Strategies of Org Socializaton_Van Maanen_Org Dynamics

8/8/2019 Strategies of Org Socializaton_Van Maanen_Org Dynamics

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Van M aanen identifies seven dimensions or strategies of socialization,together with their often fateful consequences for the individual a n dfor the organizatiov. And be makes clear that socialization i s too importantto be left to chance or inertia.

P e o p l e P w e e s s m g :S t r a t e g i e s o f O r g a m z a t ' m a lS o e i a l i z a t i o HJohn Van Maanen

ocialization shapes the persona defensiblehyperbole. Organizational socialization or"people processing" refers to the mannerin which the experiences of people learn-ing the ropes of a new organizational posi-tion, status, or role are structured for themby others within the organization. In short,I will argue here that people acquire thesocial knowledge and skills necessary toassume a particular job in an organizationdifferently not only because people are dif-ferent, but, more critically, because the tech-niques or strategies of people processing dif-fer. And, like the variations of a sculptor's

mold, certain forms of organizational social-ization produce remarkably different results.Socialization strategies are perhapsmost obvious when a person first joins anorganization or when an individual is pro-moted or demoted. They are probably leastobvious when an experienced member of theorganization undergoes a simple change ofassignment, shift, or job location. Neverthe-less, certain people-processing devices canbe shown to characterize every transitionan individual makes across organizationalboundaries. Moreover, management maychoose such devices explicitly or consciously.

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For example, management might require allrecruits or newcomers to a particular posi-tion to attend a training or orientation pro-gram of some kind. Or management may se-lect people-processing devices implicitly orunconsciously. These strategies may simplyrepresent taken-for-granted precedents es-tablished in the dim past of an organization'shistory. The precedent could perhaps be theproverbial trial-and-error method of sociali-zation by which a person learns how to per-form a new task on his own, without directguidance.

Regardless of the method of choice,however, any given socialization devicerepresents an identifiable set of events thatwill make certain behavioral and attitudinalconsequences more likely than others. It ispossible, therefore, to identify the variouspeople-processing methods and evaluatethem in terms of their social consequences.

BACKGROUNDThree primary assumptions underlie this an-alysis. First, and perhaps of m ost impo rtance,is the notion that people in a state of transi-tion are more or less in an anxiety-producingsituation. They are motivated to reduce thisanxiety by learning the functional and socialrequirements of their new role as quickly aspossible.

Second, the learning that takesplace does not occur in a social vacuumstrictly on the basis of the official and avail-able versions of the job requirements. Anyperson crossing organizational boundaries islooking for clues on how to proceed. Thuscolleagues, superiors, subordinates, clients,and othe r w ork associates can and most oftendo support, guide, hinder, confuse, or pushthe individual who is leaming a new role.20 Indeed, they can help him interpret (or mis-

interpret) the events he experiences so thathe can take appropriate (or inappropriate)action in his altered situation. Ultimately,they will provide him with a sense of accom-plishment and competence or failure and in-competence.Third, the stability and productiv-ity of any organization depend in largemeasure on the way newcomers to variousorganizational positions come to carry outtheir tasks. When positions pass from gen-

eration to generation of incumbents smooth-ly, the continuity of the organization's mis-sion is maintained, the predictability of theorganization's performance is left in tact, and,in the short run at least, the survival of theorganization is assured.A concern for the ways in whichindividuals adjust to novel circumstances di-rects attention not only to the cognitivelearning that accompanies any transition butalso to the manner in which the person copes

emotionally with the new situation. As so-ciologist Erving Goffman rightly suggests,new situations require individuals to reassessand perhaps alter both their instrumentalgoals (the goals they wish to achieve throughtheir involvement in the organization) andtheir expressive style (the symbolic appear-ances they maintain before others in theorganization).In some cases, a shift into a newwork situation may result in a dramatically

altered organizational identity for the per-son. This often happens, for example, whena factory worker becomes a foreman or astaff analyst becomes a line manager. Othertimes, the shift may cause only minor and in-significant changes in a person's organiza-tional identity; for instance, when an admin-istrator is shifted to a new location or acraftsman is rotated to a new department.Yet any of these shifts is likely to result inwhat might be called a "reality shock" for


