CELEBRATING GOODBYE - FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS IN FAREWELL PARTIES FOR RETIRING EMPLOYEES IN ISRAEL

This article describes an explorative attempt to generate a preliminar y typology of the functions farewell parties fulfill for retiring empl oyees and for the organizations they are about to leave. On-sire obser vations of 14 par-ties in four Israeli organizations suggest that thes e secular rituals, marking the imminent rupture of longstanding social and organizational bonds, provide the retiree with an essential suppo rt mechanism or coping resource helping him or her weather the role tr ansition with its attendant affective and cognitive adaptational stres ses. At the same time, farewell parties can also be seen as serving ex plicit and implicit organizational goals by clarifying appropriate cod es of behavior, reinforcing the commitment of younger workers to the o rganization, providing relevant information and enhancing the organiza tion's reputation as an ''enlightened'' employer. While the present st udy focused mainly on the intended functional and integrative messages conveyed by means of the rituals studied, it is suggested that future research efforts be devoted to the assessment of their actual effects including the dysfunctional and negative ones.