lunches together, going out after work, celebrations of birthdays

Competitive team culture with focus on final users of the services

Team culture created by the members The atmosphere within the team affects its effectiveness and general performance in the organization. In a good atmosphere, new members are quickly integrating and feeling comfortable.


Difficulties to get used to norms and habits on the workplace. Had some minor misunderstandings during communication.

Team members have different personality psycho types and different approach to work

Sometimes minor misunderstandings might arise

7. Significant events Different type of trainings tailored to develop particular skills and fit into the team

Pressure of the manager on newcomer to implement independent approach of new process which helped the newcomer to come forward.

Continuous support of other team members to the newcomer.

8. Outcomes of socialization

process

Success: healthy relationships within the team; feels support from the colleagues and their appreciation

Success: it took longer for newcomer to integrate, but generally the socialization process went well


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Newcomer believes that in order to successfully socialize into a team, it is essential

that new employee says openly what he or she thinks regarding some issues, is not

afraid to present new ideas and generally should be creative in accomplishing tasks.

Being creative is about implementing new approaches in working routines, not only to

do what is expected, but try to improve processes to improve performance.

The colleague mentioned several factors that in her opinion might influence the new

member’s socialization process, such as personal characteristics of the newcomer

and willingness to show appreciation. The newcomer who is communicative, open,

friendly, positive and smiling is more likely to successfully integrate into the team.

Another influential aspect which plays a role in socialization is necessariness for the

organization to create an atmosphere in the team and general environment in the

company that would unite employees together more frequently during work. The

colleague gave an example of an open air terrace which can serve as a good place

for chat and meet other colleagues. Such meetings can act as pre-conditions for the

formation of strong friendship networks within working environment. There was also a

suggestion to put a football table in the office, which could provide another

opportunity to speed up the process of getting to know each other.

The team leader highlighted that social communication among newcomer and the

team, the willingness of both sides to collaborate with each other and work not only

on personal rewards but rather on mutual team performance, are fundamental factors

in the socialization. She also believed that the induction process which is officially

implemented by the organization might play a significant role in the newcomer's

socialization process. Moreover, team leader had interesting suggestion of how the

socialization of a newcomer can be improved. The idea was to create a case study

game, during which the team members and the newcomer had to cooperate with

each other and had opportunity to work and interact together. As team leader said

:”(…) the game could be - development of a new process or improvement of the

already existent process. The main aim of the case-game is to come up with new

ideas and implement them in practice. In ten or fifteen minutes, the team must

present a solution. By applying such approach it puts team members closer to each

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other to work on mutual performance, to teach them how to listen to each other in

stressful situations, and generally collaborate and improve communication within the

team. It also allows newcomers to participate in one group with different team

members, so they can get to know their colleagues with whom they are not much in

touch during working day.”

4.1.3. Team 3 – Research


Team 3 represents a team of research workers from a well-known university,

conducting research in the area of development of industrial technologies, based in

Linz, Austria. The team has 9 members coming from Austria, Croatia, Iran,

Netherlands and Italy. Their age ranges between 25 – 40 years. The newcomer

joined the team with main responsibility to develop research related to material

characterization. This includes theoretical work on the project, as well as making

experiments and studying the changing behavior of raw materials. A significant part

of the project requires work with computer models and electronic evaluation of

results.

Although mostly the newcomer works on the project individually, from the IT point of

view he is supported by a colleague, who specializes on computer simulations,

modeling and programming. With these activities colleague cooperates the

newcomer the most. The newcomer is supervised by a senior scientist with whom he

is holding regular meetings and consults with him the progress of his work, technical

issues related to the project and other faced challenges. The rest of the team works

on separate projects which are, however, interconnected to some extent, thus certain

interaction and cooperation with other colleagues in the team is required from the

newcomer as well.


Before joining the research team, the newcomer worked as a sight engineer on an

extraction project of a steel plant and was in charge of the management of facilities

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including electrical, water and recycling facilities. The project took place in Libya

where the newcomer had an opportunity to work in an international environment.

Having already experience of working in an international environment he

characterized work in an international team as follows: “you have to not only think of

what do you want to say, but also how you want to say it, depending on the culture of

the people you are working with”. The senior researchers in the team have extensive

experience in their field. However, the other Ph.D. students do not have necessarily

extensive working experience.

The main goal of the newcomer during entering into the organization was to graduate

as a Ph.D., to progress in his career and get into a more useful area of specialization.

He did not have specific expectations on the organization or other team members

when joining. At the beginning he aimed to understand people with which he should

work, he tried to understand how to interact with them and then identify the people

with which he has some things in common and can get closer or become friends.

The colleagues and team leader expected, that the newcomer will have some

experience or basic level of knowledge in the area, resp. certain theoretical

knowledge and understanding on which common work could be based. He should

also be willing to figure out some things on his own before asking too many

questions, he should be motivated to work and learn, as well as be interested in

research and his field. Further, it was important that the newcomer is friendly, open-

minded and gets along with the other colleagues, has good relationships with them. It

was as well expected that the newcomer will be helpful to other colleagues,

cooperative and will follow existing workflows. Good level of English or German

language was expected as well.


The newcomer did not go at the beginning through a formal induction process.

According to the team leader, there is no strict procedure or induction training which

the newcomers have to go through. Newcomers are coached at the beginning about

some basic workflows, laboratory procedures and rules, and how to use the

equipment they need. Further, they are provided with materials for self-study. The

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newcomer was provided with materials for self-study and was learning about the

tools and programs which he needed for his work by doing. Colleagues and

supervisor were there to help him with solving particular issue he was facing.

The newcomer had to study books and manuals at the beginning, which should help

him to find orientation in technical issues required for the research and use of

equipment. The newcomer did not have daily supervision, but was meeting with his

supervisor on a weekly basis. The newcomer was finding orientation in the

organization thanks to his colleagues, supervisor and secretary of the department. In

his own words: „ A lot of colleagues helped me to get around“. The newcomer was

learning about the organization and processes ad hoc, by facing issues and by

communicating with people in the organization.

The newcomer was from the beginning supported by his colleagues who were

helping him to get around. Colleagues were willingly answering on newcomer’s

questions about how everything works, helped him to understand workflows, manuals

and explained to him how to use tools and programs which he used by his work. The

newcomer worked mostly independently and was supervised directly by his

supervisor during weekly meetings. Colleagues were explaining to the newcomer

mainly task-related activities. The team leader encouraged cooperation and

discussion between the students and sharing their experience. According to the team

leader, team members, as well as the supervisor himself, should create conditions for

the new member to integrate. The team members who are longer in the team should

support the new member, try to help him with questions and give him feeling that he

is welcome. Introduction to workflows and support by technical issues is, according to

the team leader, the role of the supervisor.

Although the newcomer worked on his project mostly individually, he cooperated

relatively often with colleagues who used the same tools, models, and simulations. In

case of issues related to the usage, development and improvement of those tools the

collaboration was closer. The colleagues tried to interact with the newcomer at the

beginning as much as possible, inviting him for lunch or coffee. As the team

members were mostly around newcomer’s age, it was much more easier for the

newcomer to integrate as well on personal level, as according to his own words: “ you

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have colleagues around with which you more or less share same interests”.

According to the team leader, the newcomer helped to influence the team spirit in a

positive way. He was quite open and started to initiate after work activities with other

team members, he got the other team members more together. What, on the other

hand, helped the newcomer to handle the new environment was the support of his

family.

The team has every year a big team meeting, where they discuss what has been

good in the last semester, what was bad and what can be done to improve it, as well

as what are the aims for the next semester. This can be described as part of an

existing team culture. Further, the team engages in team building activities as

common dinners, after work activities (going to cinema or going out for a beer), or

away days (rafting was planned for this year for example). According to the

newcomer, the atmosphere in the team is significantly influenced by the team leader

and his approach. The team leader encourages an informal and friendly atmosphere

in the team, as well as an open discussion about any issues the team members

might have. All of the above was viewed positively by the newcomer and positively

reflected in his socialization process.

According to the team leader the team consists of different personalities. Some team

members are more open, social, and communicative and engage more in team

activities than others. Others, on the other hand, are more closer and not so

outgoing, which might be connected to the fact, that everybody primarily works on his

or hers own project. This represented a barrier for the newcomer which he had to

overcome at the beginning. However, as the newcomer was open, he did not have a

problem to engage in discussions and develop relationships with other colleagues.

However, it took a while for the newcomer to build relationships within the team, as

he did not have much time to engage in team activities after work at the beginning

due to finishing his studies in Italy. Moreover, the newcomer faced a language

barrier, especially when communicating with few colleagues who did not have good

English and the communication had to be done in German. The newcomer had a

problem to understand colleagues with strong German, resp. Austrian accent.

Further, the newcomer faced a cultural shock according to his own words, which was

connected to early lunches and the coffee culture at the workplace. Colleagues were

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going too early for lunch compared with what the newcomer was used to. Further, he

did not like the coffee at the working place and stopped joining common coffee

breaks. However, he found other ways how to interact with the colleagues on

personal level. This was mainly during activities after work, for example by going to

the cinema, having dinners or going for a beer.

The first time when the newcomer fully felt like a part of the team was during an

evaluation of the department by an external reviewer. All team members had to

present their own work and progress towards goals had to be demonstrated. After

those presentations, the newcomer could gain an overview about what exactly is

everybody doing and how their work is interconnected. At the end, the team received

feedback and according to newcomer’s words: “we felt like we were doing something

great, we felt like one team. We were a team that day, I really felt it.”

After this event, the newcomer felt like part of the team. He understood his position

within the team (part of a sub-team which is concerned with study of particles) and

that even though everybody works more or less on own project, they have certain

common goals and their work is interconnected. The team members should try to

relate to topics of the others as much as possible, however, eventually mainly focus

on own topic and project. Newcomer felt, that he needed time in order to understand

how things work within his department and how he should interact with people

around him. But, eventually he started to feel being part of the team. From the

colleague's point of view, the newcomer fit well into the team because of his friendly,

open and personal approach. He was, for example, initiating after work activities or

once a while cooked lunch for the team. It was very nice and personal and one of the

reasons why people in the team liked him. From the team leader’s point of view, the

newcomer integrated successfully to the team as well and positively influenced

relationships within the team. The relationships got tighter as the team members

engaged more as well in not work related activities.

The above socialization process can be broken down and summarized as shown in

the following table.

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Table 4: Socialization process Team 3 - Research

Newcomer Colleague Team leader1. Induction process

Learning by doing and self-study.

Team helped with solving particular issues

Informal procedure. Newcomers are coached and explained basic workflows, procedures and provided with materials for self-study

2. Orientation in the organization

Learning by facing issues and communicating with people in the organization. “Still working on understanding how everything works“

Support in case of questions.

Self-study, cooperation and discussion between the team members, sharing their experience. Introduction to workflows and support by technical issues role of the supervisor.


Easier to integrate if colleagues around same age and similar interests

Cooperation mainly with respect to usage, development and improvement of tools, models and simulations used by the team.

Open approach helped to positively influence the team spirit through initiating after work activities

4. External networks

Support from parents

5. Team culture Team meetings, after work and team building activities. The atmosphere in the team is significantly influenced by the team leader.

Social, after work activities

Informal relationships, friendly atmosphere, open discussion


Language barrier, cultural shock

Different personalities in the team: open, social and communicative vs. close and not outgoing.

7. Significant events Evaluation of the department by external reviewer: newcomer gained full overview about the work of other colleagues and how is their work interconnected

Friendly, open and personal approach of the newcomer

8. Outcomes Success: newcomer understood his role within the team and common goals, connected with other team members as well on personal level

Success: newcomer was initiating team activities and bounded as well on personal level, which was taken positively by the others

Success: newcomer positively influenced relationships in the team, relationships got tighteras newcomer more integrated with the others


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The newcomer felt relatively satisfied with the progress of his socialization process.

In his opinion, the process could be easier and more fluent if he could speak

German, resp. Austrian, better from the beginning. From the closest colleague point

of view, an open and friendly approach is important, as well as willingness to

socialize not just on the working but also on the personal level. During his own

socialization, he had the main contact only with his supervisor, who introduced him

into the working environment. He did not have much personal interaction with other

colleagues as he worked certain period from home office at the beginning. As he said

“it was kind of hard for me at the beginning to get to know the other people in the

team”. This was caused mainly due to lack of personal contact. Because of this, he

tried to be more open and make sure that the newcomer knows that he can contact

him with any questions or problems he might face.

From the team leaders point of vies, important during socialization process is

communication, willingness to learn and motivation of the newcomer. On the other

hand, the existing team members should show openness to accept the new member

and communicate with him, be helpful, especially at the beginning. The induction and

socialization of a newcomer should be kept rather informal and the newcomer should

have enough time and space to build relationships with other colleagues. During his

own socialization process the team leader understood how the role and support of a

supervisor are important. That was the main reason why he supported open

communication in the team and tried to be available as much as possible for the

newcomer. Further, he focused on encouraging team spirit and team activities.

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4.2. Cross-case analysis

The purpose of cross-case analysis is to analyze similarities and differences of the

case studies described in the within-case analysis. This will lead to better

understanding of the patterns of the socialization process described in the within-

case analysis, as well as enables to make comparison and contrast between the

cases. The analysis should result into identification of factors which influenced the

progress of socialization process.

There were several patterns in the socialization process which were identified during

the within-case analysis. These included: induction process, learning about the

organization, interactions with agents, external networks, team culture, existence of

barriers and significant events. Further, what appeared to be important during the

socialization process were also mutual expectations, previous experience and

motivation.

The table below enables to compare the mentioned patterns between the cases.

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Table 5: Cross-case analysis

Team 1-Leasing Team 2- HR Team 3-ResearchExperience Working experience -

newcomer: Consulting - familiar with leasing, credit risk, financial analysis and assessment of creditworthiness of companies.

International experience -newcomer: Worked in an international environment (company language English, international clients, worked with foreign managers)

Working experience:Sales assistant –intermediating attendance on conferences to the clients

International experience: Worked in an international environment (team members from different countries and with different nationalities)

Working experience: Engineer in a steel plant

International experience:Worked in Libya in an international team

Motivation Newcomer:Career progress; changing jobs from consulting area to business, change of environment and work abroad, getting international experience

Team:Motivation to work, initiative and interested in the work important

Newcomer:Get experience in the field, training opportunities provided by the company, personal development; career progress – become team leader

Team:Willingness to learn, showing motivation and initiative important

Newcomer:Graduate as a PhD, career development and getting into a more useful field

Team:Motivation to work, willingness to learn and be interested in research important

Expectations Newcomer: Proper induction, provision of coaching into the processes and workflows, sufficient time to adapt, “there will be somebody for me if I have questions”

Team:Do the things which told to do; ask questions before making errors; learn from the experience; able to find a solution to the problem, good social skills, professional approach, technical skills (structured and analytical skills), communication skills and intercultural sensitivity, be open minded.

Newcomer:“Good team, being

surrounded with people from whom I can learn. I also expect people to help me with my questions, concerns and support”

Team:Successful completion of trainings and tests, finding own solutions, ability to respect different cultures, cultural sensitivity, ability to work in diverse environment and respect diversity, to be fast learner, have technical, presentation and analytical skills.

Newcomer: No specific expectations –aimed to understand people, learn how to interact with team, identify people with whom he can be become friend

Team:Theoretical knowledge and understanding, willingness to figure out things on his own, be open-minded and friendly, good level of English or German language

Induction Formal induction in place:Couple of days; one week of self-study of manuals, standards, and guidelines. Development of technical skills – formal process.

Formal induction in place:One month of training that consists of sessions with team members and team leader. Newcomer got Introduced to HR department, main pillars of the organization and its structure. Team leader conducted weekly sessions with newcomer and team to evaluate socialization process.

No formal induction:Learning by doing and self-study. Informal process –newcomer coached in basic workflows by colleagues and supervisor, self-study.

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Team 1-Leasing Team 2- HR Team 3-ResearchLearning about organization

Main sources:Team, formal induction. Learning through consultation, feedback, and experience. Important as well manuals, induction, getting to know other people in the organization.

Main sources:Team members and the team leader. The induction process, trainings, and teambuilding activities also contributed to the process of learning

Main sources:Team. Learning by facing issues and communicating with people in the organization, self-study, sharing experience.

Interactions with agents

Character of cooperation with the team:Frequent cooperation with team members and daily cooperation with close colleague and team leader

Newcomer:No problems in work related issues. Problems with informal communication and building informal relationships due to language barriers. Colleagues were helpful and understanding, patiently explained things, giving enough time to adapt.

Team:The newcomer was at the beginning calm and shy, but at the same time he was very nice and open for discussion. The team plays an important role, the team has to be there for the new member to help him get ahead.

Character of cooperation with the team:Frequent cooperation with the close colleague on projects and by daily tasks. Other team members responsible for different HR functions - occasional cooperation.

Newcomer:From the first days it was quite easy to communicate with colleagues. Colleagues provided newcomer with guides and assigned a buddy to the newcomer for questions

Team:Friendly and nice atmosphere within the team, once the newcomer got to know other team members the communication was fully open

Character of cooperation with the team:Frequent cooperation with close colleague. Weekly meetings with the supervisor. Other team members working on separate projects.

Newcomer:Easier to integrate if colleagues around same age and similar interests

Team:Open approach, newcomer helped to positively influence the team spirit through initiating after work activities

External networks

Support of girlfriend important. Did not have family around to support

Support from parents

Team culture Morning coffee, common lunches, celebrations of birthdays, company trips. Informal and friendly atmosphere.

Teambuilding activities, going for dinners and lunches together, going out after work, celebrations of birthdays. Healthy competitiveness between team members, focus on final users of the services.

Team meetings, after work and team building activities. Informal relationships, friendly atmosphere, open discussion.

Barriers and differences

Language barriers, cultural differences which are reflected in how colleagues in different countries work, lack of knowledge of internal systems.

Personal characteristics:Calm and quiet vs. outgoing and open.

Difficulties to get used to norms and habits on the workplace. Minor misunderstandings during communication.

Personal characteristics:Team members with different personality psycho types and different approach to work

Language barrier, cultural shock

Personal characteristics:Different personalities in the team: open, social and communicative vs. close and not outgoing.

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Team 1-Leasing Team 2- HR Team 3-ResearchSignificant events influencing the socialization process

Newcomer:Constant support from the team, informal relationships, open and friendly atmosphere.

Team:Learning to rely on each other during working over one weekend

Newcomer:Different type of trainings tailored to develop particular skills and sessions with team members to fit into the team. Continuous support of other team members.

Team:Pressure of the manager on newcomer to implement independent approach of new process which helped the newcomer to come forward.

Newcomer:Evaluation of the department by external reviewer: newcomer gained full overview about the work of other colleagues and how is their work interconnected

Team:Friendly, open and personal approach of the newcomer

Outcome of the socialization process

Newcomer:Comfortable in the new role; overcame language barrier; healthy and friendly relationships in the team and within working environment.

Team:Friendly and open relationships, barriers overcome

Newcomer:Healthy relationships within the team; feels support from the colleagues and their appreciation

Team:It took longer for newcomer to integrate, but generally the socialization process went well

Newcomer:Newcomer understood his role within the team and common goals, connected with other team members as well on personal level

Team:Newcomer was initiating team activities and bounded as well on personal level. Newcomer positively influenced relationships in the team.


