New Guy, New Cubicle, New Challenges - Page 2
Dr. Bakari Akil of PsychologyToday.com explains that territoriality and dominance actually underpin any meetings between two new individuals. People who know each other well, explains Akil, “are intimately familiar with the power hierarchies that exist between them and other people within their own environment - there is usually no need for conflict (dominance) because arrangements, whether conscious or not, have already been determined.”
Now imagine the "new guy" entering the new work environment. The people within the organization already have their arrangements in place. They know their roles, who is in charge, their general standing in the scheme of things and written and unwritten protocols of the organization. The new person upsets this balance and the balance has to be restored, albeit in a different way than before.
The end result, says Akil, is that “the new person has to negotiate terms with everyone in the organization.”
To avoid a stressful moving in scenario, the new guy has to be familiarized with his environment as much as possible - not just the new cubicle, but his neighbors, his role in the organization, and maybe some of the informal codes that govern dominance in the office hierarchy. Some of these can only be learned on the fly - but, as Akil states, “knowing your rights, responsibilities and duties can go a long way in avoiding hassles and 'stepping on toes.”
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