„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

consistency in linking newcomers with the people who can be the most helpful to them
and can make them feel most welcome; too often this linking is done on a purely
random basis.
INNOVATIVE ORIENTATION PROGRAMS
Although a number of organizations are attempting to revise their orientation programs,
the efforts at Texas Instruments, Corning Glass, and the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of
Management at Northwestern University have been particularly successful. They also
nicely illustrate some of the basic design and implementation principles of effective
orientation programs. These programs are described in the following paragraphs.
Texas Instruments
A pioneering study by Gomersall and Myers (1966) at Texas Instruments changed the
way in which most managers and academics viewed the impact of orientation programs.
At that time, the usual orientation for electronics-components assemblers consisted of a
two-hour orientation seminar. In this seminar the new recruits received detailed
information about work schedules, insurance, parking, work rules, and employee
services. This session also included warnings about the consequences of failure to
conform to organizational expectations. Following this two-hour meeting, each new
assembler was introduced to his or her supervisor, who would typically be too busy to
give the new employee anything more than five minutes of complicated instructions.
Because coworkers were being monitored on their output, no one else had much free
time to train the new recruits, either.
Interviews with participants in the standard orientation program revealed that they
were very anxious about their ability to learn the job and perform it adequately, and
many left Texas Instruments within weeks because of this anxiety. Moreover, interviews
with supervisors of the new recruits uncovered similar feelings. Supervisors, too, were
anxious about handling new recruits and often became uncommunicative or defensive as
a result.
Because anxiety was such a major issue, Gomersall and Myers designed an
alternative orientation program to overcome that feeling. Following the two-hour
orientation conducted by the personnel department, new recruits were kept separated
from other employees for the rest of the day so that they could not be “initiated” by their
peers. They were told that there would be no work on the first day, that they should
simply relax, and that they should use the day to become acquainted with one another
and ask questions about their concerns.
Throughout the question-and-answer session, four key points were stressed:
1. “Your opportunity to succeed is very good.” For instance, the recruits were given
data to show the high percentage of new employees who successfully mastered the job;
and they were told that it would take a few weeks to feel fully competent.
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright ©1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 395