4.2.1. Similarities and differences

Experience

Although all three newcomers had an international experience before entering the

organization, only the newcomer in the Team 1 – Leasing had also a relevant

working experience which was required for the job. The newcomer was familiar with

operations and technical issues related to leasing, credit risk, financial analysis and

assessment of creditworthiness of companies. All of those technical skills were

required for his new role. This enabled the newcomer to feel relatively quickly

comfortable in his new role.

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On the other hand, in case of Team 2 – HR, the newcomer worked before as a sales

assistant in a company intermediating conferences to the customers and the

newcomer in the Team 3 – Research worked as an engineer on an extraction plant.

In both cases their previous working experience was not related to their new role. As

a result, the newcomer from Team 2 – HR asked at the beginning a lot of questions

and was not able to work independently from the beginning. Similarly, for the

newcomer in Team 3 – Research, it took longer to understand the projects of other

students and how they are related to each other, or how to work with tools needed for

his work. This led to more complicated adaptation to the new role in both cases.

Motivation

In all three cases the newcomers were motivated to fit into the team and overcome

potential barriers. What motivated the newcomers was mainly career progress,

changing to a more perspective field, change of environment, getting experience in

new field, training opportunities provided by the company and personal development.

Motivation to work, to learn new things and interest in the field were seen as

important by the organizations as well. As the newcomers were motivated to fit in the

organization and overcome the existing barriers and differences, the socialization

was in the end successful in all three cases.

Expectations

Although the newcomer in Team 3 – Research did not express any specific

expectations, the newcomers in Teams 1 and 2 both expected support from the team

and that their questions and concerns will be addressed. On the other hand the

organizations expected from the newcomers that they have appropriate technical

skills for their role, will be willing and able learn, as well as will be proactive in finding

solutions. The level to which expectations were met influenced the smoothness of the

socialization process. While in case of Teams 1 and 3 no indication of not meeting

the expectations was identified, in case of Team 2 – HR, the newcomer asked a lot of

questions and was not able to work independently from the beginning. Expectation of

the team was not met from the beginning, which represented a barrier in fitting to the

team, until the newcomer was put under pressure from the manager to work more

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independently. The newcomer adjusted her behavior, what was viewed positively by

the team and as a step forward toward successful integration to the team.

Induction

The newcomers in Teams 1 and 2 went through a formal induction process. This

enabled them to relatively quickly find orientation in the organization, as well as learn

what is important and expected. The newcomer in the Team 3 – Research did not

have a formal induction and was more or less learning about the organization from

colleagues and by communication with other members of the organization (for

example the department secretary). As a result, when asked when he created a

general overview about the organization and what is important in the organization, he

answered: “lets say to understand how it works I am still working on it”.

Learning about organization

In all 3 Teams the newcomer was learning about the organization mainly with help of

the team. In case a formal induction process was in place, it represented an

important source of information for the newcomer as well. In case of Team 3 –

Research, without a formal induction process, the newcomer learned about the

organization as well by communicating with other people in the organization and self

study. Further, formal trainings and team building activities significantly contributed to

the learning process of the newcomer in the Team 2 – HR.

As already mentioned above, the newcomer in Team 3 – Research, without going

through a formal induction or training, struggled more during the learning process as

the newcomers in the other two teams.


The three teams are characterized by different frequency of cooperation. The

cooperation is most intense in case of Team 1 – Leasing, where the team members

cooperate daily and closely on day to day tasks. In Team 2 – HR, the cooperation

has a more occasional character, as team members are mostly responsible for

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different HR functions. The weakest intensity of cooperation is in Team 3 – Research,

where beside relatively frequent cooperation with the closest colleague, the

cooperation with other team members is very rare, as each team member works on

own project. The low frequency of interaction during working day influenced the

socialization process in the Team 3, as according to the newcomer, “at the beginning

the interaction was not that tight” and the newcomer was confused about how to

integrate into the team despite lack of communication in the work. However, this was

overcome when the newcomer started to engage with the team members in after

work activities.

Although there were no problems with communication about work related issues and

the interactions were relatively straightforward in all three teams, the newcomer in

Team 1 – Leasing faced certain problems with informal communication and building

informal relationships within the team due to language barriers (see below). In all

three cases, the colleagues were helpful, explained to newcomers the work related

issues, helped newcomers with their questions, were understanding and were giving

newcomer time to integrate. Moreover, all three teams expressed an opinion that

newcomer’s personal characteristics played an important role during when interacting

with them (see more to the topic of personal characteristics below)

External networks

Not in all of the three cases we can talk about significant influence of external

networks and support on the socialization process. While the newcomer in Team 2 –

HR did not have any particular support of family or a partner when accommodating to

the new role, the newcomer in Team 3 – Research had only distant support from his

parents when changing jobs and environments. External support was the most

highlighted during interview with the newcomer from Team 1 – Leasing. Put in

newcomer’s own words: “I am not sure if the integration into the new environment

would be so successful without her and her support. It is important that the personal

life goes hand in hand with the career and that there is a balance between working

and personal life.”

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Team culture

In all three teams there were developed certain team habits and traditions, which

created for the newcomers’ opportunities to build informal relationships with other

team members. These included coffee breaks, common lunches, birthday

celebrations, after wok and team building activities. While in the Teams 1 and 3 the

relationships in the team were more informal and friendly, in the Team 2 – HR had a

culture of healthy competitiveness between the team members with focus on final

users of the services. This led to minor misunderstandings during communication and

could create pressure on the newcomer at the beginning.

As mentioned during the interviews, team culture is created by the team members.

Atmosphere within the team affects its effectiveness and general performance in the

organization. In a good atmosphere, new members are quickly integrating and feeling

comfortable. According to the interviewees, the atmosphere in team is significantly

influenced by the team leader. Activities that put the team together and build good

informal relationships are important during the socialization process.

Barriers and differences

The newcomers in Team 1 – Leasing and Team 3 – Research faced language

barriers, which were reflected mainly in problems with building personal relationships

at the beginning of the socialization process. Moreover, both of the newcomers

mentioned that existence of certain cultural differences represented certain barrier for

their integration into the team from the beginning. While the newcomer in Team 1

saw the differences in the way how colleagues in different countries work, the

newcomer in Team 3 experienced a “cultural shock” connected to the coffee culture

at the workplace and early lunches.

Beside the minor misunderstandings during communication discussed in the section

Team culture above, the newcomer in the Team 2 – HR faced as well difficulties to

get used to norms and habits on the workplace at the beginning. This was caused by

the fact, that the newcomer came from different environment, worked previously in

sales, where talking on the workplace and discussions, not only to work related

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issues, was allowed and part of the culture. In the new environment people preferred

to work in silence and talking about non work related issues was not usual.

In all three teams the team members argued, that the personal characteristics of the

newcomer play an important role during the socialization process. In the Team 1 –

Leasing, the newcomer is rather calm and quiet, and was viewed by the team

members to be shy at the beginning. As well in the Team 3 – Research, the team

members have different personal characteristics; some are more open than the

others, which might create certain barriers in communication for the newcomer.

Similarly, different personality psycho types can be reflected as well in different

approaches to work, which might again represent barriers for the newcomer to

integrate.

Significant events influencing the socialization process

Each team went through a certain event or situation, which represented a breaking

point during the socialization process and changed its direction towards a successful

end. This significant event made the newcomer, or the team members realize that the

newcomer became a part of the team.

Beside constant support from the team, informal relationships, open, friendly

atmosphere, such significant event in the Team 1 – Leasing was required from each

team member. The team members learned how to rely on each other during this time

of work overload. Similarly, the newcomer from Team 2 was viewing positively

continuous support and training sessions with other team members, however, the

breaking point was a working situation, in which the newcomer received negative

feedback and was put under pressure from manager to work independently on a new

project. This helped the newcomer to come forward and the success of the

newcomer during this project was positively viewed by the other team members. In

the Team 3 – Research, this significant breaking point was an evaluation of the

department by external reviewer, by which the newcomer gained full overview about

the work of other colleagues and how is their work interconnected. Facing an external

audit of the department made the team members work more closely than normally

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and receiving feedback on work of the department made the members feel to be one

team.

Outcomes of the socialization process

All three teams described the socialization process of the newcomer as successful.

The socialization process was evaluated as successful both by the newcomer and

the team in all cases. The newcomers in all three teams characterized successful

socialization as having healthy and friendly relationships with other team members

and in the working environment. The newcomer in Team 1- Leasing connected his

successful socialization with feeling comfortable in his new role. Similarly, the

newcomer in Team 3 – Research felt as successfully integrated when he understood

his role and position within the team, as well as common goals. Moreover, from the

point of the view of the teams, socialization was successful when the existing barriers

were overcome and in case of Team 3 – Research, the newcomer even positively

influenced the relationships within the team, through initiating after work and other

team activities.

4.2.2. Suggestions and considerations from the interviewees

During the interviews, the socialization process was evaluated by the team members,

which was than analyzed in the section “Suggestions from interviewees” in the within-

case analysis. These suggestions provide further insights into the socialization

process and the opinions of the interviewees.

The below table summarizes the own socialization process of the team members, its

impact on the socialization process of the newcomer and suggestions for a

successful socialization from the interviewees.

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Table 6: Own socialization process and suggestions from interviewees

Team 1-Leasing Team 2- HR Team 3-Research

Own socialization process of the team members

Own experience:Introduction into standards and theoretical part; roles and responsibilities explained. Informal process led by one person without special additional instruments.

Impact:Training of newcomer more clear and detailed due to knowledge of problem areas from own experience. Use of instruments for the newcomer to get introduced to the work and the team as manuals and workflows. Process formalized to help the newcomer to get into working processes quicker and to help to develop relationships with the team and the whole department.

Own experience:Newly created department –no support available directly on the place. Coached by colleagues from the USA during conference calls.

Impact:“…once you have experienced the whole socialization or induction process, then you want more to help and support the newcomers”. Based on own experience person understands how hard it might be to integrate into new environment which results in more understanding and support to the newcomer.

Own experience:Induction to working issues performed by a supervisor. Lack of personal interaction with other colleagues, hard at the beginning to get to know the other people in the team.

Impact:Understanding of the importance of the role and support of a supervisor. Support of open communication, availability for the newcomer as much as possible for questions, team spirit and team activities encouraged.

Successful socialization process

Newcomer:- Enough time to integrate- Support of colleagues in case of any questions- Proper induction to work - Willingness of the organization to support- External support

Team:- Induction process should be well prepared - access to all necessary documents for future reference- Take time to introduce to working responsibilities and provide time to adjust- Socialization process should be tailored to the needs of the newcomer - Convince the newcomer that the team is here to support and help- Get to know the newcomer personally, pay attention to the personality characteristics- Understanding of cultural differences- Newcomer’s willingness to become a member of the team important- Activities bringing the team members together important

Newcomer:- Bring own ideas and not be afraid to communicate them- Go beyond what is expected, try to improve working processes, be creative- Not to be afraid to ask questions and do things in different way

Team:- Positive when newcomer is communicative, smiling, shows appreciation and is friendly - Communication between newcomer and team, as well as willingness to collaborate important- Work together as a team –focus on team performance – Formal induction process- Creation of environment and atmosphere supporting the team members to socialize, for eg. relax zones with activities like table football- Team building activities like team meetings, case studies and games

Newcomer:- Language and communication important: “ If I could speak Austrian from the beginning, it would make things easier”

Team:- Open and friendly approach- Openness to socialize –talk not just about working issues but also about personal things - Team members should be open to accept the new member as part of the team - Team should be helpful to the newcomer- Induction and socialization of a newcomer should be kept rather informal to make the newcomer feel comfortable- The newcomer should be given time and space to build relationships with other colleagues


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Own socialization process of the team members

As it can be seen in the above table, own socialization process of the team members

significantly influenced how they behaved during integration of the newcomer in case

of all three teams. Going through similar experience in the past helped the team

members to understand what is important during the socialization process and how

they can improve the existing processes or approaches to help the newcomer

integrate faster and more comfortably. Overcoming certain barriers and difficulties

themselves, as in case of Team 2 – HR: not having direct supervision on place, or in

the Team 3 – Research: facing lack of interaction with other team members, the team

members understood the importance of support, communication, informal

relationships or team spirit. This influenced the way how they approached the

newcomers.

Suggestions for a successful socialization process

Evaluating the socialization experience, the team members mentioned several

factors which according to their opinion were important for a successful socialization,

out of which several were common among minimum 2 teams. These included:

Teams 1 and 3 considered the time factor to be important. This means to give

the newcomer sufficient time to integrate and adjust, not to expect too much at

the beginning, as well as time to build relationships within the team.

All three teams agreed that personal characteristics of the newcomer play an

important role during his socialization process and enough attention should be

paid to this factor. Team members should get to know the newcomer

personally and pay attention to his or hers personality characteristics. It helps

and is positive when the newcomer is communicative, smiles, shows

appreciation and is friendly, however, it might not be always the case because

not everybody is open immediately from the beginning. In such case the

personality characteristics should be taken into account and the process

should be tailored according to the needs of the newcomer.

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Teams 2 and 3 consider a formal and well prepared induction process to play

an important role during socialization of the newcomer. The newcomer should

be provided with all necessary documents for his or hers future reference and

the time reserved for induction should be appropriately long to sufficiently

introduce the newcomer to the working responsibilities.

All thee teams stressed the importance of the support of the team during the

socialization process. This includes support of colleagues in case of any

questions, willingness of the organization to support the newcomer by

overcoming barriers or any other issues he might face, as well as openness of

the team members to socialize and accept the new member as part of the

team.

Teams 1 and 2 were of the view, that activities bringing the team members

together are important for successful socialization. This does not include only

team building activities like team meetings, case studies, games or company

trips, but also a working environment and atmosphere supporting the team

members to socialize. Organization should try to make better atmosphere and

environment for people to get together and talk. Relax zones in the company

premises or opportunities for activities like table football or billiard create

opportunities to get sociable and might speed up the process of people getting

to know each other

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4.3. Identification of factors

Based on the detailed analysis of the cases during within-case analysis, as well as

noting patterns and making comparison between the cases during the cross-case

analysis, the below factors influencing the socialization process were identified. The

identified factors will be discussed in more detail in the discussion part of the diploma

thesis. The below list refers only to the sections of the analysis, in which the

respective factor was identified.

1. Previous experience

Relevant working experience and experience working in an international team or

environment. See section Experience in 4.2.1 Similarities and differences of the

Cross-case analysis.

2. Motivation of the newcomer

Extent to which is the newcomer motivated to overcome barriers and become a

member of the team. See mainly section Motivation in 4.2.1 Similarities and

differences of the Cross-case analysis.

3. Expectations

Expectations of the newcomer, as well as of the organization, and to which extent

they match. See section Expectations in 4.2.1 Similarities and differences of the

Cross-case analysis.

4. Organizational tactics

Existence of a formal induction process, team building activities and approach to

training of the newcomers. See sections Induction and Learning about organization in

4.2.1 Similarities and differences of the Cross-case analysis, as well as section

Suggestions for a successful socialization process in 4.2.2 Suggestions and

considerations from the interviewees.

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5. Interactions

Mainly frequency of cooperation within the team. See section Interactions with agents

in 4.2.1 Similarities and differences of the Cross-case analysis.

6. Social support

Support from the team and team leader, as well as external support of family and life

partner. Importance of this factor is visible on several places of the analysis, for

example in sections External networks and Significant events influencing the

socialization process in 4.2.1 Similarities and differences of the Cross-case analysis

or in the section 4.2.2 Suggestions and considerations from the interviewees.

7. Team culture

Mainly atmosphere in the team, team traditions and habits. See section Team culture

in 4.2.1 Similarities and differences of the Cross-case analysis.

8. Language

Potential barriers arising from different mother tongue of the newcomer and the

language spoken in the team and the organization. See section Barriers and

differences in 4.2.1 Similarities and differences of the Cross-case analysis.

9. Personal characteristics

Personal characteristics of the newcomer. See section Barriers and differences in

4.2.1 Similarities and differences of the Cross-case analysis, as well as section



10.Cultural differences

Cultural differences which might exist among team members, reflected in different

working style or habits. See section Barriers and differences in 4.2.1 Similarities and

differences of the Cross-case analysis.

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11.Feedback

Feedback for the team as a whole, as well as feedback given to the newcomer. See

section Significant events influencing the socialization process in 4.2.1 Similarities

and differences of the Cross-case analysis.

12.Time

Time to integrate and adjust, as well as time to build relationships. See section



13.Working environment

Working environment and atmosphere supporting the team members to socialize.

See section Suggestions for a successful socialization process in 4.2.2 Suggestions

and considerations from the interviewees.

14.Reflection of own socialization process

Own socialization process of the team members and how their own experience

influenced the way they behaved during integration of the newcomer. See section

Own socialization process of the team members in 4.2.2 Suggestions and


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5. Discussion

One of the last steps of the analysis of findings is the comparison of the identified

factors with the literature theory. In other words, it includes complex analysis of the

outcomes of the study and the literature review. Discussion of similar findings

enables to link together similarities which could normally seem to be not connected.

Such discussion develops theory with powerful internal validity, extensive

generalization-ability, and larger conceptual level of theory building. Analyzing

literature that conflicts with resulting findings is also essential, because it provides

opportunity for more creative and frame breaking way of thinking. The outcome of

this approach can be deeper analysis of both the emergent theory and extant

contradictory literature (Eisenhardt, 1989, 544p).

5.1. Previous experience

Bauer suggested that newcomers with prior work experience are more likely to

understand correctly the complex requirements of new tasks and especially

experience in similar job leads to early work role adjustment of new recruits (Bauer,

Morrison, Callister, 1998, 171p). Consistent with Bauer, I found that in the case of

Team 1-Leasing the previous newcomer ` s experience in financial and auditing

sector helped him to quickly adjust to the new role in the leasing operations area. As

newcomer was familiar with operations and technical issues related to the leasing

credit risk, financial analysis and assessment of creditworthiness of companies, the

new organization` s requirements were not stressing him. The requirements of new

role were expected by the newcomer. Socialization literature also points that

experience and expectations of newcomer are interrelated to each other.

The case of the other two newcomers of both Team 2-HR and Team3-Research can

be viewed as a contradiction to the argument about how the past work experience in

similar job affects the socialization process. They did not have experience related to

their new responsibilities; however in both cases socialization process was

successful. Such success can be explained by the fact, that newcomers applied

copping approaches. On the other hand, despite the fact that the socialization

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process went well, it took longer time for the newcomers to adjust and integrate into

the team. For example, in the Team 2- HR newcomer worked previously in the sales

and it was difficult for her to quickly adapt into new role in different field. As her

colleague noticed, at the beginning she asked too many questions and felt

uncomfortable in accomplishing her tasks. It happened due to the lack of experience

and absence of training that was provided by the organization. After some time, when

newcomer gained experience, attended various trainings, received coaching, and

gathered knowledge, she got comfortable with her new role and got recognition from

the colleagues, which in the sum led to a successful socialization.

In addition, newcomers of all three teams worked previously in the international

environment, where the members of the organization were representatives of

different countries. The earlier experience with foreign team members contributed to

the quick adjustment of newcomers into international teams. An important aspect of

being part of an international team is ability to be more sensitive to the cultural

differences which might be reflected in the working style, approaches and working

habits among different nationalities of team members. This idea was presented by

the newcomer from the Team3-Research, who pointed out that during the

communication with individuals of different cultures it is necessary to pay attention on

“what you say and how you say it” .As the newcomers worked before in international

environment, they knew how to adapt their working approach and behavior during

cooperation with different nationalities. These experience and knowledge played

beneficial role to their adjustment in the new international team.

