A Multi-Level Analysis of Role Negotiation: A Bona Fide Group Approach to Work Team Socialization

Abstract

This study used a multi-level analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of work team socialization as a process that extends beyond work team and organizational boundaries. Findings, based on interviews of 27 IT employees organized into teams, reaffirmed some previous research on newcomer information seeking, but provided a more complex understanding of information seeking during socialization by identifying the importance of nexus or overlap with other internal and external groups. Nexus 1 included cross-functional meetings, as well as external workshops and conferences involving industry peers. Individual and group communication with members of internal and external groups helped employees negotiate and learn their roles as well as led to changes in their understanding of their team and organization. This multi-level analysis identified how individual, group, internal organizational communication, and extra-organizational communication all contribute to the process of socialization for team members.