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the person being shifted. When people un-dergo a transition, regardless of the infor-mation they already possess about their newrole, their a priori understandings of that roleare bound to change in either a subtle or adramatic fashion. Becoming a member of anorganization will upset the everyday orderof even the most well-informed newcomer.Matters concerning such aspects of life asfriendships, time, purpose, demeanor, com-petence, and the expectations the personholds of the immediate and distant futureare suddenly made problematic. The new-comer's most pressing task is to build a setof guidelines and interpretations to explainand make meaningful the myriad of activi-ties observed as going on in the organ ization.T o come to know an organizationalsituation and act within it implies that a per-son has developed some beliefs, principles,and understandings, or, in shorthand nota-tion, a perspective for interpreting the ex-periences he or she has had as a participantin a given sphere of the work world. Thisperspective provides the rules by which tomanage the unique and recurring strains oforganizational life. It provides the personwith an ordered view of the organizationthat runs ahead and directs experience, or-ders and shapes personal relationships in tbework setting, and provides the ground rulesto manage the ordinary day-to-day affairs.

STRATEGIES OF PEOP LE PROCESSINGCertain situational variables associated withany organization transition can be made visi-ble and shown to be tied directly to the per-spective constructed by individuals in tran-sit. The focus here is not on perspectives perse , however, but rather on the propertiespeculiar to any given people-processing situ-ation. These properties are essentially process

variables akin to, but more specific than, suchgeneric processes as education, training,apprenticeship, and indoctrination. Further-more, these properties can be viewed as or-ganizational strategies that distinctly patternthe learning experiences of a newcomer to aparticular organizational role.The people-processing strategiesexamined below are associated to some de-gree with all situations that involve a personmoving from one organizational position to

another. Although much of the evidencecomes from studies concerned with the waysomeone first becomes a member of an or-ganization, the techniques used to managethis passage are at least potentially availablefor use during any transition a person under-goes during the course of a career. Tb us theterm "strategy" is used to describe each ex-amined aspect of a transition process becausethe degree to which a particular people-processing technique is used by an organiza-tion is not in any sense a natural conditionor prerequisite for socialization. Indeed, bydefinition, some socialization will always takeplace when a person moves into and remainswith a new organizational role. However, theform that it takes is a matter of organizationalchoice. And, whether this choice of strate-gies is made by design or by accident, it isat least theoretically subject to rapid andcomplete change at the direction of themanagement.

This is an important point. It sug-gests that we can be far more self-consciousabout employing certain people-processingtechniques than we have been. In fact, amajor purpose of this article is to heightenand cultivate a broader awareness of whatit is we do to people under the guise of"breaking them in." Presumably, if we havea greater appreciation for the sometimes un-intended consequences of a particular strat-egy, we can alter the strategy to benefit both 21


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the individual and the organization.Seven dimensions on which the ma-jor strategies of people processing can belocated will be discussed. Each strategy willbe presented alongside its counterpart oropposing strategy. In other w ords, each strat-egy as applied can be thought of as existingsomewhere between the two poles of a singledimension. Critically, across dimensions, thestrategies are not mutually exclusive. Inpractice, they are typically combined insundry and often inventive ways. Thus, al-though each tactic is discussed in relativeisolation, the reader should be aware that theeffects of the various socialization strategiesupon individuals are cumulativebut notnecessarily compatible (in terms of out-come) with one another.

I do not claim that these strategiesare exhaustive or that they are presented inany order of relevance to a particular or-ganization or occupation. These are essen-tially empirical questions that can only beanswered by further research. I do claimand attempt to show that these strategies arerecognizable, powerful, in widespread use,and of enormous consequence to the peoplethroughout an organization. And, since or-ganizations can accomplish little more tbanwhat the people within them accomplish,these people-processing strategies are of un-deniable importance when it comes to exam-ining such matters as organizational perfor-mance, structure, and, ultimately, survival.

Formal (informal) socialization strategiesThe formality of a socialization process re-fers to the degree to which the setting inwhich it takes place is segregated from theongoing work context and to the degree towhich an individual's newcomer role is em-phasized and made explicit. The more formal22 the process, the more the recruit's role is

both segregated and specified. The recruit isdifferentiated strictly from other organiza-tional members. In an informal atmosphere,there is no sharp differentiation and much ofthe recruit's learning necessarily takes placewithin the social and task-related networksthat surround his or her position. Thus in-formal socialization procedures are analyti-cally similar to the familiar trial-and-errortechniques by which one learns, it is said,through experience.Generally, the more formal theprocess, the more stress there is influencingthe newcomer's attitudes and values. Themore concerned the organization is with therecruit's absorption of the appropriate de-meanor and stance, the more the recruit islikely to begin to think and feel like a U.S.Marine, an IBM executive, or a Catholicpriest. In other w ords, formal processes wo rkon preparing a person to occup y a particularstatus in the organization. Informal processes,

on the other hand, prepare a person to per-form a specific role in an organization. And,in general, the more the recruit is separatedfrom the day-to-day reality of the organiza-tion, the less he or she will be able to carryover, generalize, and apply any abilities orskills learned in one socialization setting tothe new position.From this standpoint, formal social-ization processes are often only the "firstround" of socialization. The informal second

round occurs when the newcomer is placedin his designated organizational slot and mustlearn informally the actual practices in hisdepartment. Whereas the first wave stressesgeneral skills and attitudes, the second waveemphasizes specified actions, situational ap-plications of the rules, and the idiosyncraticnuances necessary to perform the role in thework setting. However, when the gap sep-arating the two kinds of learning is large,disillusionment with the first wave may set


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John Van Maanen bas taught at ValeUniversity; the University of SouthernCalifOTnia and presently he is an associateprofessor of organization studies at theSloan School of Managentent, M.I.T. Hereceived his Ph.D. in organizational behaviorfrom the Graduate School of Administrationat the University of California, Irvine in 1972an d has published widely on the topics ofwork socialization, the role of the police inmodem society, and the sociology oforganizations. Recently, he publisheda book entitled Organizational Careers: SomeNew Perspectives {New York: Wiley, 1977)and co-edited a book with Peter K.Manning entitled Policing: A View fromthe Streets (Santa Monica, California:Goodyear Press, 1978). He is currently anadvisory editor for the journal Urban Lifeand Culture an d is engaged in a study of thefishing industry in New England. He is alsocompleting a book on social science researchmethods ahfted in part to pro?note the use ofanthropological or ethnographic techniquesas a means of improving our knowledge oforganizatio7tal life. Dr. Van Maanen liveswith his wife Colleen McCaliion and theirfive-year-old son Casey in Nahant,Massachusetts.

in, causing the individual to disregard vir-tually every thing he has learned in the formalround of socialization.Even when formal socialization isdeliberately set up to provide what arethought to be practical and particular skills,it may be still experienced as problematic

by those who pass through the process. Ineffect, the choice of a formal strategy forcesall newcomers to endure, absorb, and perhapsbecome proficient with al l the skills and ma-terials presented to them, since they cannotknow what is or is not relevant to the jobfor which they are being prepared. For ex-ample, in police training academies, recruitsare taught fingerprinting, ballistics, andcrime-scene investigation, skills that are, atbest, of peripheral interest and of no use to astreet patrolman. One result is that whenrecruits graduate and move to the meanstreets of the city, a general disenchantmentwith the relevance of all their training typi-cally sets in.