5.2. Motivation

Newcomers differ in their ability to learn, differ in the way how their attitudes and

values fit to their working responsibilities, and specifically, in their primary motivation

before entering into the organization. In my research cases, one of the main

motivations of all three newcomers is to progress in the career. In order to grow up in

the career, there is a need not only for the knowledge and skills, but also for the set

of attitudes and motivation of newcomer. Both team member and the leader of the

Team1-Leasing mentioned how it is important that newcomer is highly motivated to

work and to learn about the new role. Also the newcomer from the Team 2-HR

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explained how her motivation for own career development is further linked to the

personal growth and interest in different types of trainings and courses. These

training programs are focused not only on the development of business, analytical

and technical skills required for the job, but also on the psychological development.

Socialization literature determines that newcomer with high level of self-efficacy is

more likely to be prepared for accomplishing complex tasks (Feij, 1998, 227p).With

respect to the researched cases, my findings can not provide information regarding to

which extent newcomers have self-efficacy, however, the fact that all newcomers

were highly motivated to succeed in their particular roles, contributed to the positive

adjustment into new environment.

5.3. Expectations

Newcomer’s expectations are influenced by the recruitment practices that

organization implemented. Many studies have been analyzing the gap between

expectations of newcomer and recruitment-related activities of the organization. If

expectations of newcomer are met, there is a positive link to the job satisfaction,

organizational commitment, intent to remain, and job performance (Bauer, Morrison,

Callister, 1998, 167p). In the Team1- Leasing the expectations of newcomer and

team members were met. For example, newcomer expected proper induction with

respect to working issues, provision of coaching into the processes and workflows, as

well as sufficient time to adapt and integrate. Based on the analysis of the induction

process of the Team1-Leasing, newcomer got appropriate coaching trainings by

members and had enough time for his adjustment.

On the other hand, the team expected from the newcomer motivation to work and to

accomplish given tasks, as well that he has good social skills, demonstrates

professional approach and has the required technical skills. Further, it was expected

that newcomer should be sensitive with the treatment of others, has strong

communication skills and intercultural sensitivity. According to the professional,

personal characteristics of the newcomer and his international experience in previous

organization, his profile has been fitted in the above described expectations. Thus, it

leads to the successful adaptation into international team and organization.

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According to the literature theory about the newcomer’s expectations, in the case of

unmet expectations, the organization should provide additional support for meeting

those expectations and at the same time give assistance to newcomers during their

transition period (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 167p). However, sometimes

newcomer` s actions can not match with expectations of some members of the team.

For instance, the Team 2-HR expected from the newcomer that she will try to find a

solution on her own before asking for help, will have the willingness to learn and will

be initiative. At the beginning, newcomer was asking too many questions and

consulting everything with the team. It caused appearance of some minor

misunderstandings between newcomer and team leader, because newcomer did not

fully meet the expectations.

On the other hand, the rest of the expectations were met from both sides. Newcomer

expected to be part of a good team, meaning to be surrounded by people from whom

she can learn a lot, by people who can help her with possible issues and concerns,

and as well support her in different situations. At the same time, the team expected

from the newcomer to successfully complete one month training, to accomplish a

development test and gain knowledge about new role. From one side, the team

members helped her to adjust in new role and during one-to one session provided

knowledge and experience. From another side, newcomer went through the whole

induction process and showed willingness to be helpful and be part of the team.

Organizational recognition of the importance of expectations and general support to

newcomers during their transformational phase lead to a successful adjustment

process (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 167p). This could be observed as well in

the example of the Team 2 – HR, which also successfully integrated into the team.

5.4. Organizational tactics

After the analysis of all three cases it was clear that each organization developed its

own way of induction and recruitment processes, which consists of several

organizational tactics originally developed by Van Maanen and Schein. In other

words, organization can use a mix of organizational tactics in order to make new

employees get adjusted and socialized in the working environment (Van Maanen,

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Schein, 1979, 34p). For example, the organization of the Team 1 –Leasing applied a

mix of socialization tactics: formal and partly informal, collective, and serial.

General approach of the organization included partly formal and partly informal

socialization processes. From one side, newcomer had formal induction, when there

was officially defined introduction to organizational structure and his department,

explanation of working related issues and some basic workflows. From another side,

informal socialization process took place when close colleague and team leader

provided to newcomer orientation in the organization, showed him around, explained

everything what is necessary, and were available in case of any questions. Team

leader and colleague were agents, who gave newcomer relevant information about

the organization and valuable knowledge.

Collective tactic can be seen when the newcomer had one day of general training.

During this training day with the other newcomers from different departments, he got

familiar with general processes and rules, corporate ethics and got overview about

the organization. Organization of the Team1-Leasing also implemented the serial

tactic of socialization where experienced colleague was partly responsible for the

induction process. She explained newcomer the systems and mechanisms, and

presented theoretical regulations and basic workflows. Basically, colleague taught

newcomer how to accomplish tasks and master new role within the team.

Similarly, the Team2-HR also used several socialization practices during adjustment

of the newcomer. The formal part of the socialization consisted of one day of

induction, where all newcomers of the organization got to know about mission, vision

and structure of the company. Then there was officially implemented one month

training program where newcomer got introduced to all processes and activities that

he or she was supposed to do within the organization. At the same time, the informal

socialization tactic can be viewed through support and help of the team members,

who play essential role in the newcomer’s adjustment. In practice, team members

share their own experience and knowledge with newcomer. Such approach makes

easier for newcomer to transfer from the position of outsider to the insider of the

team.

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In addition, newcomer had one to one sessions with members, where they taught him

different work related processes and mechanisms. Such approach refers to serial

socialization tactic, which enables newcomer to learn quicker from others and easier

understand “how things are done” in the organization.

In contrast, the newcomer from the Team 3-Research did not go through a formal

induction process, so socialization tactic had informal nature. Also organization

applied individual socialization process for newcomer where he was provided with

materials for self-study and was learning about the tools and programs which he

needed for his work by doing. By studying books and manuals newcomer got familiar

with the organizational role on his own. In addition, there was, from one side, serial

socialization practices applied to newcomer, where he was partly coached by

colleagues and supervisor about some basic workflows, laboratory procedures and

rules, and how to use different systems and software. From another side, newcomer

experienced disjunctive socialization process, in which he did not have predecessors,

who could explain how to particularly act in the new role. Because every team

member had his or her own project, which was diverse from the other’s ones. The

team members work usually independently and also newcomer had his own research

project. Thus, he often made his own interpretations about situations he faced and

had to interpret some events on his own. This caused him longer adjustment process

and development of good networks within the team.

To sum up, the above discussed socialization tactics are linked with each other and

generally have collective impact on the newcomer. Organizations decide which

particular set of socialization tactics to choose. However, main function of them is to

create socialization process for newcomer which would in turn increase the chances

of receiving desired organizational results (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 69p).

5.5. Interactions with members of the organization

Newcomer` s interactions with team members play essential role in his or her

adaptation process. The members of the organization present general picture of the

organization and introduce working operations to the newcomers, give them

recommendations, job instructions and social support (Bauer, Morrison, Callister,

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1998, 168p). Each newcomer in all three analyzed cases had different extent of

interactions with members of the team. In the case of Team 1-Leasing, the newcomer

developed informal, friendly and open relationships with his colleagues due to daily

interactions and close collaborations with them. Colleagues also helped him to find

orientation in the organization, provide consultations, share their own experience

regarding working tasks, give feedback regarding accomplishment of particular

processes and evaluate general performance.

The factors like social communication and willingness of both parties to collaborate

with each other helped members of the Team 2-HR build strong fixed relationships.

Working together on common projects, sharing one table in the office and going

together for lunches allow coworkers keep good friendships during several years.

There is higher probability of closer communication and collaboration of members of

the team, when members have interdependent tasks to accomplish with each other.

(Hurst, Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012, 126p).For example, members of the

Team3-Research have more or less different projects, some of them develop

software, and others make experiments and use this software. As newcomer

explained once he had problems with specific software he asked for the help the

colleagues who primary created it. Basically, although newcomer and members have

various distinct tasks, these tasks are interdependent and raise the need of

members` cooperation and communication.

Even though the collaboration on the daily basis between members of the Team 3 –

Research was not much intensive, they created good working relationships. In

addition, when members of the team have some questions or issues regarding

particular programs, tools or software, they refer their concerns directly to the

creators of those systems and cooperation becomes closer. Sharing the same

interests in the research field was another reason for members to have friendly

relationship among each other.

During cooperation within the team there is higher probability that some

misunderstandings or disagreements arise. The Team1-Leasing, for example, faced

issues like lack of experience of the newcomer in the leasing financing field, lack of

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the knowledge of the systems and language barriers. Specifically, the newcomer

pointed out how low speaking level of German language influenced on his ability to

be involved into conversations with others in the team. Thus, it took longer for him to

build some informal relationships with coworkers, but finally it did not affect his

socialization result.

When the newcomer from the Team2-HR just joined new team, she experienced

shock due to different norms which are settled within the team with a comparison to

which she got used to on previous job. Newcomer used to have constant

conversations with colleagues while accomplishing tasks, however, in the current

team there is “working” silence and members do not usually chat a lot. In addition,

there were some misunderstandings due to the personal characteristics of the

newcomer. However, with a time newcomer got used to new rules and started to

appreciate the working atmosphere of “silence” in the team. This show how it is vital

to be able to adjust under new conditions, respect the “choice” of others and find new

or alternative approach to the issues.

Further, the quality of relationship between newcomer and team leader might have

an effect on the different job attitudes. Team leaders can bring guidance and

valuable information to the newcomers (Bauer and Green, 1998, 82p). For instance,

in the Team1-Leasing team leader had a role of mentor, who helped newcomer to get

him involved into certain working processes and into communication with other

people from abroad offices. Also, team leader was responsible for the personal

development of newcomer and improvement of his technical skills.

Speaking about relationships between team leaders and newcomers, some studies

analyzed how agent’s behavior might influence newcomer accommodation (Morrison,

2002, 1156p). In the case of Team2- HR the manager have big influence at the

beginning on the newcomer’s way to learn about running processes and to

accomplish tasks. The manger “pushed” newcomer to be independent in establishing

new processes and to learn to control them without additional help during induction

process. This mean that manager used particular tactics to teach newcomer “how the

work should be done”, and by doing so manager also speeded up newcomer’s

adjustment process. To conduct above, research findings represent that team

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leader’s behavior influences on newcomer` s learning process and his or her

accommodation and general performance.

Generally, every team had its own way of developing friendly and loyal relationships,

despite being challenged by various issues and misunderstandings. Having closer

social interactions with colleagues and developing networks of working relationships

affected newcomer` s learning experience and integration into the team.

5.6. Social support

Social support can be viewed through the colleagues` assistance to the newcomer to

accomplish tasks and how coworkers give advises and recommendations to the new

employees, as well as how the whole team accepts new members (Hurst,

Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012, 122p). In the case of the Team1- Leasing,

newcomer described how colleagues were helpful and understanding in the

beginning, giving him time to adapt and patiently explained working things. His close

colleague also mentioned how new member had difficulties to communicate with

team in German, so they often had to switch in English language to explain some

specific terms of the work. In this context, the behavior of the colleagues can be

described as supportive and adjustable under specific situations within the team.

From the colleague’s point of view, supportive behavior is also one of the

fundamental factors, which contributes to successful socialization. As she further

explained how it was necessary to convince newcomer that besides being a

colleague for him, she also a friend who wants to support and help him. The team

leader stressed that without support of the whole team, nothing can be achieved or

the newcomer could not move further.

Support from the team was one of the main expectations of the newcomer from the

Team2 - HR. She interpreted in a way that she as a new member in the team would

have a lot of questions and concerns and only coworkers could help her with their

support to go through adjustment issues. According to the newcomer from the

Team3-Reseaech, he receives support and help from his colleagues from the

beginning until nowadays. This constant support was represented by assistance of

coworkers in questions of how to use particular software or devices.

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Social support includes not only receiving help from the team members, but also from

the family, friends and beloved ones. One newcomer emphasized how important for

him was the support of his girlfriend, who moved with him in the new city. He also

believes that without her support the integration into new environment would not be

successful, because it is important that the personal life goes hand in hand with the

career and that there is a balance between working and personal life. Another

newcomer was supported with his move to the new country by family members.

Surprisingly, one newcomer did not have any external support when she started to

work in the organization, but it did not affect the result of her socialization process. It

can be due to the fact that the individual already long time lives abroad far away from

the family and she got used to deal with any issues on her own.

5.7. Team culture

During the analysis of all three cases I could observe particular team` s cultures,

which more or less diverse from each other and at the same time show certain

common characteristics. These differences or similarities among cultures can be

viewed in team’s norms, traditions and habits that can generally influence the level of

newcomer` s adjustment (Hurst, Kammeyer-Mueller, Livingston, 2012, 127p).

For example, Team 1- Leasing has a tradition to meet with the whole team in the

morning in the common kitchen to share cups of coffee and have a chat about non-

working related and personal things. Team’s lunches, celebrations of birthdays and

team parties allow individuals to be engaged in some informal talks, keep members

together and, further, build close relationships with each other. Such team` s

participation in common activities usually encourages the socialization.

One of the main characteristics of the culture of the Team2-HR is its concept of the

diversity. The team consists of the members from different countries of the World,

who work in the international organization. Thus, the policy of the organization is that

everybody has to respect different cultures, have cultural sensitivity and ability to

work in diverse environment. The members of the team are flexible, know how to

adjust their behavior in different situations and under personalities of new employees,

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and know more or less how to communicate within an international team. Moreover,

during recruitment interviews HR organization investigates if potential employees

have some issues with different countries or not. In the case if the future employees

make some negative feedback regarding some countries, the HR team never hires

them, even if the rest of the individuals` characteristics fit to the organization.

Because the motto of the organization is that everybody is equal and diverse, so

diversity aspect is very essential for this organization. This organizational culture, that

supports the concept of diversity of the team, establishes attitudes that also promote

integration process of newcomers.

Another aspect that affects the way how newcomer adjusts - is team’s openness as a

part of culture. When there are some minor misunderstandings in the Team2-HR,

they are usually quickly solved due to the open culture of the team where members

openly discuss any issues. The team leader of the Team2 –HR makes regularly one-

to-one sessions with members in order to discuss what has been improved or

developed in the terms of their personal growth and projects success, to examine

working tasks and related issues. During the discussion team leader suggests

solutions to their issues, gives advices, and supports their new ideas regarding

particular projects. These one-to-one meetings help members to feel comfortable and

secure, because they know that the team leader will always help and support them.

When newcomer can observe such team’s openness and collaboration, he or she is

more likely to show initiative and be able to pass from the outsider to the insider of

the team.

Team’s atmosphere as a part of culture is created by its participants who are primary

involved in the group. In the open, friendly atmosphere, where every member is

willing to help and support each other, the newcomer adjusts quickly and less

problematically. The created atmosphere often depends on the members of the team,

their personal characteristics, their relationships among each other and the team

leader, as well if they have similar interests and topics to discuss. From the point of

view of the leader of the Team 2-HR, the general atmosphere in her team is

significantly related to the working performance of the team as well as to the general

organizational performance. Good atmosphere in the team serves as a precondition

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for the newcomers to integrate quickly and feel comfortable from the beginning of

their socialization process.

5.8. Language

The analysis showed that the language plays an important role during the

socialization process. As the team members in international teams come from

different countries and speak different languages, potential barriers arising from

different mother tongue of the newcomer and the language spoken in the team might

arise. This could be observed mainly on the examples of the Team 1 – Leasing and

the Team 3 – Research. The newcomers in both teams faced language barriers,

which were reflected mainly in problems with building personal relationships at the

beginning of the socialization process, and thus prolonged the socialization of the

newcomers into the team, until the language barrier was overcome.

In case of the Team1- Leasing, for example, the newcomer pointed out, how the

lower level of German language, resp. understanding of the Austrian accent,

negatively influenced on engaging into informal conversations with other team

members. While it did not influence his working responsibilities, as in case of

discussing working issues the colleagues paid more attention to speaking clearly,

slowly and double checked for understanding, in case of informal conversations

during team lunches or breaks, conversation was free, all team members joined and

less attention was put on the fact if the newcomer understands everything. As a

result, until the understanding of the language improved, the newcomer had troubles

to join the conversations and thus it took longer for him to build some informal

relationships with coworkers. Similarly, the newcomer in the Team 3 – Research,

faced difficulties from the beginning with communication with some team members

who spoke only in German and their English was not so good. As he mentioned, the

things would be easier, if he spoke fluently in German from the beginning.

Although the above did not finally affect the socialization result, the language barriers

definitely slowed downed the socialization of the newcomers into the team and might

have even negatively influenced the process, if the language barriers would not have

been overcome. Communication is one of the essential aspects on which everybody

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has to pay attention. The fluency of communication is influenced by the spoken

language. For example, in the case of language barriers in the Team 1 – Leasing, the

native speakers had to be more patient with the newcomer for whom the language

which is spoken in the team is actually a foreign language. The close colleague of the

newcomer also mentioned how the new member had difficulties to communicate with

team in German, so they often had to switch in English language to explain some

specific terms.

The existence of language barriers influences the formal and informal communication

in the team and might slow down the socialization process until the barriers are

overcome.

5.9. Personal characteristics of the newcomer

Personal characteristics of the newcomer are playing significant role during the

socialization process (Bauer, Morrison and Callister, 1998, 170p). Important is not

only what the organization has prepared for the newcomer to make his or her

adjustment process easier and quicker, but also what is the personality of the

newcomer. Newcomers with individual differences play their roles and face their

challenges variously. The way how they integrate into new environment and behave

influences the process of socialization (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 174p).

The colleague of the Team1-Leasing discussed the differences between newcomer

and another member of the team, who just recently joined the team. According to her

words, the newcomer is more calm, shy and quiet than the other colleague in the

team, who is more outgoing, open and initiative in going to people and talk with them.

At the same time, the newcomer was very nice and open for discussion, but team

member noticed how he was at the beginning under stress and could not fully relax at

work. Due to newcomer` s personal attributes his socialization was slowed down at

the beginning, as he needed more time to get used to new people and new

environment.

Beside the importance of having particular set of business skills, team leader in the

Team 1 stressed reliability as an important factor, which is also significant for the

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organization. Close colleague characterized the newcomer as a reliable member of

the team. The newcomer proved this “status” when there was a lot of work and

colleague knew that she could rely on him in some working issues or in

accomplishing colleague’s tasks during her holiday period.

Moreover, organization generally should pay attention on the personality of

newcomer and be ready to adjust socialization process individually by changing

workflows and procedures they usually used to implement. Because it is sometimes

necessary to flexibly react on different needs of the newcomer due to his personal

characteristics.

Another example is demonstrated in the case of the Team2-HR, where colleague

talked about individual attributes as factors that influence the socialization process.

She highlighted that if the newcomer is communicative, not shy, shows appreciation

and “has a smile on the face”, this individual quicker goes through his or her

socialization process and gets into team. Such personal characteristics can be

related to the extraversion, which is described as ability of individual to develop

relationships with coworkers and create positive attitudes (Hurst, Kammeyer-Mueller,

Livingston, 2012, 124).

Among individual characteristics, the extent to which both newcomer and members of

the team are proactive in making interaction with each other also affects the

socialization process (Bauer, Morrison, Callister, 1998, 179p). In all three research

cases I could observe the willingness of both sides to collaborate, communicate, help

and support each other in order to succeed in common performance and the


5.10. Cultural differences among members

With respect to the previous discussion about personal characteristics of the

newcomer, cultural differences among members in the international team are also an

important factor in the case of socialization. Cultural differences among team

members can be seen in their working habits, their communication and collaboration

with others, or even in the way how they analyze particular situations and issues.

