Fred Jablin

An early leader in the field of organizational communication, Fred Jablin's short life has become a legacy in the eyes of his collagues across the nation.  He is best known for his early work in the area of superior-subordinate communication and his later work in the field of organizational socialization and communication (Krone, 2006).  Jablin developed the Organizational Assimilation Theory in 1982, which attempts to explain how individuals that are new to a group or organization assimilate through the use of communication.  He describes three stages one goes through as a newcomer to a group, including the Anticipatory Socialization, the Encounter Stage, and the Metamorphosis.  Thus, the socialization of an individual into an organization determines his/her success within that group (www.uky.edu).