Even in the prestigious professionalschools of medicine and law the relevance ofmuch training comes to be doubted by prac-titioners and students alike. Such disenchant-ment is apparently so pervasive that someobservers have suggested that the formalprocesses that typify professional schoolsproduce graduates who have already inter-nalized standards for their everyday workperformances that are "self-validating" andare apparently lodged well beyond the in-fluence of others both within and outsidethe professional and intellectual communitythat surrounds the occupation.Formal strategies appear also toproduce stress for people in the form of aperiod of personal stigmatization. This stig-matization can be brought about by identify-ing garb (such as the peculiar uniform wornby police recruits); a special and usuallysomewhat demeaning title {such as "rookie,""trainee," or " jun ior" ); or an insular position(such as an assignment to a classroom in-stead of an office or job). A person under-going formal socialization is likely to feelisolated, cut off, and prohibited from assum-ing everyday social relationships with hismore experienced "b etters." 23


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Informal socialization processes,wherein a recruit must negotiate for himselfwithin a far less structured situation, can alsoinduce personal anxiety. Indeed, the personmay have trouble discovering clues as to theexact dimensions of his or her assigned or-ganizational role. Under most circumstances,lai.ssez-faire socialization increases the influ-ence of the immediate work group on thenew employee. There is no guarantee,though, that the direction provided by theinformal approach will push the recruit inthe right direction so far as those in authorityare concerned. Classical examples are the so-called goldbricking and quota-restrictiontactics invented by employees in productionsituations to thwart managerial directives.Such practices are passed on informally butquite effectively to newcomers against thedesires of m anagement.

Left to his own devices, a recruitwill select his socialization agents. The suc-cess of the socialization process is then de-termined largely on the basis of whatevermutual regard is developed between theagent and the newcomer, the relevant knowl-edge possessed by an agent, and, of course,the agent's ability to transfer such knowl-edge. In most Ph.D. programs, for example,students must pick their own advisors fromamong the faculty. The advisors then act asphilosophers, friends, and guides for the stu-dents. And among professorsas among or-ganization executivesit is felt that the stu-dent who pushes the hardest by demandingmore time, asking more questions, and so

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forth, learns the most. Consequently, the re-cruit's freedom of choice in the more infor-mal setting has a price. He or she must forceothers to teach him.

hidhidiial (collective) socializationstrategiesThe degree to which individuals are social-ized singly or collectively is perhaps themost critical of the process variables. Thedifference is analogous to the batch versusunit modes of production. In the batch ormass production case, recruits are bunchedtogether at the outset and processed throughan identical set of experiences, with rela-tively similar outcom es.

When a group goes through a so-cialization program together, it almost al-ways develops an "in-the-same-boat" collec-tive consciousness. Individual changes inperspective are built on an understanding ofthe problems faced by all members of thegroup . Apparently as the group shares prob -lems, various members experiment with pos-sible solutions and report back. In the courseof discussions that follow, the membersarrive at a collective and more or less consen-sual definition of their situation.

At the same time, the consensualcharacter of the solutions worked out by thegroup allows the members to deviate morefrom the standards set by the agents than theindividual m ode of socialization does. Th ere -fore, collective processes provide a potentialbase for recruit resistance. In such cases, thecongruence between managerial objectivesand those adopted by the group is alwaysproblematicthe recruit group is morelikely than the individual to redefine or ig-nore agent demands.

Classic illustrations of the dilemmaraised by the use of the collective strategycan be found in both educational and work


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and private organizations. Because one or-ganizational mem ber has the sole responsibil-ity, he or she often becomes a role model.The recruit emulates tbat person's thoughtsand actions.Succession to the chief executiveofficer level in many firms is marked by theextensive use of the individual socializationstrategy. Outcomes in these one-on-one ef-forts depend on the affective relationshipsthat may or may not develop between the

apprentice and his master. In cases of highaffect, the process works well and the newmember internalizes the values of the partic-ular role he is eventually to play quickly andfully. However, when there are few affectivebonds, the socialization process may breakdown and the transition may not take place.Overall, individual socialization isexpensive in terms of both time and money.Failures are not recycled or rescued easily.Nor are individual strategies particularly

suitable for the demands of large organiza-tions, which process many people everyyear. Hence, with growing bureaucraticstructu res, the use of mass socialization tech-niques has increased. Indeed, collective tac-tics, because of their ease, efficiency, andpredictability, have tended to replace thetraditional socialization mode of apprentice-ship.

