December 9, 2008
Russ Korte conducts research on workplace learning in Mexico

Russ Korte, assistant professor in Human Resource Education, is conducting research on learning processes employed by newly hired engineers in the Mexican engineering center of a global manufacturing company. Specifically, the research focuses on how newly hired engineers learn the social norms of the organization they recently joined. This study replicates earlier work done at the U.S. based engineering center of this company, as well as other companies.

Early findings indicate that the social context of the work group is a primary driver of socialization experiences and subsequent performance of the individual. Also, the work group, not the organization, is the primary context of socialization. In contrast to the existing literature on socialization, which locates primary responsibility for socialization with the individual new-hire, this research found that much of this responsibility also belongs to the work group. The sociability of incumbent members of the group toward the newcomer enhanced or hampered the newcomer’s successful socialization into the organization—regardless of the social abilities of the individual.

The research is part of an ongoing project funded through the Collaborative Research Lab at Stanford University.