In each case, these companies have increased their investment of money and time dramatically in orientation. In addition, the focus and content of orientation have changed. In the past, orientation emphasized the business. But with high employee growth, there has been a gradual shift in the purpose of orientation, with the goal to create strong alignment and get top leaders involved personally. In most of the organizations in the study, orientation lays the groundwork for the culture.
Orientation explains norms, values, and how things get done.
That contrasts with how things worked in these companies earlier in their development. In the past, assimilation was mostly informal and implicit. As companies in the study have added employees, their orientation efforts have emphasized more explicit discussions of corporate values, for two reasons. Two, there's also awareness that as a new generation of employees joins an organization, it becomes necessary to reinforce certain cultural values. Orientation emerged from the study as an important vehicle for conveying explicit cultural values to employees, with the goal to ensure consistent performance and work standards, and to enhance people's understanding of business goals.