Socialization in Staffing

Socialization and Staff Development

• Socialization is the process of acquiring technical skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values of a society, making conformity with social rules personally meaningful and gratifying.
• Socialization is also known as enculturation.
• It differs from orientation in that it involves little structured information, instead, it involves sharing values and attitudes of the organization through role models, myths, and legends.

Socialization and Resocialization

• The first socialization to a nursing role occurs during nursing school and continues after graduation.
• Resocialization occurs when individuals are forced to learn new values, skills, attitudes, and social rules due to changes in work, scope of responsibility, or work setting.
• Examples of individuals who need resocialization include:
  • New graduates leaving nursing school and entering the work world.
  • Experienced nurses who change work settings.
  • Nurses who undertake new roles.

Clarifying Role Expectations

• Role models are experienced, competent employees who are worthy of imitation.
• Preceptors provide knowledge, emotional support, and clarify role expectations on a one-to-one basis.
• Mentors take on a greater role in using education for role clarification, and they consciously assist in attaining expert status and career development.
• Key differences between preceptors and mentors:
  • Preceptors are usually assigned, while mentors freely choose who they will mentor.
  • The relationship between preceptor and new employee is shorter and less intense than between mentor and mentee.

Roles of the Mentor

• Model: someone worthy of imitation.
• Envisioner: someone who sees and communicates the meaning of professional nursing and its potential.
• Energizer: someone whose dynamism stimulates action.
• Investor: someone who invests time and energy into personal and professional growth.
• Supporter: someone who offers emotional support and builds self-confidence.

Staff Development

• Training is an organized method of ensuring people have knowledge and skills for a specific purpose.
• Education is more formal and broader in scope, designed to develop the person in a broader sense.
• The Education Department is responsible for ensuring that all parties involved in indoctrination, education, and training understand and carry out their responsibilities.

Assessing Staff Development Needs

• Identify the desired knowledge or skills the staff should have.
• Identify the present level of knowledge or skill.
• Determine the deficit of desired knowledge and skills.
• Identify resources available to meet needs.
• Make maximum use of available resources.
• Evaluate and test outcomes after using resources.

Evaluation of Staff Development Activities

• Evaluate staff development activities based on:
  • Learner's reaction: how did the learner perceive the learning?
  • Behavior change: what behavior change occurred as a result of the learning?
  • Organizational impact: how did the learning affect the organization?
  • Cost-effectiveness: what is the cost-benefit analysis of the learning?

Coaching as a Teaching Strategy

• Coaching is a teaching strategy rather than a learning theory.
• Coaching is a tool for empowering subordinates, changing behavior, and developing a cohesive team.
• Short-term coaching is effective for assisting with socialization and dealing with short-term problems.
• Long-term coaching is effective for career management and dealing with disciplinary problems.