Socialization of employees in Lithuania

Įvairūs tyrimai rodo, kad ne kiekvienam organizacijos darbuotojui sekasi sėkmingai pritapti prie nuolat spartėjančių pokyčių. Daugelis vadybos specialistų tai sieja su organizacijose vyraujančia darbine ir kultūrine aplinka. Straipsnio autoriaus ilgamečiai stebėjimai byloja, kad ne visada skiriama pakankamai dėmesio darbuotojų socializacijos tinkamoms sąlygoms sudaryti. Tokios situacijos nereta pasekmė: dažnam darbuotojų nepavyksta deramai pritapti prie organizacijoje nustatytų reikalavimų ir vyraujančios organizacinės kultūros, tapti lojaliais. Straipsnyje analizuojamos vyraujančios teorinės koncepcijos ir autoriaus atlikti empiriniai tyrimai, vertinama organizacijų socializacijos proceso praktika. Pagrindžiama sėkmingos socializacijos nauda tiek organizacijai, tiek darbuotojui. Autoriaus vykdomi tyrimai atskleidžia, kad Lietuvos organizacijose darbuotojų socializacijos procesui trūksta sistemiškumo, todėl dažnam darbuotojui nepavyksta tinkamai įsilieti į organizacinę kultūrą ir tapti jos sąmoningu nešėju. Straipsnyje pateikiamos rekomendacijos, kaip tobulinti socializacijos procesą ir sukurti tinkamas sąlygas darbuotojui geriau pritapti prie besikeičiančios aplinkos.There are numerous publications on the topic of socialization of employees by foreign and Lithuanian authors; however, many scientific researches show that not every new employee of an organization is able to successfully enter its environment and adapt to constant changes. Management specialists relate the current situation firstly to the dominant work and cultural environment in an organization. The paper discusses conceptual approaches of foreign and Lithuanian scientists to the notion of socialization of employees and its constituents. It is noted that in Lithuania the problem of socialization of employees has been studied only over the recent decade, thus this process has been poorly conceptualized. Researches on the socialization process in the context of development of employee loyalty, i. e. on how he or she becomes obligated to the organization, are even rarer. The researches conducted by the author of the present paper confirm conclusions of numerous scientists (Steers, 1991; Cherrington, 1994; Jucevičienė, 1996; Stoner et al., 2001; Kouzes and Posner, 2003; Robbins, 2006) that the socialization process consists of three interdependent stages (anticipated socialization, adaptation or collision, integration or adjustment) and that individual character traits, organizational and work environment, and socialization measures are equally important factors. For many years the author of the paper has observed that Lithuanian organizations do not pay enough attention to establishment of adequate conditions for socialization of employees. A common corollary of this is the fact that very often employees fail to adapt to the existing work conditions in the organization and the dominant organizational culture and fail to become loyal. The paper evaluates the practice of the process of socialization of employees in organizations in Lithuania on the basis of empirical researches conducted by the author (with 845 respondents surveyed). The paper validates the benefits of successful socialization both for the organization and the employee loyal to the organization and reveals the reasons and consequences of unsuccessful socialization. The researches conducted by the author show that the process of socialization of employees in organizations in Lithuania lacks systematicity, the process itself is generally seen as unsuccessful (e.g., during the selection process attention is not always paid to the candidate's expectations; during the adaptation period new employees most often have to find everything out by themselves; many employees do not have opportunities for development of their competencies; organization's attitude towards career situation is poor), consequently many employees are only distantly motivated to be obligated to the company and to become loyal in the long ran. As a result, every third employee intends to change job in the near future. The paper presents recommendations on the improvement of the socialization process, which can be used as the basis for the development of appropriate conditions for employees to better adjust to the everchanging environment