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According to the newcomer from the Team 1-Leasing, cultural differences are mainly

reflected in the working approach of his colleagues from different countries. As an

example, he mentioned that Polish colleagues are not detail oriented and make a lot

of small mistakes, typing errors, counting errors, which come from lack of attention;

Czech colleagues used to require manuals for solving some issues and confirm every

decisions with others; colleagues from Slovakia often do not like to take responsibility

for their decisions or actions. Knowing such details might help newcomer to forecast

mistakes in data or in the accomplishing mutual tasks, as well as predict colleague’s

behavior in certain situations. In case of work in an international team, it is necessary

to be prepared for existence of cultural differences, which are reflected in the working

style, priorities and working habits of some nationalities. Team members should be

also able to adjust their behavior and approach when working with different

nationalities in the team.

The newcomer of the Team 2- HR also noticed how her colleagues apply different

approaches to perform their job tasks. Different approaches can be seen in the time

management, where people implement certain strategy to organize their daily

responsibilities and activities. For example, an American member of the team used to

have for everything a guideline and a flowchart. According to her working approach,

the processes should be precisely defined and it should be always referred to a

handbook or codex. The way how person organizes his working approach can be

caused due to individual characteristics or cultural identity. In the contrast to previous

newcomer’s point of view, the newcomer from the Team 2-HR believes that the way

how individuals behave and communicate relates rather to their psycho type than to

their nationality.

During the discussion about differences between the members in their working habits

and approaches to solving tasks, the team leader of the Team 2-HR underlined some

individual aspects which are beneficial in case of an international team. Individuals

should be flexible, should know how to adjust their behavior when dealing with

somebody from different culture, as well as have strong communicational skills in

order to gain mutual understanding within the international team.

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5.11. Feedback

During the analysis feedback came out as a “game changing” factor during the

socialization process in case of Teams 2 – HR and Team 3 – Research. In both

teams feedback was mentioned as a significant factor influencing the socialization

process. In case of Team 2 – HR it was feedback given by the manager to the

newcomer and in case of the Team 3 – Research we had an example of feedback for

the team as a whole, which was given to all team members by an external reviewer.

According to the theory, feedback and performance appraisals are one of the

essential instruments for the socialization process. That is because appraisals can

assess the extent to which new employees are successfully socialized and positive

feedback can be seen generally as indication of a successful socialization process.

(Ardts, Jansen, Mandy van der Velde, 2001, 162p). Although the authors talk about

positive feedback, in case of the newcomer in Team 2 – HR, we could witness, that

also a negative feedback can positively influence the socialization process. In this

case, the newcomer received negative feedback and was put under pressure from

manager to work independently on a new project. This helped the newcomer to come

forward and the success of the newcomer during this project was positively viewed

by the other team members, which helped the newcomer to fit into the team. On this

example we can see, that not only a positive feedback, but also a constructive

negative feedback, if correctly given and positively taken by the newcomer, can

contribute to a successful socialization process.

Further, according to the uncertainty reduction theory, new employees face high level

of uncertainty when entering an organization. Newcomers have usually big motivation

to decrease their uncertainty so they will be able to understand, predict and control

working environment. They seek to reduce uncertainty by gathering information or

knowledge though different communication means and interactions with colleagues

or other agents. One of the ways how the newcomers reduce their uncertainty is as

well through demanding and receiving feedback. Once the uncertainty is reduced,

newcomers begin to perform better, become generally more satisfied, and are more

likely to stay in the organization (Saks, Ashforth, 1997, 236p).

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Feedback in the context of the uncertainty reduction theory played an important role

during the socialization process of the newcomer in the Team 3 – Research, in which

case an evaluation of the department by external reviewer represented a significant

breaking point for the newcomer. During this appraisal process and feedback which

was received not only directly by individual members on their work, but also was

addressed to the team as a whole, the newcomer gained full overview about the work

of other colleagues and how is their work interconnected. In other words, the external

appraisal helped to reduce the uncertainty of the newcomer in the organization, and

in accordance with the uncertainty reduction theory, helped the newcomer to be more

satisfied and feel like a part of the team, thus increased the likelihood to stay in the

organization.

Feedback, either positive or negative, is an important factor and instrument

influencing the socialization process. The research showed, that not only individually

received feedback (as it was in case of the Team 2 – HR), but also feedback

received by the team as a whole, plays an important role in the socialization. This

could be observed on the case of Team 3 – Research, where facing an external audit

of the department made the team members work more closely than normally and

receiving feedback on work of the whole department made the members feel to be

one team and the newcomer to be part of it.

5.12. Time

The literature defines socialization of a newcomer into an organization as a process.

Many authors agree that the socialization process includes several stages, for

example an anticipatory stage, an encounter stage and an acquisition stage (Ardts,

Jansen, Mandy van der Velde, 2001, 159p), or according to the group socialization

model, an individual is likely to go through five stages: investigation, socialization,

maintenance, resocialization, and remembrance (Levine, Moreland, 1994, 311p). No

matter how many stages of the socialization process have the authors identified; a

process including several stages implies the importance of the time factor. The

newcomer has to be granted sufficient time to pass through all stages of this process

in order for the socialization to be successful. The newcomer needs time to integrate

and adjust, as well as time to build relationships within the team and organization.

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The Team 1 – Leasing and the Team 3 – Research considered the time factor to be

important during the socialization process. The newcomer from the Team 1

considered being given sufficient time to integrate and adjust, to get comfortable with

his working responsibilities, as well as to build relationships within the team, as

important. From the point of view of the team members in the Team 1, sufficient time

should be taken to introduce the newcomer to his working responsibilities and

sufficient time should be provided to him to adjust - not to expect too much at the

beginning. Similarly, according to the team members of the Team 3 – Research, the

newcomer should be given time and space to build relationships with other

colleagues. The above implies the importance of the time factor for a successful

socialization, as sufficient time has to be given to the newcomers to successfully

pass through the whole socialization process.

5.13. Environment

According to the research findings, working environment can influence the

socialization process. Working environment can be organized in order to support

team members to socialize, to get together and to get to know each other personally

that in result positively influence the socialization process.

Teams 1 and 2 were of the view, that activities bringing the team members together

are important for successful socialization. This does not include only team building

activities like team meetings, case studies, games or company trips, but also a

working environment supporting the team members to socialize. Organization should

try to make better atmosphere and environment for people to get together and talk.

Relax zones in the company premises or opportunities for activities like table football

or billiard create opportunities to get sociable and might speed up the process of

people getting to know each other.

The above was not only suggested by the interviewees as a way of improving the

socialization process, but had certain effect on the socialization process of the

newcomer in the Team 1 – Leasing. In the first working days, the newcomer seemed

to be calm and shy, however, at the same time he was very nice and open for

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discussion. According to his close colleague, maybe the fact that at the beginning he

was sitting further from her and in front of the team leader made him feel a little bit

uncomfortable and shy to openly communicate during the working day. According to

the close colleague it was visible, that the newcomer is a little bit under stress due to

where he was sitting in the office. The distance to other team members and a sitting

place direct in front of the team leader influenced the communication during first

days, according to the close colleague of the newcomer in the Team 1.

The above example shows, how the working environment can influence the

socialization process. Creating working environment which supports informal

communication, as appropriate layout of offices and incorporating zones where the

people can get together and talk also informally as kitchens or relax zones, can

positively influence on the socialization.

5.14. Reflection of own socialization process

Individuals, who have gone through socialization process, can better understand the

newcomers and provide help and support, as well as have influence on their

adjustment and adaptation. In the example of the Team1- Leasing, colleague’s

previous socialization experience contributed to developing an individual approach to

the newcomer’s adjustment. Colleague tried to be clear and more precise when

explaining working issues, she exactly knew on which aspects of working tasks to be

focused. In the same way, team leader’s own socialization influenced on the

newcomer’s induction. As team leader had informal induction process, he proposed

more formal induction approach with implementing new instruments and making

working activities more structured, as well as documented for the newcomer. By

changing organizational tactics, team leader wanted to help newcomers to get

involved easier and quicker into working processes, as well as create appropriate

environment where they would develop good relationships with their coworkers.

The socialization process which was experienced by the members of the Team2-HR

also affected the way of their interaction with newcomers. The team members

learned how vital role can play support of colleagues during the socialization. Based

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on the previous experience, colleagues also tried to help newcomer with solving work

related issues and provide work shadowing for new employees.

Moreover, team leader of the Team 3-Research understood during his own

socialization process how the role and support of a supervisor are important. That

was one of the main reasons why he supported open communication in the team and

tried to be available as much as possible for the newcomer. Further, he also focused

on encouraging team spirit and team activities as these factors played an important

role in the socialization according to his own experience.

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6. Conclusion, limitations of the study and recommendations

Organizational socialization refers to a process in which newcomer collects social

knowledge and skills that are fundamental in order to accept a role in an

organization. Through the socialization process newcomer is thought and acquires

information about which patterns of behavior and attitudes are acceptable within the

working environment, as well which are not (Van Maanen, Schein, 1979, 4p).

Newcomers are main players who take part in sensemaking process of their

workplace or environment, gain knowledge, look for social encouragement, and try to

improve their skills through their own attempts. The more opportunities and

challenges the new employees have to master and have to deal with in their new

roles, the better the newcomers will be able to fit into the new workplace (Bauer,

Green, 1994, 211p).

In order to fit into new working environment newcomers experience adjustment

process, which is viewed by various authors differently. Some of them view

newcomer adjustment process through tasks and social transitions (Bauer, Bodner,

Tucker, 2007, 708p). Others define the significance of creating interpersonal

relationships in the working environment (Adkins, 1995, 841p). One of the well known

models of adjustment process was introduced by Feldman, whose framework deals

with process and outcome variables. The process variables demonstrate how person

is successfully completing some tasks in the socialization process, the outcome

variables show the “norm” by which the development through socialization process

can be analyzed and measured (Feldman, 1981, 310 p).

By examining group socialization phenomenon I found out that the team` s

socialization begins when a newcomer enters the team and recognizes the

significance of recruitment practices which often create formal team membership.

The team’s socialization reaches its final point when the group and the new member

build fixed relationship between each other. This fixed relationship determines the

new member` s role within the group, which is settled to the satisfaction of the group

as well as of the newcomer (Jackson, Stone, Alvarez, 1993, 59p).

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A successful socialization is defined in literature as a satisfactory integration of a

newcomer into an organization. From the perspective of a newcomer it represents a

situation when he or she becomes an insider in the organization, a fixed employee,

reaching balance between his or her capabilities and the requirements of the

organization. From the point of view of the organization it means, that the newcomer

successfully becomes part of the team and the organizational environment, reaching

a balance between adaptation and innovative behavior (Feij, 1998, 210p).

In all three analyzed cases the teams evaluated the socialization process as being

successful. The newcomers characterized successful socialization as having healthy

and friendly relationships with other team members and in the working environment,

by feeling comfortable in their new roles, understanding their position within the team,

as well as the common goals. From the point of the view of the teams, socialization

was successful when the existing barriers were overcome and the newcomers

became members of the team who can add value.

The main purpose of the research was to find an answer on the research question:

what factors are influencing successful socialization of a newcomer into an

international team? This study is unique mainly due to its specific focus on

socialization process in the international teams. Although, there have been studies

that examined the issue of international adjustment and related factors in the

international context. These studies have been focused on the conceptual agenda of

socialization and international adjustment, while my research provides empirical

insights about socialization in the international context.

Socialization in an international team is, of course, influenced by factors influencing

socialization into any group, however, the analysis of the socialization process in the

three international teams showed, that there exist additional potential risk factors

influencing the socialization process specifically in an international team.

Factors influencing successful socialization of a newcomer into any team

The research showed that the factors influencing the socialization process into an

international team include previous working experience of the newcomer,

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motivation of the newcomer, expectations of the newcomer and the

organization, organizational socialization tactics, interactions with the

members of the organization, social support, team culture, personal

characteristics of the newcomer and feedback. These factors are identical with

the factors which influence group socialization according to the literature.

A relevant previous working experience helps the newcomer to more quickly

accommodate in his or hers new role. On the other hand, lack of previous working

experience leads to longer and more complicated adaptation into an international

team. Motivated newcomers are more likely to fit into the team and overcome

potential barriers. Beside motivation to reach personal aims as for example career

growth, motivation to work, to learn new things and interest in the field, further

contributed to overcome existing barriers and differences within the teams and led to

successful socialization in all three analyzed cases. Another important factor for a

successful socialization is that the expectations of the newcomer and the ones of the

organizations match. If the expectations don’t meet, the team can positively influence

the socialization by providing additional assistance to the newcomer during the

transition period, or adjustment of the newcomer to the expectations of the

organization is necessary.

Organizations can apply different organizational tactics to socialize a newcomer into

the team and organization. These can include, for example formal, informal,

collective, or serial socialization tactics. Usually a mix of those tactics is used. The

research showed that individuals with a more formal socialization tactics (including

formal induction, training or team building) were able to relatively quickly find

orientation in the organization, as well as learn what is important and expected. The

analyzed teams were characterized by different frequency of cooperation of the

newcomer with other team members. The level and frequency of cooperation with

other team members can significantly influence the socialization process of the

newcomer. In case of more frequent cooperation, the socialization process is more

likely to be quicker. Moreover, developing informal relationships and relationship

networks has positive influence on successful socialization. The relationships with

and behavior of other members of the organization significantly influences the

socialization process. Similarly, external and internal social support plays an

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important role. Social support can be viewed through the colleagues` assistance to

the newcomer to accomplish tasks and how coworkers give advises and

recommendations to the new employees, as well as how the whole team accepts

new members. Social support does not include only receiving help from the team

members, but also from the family, friends and beloved ones, which can play as well

a role in the socialization process according to my findings.

Team culture is another factor which significantly influences the socialization process.

Team culture includes team’s norms, traditions and habits, as well as the atmosphere

in the team. Team’s atmosphere as a part of culture is created by its participants who

are primary involved in the group. In the open, friendly atmosphere, where every

member is willing to help and support each other, the newcomer adjusts quickly and

less problematically. Team traditions as common lunches, celebrations of birthdays

and after work activities create opportunities for the team members to get together

and socialize. In order to be able to fit into a team, personal characteristics of a

newcomer play an important role during the socialization process. Based on what the

personal characteristics of the newcomer are, newcomers can differently play their

roles and face challenges. Organizations should pay attention on the personality

characteristics of the newcomer and be ready to adjust socialization process in order

to flexibly react on different needs of the newcomer. Another factor influencing

socialization process is feedback. The research showed that feedback, either positive

or negative, and not only individually received feedback, but also feedback received

by the team as a whole, plays an important role in the socialization. Feedback allows

the newcomers to reduce their uncertainty. Positive feedback can be sign of

successful socialization, why a negative one can give the newcomer an opportunity

to appropriately adjust his or hers behavior.

Moreover, the analysis revealed further factors, which based on my findings influence

socialization in international teams and can influence as well group socialization in

general. These factors were, however, not mentioned in the literature. These factors

include time, environment and own socialization process.

Socialization is a process with several stages and the newcomer has to be granted

sufficient time to pass through all stages of this process in order for the socialization

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to be successful. The newcomer needs time to integrate and adjust, as well as time

to build relationships within the team and organization. Time factor played an

important role during the socialization in the analyzed cases both from the point of

view of newcomers, as well as the teams, resp. organizations. Another factor which

played a role during the socialization process in the analyzed cases was the working

environment and atmosphere which supports the team members to socialize.

Creating working environment which supports informal communication, as

appropriate layout of offices and incorporating zones where the people can get

together and talk also informally (as for example kitchens or relax zones), can

positively influence the socialization of newcomers according to the findings. Further,

own socialization process of the team members played an influential role during

socialization of the newcomer in all 3 analyzed cases. Own socialization experience

of the team members influenced how they behaved during integration of the

newcomer. Going through similar experience in the past helped the team members to

understand what is important during the socialization process and how they can

improve the existing processes or approaches to help the newcomer integrate faster

and more comfortably.

Factors influencing successful socialization of a newcomer specific to

international teams

The factors mentioned so far can influence the socialization into any group. My

research helped to identify additional factors, which influence socialization specifically

in international teams. These factors play an important role mainly due to certain

specifics of international teams as team diversity, different cultural backgrounds of

the team members, their cultural values, personality characteristics which might be

subject to cultural influences, or language differences. These factors include

previous international experience of the newcomer, language, and cultural

differences among team members.

As already mentioned above, previous relevant working experience influences the

socialization of a newcomer into new working environment and new team. However,

when we talk specifically about international teams, the research showed that not

only previous working experience is important, but also previous international

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experience plays an important role. The earlier experience with foreign team

members contributes to a quick adjustment of newcomers into an international team.

Newcomers who worked before in an international environment know how to adapt

their working approach and behavior during cooperation with different nationalities.

This experience and knowledge is beneficial to their adjustment in a new

international team.

Language as factor influencing the socialization process is understood as existence

of potential barriers arising from different mother tongue of the newcomer and the

language spoken in the team and the organization. This is another factor specific for

international teams. The existence of language barriers influences the formal and

informal communication in the team and might slow down the socialization process

until the barriers are overcome. Further, specific for international teams are as well

cultural differences which might exist among team members. Cultural differences can

be reflected in different working style, communication and collaboration with others or

habits. Cultural differences have to be taken into consideration during the

socialization process into an international team. In order for the socialization process

to be successful, the newcomer has to be culturally sensitive when working with other

team members coming from different cultures, and other way around, the team has to

respect and pay attention to the culture of the newcomer, and give him sufficient

space to adjust.

In total there were identified 15 factors influencing successful socialization of a

newcomer into an international team. For better understanding the factors were

summarized in a model below. By paying more attention to these factors problems

which might arise during socialization of individuals from different nationalities can be

identified in an early stage and appropriately addressed when creating international

teams.

114

Factors influencing successful socialization of a newcomer into international

team


Factors influencing socialization process of newcomer into any team

Previous working experience

Motivation Expectations Organizational socialization tactics


Social support Team culture Personal characteristics of newcomer

Feedback Time

Environment Reflection of own socialization

Successful socialization

Factors influencing socialization process of newcomer specifically in international team

Previous international experience

Language Cultural differences among members

115

Limitations of the study

The main limitation of the study is the number of teams with which the interviews

were conducted. Conducting the interviews with greater number of teams would

increase the representativeness of the research, but due to time and resource

constraints only three teams with total of 9 interviewees participated in the qualitative

research.

Due to time constraints were the interviews conducted with a time frame of 20-30

minutes, so only a limited extent of information could be gathered. Longer interviews

could, perhaps, enable deeper discussion and more detailed insights into the

individual experiences.

Further, one of the teams was due to remote location in Prague, Czech Republic,

interviewed using Skype phone calls. The use of Skype call brings certain

disadvantages in comparison to a face to face interview as the interviewer and

interviewee do not have personal contact. The atmosphere during the interview and

its progress might be influenced, which in turn can influence the quality of answers

and results, which might have been higher if a face to face interview was used.

Recommendations

During my research were identified 15 factors influencing successful socialization into

an international team. This should help the organizations to identify to which factors

they should pay more attention during adaptation of their new employees into

international teams. Further research could be aimed on the extent to which those

factors influence the socialization process of a newcomer, which of those factors are

more and which are less significant. Additionally, more details regarding the rational

behind those factors, i.e. why do these factors play an important role during the

socialization process, could be explored.

Moreover, further studies could be focused on how organizations can apply the

identified factors to their own mechanisms and approaches to socialization. This

could be aimed on developing individual approaches to socialization of international

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employees. For example, how companies can help the new employees to overcome

language barriers and cultural differences among team members. Additionally, the

newcomers often might face the problem of a cross-cultural adjustment into new

environment. Thus, subject of further research could be identification of factors

influencing cross-cultural adjustment and its impact on socialization into a team.

117

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Appendix I

1. Team 1 - Leasing

1.1. Interview newcomer

General information:

1. Where do you come from?

I come from Slovakia.

2. How long are you working in the organization?

I am working in this company approximately 2 years.

3. Could you tell me more about your working responsibilities in the organization

and about your position within the team?

I am working as a CEE risk manager in a risk management and operations

department of a holding company with subsidiaries in 7 European countries. My main

role is the assessment of credit risk, meaning evaluation and support by processing

of applications for leasing financing which are coming from 5 central European

countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Croatia) and other

operational tasks as preparation of reporting for the management of the holding,

coordination of anti-money laundering agenda for the group and support by other

operational issues (for example in questions regarding risk manuals, client ratings

and different ad hoc projects related to operations in the CEE countries)

As a newcomer I had to get familiar with all operational areas which our department

covers, I was learning from my colleagues’ workflows and processes. At the

beginning I was basically coached by one of my colleagues who was as well

reviewing my work. After some time I fully took over the credit risk agenda and the

other tasks and worked on them independently. Currently the tasks in our team are

clearly divided, everybody has his or hers main responsibilities, however, every team

member should be able to substitute the others in their tasks in case of absence or

holiday.

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4. What was your previous working experience before you entered the

organization?

Before I worked 5 years in a consulting company providing tax, legal and assurance

(audit) services. 2, 5 years I was in tax and legal consulting and the other 2, 5 years

in audit. In the last 2, 5 years I worked mainly with clients from financial sector. I was

participating on several audits of banks and leasing companies, while 1 of my main

clients where I was a team leader on the assignment was a leasing company. I was

therefore familiar with operations and technical issues related to leasing and things

like credit risk, financial analysis and assessment of creditworthiness of companies,

as I had background in auditing and business consulting.

5. Were you part (or member) of an international team on your previous job? How

would you characterize work within an international team?

In my previous job I was not directly a member of an international team as it is now,

however, I worked in an international environment. The company language was

English so we did documentation of our audit work in English. I cooperated as well

with German speaking clients and was part of German desk. Further, I was part of a

team under a director who was from UK and cooperated on regular basis with

English speaking managers.

The main difference which I would see in comparison to work in a team of your own

nationality is communication – meaning language and language barriers which might

exist. Native speakers have to be more patient with team members for whom the

language which is spoken in the team is actually a foreign language and some

misunderstandings can arise if the team is communicating in a language which is not

a native language for anyone in the team – often it is much easier to grab phone and

discuss and clarify an issue than to engage in never-ending e-mail communication.

Sometimes it is necessary to clarify things in native language if the team member has

not good level of the foreign language. Often the fact that I speak Slovak and Czech

helps to resolve issues with our Slovak or Czech colleagues in which my German

speaking colleagues fail.

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Further you have to be more sensitive to some cultural differences which might be

reflected in the working style, priorities and working habits of some nationalities. It

might be much generalized but after 2, 5 years of working with 5 different countries I

noticed that the differences in their working habits really exist. Very roughly speaking

our polish colleagues are not so detail oriented and make a lot of small mistakes,

typing errors, counting errors and so on which comes just from lack of attention;

Czechs need manual for everything and confirm almost every decision; Slovaks do

not like to take responsibility and so on. You have to adjust your approach when you

work with those different nationalities to some extent.

6. What are your personal (primary) objectives/goals in this organization? What

was your motivation to enter the organization?

I would say my main objective is to progress in my career, when I was changing jobs

I wanted to get out of consulting and get into business. Moreover, I wanted to change

environment and work abroad, get some international experience, improve my

German.

7. What did you expect from the organization to help you to integrate in the

team/organization?

I expected that I will be given some proper induction with respect to working things,

meaning that somebody will coach me into the processes and workflows and will be

there for me if I have questions. Further I expected that I will be given sufficient time

do adapt and integrate. And to be given time to adapt from the language point of

view, as the company language was German which was still kind of my weakness at

the beginning. I mean I could communicate on relatively acceptable level; however,

there was much to improve as I often had to communicate not just only with my

colleagues but also with company management in which case you have to express

yourself clearly and appropriately.

Adaptation process:

8. How did your first days at work go?

As already said, at the beginning I was coached mainly by my colleague and boss. I

have to say that although communication related to working things went relatively

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good, cause my colleague who coached me and boss were aware of my weakness –

German language, and thus they expressed themselves slowly and clearly, I kind of

struggled with informal communication with others in the team or during lunches,

where the conversation mostly went in Austrian, with strong accent and quickly. I was

having trouble to get involved into conversations and thus it took me longer to build

some informal relationships until my German resp. Austrian improved.

9. What helped you to find orientation in organizational environment?

My team, colleague and boss were very helpful. They showed me around, explained

me all what is necessary and were there for any questions. Basically I could address

all my questions to anyone in the team which helped me to get oriented in how things

work.

10.When did you create a general overview about the organization and what is

important in the organization?

I would say it took me around year – year and a half until I really started to feel

comfortable in my new role. It was after I got familiar with my main working tasks,

understood the relationships and interconnections, I stopped to learn something new

every day, the work related issues started to repeat and my everyday tasks became

for me more or less routine. I stopped to be lost in detail and started to be able to

look on the things from the bigger picture. I understood which things are more and

which less important, what is expected, what questions are repeatedly asked from

the management, what they actually want and need to know for their decisions. I was

started to feel more comfortable from the language point of view as well and the

language barriers between me and my colleagues, resp. others with whom I

communicated on daily basis started to disappear.

11.How did you learn about what is important in the organization?

I mainly learned it from my colleague and my boss by consulting them and than by

getting more experience, receiving feedback from the people I worked with.

12.What induction process did you go through? What coaching on the job did you

receive?

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Basically we had some 2-3 day introduction to some working related issues, getting

to know the team, organizational structure, some basic workflows and so on. This

was done in some one on one session with my boss or colleague. I had a one day

training for newcomers, which was not focused just on our department, but generally

on the whole company and was more concerned with general processes like some

health and safety, ethics, general overview of the organization. Then I got some time,

ca. a week to get familiar with all necessary manuals, standards and guidelines which

I need to know in my role. And than I started to be involved in working things and day

to day tasks under supervision of my boss, by which I was coached by the colleague.

After ca. a year I fully took over some working tasks under my responsibility and the

tasks were clearly divided within the team.

13.How was the interaction with the members of the team in the beginning of your

working life in the organization?

As already said, in case of work related issues it went pretty good from the beginning

as it was no problem for me to understand written communication in German or

discuss work related things with my colleagues. However, where I was having trouble

at the beginning was the informal communication and building some informal

relationships with my colleagues, which I would say was mainly due to language

barriers and me having trouble to engage in conversation because of it.

14.How your colleagues supported you at the beginning?

I think the colleagues understood that there is some language barrier, because they

saw that my German was not so good. They were always nice and understanding,

they were giving me enough time to adapt and they were patient with me. They as

well patiently explained things to me and were very helpful all the time.

15.What events had significant influence on your opinion about the

organization/your colleagues/your supervisor?

I don’t thing there was some specific events which would have influence on my

opinion. It was maybe the constant support from my colleagues and boss which

made me feel comfortable, helped me to perform my daily tasks for the good of

everybody interested. We were basically on the same ship, trying to accomplish the

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same things. The relations, as well with the management, were more of an informal

nature, open and friendly, which just creates positive atmosphere and good working

environment.

16.What barriers did you notice during the communication with members in the

team?

It was mainly the language barrier as mentioned before. With respect to my

colleagues from other countries there are some cultural differences which are than

reflected in how colleagues in different countries work, as already said, for example

our Polish colleagues with lack of attention to detail or Czech colleagues with their

need for manuals. I think these issues are routed somewhere in their culture or

minimum in working culture and habits. However, if a person is aware about those

issues you can adjust as well your approach to them and adjust the way how you

communicate or work with them to overcome some barriers which my arise from it.

17.How would you describe the culture existing in your team? When and how did

you realize that it exists?

What I noticed right at the beginning was a team morning coffee, which was new for

me and I was thinking that it is a very nice team tradition. People would wait until

everybody comes to the office in the morning and than we would together go to

kitchen to get a coup of coffee. It was some 10-15 minutes at the beginning of the

day used to chit chat and talk about some informal things. Than there are common

lunches, celebrations of birthdays in the office, people use to bring some sweets from

time to time for the whole team and once a year there is a company trip. All of those

things were noticeable already from the beginning. I think it’s a good way how to

engage in some informal talks during the day and build some informal relationships.

18.When you started to work, did you have family/friends support? Do you think it

was beneficial/ helpful for you? Why?

I have to say that I moved into a new country for this role. Not just the job was for me

new, but also the environment, city, I moved without having here some friends, didn’t

know any people at the beginning. I had support of my girlfriend who moved here

with me, which was extremely important for me. I am not sure if the integration into

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the new environment would be so successful without her and her support. It is

important that the personal life goes hand in hand with the career and that there is a

balance between working and personal life.

Current situation (to which extent the socialization was successful):

19. How would you currently assess your position within the team?

By now I fully integrated and I feel comfortable in the new role. I feel comfortable with

respect to my working responsibilities, as well as personal relationships within the

team and in the working environment. I think I overcome the language barrier to big

extent as well, it is still not perfect, but this was important for me to fit in.

20.When did you start to understand it? How did you realize it?

I think it was mainly after overcoming the language barrier as I already mentioned.

This was important factor for me so I could move further and improve the

relationships with my colleagues, directors and others in the organization.

Communication is very important and if you find a way how to effectively

communicate with the others than I think person understand that he is already part of

the team.

21. How long was the adaptation period within the team? Was there some breaking

point (e.g. situation or event) after which you felt integrated to the team?

This process took me ca. a year – year and a half. I would not say there was some

specific breaking event or situation, but generally speaking the breaking point was

when I got comfortable with my new role and working responsibilities, developed

some kind of routine so I could concentrate on the bigger picture instead of the

details in my job, and when I overcome the language barriers. This took me ca. year

and a half.

22.How would you evaluate your socialization process? Was it successful? Why?

I would say it was definitely successful. I feel comfortable in my new role and in the

team; we have healthy, friendly relationships. I think it worked out for me good.

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23.What would be an ideal scenario of how socialization process should happen

(what the organization and individuals should do) compared with your actual

experience?

It is hard to say what could be made even better. I think what is important is that I

was given enough time to integrate, I had all the time support of my colleagues in

case of any questions, I had somebody to whom I could address all those questions

and that person was available and willing to help and coach me. Further, important

was as well that I went through some induction to my working responsibilities, was

enough coached on the job and was given time and support to overcome some

language barriers. I had as well paid German language course which was helpful in

this respect and showed me that there is as well willingness of the company to

support me. What was important was at well support of my girlfriend so my personal

life was balanced during this period. All of those factors worked out good together

and that was the main reason why my integration was successful. .

1.2. Interview with team member (colleague)

1. How long are you member of the team?

5 and half year

2. How long do you know (new member)?

Around 2 years

3. How do you collaborate with new member on day-to-day basis?

I would say the interaction is quite intensive. We work together on leasing

applications, also on other projects and some theoretical parts. The fact is that I am

long time in the team and have more responsibilities concerning the theoretical part

of our job, so new member asks me how to solve problems ( from the technical point

of view of the issue). Because I have more technical background and knowledge (for

example, I know better the standards, which are applied for the cases), generally,

new member consults with me such issues. We are also sharing one office; basically

we are sitting face to face.

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4. How was the interaction with new member during the first days/weeks/month?

At the beginning it was a little bit difficult, because I was on training, so I was often

not in the office. I think it was difficult for new member, due to the fact that there was

nobody in the office who could explain him the things in detail. When I was not in the

office some training was provided by team leader (boss) and it was confusing for me,

because I didn’t know how much he knows already from him. After 1 month we

actually started to work intensively together. Sure, at the beginning we focused more

on the explaining the basic tasks (for example, how financing leasing works, how we

make an application, how we use all the systems, what are the basic processes that

is necessary to do) Moreover, it was a little bit difficult for new member at the

beginning to communicate with us, because his German was not so good as now.

Sometimes we had to switch from German to English language when new member

had difficulties in understanding the explanations (some technical words, terms) in

German. To summarize, the biggest issues we faced at the beginning with new

member - was the lack of experience in the leasing financing field, lack of the

knowledge of the systems and language barriers.

5. How were you involved in the adaptation process of the new member?

As I said before, I had training during the newcomer’s first days, so the team leader

was more or less involved in the adaptation process of newcomer. There was also a

little bit insecurity about what did our leader already explained to him, maybe also in

another way that I would explain to him. It was a little bit tricky. We had few situations

when I explained him something and team leader said:” I already said it to him, he

knows”. Well, ok, he knows this already because team leader explained it to him ,but

I don’t know in which way he explained it to him ; the level of information, level of

detail and so on. Another concern was that new member supposed to accomplish not

only his tasks, but also take partly my job, because I was away from the office during

my training days. For example, now we have another new member and I am fully

responsible for the adaptation process. Meaning, I explain the systems (how to use

them) and the processes, show our theoretical regulations (this newcomer has to

read himself) and the house, introduce all persons with whom we are working.

6. What intercultural differences did you notice in the team/among the team

members?

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For me it is a little bit difficult to differentiate what characteristics belong more to the

cultural aspect and which are more related to the personal aspect. However, I would

say that newcomer is more calm and quiet and the other colleague in the team he is

more outgoing and open, interactive to going to people and talk with them. Maybe it

is because he is actually Italian, who, however, live in Austria already for long time

and has German language as his mother language. The newcomer that joined the

team two years ago is Slovak and had German as foreign language. And time to time

he had difficulties in the communication. From the working point of view

(accomplishing tasks, working on the projects), I did not notice any big differences

among the members. However, the newcomer was from the beginning asking many

questions, he wanted to know everything. The other colleague when he joined us did

not put so many questions, but he checked very much the systems. This is because

the newcomer and other colleague have different background, our other colleague is

more familiar with financing as he was working before in a bank and for the

newcomer was everything new and he had to learn everything from the beginning.

7. Are there any differences among team members that you noticed in their

working habits and approaches to solving tasks/problems?

As I said due to member’s different background experience, newcomer used to ask

many questions regarding different aspects of the job, and the other colleague who is

more familiar with bank systems and standards did not ask so many questions.

8. What team habits/traditions developed within your team?

For example, we have tradition that every morning around 8 o’clock we are meeting

in the common kitchen and having coffee. During the coffee, we are not only talking

about work, but also about personal life. Unfortunately, this has been changed not

long time ago, since we have a coffee machine directly in our room. But still we keep

going for lunches together with the whole team. For birthday party celebrations we

bring cake and cookies. Every birthday we celebrate together with the whole team.

And in the case of colleague’s pregnancy we have a special cake which supposes to

be brought. I don’t know if I can call it tradition, but every morning newcomer comes

to the office and asks: “How are you?” Additionally, we have once a year a company

trip. Usually we decide together (in the team) where we will go. Because you can

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choose between several variants of trip destination and we first agree which trip to

pick, so we are all together.

Adaptation of new member:

9. How would you describe your socialization process in the organization?

When I came, the team was just developing (there was only one person). Basically, I

was the second member of the team. At the beginning it was like introduction into

standards and theoretical part and afterwards the colleague already gave me the

financing applications to work on. The colleague guided me only 2 weeks, explained

how to prepare applications, what I have to check in the system and so on. In my

opinion, I learned it very quickly and adapted to the work environment. It was

because the colleague was helping me first two-three weeks and was explaining the

complicated cases.

10. How did it affect the way you interact with newcomer?

The way I trained newcomer was more clearly and in details. I exactly knew on which

aspects of working issues I want to focus more. So newcomer gets quickly and more

deeply into details of our work.

11. What did you expect the new member will do to successfully integrate into the

team?

Of course, I was expecting motivation to work, do the things which I tell newcomer to

do. Also I was excepting from him questions, which he will ask before making some

errors. What I do not like is when the person asks the third time the same thing. So it

is also important that the person learns from the experience. From the beginning I

would like also to see an initiative from the newcomer. For me is important that the

person can figure out himself the solution to the problem, rather than immediately ask

me for help. So the person can have his own solution to the problem and then we

can discuss the most appropriate approach for the issue.

12.Can you remember how did the new team member interact with you and other

members of the team in the first working days?

In the first working days, the newcomer was calm and shy, at the same he was very

nice and open for discussion. Maybe the fact that he was sitting at the beginning

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much more further from me (so this distance issue also influence on our

communication first days) and that he was sitting in front of the team leader (our

boss) made him feel a little bit uncomfortable and shy in front of us (you could see

that he is a little bit under stress)

13.What changes in new member’s behavior did you notice over time?

Of course, we got to know each other better, we learned to work with each other, we

help to each other in difficult situations, and we generally cooperate with each other

and support each other.

14.What/when do you think was the breaking point? What could influence on this

change?

I would not say that there was some kind of breaking point that causes such

changes. I just remember there was a time when we had to work a lot, sometimes

even during weekend. And during overloaded with work, we learned how to rely on

each other (for example, I knew that I could rely on him and that he will come early

morning on Saturday), which in turn lead to more close colleague –relationships. I

could rely on him in some working issues (if I gave him to check some data, I knew I

don’t have to check it one more time after him). I also could rely on him when I was

on holiday and he was responsible for my tasks.

15.How would you assess the socialization process of the new member?

I think newcomer’s socialization process went good, I would say it is good example.

16.What factors in your opinion influenced on the new member’s socialization

process? Why?

I believe that one of the most fundamental approaches is to take time (to really

explain the newcomer everything from the work point of view), make few cases

together to show newcomer the approach to work, to convince him that “I am not only

your colleague, but also a friend who wants to support and help”. From my point of

view, the colleagues should be open and nice to the newcomer, to show him that

“here you can be safe”.

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17. Do you see any potential for improvement of how socialization process should

be (what the organization and individuals should do) compared with the actual

process?

As said it takes usually time to show the newcomer how the things are done.

Additionally, it is beneficial to know better newcomer personally, try to understand

some cultural differences (if there are any).

1.3. Interview with the team leader

Team characteristics:

1. How many members are within your team?

There are 3 people based in Linz. There are 5 additional colleagues placed in 5

different countries with which we work together.

2. How old are they? Where they come from?

Newcomer is 30 and the other colleague, she is 35. She comes from Romania and

newcomer comes from Slovakia. We have also another colleague who comes from

Italy and is 30, however, he lives already long in Austria. The others are around 30 –

40 approximately and come from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Romania and

Poland, where we have our subsidiaries.

3. Which language do they speak within team?

They speak German and English languages.

4. How long are those members within team?

I worked with the other colleagues around three – three and half years and than

newcomer joined.

5. What are their professional backgrounds and working experience?

The other colleague who is working closely with the newcomer, she had 2 years of

experience in a big international company in an accounting and controlling

department and than also business administration. She has relevant working

experience for her role. Newcomer worked several years in a consulting company as

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an external auditor. Although he did not have experience in leasing, his background

is as well relevant for our job.

