Preventing Identity Theft in Your Business

CHAPTER 15THE PEOPLE FRONT: SOCIALIZATION, COMPANY CULTURE, AND THE REALISTIC JOB PREVIEW

Beginning with the first day on the job and continuing through a process called “organizational socialization,” employees learn the ethics of the company culture—its rules, procedures, policies, and formal and informal expectations: what is said to be expected and what is actually acceptable, based on other employees’ behaviors. The company culture is the tabula rasa—the blank slate upon which all that follows depends. For information security, an honest company culture is vital. Standard 9 prepares this backdrop for first impressions of your company’s culture of security.

STANDARD 9. COMPANY CULTURE AND THE REALISTIC JOB PREVIEW

Goals: Evaluate, investigate, document, and modify (if necessary) your company’s honest company culture.

Specific Objectives: The four exercises in this chapter are progressive building blocks. They are, in ascending order:

1. Assess the current company culture.
2. Further analyze to identify improvements.
3. Use the results from (1) and (2) to develop a “realistic job preview” document.
4. Develop short- and long-term strategic plans to implement policies for an honest company culture.

Of these four objectives, the realistic job preview is the standard that carries forth the company’s policies for identity confidentiality. The traditional realistic job preview is simply a discussion, preempting false impressions of what is and what is not acceptable. However, when adapted ...