Applying Feldman's socialization model to retail employee onboarding

Feldman Socialization

Feldman's model of socialization can be used to assist in the development of an onboarding program for new crew members. Feldman (1981) notes that there are three different dimensions on which socialization occurs -- the acquisition of role behaviors, the development of work skills and abilities, and the adjustment to the work group's norms and values. Thus, he has development a model to help organizations to bring people on board while aligning them along those three dimensions. Feldman's model has three stages: the anticipatory socialization, encounter and change & acquisition. Organizations should have elements of all three built into their onboarding programs. This paper will illustrate how this can be done.

Anticipatory Socialization

Feldman describes the anticipatory socialization stage as the socialization that occurs before the person officially starts. At the earliest stages, an organization can acquire a reputation. People may be attracted to or reject certain companies simply based on what they perceive to know about the culture. But the organization also has the opportunity to create an impression with the applicant at all points in the recruitment process. So this is something I would build into my retail organization. Most of our staff are part-timers with varying shifts. So since we're not really offering a proper career, we need to focus on what we can offer. For many workers that kind of flexibility is important, and we also want to convey that they will enjoy their time here. So during the recruitment process, we want to take that opportunity to sell the company's benefits a little bit, and make sure that the candidates' needs are properly aligned with what we have to offer.

To make sure this happens, we will train the recruiters to ensure that they are selling the attributes of the company to the candidates. The candidates will learn during the interview process that the people in the company are just like them, and share their values, and they will learn a little bit more about our core values. Once the decision has been made to hire somebody, they will receive an information packet -- a welcome kit -- that will outline some of the key things that they need to know about the company. The first day on a new job can be quite daunting, so we want to give people a chance to learn a little bit about the company -- and maybe about practical things like benefits, and codes of ethics -- ahead of time. This will get them more ready to step into the company right away.

Change & Acquisition

This final phase is the change and acquisition phase, where employees are able to handle the important tasks of the job and to adapt to the group's norms of behavior. The organization should have a target for this stage. For a simple job with no technical skills, this can be within a month of starting. Some people will fit right in, others will not. The main thing the organization can do is have a review program where the supervisor must specifically evaluate the new recruit for adjustment. If there are issues, the supervisor would then be responsible for the training that will speed up the adjustment process. There should also be an opportunity for the employee to raise issues as well at this stage, because it is important that everybody agrees the adjustment process is working. This is not the point to fire anybody unless they look like they'll never adjust -- most issues can easily be worked at once they are identified. So this review process should be fairly formalized with best practices that have been determined by managers over the course of a number of new employees.

By employing these different tactics, the company can have a more organized and therefore more effective onboarding program for new employees, to ensure that they move through Feldman's three stages of socialization relatively painlessly, for both them and for the organization.