Newcomer assimilation into a globally distributed project

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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business | Master's thesis
Date
2018
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Information and Service Management (ISM)
Language
en
Pages
107
Series
Abstract
Newcomer assimilation is the process through which new hires are integrated into their role and their organization. Previously, most of the assimilation literature has focused on co-located and established organizations and projects. However, the use of geographically distributed work forms is constantly increasing in organizations due to the rush of advanced technologies, through which experts can collaborate from anywhere and anytime. With the help of these technologies, organizations can reach new markets and hire new skillful employees that may be difficult to find locally. As the work setting is changing from local to global, the previous assumptions about what helps newcomers assimilate are challenged. To date, there is a lack of research on newcomer assimilation in the virtual context, and in particular, how newcomers of a new subsidiary assimilate into existing R&D department, which at the same time go through a shift from operating locally to operating globally. The purpose of this thesis is to begin to bridge these gaps in literature and to study what factors affect newcomers’ assimilation into a newly established distributed software development project, where company insiders are located at a distant site, and are used to operating only locally. This study adopts a single case study in a Finnish software company, which has established a new distant site for its R&D department to enable hiring more skilled software developers. Field observations and semi-structured interviews are used to collect data and to obtain first-hand experiences from both sides to form an inclusive understanding of the phenomenon at hand. Therefore, 19 newcomers and 10 insiders, who have a key role in the newly distributed project or who were involved in newcomers’ assimilation process, are interviewed. The collected data is then analyzed as prescribed by Gioia method. The results of this thesis show that, in the virtual context, newcomer assimilation is likely to occur through both face-to-face and virtual means. Face-to-face activities are found to be vital for successful assimilation, since newcomers fail to receive enough cues and rich information over virtual means. In addition, an assimilation gap was identified as a new phenomenon in the research field, showing how different perceptions among newcomers and insiders, e.g. related to their rate of assimilation, are likely to burst into misunderstandings and conflicts, lowering the success of newcomers’ assimilation. A lack of common work practices and unmet expectations are likely to hinder newcomers’ assimilation success.
Description
Thesis advisor
Nordbäck, Emma
Keywords
newcomer assimilation, assimilation gap, socialization tactics, face-to-face activities, virtual activities, software company, distributed project
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