Onboarding and Orientation Flashcards
What is onboarding?
A process that starts before the employee joins the organisation, continuing for several months and which aims to develop employee behaviours and knowledge that will ensure the employee’s long-term success and commitment to the organisation. It aims to enable newcomers to become productive and fully functional employees as soon as possible
What is orientation?
The process of integrating the new employee into the organisation and acquainting him or her with the details and requirements of the job. Orientation has a shorter time span than onboarding.
What is the purpose of onboarding and orientation?
- The employee needs to know how he or she fits into the organisation
-Employees must understand the goals, policies and procedures of the organisation
-They must understand “how things are done around here.
The importance of becoming a member of the team must be emphasised
-The employees must be made aware of the developmental opportunities inside the organisation and externally.
-A sense of belonging should be created among employees by showing them how their job fits into the overall organisation.
-Basic responsibilities of the job should be identified.
-The required behaviour patterns for effective job performance must be indicated.
-A bond should be built with the new employee by means of effective communication and guidance
What is the main objective of orientation?
The integration of the new employee into the organisation without delay, so that he or she can become an effective employee as soon as possible
What are the three phases of Feldmans model?
Phase 1:
The first phase of Feldman’s model is anticipatory socialisation, which encompasses all the learning that occurs before a new employee joins the organisation. Four aspects are dealt with during this phase:
1)Realism about the organisation. The new employee will gain a full and accurate picture of what the goals and climate of the organisation are really like
2)Realism about the job. The new employee will gain a full and accurate picture of what his or her new duties will entail.
3 Congruence of skills and abilities. The new employee will gain the appropriate skills and abilities needed to successfully complete their duties.
4 Congruence of needs and values. The new employee will share the values of the new organisation and will also have personal needs that the organisation can meet.
Phase 2:
The second phase is the encounter phase, in which the new employee sees what the organisation is truly like and in which some initial shifting of values, skills and attitudes may occur. Five aspects are dealt with during this phase:
1)Management of outside-life conflicts: The new employee will have to make adjustments regarding the conflicts between personal and work life (e.g. scheduling, demand on employee’s family, amount of preoccupation with work).
2)Management of intergroup role conflicts: The new employee will have to adapt by dealing with conflicts between the role demands of his or her own group and the demands of other groups in the organisation.
3)Role definition. The new employee will have to clarify his or her own role within the immediate work group, deciding on job duties, priorities and time allocation for tasks.
4)Initiation to the task: The new employee will have to learn new tasks at work.
5)Initiation to the group: The new employee will have to establish new interpersonal relationships and learn group norms.
Phase 3:
In the third phase, the change and acquisition phase, relatively long-lasting changes take place. The following aspects are important:
1)Resolution of role demands: The new employee must either implicity or explicitly agree with the workgroup about which tasks to perform and about task priorities and time allocation.
2)Task mastery: The new employee must master the skills required for his or her new job and successfully perform in new roles.
3)Adjustment to group norms and values: The new employee must make some adjustments to accept the workgroup’s values and norms.
What three behaviours are essential for the organisation to function according to Feldman?
-To carry out the role assignment dependably: the new employee must be able to carry out assigned roles. Minimal levels of performance, both quantitatively and qualitatively, must be met.
-To remain with the organisation: clearly, if the new employee leaves the organisation, it has failed in successfully transforming the outsider into a participating member
.
-To innovate and cooperate spontaneously: the organisation must encourage new employees to achieve organisational objectives that go beyond role specifications. It must also encourage supportive actions of an innovative or relatively spontaneous sort to achieve this type of behaviour.
What are the three affective outcomes in the model?
-General job satisfaction: successful orientation will lead to general satisfaction of the employees within the organisation.
-Internal work motivation: individuals who feel their work has meaning and experience the responsibility for the results of their work will be internally motivated to do their work.
-Job involvement: successful orientation will lead to greater job involvement, especially where people form part of a team: their involvement in the job will be high.
What is a orientation programme?
A short-term programme developed to provide newcomers with information about their employer, job or team. It may consist of several sessions covering various topics, and a number of people taking responsibility for this.
What are the benefits of orientation?
- Newcomers will have a feeling of security and feel welcome.
- Reduce stress, uncertainty and anxiety.
- Create an understanding of how the newcomer can contribute towards their new employer.
- Create an avenue for newcomers to share their thoughts, feelings and ideas on the new job role.
- From an employer’s perspective, it can reduce staff turnover, reduce the time taken for newcomers to learn how to do their job efficiently, link the information provided to the newcomer to the actual job, and have an impact on the motivation of the newcomer.