6. How do you view the personal characteristics of members within your team?

Good social skills are important for us, because of the communication with

colleagues in other countries and in other risk departments is one of the main

functions for the employee. And furthermore also professional approach and

technical skills are important as we are responsible for the risk assessment at the

holding for the whole leasing group.

OK, but what about some personal characteristics which the team members

have?

You need to be structured for the job; you need to have analytical skills. Very

important is as well that the person is reliable. Further, we work with different

personalities and you have to be sensitive with the treatment of others, so

communication is here very important. We communicate with different countries so

some intercultural sensitivity is important here as well.

7. What intercultural differences do you see between members of the team?

The female colleague about whom we are speaking about and newcomer are

somehow close that is as well why we chose particular newcomer. They are for

example both taking responsibility. I think our newcomer is very sensitive with the

communication. We also chose him because he should communicate very strong

with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, because he has similar mentality. The

communication (especially, the informal side of the communication) is very important

here; so it is important that newcomer has the same cultural background as our

colleagues in Slovakia and Czech Republic. That is also a reason why we chose him.

8. What culture exists within the team?

I think we have good informal relationships. We often go for lunch together or we are

having coffee together, and this is also very important. We also celebrate birthdays in

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the office, people get together, and we have some cake. These customs are

important so the team keeps together.

9. How would you describe the atmosphere within your team?

From my point of view the atmosphere was always quite good. It is more informal and

I knew that I could rely on the team members, which is very important for me.

10.What do you think affects the atmosphere in the team?

The communication and informal relationships between the team members are

essential here.

Induction in the organization:

11.What role and responsibilities do you have during the adaptation period of a

newcomer?

I am in the role of a mentor.

And what are your primary responsibilities in this role, what exactly are you doing?

I primarily help the new member to go ahead with his work, to get him involved into

certain working processes and into communication with other countries, and also to

help him to go ahead with his technical skills. At the beginning I also review the work

he is doing.

12.What approaches or techniques focused on speeding up the adaptation

process of newcomer the organization has?

We have manuals and working processes including examples. Then there is an

introduction to the processes, organizational structure, and introduction to other

people. It is important that the new person gets to know the whole department and

other people, to get to know different type of work which they do.

13.How would you describe your socialization process in the organization?

In my case it was quite similar. The only thing is that nowadays we have more

instruments for the newcomer to get introduced to the work. Now it is more formal

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process. Before there was only a senior who gave you work, explained what to do

and then, yeah, you just had to do your job. Many things were not filed or

documented.

14.How did it affect the way you interact with newcomers?

We understood that for a person it is better to get into the working process some

manuals and workflows are necessary. So we developed a more formal induction to

help the newcomer to get into working processes, get to know people with which he

works, to help him develop relationships with the department.

15.What did you expect the new member will do to successfully integrate into the

team?

I expect from the newcomer to be open minded, to be interested in the work, to be

motivated and to have the will to work. Everything else will come.

16.Which role does the team play in the adaptation process of a new member in

your opinion?

I think the team plays an important role. Without the support of the whole team it

would not go. The team has to be there for the new member to help him to get

ahead.

17. What changes in the team behavior did you notice after the new member

came?

I had different experience with different people and often the behavior changed. The

personality is here very important. It can get problematic when the person is sensible,

shy, not so outgoing, than the behavior in the team might change a little bit. However,

the change should be of course in a positive way. When there is a change it comes

usually after the first 1-2 month, but mostly it is a change of the newcomer’s behavior.

You have to react as a team leader. If you have a new member in a team and there is

something going wrong, you feel it, and then you have to react.

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18.How did the interaction between members and newcomer in the first days go?

How did the colleagues tried to help/ support newcomer during adaptation

period?

In Marek’s(newcomer) case it was very good from the beginning. There was from the

beginning open communication. The female colleague supported newcomer and was

there for any questions when I did not have so much time, explained workflows to

him and so on.

19. Do you see any differences in relationships among team members now

compared with the period when the newcomer just joined the team?

The relationships got friendlier, more open; some barriers that might have been at the

beginning were overcome.

20.What factors do you think are fundamental during socialization process and

why?

I would say the willingness to become a member of the team and time. The new

member needs as well time to integrate. Not to expect too much at the beginning,

because there is always a lot of information, a lot of new things. So you have to give

the newcomer time.

21.Do you see any potential for improvement of how socialization process should


process?

Generally speaking the personality of the new member is here very important and

you should pay to this factor attention. The process should be adjusted individually,

not just go according to a strict workflow or a procedure. It is sometimes necessary to

flexibly react on different needs on the newcomer. Somebody might integrate quickly,

somebody needs more time or it is necessary to focus on development of some

technical or soft-skills to help him to integrate.

The whole induction process should be as well good prepared and documenting. The

newcomer should have access to all necessary documents to which he can refer to

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later on. For example, when you are new in a team you need to develop business

skills and social skills as well, sometimes it can be difficult to handle at the same time

quickly enough or with full attention to every detail. Therefore some documents to

which you can refer later on are important. There have to be therefore good

instruments to document the business skills, technical skills and workflows.

2. Team 2 - HR

2.1. Interview newcomer



My name is Uliana and I am coming from Russia.


For almost 1 year and a half



I am working as an HR assistant. So I am supporting HR functions. My main

responsibility is stuffing. I am responsible for the recruiting process, for trying to find

new people into our team, organizing some kind of small team building activities,

preparation of documentation, also am working with some HR systems.


organization?

I was working in a company which was doing conference organization, so I worked

basically as a sales person. Primarily our organization was doing conferences for

chief executive officers and higher management positions, so I was kind of

introducing those events to them.

5. Were you part (or member) of an international team on your previous job?

How would you characterize work within an international team?

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I was also working in an international environment. I think the main reason is that I

am an expat living in Prague, not living in Russia, so this is the main reason why I am

working in international teams. In my previous job we were about 50 people. It was

quite a small office and small enterprise. We were all coming from different countries

and all of us had different backgrounds. I was working in Russian team, about 6

people, we were supporting Russian markets including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,

Byelorussia and Ukraine, but in the same time we were sharing office with people

from different European countries. The main company language was English, so we

would communicate mainly in English.



First of all it is an assistant position and I actually kind of like the people I am working

with. Moreover, I finished my degree in the area of human resources, so this is

basically my specialization from the university and what I was learning at the

university. It requires some mix of communication skills, presentation skills and at the

same time a little bit of psychological work, because you are constantly dealing with

staff in the organization. This work appeals to me a lot actually. With respect to my

primary objectives and goals in the organization, well, first of all our company is

leading company on the market, there are ca. 78 thousand employees in the world

and also we were recently acquired by a bigger company, so first of all due to these

integration activities I might get a lot of experience and see how the company

develops and also at the same time I have a lot of training opportunities within the

company, I may attend on different type of trainings, for example trainings developing

presentation skills, business communication skills and so on. I think there are a lot of

things I can learn from the point of view of personal development, as I said it is

mainly about skills which I can develop by attending trainings, communicating with

people – HR people or communicating with recruits and so on, as well as developing

technical skills in HR. I want to try to become a team leader and develop myself in

recruiting and HR.


team/organization?

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First of all I really appreciated that we had one month training for the newcomers.

During this one month the newcomer is working closer with the rest of the team, so

we had one to one sessions.

Ok, but what were your expectations, because them we will come to how it

actually was later.

My expectation was actually good team and being surrounded with people from

whom I could learn. I would also expect people to help me with my questions and my

concerns, because I would be new and would for sure have a lot of questions which I

would expect to be addressed. And I would expect to be free to ask those questions,

because sometimes there can be environment within the team when person might be

afraid to do it. So I would expect that people would help me.

Adaptation process:


I remember how I arrived to the office and the first meeting was with my manager. I

am working in a shared service center which means that we are assisting with HR

issues for all EMEA regions, meaning Europe, Middle-East and Africa. I remember

how my team leader or my manager introduced me to the whole HR organization and

explained how it is built so she told me about the main pillars and she basically told

me about the whole organization structure also. Like about our department and as

well basically of the whole organization. So more or less I could imagine what will be

my responsibilities. Then also in our company we have a one month training for the

newcomers and basically every day you have scheduled time with your colleagues

who would introduce you to the main activities in the team, because we have

segregation of duties and every person is expert for one thing lets say, even though

we support the whole HR process. So there are meetings scheduled with all the team

members and this is also nice because there you get to know all the people, learn

about what is their position within the company, what they are doing and also see

with whom you are working with.

9. What helped you to find orientation in organizational environment?

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Basically it was my manager; we spoke about our department and about the position

within the company. But if we speak about the entire organization, we have also a so

called orientation for newcomers, during which somebody from each department

comes to the office and says something about their department and what they are

doing. It is kind of introduction of all the departments.


important in the organization?

Well, I think I was also quite lucky because one month after I joined the company we

had a teambuilding activity for the whole company, so almost 300 employees, so I of

course felt myself to be a little bit involved in the processes and I started to be

responsible for some things in the department and also during these activities I got to

know more people and I could kind of recall all those things from my first days. I

could speak to people and could imagine what they are actually doing in the

organization. And what is important in the organization, I think I learned through

trainings, because as I said we have opportunity of constant trainings which are

made by colleagues from different departments throughout the company. Those

trainings are created basically to polish your skills which you need within the

organization. So through those trainings you can imagine what is the way of thinking

by anyone who is in the organization, what are their backgrounds and what is leading

everyone to the main goal, what are the main values.

11.How did you learn about what is important in the organization?

As I mentioned in my previous answer the importance of the organization I learned

through the induction process, trainings, and teambuilding.


receive?

As I said we had a one month induction for newcomers consisting of one to one

sessions with other team members and the colleagues introduced me to the activities

which we are supposed to do within the company. With respect to coaching, every

time a newcomer joins the organization we appoint a buddy for this newcomer and

this buddy will prepare this 1 month training for him. So my first point of contact would

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be my buddy, but at the same time, as I said, everybody is responsible for some

specific duties, so I could go easily back to those subject matter experts for some

particular tasks, or I could go directly to my buddy and ask her any question which

comes to my mind, and also I could contact my manager at the same time.



Well, I would say it was very friendly atmosphere from the beginning, because we are

about 10 people and we are around the same age mostly, although the age ranges

between more or less 23 years to 39, but on the average most of the people are

around 30 years old, so it was quite easy to communicate with people. I would not

say that we became friends from the beginning, because we have during the day

usually a lot of work to do, so we do not communicate so much about non-work

things in the office, there was not much chatting around, because as we share open

space office we also respect that somebody is working on something or is on a

phone call. For me it was quite difficult at the beginning, because I came from a sales

department where you are talking all the time and when I came to this office I was

quite shocked about this silence. But than I got used to it and started to appreciate it

as well and beside that we have a small place where we can go for coffee and talk

with people, chitchat and so on.


Well, I had a buddy assigned, but I could ask anything anyone. During the first

training my colleagues provided me with a lot of guides and frequently asked

questions sheet and things like that, so first I tried to find out things myself. They as

well gave me at the beginning some questions which I should prepare and then we

would go through it with the colleagues. I would say I could easily ask questions my

colleagues; it was not a problem at all. And of course I tried to show some initiative to

them so I tried first to prepare answers myself and then if there was something I was

not sure about or didn’t know I could of course ask them. And basically now after one

and half year the things are the same.

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Well, in the company you can constantly assign for different type of trainings tailored

to develop some particular skills, so I would say I learned what is important for the

organization based on those trainings as it is not just for new hires, it is for everyone.

You can participate in those trainings even every month; it depends on your schedule

as well of course. We have one coach who is responsible for all those trainings and

of course the approach this coach developed and she developed it basically on what

is important for the organization. This is the first thing which comes to my mind.

Did you already take part on some of those development trainings?

Yeah, I attended already for example presentation skills, business communication

skills, training about different type of people according to some psychological

classification and also what was important for me was time management training.


team?

I think I had some minor misunderstanding, but I have to say I am a very

straightforward person and I think I said something which was not taken so good by

the other person, but then we addressed it and it got cleared.

Ok, but generally, do you feel that there might be any barriers in communication

with your team members?

Well, actually nothing so specific comes to my mind. We speak mostly in English, but

there are people who speak 3 or 4 languages, so sometimes happens that they

discuss some topic for example in Spanish, or French, or Italian and nobody stops

them from doing that. They discuss like that some job related topics and sometimes

also chat like that, but the main language is English and it is a language in which all

the events are held so English is the main language which everybody speaks.



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Well we have some small teambuilding activities like for example when some

colleagues from other countries come to visit in our office so we go for an organized

dinner. We usually also go for lunch together, but sometimes depending on work load

I go for lunch with different person from the team. And sometimes we go out after

work or organize some small dinners with people who would like to go. We as well

celebrate birthday parties together. But of course, because we are ca. 10 people

some smaller groups created in which people are closer or are more often together

then with the others.



Well, I was working already before and I work abroad, so when I entered this

organization I did not have family around me as a support and I think it is as well

because I am already quite mature and independent from my family.



I think I fit myself quite well within the team. I would say I like my team to be honest. I

am responsible mainly for boarding and recruiting activities, I do a very big part of our

main activities and I am basically one of the experts in this area, so if my team

members want to know something about this area they always come to me and they

appreciate my knowledge about it. I think we have healthy relationship; we do not

have any issues within the team.


I just feel it, I feel the support form my colleagues, I feel that they need my knowledge

regarding some particular processes. And I got that feeling after colleagues started to

ask me questions of the field for which I am responsible for.

21. How long was the adaptation period within the team? Was there some

breaking point (e.g. situation or event) after which you felt integrated to the

team?

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Well, when we were heaving teambuilding activities, I already spoke to people, we

were going for lunch or going for coffee, so I wouldn’t say I did not feel as part of the

team, I would say I just knew some people less than the others. But of course when

they started to come to me and asking me questions about some working issues,

then I definitely started to feel that I am the part of the team. I think it took about 1

year until I got the necessary understanding of how things work and people started to

come to me to consult me because of some working things.


I think that to some extent or some point it was successful. I mean, there is nothing

more, nothing less that I would expect from a team. I would not say that I have some

close friends within the team; I would say that I have my close friends apart from my

colleagues, but things are working well within the team.



experience?

Well, when new members are coming to team, new ideas are shaped how to help

them. I remember myself during the first month, I would say I was confident in what I

am saying and things like that, I could not come up with new thoughts new ideas, I

still did not understand how things work I think, so I was more quite. The way I see

things now, I think that a person should say what he thinks, say it aloud, even though

the idea is not approved or welcome lets say. But I think person should not just do

what is expected to be done but also he should try to come up with own ideas, try to

improve the process and so on. I can give you an example. A newcomer came

recently, she is very new, she is like one month now in the team. And we were doing

some work on presentation for management sessions, which normally would take a

person like six hours to do things like this. It is relatively simple, you have to

download an excel file and then analyze the data. The newcomer came, she did

completely the same presentation, but she prepared an excel template for the

analysis and then she just had to put the data into the presentation, which took her

like half an hour, while we were usually doing such analysis like 6 hours. I think this is

the way how you will be recognized by the team; you need to be more creative than

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like doing what is expected. Not afraid to ask questions and as well not being afraid

of doing things different way, be more creative.

2.2. Interview of team member (colleague)


For around 3 years.

2. How long do you know new member?

Well, for approximately one year and half.


Sometimes we are working on the same projects, but basically she is a colleague of

mine and a member of my team so we interact daily by different tasks. We are sitting

close to each other in an open space office. She is sitting actually in front of me.

4. How was the interaction with (new member) during the first

days/weeks/month?

Actually at the beginning we had some small sessions every day, which we usually

do for the newcomers. Each team member is responsible to introduce some activities

and responsibilities to the newcomer. Well at the beginning she was mostly out of the

office or her place, she was mostly on those meetings; she was trying to learn the

processes and also to get to know the people within the team. This was most of the

first month, but anyway we tried to go to lunch together with her as a newcomer. I

also had few sessions with her, we also had to review some questions which I had for

her and if she had some questions about some specific topics she knows she can

come back to me anytime and ask it.


Well, as already mentioned, I was one of her trainers.


members?

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We are all coming basically from European countries except of one guy, who is

coming from Dominican Republic, but he lives in Czech Republic quite long time and

he is married to Czech person, so I would say that all members behave more or less

the same. I would say there are no such big differences like for example between

Europeans and Indians.

But on the other side, I would say that we have definitely different psycho types of

people. Some people are bright and shiny, we call them yellow sunshine, some

people are more modest, and some are more introverts or extroverts in the team. I

would say that the way how a person behaves and communicates relates mainly not

depending on their nationality, but on their psycho type.



Yes of course, everybody has a different approach how they do their job. Well, for

example, I am sorry but I did not mention it before, I have also a colleague who is half

American and half Italian, I think it is her American spirit which says to her that

everything has to have a guideline, and everything has to have a flowchart, guideline

and the process should be built from the scratch and also should be mentioned

codex and such things, so this is very detailed approach to work. Some other

approaches may be regarding time management, how people organize their daily

activities and how they work on their daily activities. Sometimes I have a feeling that

people have a mass, some others have reminders for everything, they schedule one

hour for this topic, than another hour dealing with some other activity and so on. I

think it is how people structure their work mainly and how the work is done. Whether

you are detailed orientated or no and how you evaluate time and efforts.


Well, when I think about some specific traditions, we had for example in my previous

job something we called the Friday beer when every Friday we would go for a beer all

of us together. In this team we have nothing like that regular, but at the same time, if

someone knows about some special event where we could go together he can share

it and we mostly go, for example some exhibitions, birthday parties, ballet or theatre.

People in the team know about this event and whoever wants he can join. We also

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celebrate birthday parties in the office, but it is just with a piece of pie and some

people also invite for small celebrations after work so people from the team are

invited to join.



Well, when I joined 3 years ago it was a completely new team. Now it is a little

different because we are around 10 members. That time the team was newly created

because of some organizational changes and we were mostly newly acquired, we

were only 4 people that time, so you can see that the team is growing constantly.

Now it is for me easy, because even though new people are coming, I feel myself

natural within the team even though the team is growing.

And how it was when you joined, did you have as well some formal training or it

was more an informal induction when colleagues or supervisors explained to you

how the things are?

We all joined the company more or less at the same time, actually a new department

was created, so there wasn’t anyone who could do some formal trainings, everything

was created from the scratch. There was no particular training; we were basically

coached by our colleagues from the US in conference call sessions, Skype

presentations and like that. We would address our questions to our team leader or to

our colleagues from the US or other region, which were our main contacts at that

time.

10.How did it affect the way you interact with newcomer?

I would say it did, because from the very beginning I learned what support means. As

I said we were starting as a new department so we did not know how it is going to be,

how some things, processes should work, so I felt free to ask a lot of questions to

colleagues from different regions, from Asia or US. Now for the newcomers it is a

little bit easier because we are all there for them, we are in the same department

shoulder by shoulder. I, however, still believe that whenever a newcomer comes he

has his questions and he has the right to ask those questions so I try to help him with

solving any issues he may have. We also do work shadowing, which means that

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even after completing one month training the new hire will do his responsibility and

be supervised by one of the team members.


team?

