Organizational Behaviour Exam Notes
Chapter 8: Social Influence, Socialization, and
Organizational Culture
Information Dependence: reliance on others for information about how to think,
feel, and act.
Social Information Processing Theory: information from others is used to
interpret events and develop expectations about appropriate and acceptable
attitudes and behaviours.
Effect Dependence: reliance on others due to their capacity to provide rewards and
punishment.
Consequences of Social Influence and Dependence:
• Conformity to group norms
• 3 motives:
o Compliance: conformity to a social norm prompted by the desire to
acquire rewards or avoid punishment.
▪ Don’t want to be punished so you wear your safety glasses.
o Identification: conformity to a social norm prompted by perceptions
that those who promote the norm are attractive or similar to ones self.
▪ Put the safety glasses on to identify with the group.
▪ With other people doing it you aspire to do the same
o Internalization: conformity to a social norm prompted by true
acceptance of the beliefs, values, and attitudes that underlie the norm.
▪ You wear the safety glasses because you believe safety first.
▪ Role models don’t influences you. You believe internally in the
importance of safety.
Compliance → Identification → Internalization
Socialization: the process by which people learn the attitudes, knowledge, and
behaviours, that are necessary to function in a group or organization.
• It is a learning process in which new members must acquire knowledge,
change their attitudes, and preform new behaviours.
• Primary means by which organizations communicate their culture values to
new members.
,Person-Job Fit: the match between an employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities
and the requirements of a job.
Person-Organization Fit: to match between an employee’s personal values of an
organization.
Organizational Identification: the extent to which individuals define themselves in
terms of the organization and what it is perceived to represent.
Three Stages of Socialization:
1. Anticipatory Socialization: the socialization that occurs even before a
person becomes a member in an organization.
➢ Some anticipatory socialization includes a formal process of skill and
attitude acquisition.
2. Encounter: the new recruit is armed with some expectations about
organization life, encounters day-to-day reality of this life.
➢ Formal aspects: orientation programs, rotation through various
parts of the organization.
➢ Informal aspects: getting to know and understand the style and
personality of one’s boss and co-workers.
3. Role Management: new member’s attention shifts to fine-tuning and
actively managing his or her role in the organization. Following some group
norms the new recruit might now be in a position to modify the role to better
serve the organization.
Unrealistic Expectations and Psychological Contract:
• People entering organizations hold many expectations that are inaccurate
and often unrealistically high.
• Once they enter the organization and realize that their expectations are not
being met they experience “reality shock”
• What do people have unrealistic expectations for?
o Pay
o Promotion – how long it will take you to advance
o How you’re going to be managed
Psychological Contract: refers to beliefs held by employees regarding the
reciprocal obligations and promises between them and their organization.
,Psychological Contract Breach: employee perceptions that his or her organization
has failed to fulfill one or more of its promises or obligations in a psychological
contract.
Five Methods of Organizational Socialization:
1. Realistic Job Preview (RJP)
• The provision of a balanced, realistic picture of the positive and negative
aspects of a job to its applicants.
2. Employee Orientation Programs
• Programs designed to introduce new employees to their job, the people they
will be working with, and the organization
• Realistic Orientation Program for Entry Stress (ROPES)
o An orientation program that is designed to teach newcomers coping
techniques to manage workplace stressors.
Socialization Tactics
• The manner in which organizations structure the early work experiences of
newcomers and individuals who are in transition from one role to another
3. Mentoring
, • Mentor: an experienced or more senior person in the organization who gives
a junior person guidance and special attention, such as giving advice and
creating opportunities to assist him or her during the early stages of his or
her career.
• Career Functions of Mentoring:
o Sponsorship – the mentor might nominate the apprentice for
advantageous transfers and promotions.
o Exposure and Visibility – the mentor might provide opportunities to
work with key people in the organization and see other parts of the
organization.
o Coaching and Feedback – the mentor might suggest work strategies
and identify strengths and weaknesses in the apprentice’s
performance.
o Developmental Assignments – the mentor can provide challenging
work assignments that will help develop key skills and knowledge
that are crucial to career progress.
• Psychological Functions of Mentoring:
o Role Modelling – provides a set of attitudes, values, and behaviours
for the junior person to imitate.
o Providing Acceptance and Confirmation -this provides encouragement
and support and helps the apprentice gain self-confidence.
o Counselling – provides an opportunity to discuss personal concerns
and anxieties concerning career prospects, work-family conflicts etc.
• Diversity and Mentoring:
o Mentors tend to choose apprentices who are similar to them.
o Cross-race mentorships tend to focus on career functions of
mentoring where as same race mentorships have a higher rate of
psychological functions of mentoring.
4. Proactive Socialization
• The process through which newcomers play an active role in their own
socialization through the use of a number of proactive socialization
behaviours
• You take initiative
o Feedback Seeking – requesting info about how one is performing
ones task and role
o Information Seeking – requesting info about ones job, role, group,
and organization
o Relationship Building – initiating social interactions and building
relationships with others in ones area or department.
o Boss-Relationship Building – initiating social interactions to get to
know and form a relationship with ones boss.
o Networking – socializing with and getting to know members of the
organization from various departments and functions.
o Job Change Negotiation – attempts to change ones job duties or the
manner and means by which one performs one’s job in order to
increase the fit between oneself and the job.