What are the reasons for ineffective onboarding and orientation?
- The supervisors responsible for the task either lack the time or ability to fulfil this obligation.
- Organisations do not regard anxiety and stress, owing to insecurity and unfulfilled expectations, as a primary cause of labour turnover among new employees. They therefore consider orientation to reduce anxiety and stress as unnecessary.
- Organisations regard effective recruitment, selection, training and development as substitutes for orientation.|
- Where orientation programmes are introduced, the key components are lacking.
- Orientation is aimed at inducing new employees to adhere to organisational practices and procedures, whereas little attention is paid to instilling loyalty and commitment to the organisation.
- Employees who are transferred or promoted within the organisation are not subjected to orientation programmes.
- Orientation programmes are not followed up - that is, their success is not determined.
- Orientation programmes often concentrate on promoting the image of the organisation.
Who are responsible for the onboarding and orientation programme?
*The supervisor: the supervisor must ensure that the employees in the section receive all the information necessary to enable them to function as efficiently and effectively as possible. This includes introducing new employees to co-workers, explaining job duties and responsibilities as well as policies, procedures, rules and regulations, and taking the employees on a familiarisation tour of the workplace. In some organisations, HR takes new employees on this tour.
- The chair/head of department: it is the responsibility of the head/chair of the department to meet all new employees and briefly explain to them the roles and responsibilities of the particular department within the organisation.
- The HR department: the HR department is responsible for issues such as the employment contract, compensation, loan facilities, medical schemes, pension plans, health and safety issues and the development and monitoring of the success of the orientation programme.
- A ‘mentor’ or ‘buddy’: a mentor or buddy is responsible for assisting the new employee regarding how to operate basic equipment such as photocopiers/scanners, telephones and faxes, and how to deal with mail. They may also demonstrate how to log on to computers, generate passwords and use basic programs. This person is normally a junior member of the workgroup and, where possible, is in the same age group as the new employee.
- The shop steward/staff representative: the shop steward/staff representative is responsible for explaining issues such as disciplinary procedures and how to deal with grievances.
- New employees: new employees are also involved in the orientation process. They are responsible for the completion of orientation evaluation forms. They must also provide informal feedback to the human resource department and supervisors, if requested. Newcomers should participate in all orientation and onboarding initiatives and indicate whether they have needs that are not being addressed.
What are the two levles of orientation?
-General organisation orientation. This type of orientation will affect all employees within the organisation. This usually includes general information about the organisation, the structure and policies, procedures and rules, organisational culture, values, strategies and general expectations.
-Specific departmental orientation. This type of orientation will be tailored to the new employee’s specific department and job. It focuses on information and inputs related to the specific job.
What are the two types of orientation?
-Formal orientation. The organisation plans and officially conducts it at a given time.
-Informal orientation. This type of orientation is unplanned and unofficially conducted by co-workers, as well as the individual. As far as the individual approach is concerned, this is known as a self-directed orientation, which means that the new employee is encouraged to discover information about the organisation on his or her own; this often takes place via the organisation’s website, intranet or HRIS.
What are the five approaches that can be followed in a orientation programme?
Verbal: this kind of approach can be conducted individually or in small groups. Although expensive and time-consuming, it provides good feedback and promotes maximum understanding.
Written: with this kind of approach, continuous reference can be made to the material used. The main advantage is that it is on record.
Audiovisual: this kind of approach combines both the verbal and written approaches and, once developed, can be used repeatedly if it is kept up to date.
Systems-based: this can be an HRIS or web-based approach. When using an HRIS, the 5
system can keep track of the issues that have been dealt with and those to be addressed.
Digital: with this kind of approach, a combination of resources and material can be used via various digital platforms to properly integrate newcomers. The HRIS is also vital when following this approach. This option became more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What are the three planning considerations in a orientation programme?
- Orientation policy. A properly formulated orientation policy, drawn up jointly by management and employees, should be officially adopted by top management before the programme is designed.
- Budget. As mentioned earlier, orientation costs are nominal in comparison with the benefits derived from a good orientation programme. An adequate budget should thus be made available for this purpose.
- Other planning considerations. A number of other aspects must also be considered:
- Time needed to plan and implement the programme.
- Programme goals, topics to be included, methods or systems used to organise and present them, the duration of orientation sessions.
- Materials, facilities and personnel to be used.
General organisation topics versus department and job topics to be covered. - Qualifications and training needs of HR personnel, line managers and supervisors.
- Programme flexibility to accommodate employee differences in education, skills and work experience.