Sequential (nonsequential) socializationstrategiesSequential socialization refers to transitionalprocesses marked by a series of discrete andidentifiable stages through which an individ-ual must pass in order to achieve a definedrole and status within the organization.Many banks groom a person for a particularmanagerial position by first rotating him orher across the various jobs that will com-26 prise the range of managerial responsibility.

Similarly, police recruits in most depart-ments must pass successively through suchstages as academy classroom instruction,physical conditioning, firearm training, andon-the-street pupilage.Nonsequential processes are accom-plished in one transitional stage. A factoryworker may become a shop supervisor with-out benefit of an intermediary training pro-gram. A department head in a municipalgovernment may become a city manager

with out serving first as an assistant city man-ager. Presumably, any organizational posi-tion may be analyzed to discover whetherintermediate stages of preparation may berequired of people taking over that position.When examining sequential strate-gies, it is crucial to note the degree to whicheach stage builds on the preceding stage.For example, the courses in most technicaltraining programs are arranged in what isthought to be a progression from simple to

complex material. On the other hand, somesequential processes seem to follow no in ter-nal logic. Management training is often dis-jointed, with the curriculum jumping fromtopic to topic with little or no integrationacross stages. In such cases, a person tendsto leam the material he likes best in the se-quence. If, on the other hand, the flow oftopics or courses is harmonious and con-nected functionally in some fashion, the vari-ous minor mental alterations a person mustmake at each sequential stage will act cumu-latively so that at the end, the person mayfind himself considerably different from theway he was when he started.

Relatedly, if several agents handledifferent portions of the socialization proc-ess, the degree to which the aims of theagents are common is very important to theeventual outcome. For example, in someofficers' training schools of peacetime mili-tary organizations, the agents responsible for


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physical and weapons training have very dif-ferent attitudes toward their jobs and towardthe recruits from the agents in charge ofclassroom instruction. Officer traineesquickly spot such conflicts when they existand sometimes exploit them, playing agentsoff against one another. Such conflicts oftenlead to a more relaxed atmosphere for therecruits, one in which they enjoy watchingtheir instructors pay more attention to eachother than they do to the training program.An almost identical situation can be foundin many police training programs.

In the sequential arrangement,agents may not know each other, may beseparated spatially, and may have thorou ghlydifferent images of their respective tasks.University-trained scientists, for example,apparently have considerable difficultymoving from an academic to an industrialsetting to practice their trade. The patterndisconcerts many scientists as they discoverthat their scholarly training emphasized a fardifferent set of skills and interests from thoserequired in the corporate environment. Itis often claimed that to become a "good"industrial scientist, you must learn the pain-ful lesson that being able to sell an idea is asimportant as having it in the first place.

Consider, too, tbe range of viewsabout a particular job an organizational new-comer may receive from the personnel de-partment, the training division, and col-leagues on the job. all of whom have a hand(and a stake) in the recruit's transition. Fromthis standpoint, empathy must certainly beextended to the so-called juvenile delinquentwho receives "guidance" from the police,probation officers, judges, social workers,psychiatrists, and correction officers. Such asequence may actually teach a person to bewhateve r his immediate situation demands.Besides the confusion that comesfrom tbe contradictory demands that are

sometimes made on people, there is also likelyto be misinformation passed along by eachagent in a sequential process as to how simplethe next stage will be. Thus, the recruit maybe told that if he just buckles down and ap-plies himself in stage A, stages B, C, D, andE will be easy. Agents usually mask, witting -ly or unw ittingly, the true nature of the stageto follow. Their reasoning is that if a personfeels his future is bright, rewarding, and as-sured, he will be most cooperative at thestage he is in, not wishing to jeopardize thefuture he thinks awaits him.When attempts are consistentlymade to make each subsequent step appearsimple, the individual's best source of infor-mation on the sequential process is anotherperson who has gone through it. If the re-cruit can find organizational members whohave been through the process be can usethem to help him obtain a more reality-ori-ented perspective. But some organizations goout of their way to isolate recruits fromveteran members. Certain profit-makingtrade schools go to great lengths to be suretheir paying clientele do not learn of thelimited job opportunities in the "glamorousand high-paying" worlds of radio and TVbroadcasting, commercial art, or heavyequipment operation. Door-to-door salestrainees are continually assured that theirsuccess is guaranteed; the handy-dandy^one-of-a-kind product they are preparing tomerchandise will "sell itself." When recruits

are officially allowed the privilege of inter-acting with more experienced organizationalmembers, those controlling the process in-variably select a veteran member who willpresent a sanitized or laundered image ofthe future.The degree to which an individualis required to keep to a schedule as he goesthrough the entire sequence is another im-portant aspect of the sequential socialization 27


