Orientation at Mayo Clinic: Redesigning for Positive Impacts - Essay Sample

Introduction

Orientation is essential for all new employees. As a world-class healthcare provider, Mayo Clinic faces human-resource-related problems as new employees join the facility at different times. To address orientation challenges, the clinic sought to redesign its orientation program for it to achieve the objectives of such a program. It focused on providing employees with a positive first impression, introducing them to the clinic's culture, and making them aware of the clinic's expectations. Besides that, it acquainted them with the development (professional and personal) they need in the clinic. It achieved this through a two-day interactive session in Rochester, but other human resource elements need further analysis, including onboarding, organizational roles, and organizational socialization.

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Orientation is part of onboarding. In the orientation step, new employees are introduced to the organization, workgroup, and job. They get acquainted with the relevant skills and information that help them to adjust, understand group norms, and learn their new roles. Conversely, as Werner (2017) explains, onboarding is broader: it includes recruitment, orientation, and organizational socialization. Given this, the two terms have a close link, but onboarding is broader in context.

Like in the case of Mayo Clinic, organizational roles and group norms can be confusing at times. According to Werner (2017), organizational roles are a set of behaviors that an organization expects from an individual holding a particular position in a group. On the other hand, group norms have all to do with rules of general conduct, which group members establish to control behavior. Therefore, the two concepts are similar in that they occur in group settings and are fundamental concepts of socialization.

Many issues can impede the success of individuals and organizations. Among them, role ambiguity, conflict, and overload have been a leading cause of employee's decline in production. According to Werner (2017), they cause stress, which affects job satisfaction and performance adversely. In other words, which apply to Mayo's clinic situation, they affect turnover and observation of organizational values.

Every employee goes through a memorable experience when new in the job. I am not different. From where I have worked before, I believe that I went through the Feldman's three-stage model of organizational socialization. This model, as Werner (2017) highlights, includes anticipatory socialization, encounter, and change and acquisition. As a new employee, I had done some research about my place of work and its values. After that, I had to meet (encounter) my colleagues for the first time, although it was not challenging. In the end, I mastered training and got the necessary skills to make me confident in the job.

Lastly, it is worth noting that the socialization process is quicker with better outcomes when newcomers seek out information actively. Doing so enables newcomers to succeed in the anticipatory socialization step. To increase the effectiveness of an orientation program, organizations should make their values and code of conduct known to all. For instance, and in conclusion, organizations should give newcomers a copy of the same upon joining the organization.

References

Werner, J. M. (2017). Human Resource Development (7th ed). Cengage Learning.