Chapter 8: Social Influence, Socialization, and
Organizational Culture
Information Dependence: reliance on others for information about how to think,
feel, and act.
Social Information Processing Theory: information from others is used to
interpret events and develop expectations about appropriate and acceptable
attitudes and behaviours.
Effect Dependence: reliance on others due to their capacity to provide rewards and
punishment.
Consequences of Social Influence and Dependence:
• Conformity to group norms
• 3 motives:
o Compliance: conformity to a social norm prompted by the desire to
acquire rewards or avoid punishment.
▪ Don’t want to be punished so you wear your safety glasses.
o Identification: conformity to a social norm prompted by perceptions
that those who promote the norm are attractive or similar to ones self.
▪ Put the safety glasses on to identify with the group.
▪ With other people doing it you aspire to do the same
o Internalization: conformity to a social norm prompted by true
acceptance of the beliefs, values, and attitudes that underlie the norm.
▪ You wear the safety glasses because you believe safety first.
▪ Role models don’t influences you. You believe internally in the
importance of safety.
Compliance → Identification → Internalization
Socialization: the process by which people learn the attitudes, knowledge, and
behaviours, that are necessary to function in a group or organization.
• It is a learning process in which new members must acquire knowledge,
change their attitudes, and preform new behaviours.
• Primary means by which organizations communicate their culture values to
new members.
,Person-Job Fit: the match between an employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities
and the requirements of a job.
Person-Organization Fit: to match between an employee’s personal values of an
organization.
Organizational Identification: the extent to which individuals define themselves in
terms of the organization and what it is perceived to represent.
Three Stages of Socialization:
1. Anticipatory Socialization: the socialization that occurs even before a
person becomes a member in an organization.
➢ Some anticipatory socialization includes a formal process of skill and
attitude acquisition.
2. Encounter: the new recruit is armed with some expectations about
organization life, encounters day-to-day reality of this life.
➢ Formal aspects: orientation programs, rotation through various
parts of the organization.
➢ Informal aspects: getting to know and understand the style and
personality of one’s boss and co-workers.
3. Role Management: new member’s attention shifts to fine-tuning and
actively managing his or her role in the organization. Following some group
norms the new recruit might now be in a position to modify the role to better
serve the organization.
Unrealistic Expectations and Psychological Contract:
• People entering organizations hold many expectations that are inaccurate
and often unrealistically high.
• Once they enter the organization and realize that their expectations are not
being met they experience “reality shock”
• What do people have unrealistic expectations for?
o Pay
o Promotion – how long it will take you to advance
o How you’re going to be managed
Psychological Contract: refers to beliefs held by employees regarding the
reciprocal obligations and promises between them and their organization.
,Psychological Contract Breach: employee perceptions that his or her organization
has failed to fulfill one or more of its promises or obligations in a psychological
contract.
Five Methods of Organizational Socialization:
1. Realistic Job Preview (RJP)
• The provision of a balanced, realistic picture of the positive and negative
aspects of a job to its applicants.
2. Employee Orientation Programs
• Programs designed to introduce new employees to their job, the people they
will be working with, and the organization
• Realistic Orientation Program for Entry Stress (ROPES)
o An orientation program that is designed to teach newcomers coping
techniques to manage workplace stressors.
Socialization Tactics
• The manner in which organizations structure the early work experiences of
newcomers and individuals who are in transition from one role to another
3. Mentoring
, • Mentor: an experienced or more senior person in the organization who gives
a junior person guidance and special attention, such as giving advice and
creating opportunities to assist him or her during the early stages of his or
her career.
• Career Functions of Mentoring:
o Sponsorship – the mentor might nominate the apprentice for
advantageous transfers and promotions.
o Exposure and Visibility – the mentor might provide opportunities to
work with key people in the organization and see other parts of the
organization.
o Coaching and Feedback – the mentor might suggest work strategies
and identify strengths and weaknesses in the apprentice’s
performance.
o Developmental Assignments – the mentor can provide challenging
work assignments that will help develop key skills and knowledge
that are crucial to career progress.
• Psychological Functions of Mentoring:
o Role Modelling – provides a set of attitudes, values, and behaviours
for the junior person to imitate.
o Providing Acceptance and Confirmation -this provides encouragement
and support and helps the apprentice gain self-confidence.
o Counselling – provides an opportunity to discuss personal concerns
and anxieties concerning career prospects, work-family conflicts etc.
• Diversity and Mentoring:
o Mentors tend to choose apprentices who are similar to them.
o Cross-race mentorships tend to focus on career functions of
mentoring where as same race mentorships have a higher rate of
psychological functions of mentoring.
4. Proactive Socialization
• The process through which newcomers play an active role in their own
socialization through the use of a number of proactive socialization
behaviours
• You take initiative
o Feedback Seeking – requesting info about how one is performing
ones task and role
o Information Seeking – requesting info about ones job, role, group,
and organization
o Relationship Building – initiating social interactions and building
relationships with others in ones area or department.
o Boss-Relationship Building – initiating social interactions to get to
know and form a relationship with ones boss.
o Networking – socializing with and getting to know members of the
organization from various departments and functions.
o Job Change Negotiation – attempts to change ones job duties or the
manner and means by which one performs one’s job in order to
increase the fit between oneself and the job.