I definitely appreciate that whenever a newcomer comes, first of all, he or she

completes the one month training. We have as well small trainings within the team

scheduled for the new hire, small question and answer sessions. This questions and

answers can sometimes be even a 4 page document; we give this questions and

answers to the new hire. We expect that he completes them. It is kind of test which

shows if the new person went through the materials he or she was supposed to and

learned from it. It seems easy to do it at first because the new person has all the

materials next to him, when he or she starts we expect that he has already some

knowledge, of course there are plenty of questions which the new hire can not simply

remember or have any idea about it. At the same time we have guidelines; we have

trainings and all kinds of documents where the new hire can find solutions. So what I

appreciate in this sessions, is that the new hire will try to answer those tasks himself

and if he does not know the answers than he would come back to us and ask, ok, I

think this should be done this particular way. I appreciate if the newcomer does not

rephrase the question to me, but tries to think about it and suggest the solution. This

is basically from my point of view the main point. Also important is willingness to

learn, willingness to help and willingness to show initiative. For example not just

doing their work, but sometimes a newcomer can come and say, oh I see you are

working on some specific process and I would like to learn more about it, can I sit

next to you and have a look on it? And I also like when a person comes and says, I

am doing this task for the first time, can you please come to me and supervise me. I

appreciate it as well because otherwise mistakes are done. And I would say that

mistakes are not welcome in our team. The best way for the new staff is to make sure

that they know what they are doing.

When you said that mistakes are not appreciated, what exactly did you mean by

that, are mistakes being punished or similar?

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No, we are not punished, we have our satisfaction report coming each month and we

analyze our services, how people are satisfied with our services and how we help

people. Again, I can give you an example, our company was recently acquired and

we are working at a shared services center. Another shared service center was in

different country, in Netherlands. And there was a decision made that our office will

remain and their office will be closed, which means that our services are really

appreciated within the company, within the EMEA region. So it is about a culture of

trying to be the best and being nice with people to whom we provide services and

whom we support. It is not that we would be punished or punish somebody, it is

about to try to find a way of how to do things better.



I could speak about Uliana and also about other new members. Some newcomers,

for example, bring pie for the first day, saying: “Hi, I am a newcomer, I want to be

appreciated by you, and here is some cake for you.” What is also very nice, some

would bring chocolate. I do not remember anything specific about Uliana, I would say

that she show that she was really trying to be part of the team, she was participating

on common lunches and tried to fit in.


Well definitely, I would say at the beginning she was asking too many questions, far

too many questions, probably it was due to lack of training or similar, I do not know.

But then after some period of time, maybe it was as well because that everyone is

busy or the others do not always have time, she stopped asking so much and tried to

figure out things as well herself. She would go over e-mails, try to review

documentation, started to schedule calls with colleagues from other countries to see

how things or done elsewhere. I think it was as well due to her manager and how her

manager pushed her to do things better. Some new hires become more responsible

and take more action in doing things and she was one of them. She became more

interactive not only within the team but also with the colleagues outside of the team.

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14.What/when do you think was the breaking point? What could influence on this

change?

I think the breaking point, or the major influence on her change was the pressure of

manager on her to change and figure out the way how to do things before she starts

to ask colleague how to do things. And in her case, there was influence on the

situation when she was from the beginning involved in a completely new process

within the team - recruitment system, which was newly introduced to our whole

organization. So the manager try to push her to develop more independent approach,

because this process was newly developed for the whole EMEA region, for 10

thousand employees, so she was responsible for introducing this new process for all

the HR in the Europe. Which also meant that she had to interact with her colleagues

mainly from the US, because at that time the Headquarter was in the US, so she had

to be more involved in the business process itself which was going on in the team.

This was all still during her induction period, but she already new some things like to

hold presentations, do trainings, whom she needs to contact if she has some

particular issues with systems and so on. She had to more interact with colleagues

outside of the team. And I think this is how the person develops himself and grows up

within the team. You just need to give him a project which needs to be build up from

scratch and if he starts working on it he will understand how the organization works,

how the things should be done, whom to contact and things like that.


Well I do not remember a single case when a socialization of a new member into our

team was unsuccessful actually. I think that she is quite reserved person, I mean,

everyone is going for lunch with everyone for example, but it took her longer to join

and get into the team, but at the same time I do not see anything problematic, I think

the socialization process went fine.


process? Why?

Generally, when a new joiner comes to our team we try to invite him or her all the

time for lunch; we say it during the first days. After that of course everyone is going

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for his lunch according to own schedule, sometimes we do not speak about it aloud,

like hey lets go, but just you can see some colleagues of yours are going and you

simply join them. Sometimes for a new person it might be difficult to see what is

happening and when people are actually going for lunch. As I said, at the beginning

we usually say it, hey lets go together, but then at some point we stop to

communicate it so much because of different schedules or sometimes we schedule

lunches through mail or our communicator and maybe for the newcomers is than

hard to understand when to join or whom to join. They might be kind of lost. So for

some it is easier to deal with and maybe they themselves suggest, ok I am hungry

and going for lunch who is joining. I do not think that Uliana was one of those people

who would say it like that aloud.

Ok, and when we talk generally, what do you think could influence on the

socialization process?

Well maybe if the newcomer is communicative, is not shy, is willing to show

appreciation and what always works is a smile on the face. With smile on the face I

do not mean just simply being friendly. I am as well a friendly person, but sometimes

when I am going to work in the morning I just can not smile and you are trying to find

a way to cheer yourself up – for me it is for example a cup of good coffee and a good

song and then it comes naturally. Some other people are just all the time smiling and

when you see them they talk to you, and I mean it is not just about those small talks,

but the first thing what everyone notice is the smile. It is important because we are in

open space and if you see a grey face, you do not want even to talk to him, if you

know what I mean.



process?

This is a good and interesting question, but not easy one. One thing came to my

mind, in our team we are all non-smokers, there is not a single person who smokes. I

used to smoke and I know that if you go for a cigarette you go outside and you find

always somebody who smokes as well. This makes sometimes the communication

process easier, because you just start to talk to the person who is smoking too.

Basically you have nothing else to do just to talk to the person who smokes next to

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you. Our office is non-smoking, so nobody is going for cigarette, and everybody is

going for one or two coffee breaks and lunch break. We have a beautiful terrace in

the building, but nobody is using it and it is basically useless. Maybe if we put some

tables there, especially now in summertime, maybe people would start going there for

coffee. What I mean is to make a better atmosphere or environment for people to get

together and talk which in an open space office is very limited. What comes to my

mind is that actually the only place where people get to talk to each other is the

kitchen. We have like 4 tables there and this is the way how you can communicate

with people. However, one of my friends who is working in different company, in their

office they have this table football. Of course, some people just don’t smoke and

don’t want to go to smoke or don’t want another cup of coffee but they still need to

relax their mind. I think that some kind of similar activity like this table football, but of

course for a limited time, because everyone has a job to do, would probably help to

speed up the process of people getting to know each other. There is for sure a

reason why they have it everywhere in Google offices.

2.3. Interview team leader



10 people


They come mainly from European countries – Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and

Russia. We have, however, team members from America and Dominican Republic as

well. The age ranges approximately from 24 to 38.


We have many expats in the team who come outside of Czech Republic and most of

them speak several languages. The company language is English; however, team

members speak as well in other languages, for example in Italian, Spanish or

Russian depending on situation and with whom they are communicating.

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Our department was newly created in 2012 so we have few members in team who

are working together from the beginning and we recently had some newcomers due

to reorganization in our company, so the team members who joined recently are with

us approximately one month.


All of them have at least a bachelor’s degree. Talking about professional experience,

this is diverse, some of them have long working experience in international

companies, up to 15 years of work in the field, however, there are few members who

are around 25 years old and have only around 2 years of working experience and not

always just in HR.


I would say we have a friendly and open atmosphere within the team. Once the

newcomers got to know other team members the communication was fully open.

And what about personal characteristic, how would you characterize the team

members?

We are an international team providing services internationally and already during the

recruitment process we search for certain personal characteristics of the candidates.

One of the main abilities which we pay attention to already during recruiting is the

ability to respect different cultures, cultural sensitivity, and ability to work in diverse

environment and to respect diversity. Therefore everybody in the team is open, open

minded and friendly.

7. What intercultural differences do you see between members of the team?

I would say there are no many differences between our team members because all of

them have experience in working in an international environment and in international

teams. The team members are flexible, know how to adjust their behavior in different

situations and know more or less how to communicate within an international team.

There might be some minor misunderstandings between some people from time to

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time, however, as we have an open culture- misunderstandings are openly discussed

and problems then quickly solved. I would not say there are some visible intercultural

differences within the team. It is mainly because of most of the people come from

Europe and in the same time all of them live already long time in Czech Republic,

minimum 5 years or more.

Do you see for example any intercultural differences between members when

dealing with job tasks or approaching to problems?

There is nothing particular which comes to my mind. We provide HR services to the

whole EMEA region. Mostly, and this is how it works in some other companies of

which I am aware, there is always assigned one person to support one region. For

example, one person deals with France, another with Germany and so on. We do it

differently, we do not focus on countries, and instead, each team member supports

different tasks or certain function. We have team members supporting staffing

activities, some support payroll; others support terminations and related activities. So

basically we do not divide responsibilities to team members based on what language

they speak but according to tasks. Moreover, we are following some standard

processes and there are standards which have to be followed by the team members.


At the time when I just joined the organization, I had my supervisor, who was

managing two teams simultaneously. First what I noticed is that how all members of

both teams respect the manager. The communication with manager is very formal at

the office, but at the same time when we go out with the team or have some kind of

teambuilding activities the communication with manager is informal. By using formal

way of communication with manager I felt that the he or she has more

responsibilities, experiences and knowledge. Outside of the working environment, the

manager behaves different, make jokes and it seems to me that the borders between

supervisor and the peers are disappearing. The manager is completely different

person “at the office” and “outside of office”. This is interesting fact, because it

applies basically on everything. For example, if we have some business related

topics, then we have very formal way of communication, if we just chat at the kitchen

or during lunch break, then we use informal social communication among each other.

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And of course, we do go out together, sometimes organize parties or have dinner all

together. We get use to have dinner “tradition” when there are newcomers in the

team or the foreign colleagues from countries visit.


We have open and friendly atmosphere all the time, everyone is willing to help and

support each other, but as I already mentioned the ways of communication depend

on the situation. I as the team leader have every two weeks one-to-one session with

my members, where we discuss what has been improved or developed in the terms

of their personal growth and projects success. Also the members have their own plan

development. In these sessions we also discuss their projects, the related issues.

During the discussion I suggest the solutions to their issues, also give them advises

and support their new ideas. This meeting has still formal communication approach.

Usually we have structure of our meeting, plan for the discussion of particular issues

and potential solutions. As we have open space office and I am sitting next to my

team members we also use informal way of communication. I think it also depends

on general characteristics of the team. For example, my team consists of young

members, so we understand each other and have similar interests and topics to

discuss.


I think it is clear for everybody that usually the atmosphere in the team depends on

members and the leader of the team. I am as a team leader concerned not only with

working performance of the team, but also what is the general atmosphere in the

team. Because I think team atmosphere can affect not only the team effectiveness

but also general organizational performance.



newcomer?

I am as team leader responsible for the organization of all technical aspects, meaning

that I have to make sure that newcomer has all access to the systems (his or her

computer is correctly set up), has all equipment which is needed for work. The first

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thing what newcomer has in his integration period is introduction of the company,

overview what we do within the company and team, together with our main

responsibilities. As I said I have one to one sessions with team members, but in case

of newcomer the meetings take place not one time per two weeks, but every week. I

think it is necessary to have such meetings, because then newcomer feels more

confident in the accomplishing tasks and can quickly adjust to the new working

environment. Also for me personally it helps to find out what newcomer understands

and learns, and what needs to be more clarified and explained. In the one to one

sessions I ask newcomer what he or she likes or does not like, how the process of

being involved within the team goes on. And when I have meeting with members of

the team I also ask them for the feedback of newcomer and how they are socializing

with newcomer. I try to analyze the situation and support both parties: the existing

members and newcomers. I know my team members; they are very friendly and

open. When I have meetings with newcomer I am concerned also about his

development as a member of the team, additionally ask whether he is willing to learn,

his difficulties and the extent to which he is involved in working activities. I know how

first days, weeks are important both for newcomer and for the team, so we try usually

to have lunches together or have “Friday outside dinners”.



I would say the whole induction process in our organization aims on speeding up the

time for newcomer to transfer from outsider to insider. First of all, it is introduction

session for newcomer, where I give him al information about the work and the

company. Secondly, we also create for newcomers training development plan which

is scheduled for one month. During this first month the newcomer basically does not

work on his own tasks, but he get involved and tried to learn all courses we have

within the company. The company also organizes activities for newcomers such as

induction day.


I have been in the organization for two and half years, and the socialization process

which I had was a little bit different in comparison with current socialization

techniques. We have a Share Service Center which established in Prague and three

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years ago. So it means by that time there were no so many people in our department.

We were just four people and got to know each other very quickly. We also had to

learn a lot of new processes and systems. We were involved in the transitioning of all

processes from different countries all over the World to Prague office. We were

working on all projects together and had basically the same tasks to accomplish. Two

colleagues have been working already in the department for half year longer, so they

were supporting and helping me. As I explained earlier it was new organized

department in Prague, so we often had Skype meetings with USA and Asia offices

which helped me in my socialization process. I got a lot of support and learn new

processes through communication with foreign offices.


I don’t know to which extent it affected the way I interact with newcomers, but I would

say once you have experienced the whole socialization or induction process, and

then you want more to help and support “next” newcomers. Because you have been

“there” and you know how it hard might be to integrate and adjust into new setting.


team?

I expect from newcomer to adjust quickly and to be generally fast learners. This is

why we involve them into some projects from the beginning and after one month of

training we assume that newcomers are fully trained to work on all the processes

which are settled in our department.


your opinion?

I think that team tries to make new hires to feel comfortable. I always say to

newcomers to speak up and ask questions. Newcomers should understand that once

they are in team and need any help or support, the team members – are the first

individuals who can help and give the answers and also knowledge. Additionally, I

expect from the team members to be friendly and open to newcomers. The

newcomers should show willingness to be part of the team and communicate with

members. I remember one time newcomer brought the cake on the first day of work

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and said “hey, I am new here, lets be friends”. I would say, it kind of warmed up the

atmosphere in the team. I think this is good start to show the willingness and be open

and ready to integrate into team. I think it is quite important nowadays.


came?

I have not noticed any changes. For example, we have new person who just one

week ago joined the team and I noticed that he is very funny and outgoing person,

who is making a lot of jokes. So now in the office there are many jokes within the

team. So what I want to say is that if there is good atmosphere within the team, new

members are quickly integrating and feeling comfortable from the beginning of their




period?

We have training development plan for the newcomer that is running for one month.

In this month every member of the team spent some time with newcomer on dealing

with particular tasks. So they have already some small communication and

interaction with each other. After one month of extensive training program, newcomer

knows all members of the team and has experience of working with each member.

Once they get to know each other (approximately after 2-3 weeks) better, then the

communication between them and newcomer goes well.



I believe factors such as: communication, willingness of both sides to collaborate,

work not only on personal rewards, but work together on the team performance are

essential here. We have quite long recruiting process, so we carefully select the

candidates. We hire “potential” quick learners, newcomer needs not only to show his

willingness to work and collaborate, but also be able to work for results.

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You mentioned that you carefully select the candidates, what are the reasons behind

such approach?

We have some internal standards within the organization and we look for individuals

who are fit into it. We even ask particular test-questions and usually candidates are

not aware of that tricky part of the recruitment interview. For example, we try to see if

the individual has some issues with different countries or not. If we see that the

person makes some negative feedback regarding some countries, we never hired

him despite the fact that by the rest of the characteristics he suits. Because the motto

of our organization is: “We are all equal. We are all diverse”. Another important

aspect is accountability. During recruitment selection we try to find out if the person is

willing to help/ support in different situations. And of course technical, presentation,

analytical skills are quite essential for us. Our organization is international and teams

are usually very diverse, each team member speaks three-four languages. So we

also search candidates who speak fluently few languages. To sum up, for our

organization are fundamental personal characteristics, technical skills, and language

education.


why?

I think factors such as social communication among newcomer and team, willingness

of both sides to collaborate with each other. I also believe that the induction process

which is officially established by the organization might play significant role in the

newcomer’s socialization process.



process?

We get used to share small office among my team, but recently our office expanded

and we moved to the new bigger room. I got a feeling that now it is a little bit more

difficult to communicate as we used to sit almost face to face where we could quickly

discuss some working related topics. I mean not that we have now difficulties in the

communication, but since now we use “chat-system” to communicate, give orders

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and ask questions it makes the whole process of collaboration more complicated.

There was one good idea proposed by my team. Every week we have a session with

the whole team where we discuss current projects and which difficulties team has

with it. So my team proposed to have extra small session based on particular case

analysis. For example, the team will be divided into two small groups and the specific

case will be given to them. The case can be a development of new process or

improvement of running process. The main aim of the case-game is to come up with

new ideas and implement them in practice. In ten or fifteen minutes the team must

present new implementation of given process. By applying such approach it puts

team members closer to each other to work on mutual performance, to teach them

how to listen to each other in stressful situation, and generally collaborate and to

improve communication within the team. I like the idea because it also allows

newcomers to participate in one group with different team members, so they can get

to know their colleagues with whom they are not much in touch during working

operations.

3. Team 3 - Research

3.1. Interview with the newcomer



I come from the north of Italy, from near Verona.


I am working in this organization since 2013, so it means around 2 years.



I am one of the PhD. students in the group. Our group consists of one professor, four

post docs and more or less five PhD. students, plus some master and bachelor

students in the labs who are in charge of the experiments. My role was to develop

research involving so called material characterization. I was given initial budget.

Actually I am only one who is completely dedicated to this material materialization

project. The idea is to take some raw materials which are used in metallurgical

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processes, like for instance coal, limestone and so on, usually from 0 to 3 and 3 to 10

millimeters diameter and to understand how they behave. I should deliver by the end

of my PhD. meaningful results about this topic and to write a PhD. thesis.

So how many members are in your team?

If I remember correctly there are about 9 fixed members, plus variable members 5 or

6 individuals. Usually, in the summer there are more variable members because of

the students.


organization?

Before making my master thesis I was having some kind of summer jobs like working

as a clerk in office. After I have finished my master thesis I went to Libya to work as a

sight engineer on an extraction project of a steel plant. I was in charge of facilities

supporting development meaning electrical, water, recycling facilities. It was quite a

large project.

5. Were you part (or member) of an international team on your previous job?

Yes absolutely. We were directing a lot of foreigners there. There were about 6

Italians, plus some Tunisians who were in charge of the project, plus people in Italy

who were directing us. Additionally, there were about 40 Libyans working with the

construction machines and more or less 200 people from Bangladesh who were in

charge of the heavy jobs.

6. How would you characterize work within an international team?

It is quite different to the jobs I did in Italy before. First because it is more specialized

and second because you have to not only think of what do you want to say, but also

how you want to say it depending on the culture of the people you are working with.

Especially, if you are talking with Libyan it is different when you are talking with an

Indian, which is different when you talk with an Austrian or for example Russian or

American. It is the different way to interface them and you also have to take care of

how you do it. It is really like this. It is more interesting than working just with Italians.

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When I was working in Libya I got an offer to stay there more or to come to this team

to make my PhD. and my main goal is actually to graduate as a PhD. Before I was a

civil engineer and here in Linz I started to do my degree as a mechanical engineer,

actually mechatronic engineer. So it is actually an occasion to grow up in my career

and get into a more useful area.


team/organization?

