Organizational Assimilation Theory

I really liked the Organizational Assimilation Theory and the four stages within in. I think I liked it the most because the stages made sense to me as someone may move through an organization yet I still have questions about the different steps.

There are many expectations and ideas we have before starting with a company based on information we know, gather and hear about through current/past employees. In looking back at my previous positions, I am sure I contributed to this stage for others during the 'anticipatory socialization' stage by giving them information about the company as an employee.

My questions on this theory come in the last two stages. Can it be assumed that if someone doesn't make sense of the organization culture or agree with it, they won't be a good fit for that organization? How long would it take in the previous stages to come to that realization? I also question this when looking at my current company. The organizational culture of our corporate offices is very different than the office I work in. If I were in that office, I don't think I would get to the metamorphosis stage but I feel this is a good-fit company for me. Could this theory have a different spin when companies have multiple locations and different cultures?

I really like the concepts and ideas behind this chapter yet I am looking forward to our class discussion as I still have questions.

Tannen Article Comment

I shared this article with my mom last week and she made an interesting point that I don't think we talked about in class; just thought I would share it here:

It was a good article.  AND it does explain some behaviors I have noticed (read live with!).  What I was disappointed in the article was that the closure section only addressed the part of women 'learning' to do the public-speak".   There was not comparable section about men 'learning to "private-speak'.  That was a BIG missing part. Made me feel like it wasn't important - as if ; women should cross over but men needn't...