An analysis of employee orientation programs used by San Francisco Bay Area industrial organizations for new college graduates

摘要

The time and expense invested in attracting college graduates to a firm amounts to $8,000 per hire. The objective of protecting this investment can be logically linked with the effectiveness of a firm's new college graduate orientation program. This study examined the process by which new college graduates were brought into industrial firms. A survey of San Francisco Bay Area Human Resources Managers, which elicited 255 responses, indicated that the majority (89%) had orientation programs aimed at introducing new employees to their firms. Far fewer (16%) reported having special programs for new college graduates. Typical programs ran for six months to a year and consisted of executives and managers presenting the material given in the new employee orientation in greater depth with an emphasis on career development and performance expectations.;New employee orientation was reported to follow a process identified by the respondents as organizational socialization while the program for new college graduates was described in terms of an acculturation model of organizational entry. In spite of the effort put forth in the orientation programs, relatively few firms (22%) reported having an evaluation program beyond obtaining the participants' immediate reactions to them.;The prevailing organizational climate relating to orientation was also investigated under the headings of: supervision, communication, risk taking, innovation and change, human relations, and interpersonal relationships. The climate that emerged from the survey indicated that new college graduate orientation programs promoted the concepts of achievement in communication and innovation and change, influence in supervision and human relations, dependency in risk taking, and extension of concern for others in interpersonal relationships. A benchmark for new college graduate orientation was formulated as part of the conclusions of this study.