Chapter 11 Communicating in Organizations 313Learning About Organizational Culture
Could someone who dislikes people, Hawaiian shirts, and exotic foods find
a successful career at Trader Joe’s? According to Cohen and Avanzino (2010),
organizational assimilation is the process by which newcomers learn the
nuances of the organization and determine if they fit in. Studies suggest that
successful assimilation is often based on a newcomer’s ability to figure out and
make use of behaviors that will be appropriate and effective in a given orga-
nization (Mignerey, Rubin, & Gorden, 1995). Typically, new organizational
members are quite motivated to get these behaviors figured out because the
uncertainty of not knowing what to do or say can be challenging (Cohen &
Avanzino, 2010). Organizations understand this as well and generally seek to
help. That’s why religious organizations often have new-member classes and
employers often have an orientation program to acquaint newcomers with the
organization.
At Trader Joe’s, for example, new employees are subject to the group “hud-
dle,” when all staff members at the store come together in a circle to share infor-
mation and introduce themselves, perhaps noting where they’re from or how
long they’ve been with Trader Joe’s. The idea is to make each new employee feel
like part of the team (or in this case, crew) and to get to know everyone.
Similarly, an additional perk of working for Trader Joe’s is the free samples.
Employees are always encouraged to try new products and even make up reci-
pes for everyone to try (Lewis, 2005). This is one way that employees become
actively engaged with the products: they feel personally connected to the prod-
ucts and can make heartfelt recommendations to customers, thereby furthering
Trader Joe’s value of a friendly, interactive shopping experience.
Relational Contexts in Organizations
In the third season of the HBO show Girls, the main protagonist, Hannah
Horvath, gets an office job. Quitting her position as a Brooklyn barista,
she starts freelancing in “advertorial”—ads that also have editorial
content—at GQ Magazine. However, during her first few days,
she struggles to navigate the company’s organizational culture.
When chatting with a friendly colleague, she’s told not to let the
others hear her say she “works” at GQ—since she’s not a full-time
employee. In a meeting, she dominates the discussion and shoots
down the one idea of another, more established colleague—who
later tells her outright that he doesn’t like her. And in an especially
uncomfortable scene, she tells her new supervisor that she doesn’t
plan to be there for long, because she wants to be a “real” writer.
(Her supervisor, unsurprisingly, is not impressed.) Though
Hannah’s faux pas are humorous, it can be confusing to
understand and establish professional relationships if one
hasn’t worked in an organizational environment before. In
the following sections, we’ll look more closely at the most
common professional relationships.
CONNECT
Strategies that help reduce
uncertainty in interpersonal
relationships (Chapter 7)
can also help in new or-
ganizational settings. At
a new job, you might use
passive strategies to learn
whether joking with peers
is acceptable; interac-
tive strategies, like asking
where to find office sup-
plies; or active strategies,
like asking a colleague
how your new boss reacts
to difficult situations.
Such strategies help you
assimilate faster and more
comfortably.HANNAH HORVATH
in Girls is thrilled to start
work at GQ—but manages
to quickly offend a new
colleague, along with her
supervisor. Craig Blankenhorn/©
HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection