Newcomer socialisation is regarded as an important facet of organisational development. Nonetheless, extensive research publications on newcomer socialisation have been relatively unrelated to the physical workspace context. There is an assumption that the physical context of a newcomer is generic, whereas there are various types of physical space. The physical environment influences human behaviour and the individual’s perception of whether it is easier or difficult to perform tasks and interact with others; therefore, assessing newcomer socialisation through a context (physical) free lens is not a true representation of newcomer socialisation in its entirety.

This study aims to view newcomer socialisation within a physical workspace context. To achieve this, academic findings on newcomer socialisation and office design (with a particular interest in open plan office design) will be studied. Given that there have been no studies of newcomer socialisation in open plan office design, the two set of academic findings will be analysed. This dissertation will attempt to answer two research questions:

(1) How can the newcomer enhance the quality of their own socialisation through proactive behaviours within an open plan office?

(2) How can the organisation enhance the quality of socialisation for the newcomer through newcomer socialisation tactics within an open plan office?

To achieve these research objectives, a total of 74 newcomer socialisation articles and 37 office design articles have been reviewed.

The main findings to emerge from this study were:

(1) To date there has been no literature discussing the intersection of newcomer socialisation and open plan office design. (2) There were an equal number of opportunities and challenges for both the newcomer and organisation as a result of using socialisation tactics within the open plan office. It was also dependent on what sets of tactics were being used in the open plan office that determined if they were more advantageous or disadvantageous. (3) There were a larger number of opportunities and a smaller number of challenges for the newcomer and organisation as a result of using newcomer proactive behaviours within the open plan office. Likewise, it was also dependent on what proactive behaviours were being used in the open plan office that determined if they were more advantageous or disadvantageous.