Organisation, Group and Task Socialisation among New Diplomatic Administrative Officers

Newcomer socialisation is an adjustment and adaptation process in any organisations. This process is critical to produce employees that can function effectively. This study aimed to assess the socialisation of new Diplomatic Administrative Officers in the Malaysian National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA). Questionnaires were dispensed to 347 Diplomatic and Administrative Officers (PTD) who have been working for not more than 5 years. Two measurement tools were used: demographic information and Newcomer Socialisation Questionnaire (NSQ). The NSQ was used to measure newcomer socialisation in three dimensions: organisational, group and task socialisation. The data obtained was analysed using SPSS-21 and AMOS-5. SPSS-21 was used to measure the level of newcomer socialisation and AMOS-5 was used to test the confirmatory factor analysis. The descriptive results found that a majority of respondents obtained high socialisation in all three dimensions of organisational, group and task socialisation. The results showed that the socialisation programme implemented by the NIPA is able to effectively adjust the new Diplomatic and Administrative Officers to the requirements of the organisation. However, the programme should be enhanced, so that officers who have low or moderate socialisation levels can improve and thus achieve the required level of socialisation. Additionally, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the newcomer socialisation model is in accordance to the data and also that the questionnaire used satisfies internal consistency standards.