Let’s say that there is not so much difference between team and organization

because the organization is the whole university and my department is actually very

small part of it. I did not have actually an expectation that the team would do

something for me to integrate. When I was working in Libya for example, I was

working in a very small team and we integrated almost immediately. But there most

of the people except one of my colleagues were much older than me. One guy was

more or less two years older than me and the rest was at least 30 years older than

me. So it was a different kind of integration. Here we are more or less all the same

age, except of my boss who is more or less 15 years older than me, so here it was

much more easier to integrate on different level – you have colleagues which with

you more or less share some interests and you are with them more or less peers. I

did not have some specific expectations, at the beginning I wanted to understand

people, how can I interact with them and then identify the people with them I was

getting along more or get along with better.

Adaptation process


I remember that my first day at work I received a pile of books and my boss said to

me, ok – study them, try to get familiar with the topics and eventually we will discuss

it next week – how did it go, what you didn’t understand. I should say that in work like

mine - you usually meet your boss once a week, so it is not day to day supervision. I

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tried to focus on what they need and what they want from me in a more specific and

lets say not so frequent way.

Ok, so you received these books and instructions what you should do and then, did

you get to know your colleagues as well for example?

Yes, if I remember correctly we went on the first day for lunch together. That was the

first cultural shock because we went too early in my opinion. But I mean they ate

early because students finish lessons around 11:30 so it was for them an easy way to

eat in a shorter time. It was funny though, they tried to interact with me as much as

possible. We were speaking in English, there are 3 colleagues of mine who at that

time were no German speakers at all and I tried to interact with them. There were

more people that time, because there were as well people from another department.

11.What helped you to find orientation in organizational environment?

From working point of view, my boss and the secretary of the department helped me

a lot, but also colleagues of mine. A lot of colleagues helped me to get around, also

the guy who is in charge of the lab, who does not belong directly to the department,

but to the institute. Really a lot of people helped me to understand how it works. They

were helping and supporting me.


important in the organization? How did you learn about it?

Ok, well lets say to understand how it works I am still working on it. It is strange

because everybody is working on his project or subproject. It is kind of difficult to

understand them all. I did not even spend so much time trying to understand every

single project that everybody is following because they are different and very specific.

Also, from interpersonal point of view, it was strange at the beginning; let’s say way

of working is different. Usually you are supposed to get some task and you are

expected to deliver as soon as possible. Here it is different, because you should

deliver the best result you can achieve. It is not like time is not important, but you

should try to use the right amount of time to get the best result you can achieve. I can

really take my time which I like, when I compare it with my previous jobs in Italy. But

for the non-working integration into the team, I did not get it how it works at the

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beginning, because I had as well some work to do to finish my degree in Italy, so at

the beginning I was not able to go out with my colleagues so much. But then when I

finished we were going, especially with the people from my office, for a beer after

work, which is very cool I think.


receive?

I received the first materials which I should read from the boss, colleagues were

helping me and I worked also in the lab and for that you need to receive a training to

be able to use the tools. For example if you use some tools, you can not put fingers

next to it, because you can get cut or similar. You should follow certain rules.

But most of the time the coaching was informal by colleagues?

It depends, because I don’t know if I told you already, but most of the work I do is

related to specific software, and in my team there are some people that spend a lot of

their time developing this software. So when I have a problem with that specific

software, than I ask those colleagues. Also, when I have some result interpretation

problem than it is a topic of the meetings I am having with my boss usually.



At the beginning the interaction was not that tight, because especially I did not have

so much time to do it. But later I think we managed to get more in touch of course,

especially with the PhD. students like me. From them most of the people, who are not

married or do not have long relationship, so it is possible to go out with them. The

other colleagues usually go out with their wives or girlfriends.

So the personal interaction is usually outside of the working area?

At the beginning we used to take coffee together, but, you know, I am Italian and I

can not stand the coffee they serve there.


166

Mostly by explaining how things work and most helpful they were with the software I

use. It is really complicated, there are manuals but also to understand how to use the

manuals you need help at the beginning. And they really helped me a lot to figure out

how to work with it. It is kind of a working process, because the more they develop

the software the more you need to understand the new features. Even now we got a

new supercomputer and they had to explain me how to use it.



The first year I was here, it was November 2013; there was a big evaluation of our

department by an external reviewer. This guy was actually an Italian professor, he

came and he was observing us one whole day, everybody had to present his own

work. Already those presentations were interesting to finally see what everybody was

doing. At the end there was his feedback and then we felt like we were doing

something great, we felt like one team. We were a team that day, I really felt it. It

might not have been the first time, but it was for first time it was that clear. That day

we received feedback from this professor and we had as well a party together. It was

really cool.

Do you have any trips together or team activities?

Yes, every year we have a big team meeting, we usually rent a room somewhere.

This year we went to a house of our colleague. Usually we discuss what has been

good in the last semester, what was bad and what can be done to improve it and

what the aims are for the next semester. I really like this kind of meetings, because

you can freely talk about what should be improved and I really like it. One colleague

who arrived 3 month ago suggested why we do not go for a real trip this summer and

I suggested, why don’t we go for rafting. My boss said, ok, you two organize it, so I

and the new colleague took care of it and we are going for rafting next month.


team?

Well, especially at the beginning, there was a colleague of mine, who has especially

strong German (Austrian) accent and not so good English actually. And I had

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problems at the beginning to interact with him. The rest of the colleagues have really

much higher level of English even higher than me, so I did not have a problem to

interact with them. I do not think that cultural barriers were such huge; once you get

to know each other it is actually not so obvious. I did not like to drink coffee with

others, but it was more because I didn’t like the coffee, but this was not fault of my

department, but I just simply don’t like coffee from that coffee machine.



For example, we organize some events together, or we have every semester a

meeting where we talk what was done well and what can be improved – this is part of

the culture. Also, last year we received some extra budget so the boss suggested

organizing a party, so we had some beers together, not the whole team was there but

it was pretty cool. It was kind of recognition from the boss for our work. I also have

the impression that my boss is really working hard to allow us to do our work, he is

really supporting us. A lot of depends on the leader, the way he makes atmosphere

in the team. I don’t know if I had the same peers, but different boss if it would be still

the same, but with this kind of boss then the people who work with him are more

open.



Well yeah, to apply for this job was a suggestion from a very close friend of mine.

What concerns my parents, first when I applied for the job I kept it hidden from them,

because I did not want that they think that I want to quit my previous job. But when I

actually got the job they were incredibly happy, because Libya wasn’t that safe

environment according to them so they were really happy that I moved to Austria. So

they supported me in this move.



I am really in the team; especially I am part of a sub-team which is concerned with

study of particles. More or less everybody from us has own project or topic to

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develop. The idea is to try to relate to the other topics as much as possible, but

eventually mainly try to develop your own topic. To be successful in developing a

topic means eventually to successfully publish a paper or to make somebody from

industry finance your PhD. It means that they can really use the results of your work.


I think it was really the day of evaluation when I really understood the rest of the

team. It was like 6 or 7 month after I joined. I was really happy that it did not take

much longer.

22. How long was the adaptation period within the team? Was there some breaking

point (e.g. situation or event) after which you felt integrated to the team?

This breaking event was this external evaluation.


Well, I do not have so much experience in integrating into working environment. From

my point of view it was, let’s say right, because I needed time to understand how it

works here and how I should interact with people and be part of the team. I can not

tell you if it should take more or less time, because I don’t have so much experience.

Eventually, I think that compared to the integration period when I went to the

university of Milano, when I changed school in Italy, more or less it took me even a bit

more time to interact with new people. It is not so easy for me to interact with new

people.



experience?

I think the only thing which maybe could be different to make things better is, if I

could speak Austrian, because it is not always the same as German, from the

beginning. Well, what I mean is, they do not care from where a person is, but if I

could speak Austrian from the beginning, it would make things easier. It would be for

them easier to interact with me, as well as for me to interact with them. Especially,

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when they are speaking, they tend to switch back to Austrian as soon as they can. It

would be just much simpler from the beginning if I would speak the native language

better. For instance, I have a colleague, he is from Netherlands, and so for him it was

easier to learn German, I do not know if he had already high level of German before

coming here, but for him it was really easy to speak with the Austrians in the team.

But of course, one of the reasons I came here was as well learning German, so it

was kind of expected.

3.2. Interview with the team member (colleague)


I have been here in the team for about 3 years.

2. How long do you know new member?

Newcomer I know for approximately 2 years now.


Basically we are working individually on different projects. I am working on

simulations and different computer models and some programming stuff. But Luca is

using the same tools, models and simulations which I helped to program and

develop. He is comparing the simulation data with his experiment data and we are

than often discussing the results. If he needs some help or if the tool is broken then

we have a closer cooperation. He reports the problem to me and I have a look on it

and correct it so everybody can profit from it, because this way we improve those

tools. This can happen quite often, so even though, we have different projects and

might not be in touch daily we cooperate on improvement of those research tools

pretty often. At the beginning of his project we cooperated more closely, but basically

the contact was the same – I was in charge of the tools he used for his project.

4. How was the interaction with (new member) during the first

days/weeks/month?

At the beginning he had a lot of questions about how the things work, we

communicated a lot about the tools he was supposed to use. I introduced those tools

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to him. He was supervised directly by his supervisor, of course, but I was in charge of

showing him how the tools work. I and a colleague of mine helped him in this respect.

I think the communication about those topics went good and relatively easy and

quickly.


As already said most of the introduction of Luca to the work and team was done by

his supervisor and I was helping him and introduced him with respect to the tools he

was using. Of course it wasn’t just me, but also whoever knew the answers was

trying to help him when he had some questions.


members?

This is a pretty tough question I would say. We are talking about individuals and it is

sometimes hard to distinguish if the differences come from cultural background or

relate to some personal characteristics. As I started to work with Luca he was a very

polite person and he tried to work very hard. The difference I noticed in case of Luca

in comparison to other colleagues which are not coming from Austria is that he tried

very hard on his own to find solutions to solve problems and when he got stacked he

asked as well how he could avoid such situations and problems in the future in order

to learn from it, not just come with the same problem again. With respect to some

cultural differences, what I noticed by him and what I do not see so much on the

other members is that he smiles and laughs a lot which might be connected with the

fact that he comes from south, from Italy, which is not so noticeable by other people I

work with for example from Netherlands or north countries.



As I already said, there are few things I noticed Luca is doing differently than the

others – he tries to find solutions, learn from the problems. I have few colleagues who

can come with the same issue several times, for example. However, it is hard for me

to say whether it has some cultural background because they are coming from

different countries or it is just a personal thing, the way they just work as individuals.

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Well, Luca is sometimes cooking for us lunch – some Italian specialties. What we do

is as well going to cinema together or do some other social activities. We go for beer

after work or staff like that.



Basically at the beginning I had a little bit special relationship to the institute because

I was mainly working from home. I had a contact person who was basically my

supervisor. I did not have so much personal interaction with the other colleagues.

Basically I had closer interaction just with one colleague – Richard. We were working

more closely together on some modeling and programming stuff. I was coached by

my supervisor with whom I had some regular meetings and I could address him with

my questions so basically this is how I got introduced to the work. But I did not have

some closer or personal interaction with the other people in the institute at the

beginning. However, after some time I stopped to have this home office and joined

the others at the institute. At that time I basically knew my supervisor and one of my

colleagues. I of course did not know personally the other colleagues, like Luca and

so on. We are all basically working on different projects so there is basically not much

communication between us unless we share a project or part of a project like with

Luca. So it was kind of hard for me at the beginning to get to know the other people.

But when I was already sharing the office with the others and from time to time I

worked with some colleague on a problem or they were coming to me with some

questions we got to talk more. Then we started to go for lunch together and this is

how I go to know than the other colleagues.

10.How did it affect the way you interact with newcomer?

As it was harder for me to get to know people at the beginning, mainly due to lack of

interaction, I try to be more open and make sure to let people know they can contact

me with any questions or problems they may face. Maybe try to as well talk informally

and not just about working things with a new person. Just generally interact more.

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team?

From the work perspective, of course I would expect from a new colleague that he

would have some experience or knowledge or willingness to figure out some things

on his own, to some extent at least. So basically that there is at least some basic

level of knowledge on which we can build our work on together. It is for example as

well easier to work with somebody if he is motivated and likes what he does.

Although personal characteristics from work point of view are sometimes less

important it is always better and easier to work with somebody whom you like or is

more open, with whom you find some common ground.



Luca is really a polite and friendly person and he was like that already from the

beginning. I can not remember that there would be any issues or problems. He is

really a communicative person. Luca tried from the beginning to interact as well on

personal level, I mean that he tried to talk as well about other things, not just about

the work. He is quite a people person.


I would say that he was from beginning open and communicative. I did not notice that

he would change so much over time.

14.What/when do you think was the breaking point of Luca integrating into the

team? What could influence on this?

I think what is important is to be friendly and open to get to a team and get along with

your colleagues, have good relationship with them. Then of course you should be

helpful, follow workflows and cooperative. Luca was doing all those things from the

beginning. Moreover he communicated more personally, so I think people liked him.


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I think Luca managed to get to the team very well. He was even sometimes cooking

lunch for us and initiating some after work activities which contributed to this and also

in this way I got to know better some colleagues. I think the socialization process was

successful.


process? Why?

As I said it was his open and friendly approach, openness to socialize, not just on the

working but also on personal level. Because of this I think it was successful.



process?

I think in case of Luca it was ok. I don’t know exactly how it went with his supervisor

and what he would say but from my point of view the process went good and no

areas for improvement come to my mind. Maybe if I put it in contrast to my own

experience, I think that in my case the process was more slower and it took me

longer to build some relationships with people mainly due to the home office at the

beginning, so I did not have much opportunities to interact with colleagues about

other than working things and as well because I am not so open and people person

as Luca. I think the contact with people, openness and friendly approach is what

made difference in Luca’s case.

3.3. Interview of the team leader



Currently we are about 9 people.


The PhD. students are between 25 – 35 and than we have senior scientists which

are about 35-40 years old. The majority of the team is, however, at the bottom of the

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range, so we have a rather young team I would say. We have in team people from

Austria, people from Iran, Italy, Netherlands and Croatia.


The foreign students talk mainly English and the Austrian researchers talk in

German. Of course they speak English with the foreign students who do not speak

German that well.


There are PhD students, who mostly around 2-3 years and our senior researchers

around 6 years.


The senior researchers have extensive experience in their field conducting similar

research before or working on long term projects. The PhD. students mostly

cooperate with the senior researchers or conduct own research as part of their PhD.

degree. They do not have necessarily extensive working experience although most of

them do in some extent. Here is mostly interest in the field and understanding of the

technical issues related to their research work of a bigger importance.


The relationships in our group are informal and the atmosphere is friendly. This is

how I am trying to keep it as well, for example during our weekly meetings with the

students. When we talk about personal characteristics, this can differ between

individuals. If I will take Luca as an example, he is very open, communicative and

social. He usually initiates some common activities with other students as far as I am

aware. Not everybody is so open and communicative as Luca of course, but this is

connected with the character of our work as well, where the students focus on their

research or project, and although they cooperate to some extent, the work is mostly

individual.

7. What intercultural differences do you see between members of the team? For

example by dealing with issues/tasks, communication, or sharing views.

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As I mentioned, Luca seems to be more open than the others. We recently had a

student from Croatia joining our team who seems to be open like Luca to some

extent. This might come from their South-Europe roots. It is no secret that

southerners are more open to strangers than let’s say we here in Austria. Otherwise

nothing specific comes to my mind as all students are organized, structured in their

work and have the required skills.


As far as I am aware the students take mostly lunch together and meet occasionally

as well at the end of the day for drink or dinner. Annually we have an away which

besides discussing some organizational and work related issues usually includes as

well some team building activity. This year we plan to go for rafting for example.


As I mentioned before already the atmosphere is informal and friendly, I try to keep

as well an open discussion about any issues the students might have.


In my opinion it is the possibility to openly communicate. Due to time constraints we

usually have face to face meetings with the students usually on weekly basis only,

however, I try to encourage them to bring all the issues they might have to that

meeting or contact me through e-mail or phone earlier something urgent might

emerge. On semester basis we hold as well bigger team meetings where we discus

various team and project issues.



newcomer?

I have the main responsibility for the students in my team. I coach them and

supervise them during their research. We discuss technical issues related to their

work, as well as any other issues they may have. We usually have weekly meetings

where we discuss the progress of the project and their work, discuss any problems.

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The adaptation of a newcomer into our team and his working environment is rather of

an informal nature, we do not have any strict procedures or induction trainings which

the students have to go through. They are coached at the beginning about some

basic workflows, laboratory procedures and rules, how to use the equipment they

need, however, all of this is done in an informal way and through self study. Any

questions and issues are than discussed during our weekly meetings.



As I said, the adaptation of a newcomer into the team is more of an informal nature.

There are various manuals which through self-study should help the newcomer to

speed up the process; however, I encourage cooperation and discussion between

the students, sharing their experience. Sharing and collaborating will help a

newcomer to gain easier orientation in the new environment and get to know people

in the team.


When I was starting it was a pretty tough period for me. I got immediately engaged

into a project. There was basically just my supervisor who showed me around and

explained how things work, supervised me with my work and was there for my

questions. I got to know the other colleagues quickly and we were getting on well,

however, we worked strictly on different projects so we normally did not interact with

each other so much. My supervisor was basically the main contact person for me.


I guess I understood how the role and support of a supervisor is important and that is

the main reason why I support open communication and try to be available as much

as possible. Another thing which is probably based on my own experience is that I try

to encourage team spirit and team activities. Whenever there is some remaining

budget we use it for some team activity, we have semester meetings where I

encourage open discussion and so on.

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team?

I expect some theoretical knowledge and understanding at the beginning, however,

mainly interest in the field, willingness to learn and motivation. As the students work

mainly individually they do not have to be social experts, however, I am always glad

to see when the people get along together good and do as well some after work

activities. As we have international students, they have to have good level of either

English or German to enable fluent communication.


your opinion?

In general, the team is important and all team members, as well as the supervisor,

should create good conditions for the new member to integrate. The team members

who are longer in the team should support the new member, try to help him with

questions and give him feeling that he is welcome. Introduction to workflows and

support by technical issues is, however, of course the role of the supervisor.


came?

I think Luca helped to influence the team spirit in a positive way. He is quite open and

started to initiate after work activities, got the other students more together as far as I

can observe it. We are glad to have him on board.



period?

I think it was going good from the beginning as far as I know. Luca was open and did

not have a problem to engage in discussions with the other students or colleagues.

He actively asked and as far as I know the other colleagues helped and supported

him, explained some workflows, how to use some tools or programs and helped him

with understanding of our manuals.

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They got more together as a team, the relationships got tighter as Luca more

integrated with the others. Now they occasionally go together out as well after work

which is good and definitely positively influences the atmosphere and relationships in

the office.


why?

I think it is mainly about communication. Very important is as well willingness and

motivation of the newcomer and openness of the other team members to accept the

new member and communicate with him, be helpful, especially at the beginning.



process?

We keep the induction and socialization of a newcomer rather informal. Some basic

materials are provided and it is more or less on the newcomer to self-study them and

me and other team members or senior researchers to explain what is necessary. We

also leave the newcomer time and space to build relationships with other colleagues.

As the students work on the projects mostly individually, what is more important is

progress and results of their work, their skills by the research. We do not put time

pressure on the students so they have enough space to integrate to the team. For

some, like Luca, is easier to integrate with the others, for somebody it might take

longer. The team works well together, so the whole process seems fit the purpose

and works well for us.

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