Membership negotiation in the first workplace – Newcomers' experiences
Journal of Communication Management
ISSN: 1363-254X
Article publication date: 13 August 2020
Issue publication date: 8 February 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This qualitative study aims to understand young professional newcomers' experiences of communication processes in membership negotiation in their first workplace after graduation.
Design/methodology/approach
Instead of a one-time interview, the participants were contacted five to ten times during the three to ten months, beginning when they entered the workplace. The data were analyzed using a constant comparative method.
Findings
Three communication processes during membership negotiation were identified: developing reciprocity, seeking and perceiving acceptance and becoming an active member. To experience membership, newcomers need to achieve acceptance and engage in reciprocal communication in early interaction situations with managers and coworkers.
Research limitations/implications
Only the experiences of newly graduated newcomers were studied. This study illustrates the communication processes and social interaction evolving in membership negotiation during newcomers' entry.
Practical implications
Organizations need to re-evaluate their short orientation programs to support membership negotiations in workplace communication.
Social implications
By recognizing the communication processes during membership negotiation, the practices of newcomers' entry can be developed to support the membership development.
Originality/value
This study contributes to membership negotiation by showing how newcomers join the flow of membership negotiation through the processes of developing reciprocity, seeking and perceiving acceptance and becoming an active member.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: The Emil Aaltonen Foundation funded this study while the first author was preparing the manuscript of the article.
Citation
Rajamäki, S. and Mikkola, L. (2021), "Membership negotiation in the first workplace – Newcomers' experiences", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 18-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-12-2019-0162
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited