Presented by Maria Loukianenko

1

A newcomer enters the corporate culture A case
study in Professional Communication
A newcomer enters the corporate culture

• Presented by Maria Loukianenko
• December 7, 2004

2
The existing gap in the research

• PC research has been done exclusively on
  professional writing skills (Katz, Ledwell-Brown,
  etc.)
• The central dilemma of newcomers is their ability
  to balance individual identity and corporate
  identity, which has not been fully addressed

7
3
RPC and management research as a basis for
theoretical framework

• Diamond, Organizational identity emerges from
  the intersubjective experience of individual
  organizational members.
• Katz offers strategies that newcomers use to
  learn about discourse conventions of the
  organization
• Direct questioning
• Testing limits
• Observation
• Freedman and Adams, Novices transfer of this
  individualist ethos sometimes interferes with
  their ability to do the kind of collaboration
  necessary for performing and learning in the
  workplace.

4
How does individual identity contribute to and
facilitate the newcomers adjustment process?

• Personal ethos versus corporate ethos
• Establishing meaningful connections

5
Typical corporate setting at X A vertical
hierarchy
6
Triangulation of the data elicits more accurate
results

• On-site observations
• Open-ended and discourse-based interviews
• Reference to written documents

• Four weeks 16 pages
• Interviews with all participants 33 pages
• Two newsletters, their drafts, and 16 e-mail
  massages

7
The messiness of the workplace calls for
adjustments in the research designThere is no
clear-cut view even in a corporate environment

• Old-timers (Susan, John, and Debby)
• Possess organizational knowledge
• Adjusted to corporate culture
• Feel comfortable

• Newcomers (Sam and Greg)
• Lack corporate experience
• Not fully accultured
• Experience frustration
• Represent a fresh newcomer (Greg) and a
  more-seasoned newcomer (Sam)

8
Analysis proved to be more complex than expected

• Personal ethos versus corporate ethos
• Establishing meaningful connections

9
Analysis proved to be more complex than expected

• Personal ethos versus corporate ethos
• Establishing meaningful connections

• Many forms of learning
• Organizational identification
• Personal identification
• Working connections between personal and
  corporate

10
Learning takes many forms

• Formal training Learning technical procedures,
  not communication practices
• Direct questioning Used the most by both
  newcomers AND old-timers
• Testing limits Do whatever you want to do and
  if you do something we dont like, we will let
  you know. (Greg)

11
The X store can be identified as a corporate
subculture

• Old-timers
• Relaxed atmosphere, an oasis away from
  everything (Debby)
• More decision-making power (Susan) as compared
  to other stores
• You have a lot of freedom of communication but
  it started to get better, a lot more direct.
  (John)

• Newcomers
• Too structured, robotic
• Were selling books and music, and how clinical
  or institutional could that be? (Greg)
• A lower end of corporate (Sam)

12
The way I talk here is not what I am but

• The newcomers
• Separate personal identity from the corporate one
• Realize and accept the fact of their adjustment
• Find a way for personal become revealed through
  corporate (newsletter)

13
Connections between personal and corporate may
become successful

• Make education fit the job
• Make past work experience fit the job

14
Lessons learned

• Corporate culture can vary and be flexible to
  some extent
• Newcomers acculturation can be affected by the
  character of organization
• Conflict between individual and corporate might
  be enhanced by the newcomers background