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strategy. A recruit may feel that he is beingpressured or pushed into certain positions orstages before he is ready. This position issimilar to that of the business executive whodoes not want a promotion but feels that ifhe turns it down, he will be damaging hiscareer. A professor may feel that he cannotturn down the chairmanship of his depart-ment without rupturing the respectful rela-tionships with his faculty members that henow enjoys.On the other hand, if the persondoes not slip, falter, fail, or seriously dis-credit himself in any fashion, sequentialsocialization over his full career may providehim with what has been called a "permanentsense of the un obtained." Thu s the executivewho, at thirty, aims toward being the headof his department by the time he is forty, willthen l)e attempting to make division head byfifty, and so on. Th e consumer sequence thatstresses accumulation of material goods hasmuch the same character as the artistic se-quence that stresses the achievement of theperfect work. Sequential socialization of thissort has a rather disquieting Sisyphus-likenature as the person seeks perpetually toreach the unreachable.

Fixed (variable) socialization strategiesOrganizational socialization processes differin terms of the information and certainty anindividual has regarding his transition time-table. Fixed socialization processes providea recruit with a precise knowledge of thetime it will take him to complete a given step.The time of transition is standardized. Con-sider the probationary systems used on mostcivil service jobs. The employees know inadvance just how long they will be on pro-bation. Educational systems provide anothergood illustration of fixed processes. Schools28 begin and end at the same time for all pupils.

Students move through the system roughlyone step at a time. Fixed processes providerigid conceptions of "normal" progress;those who are not on schedule are considered"deviant."Variable socialization processes donot give those being processed any advancenotice of their transition timetable. Whatmay be true for one is not true for another.The recruit has to search out clues to hisfuture. Prisoners who serve indeterminate

sentences such as the legendary and properlyinfamous "one to ten," must dope out time-table norms from the scarce materials avail-able to them. A pprenticeship programs oftenspecify only the minimum number of years aperson must remain an apprentice and leaveopen the precise time a person can expect tobe advanced to journeyman .Since the rate of passage across anyorganizational boundary is a matter of con-cern to most participants, transition time-

tables may be developed on the basis of themost fragmentary and flimsie st information.Rumors and innuendos about who is goingwhere and when characterize the variablestrategy of socialization. However, if a re-cruit has direct access to others who arepresently in or have been through a similarsituation, a sort of "sentimental order" willprobably emerge as to when certain passagescan or should be expected to take place. Andwhether or not these expectations are accu-rate, the individual will measure his progressagainst them .

The vertically oriented businesscareer is a good example of both variablesocialization and the "sentimental order"that seems to characterize such processes.Take the promotional systems in most largeorganizations. These systems are usually de-signed to reward individual initiative andperformance on current assignments and aretherefore considered, at least by upper man-


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agement, to be highly variable processes. Bu t,for those deeply concerned with their own(and others') progress in the organization,the variable process is almost inevitably cor-rupted, because would-be executives pushvery hard to uncover the signs of a comingpromotion (or demotion). These people lis-ten closely to stories concerning the time ittakes to advance in the organization, observeas closely as possible the experiences ofothers, and develop an age consciousness de-lineating the range of appropriate ages forgiven positions. The process is judgmentaland requires a good deal of time and effort.However, in some very stable organizations,such as government agencies, the expectedrate of advancement can be evaluated quiteprecisely and correctly. Thus, the processbecomes, for al! practical purposes, a fixedone.In some cases, what is designed asa fixed socialization process more closelyapproximates a variable process for the in-dividual described by the cliche, "alwaysa bridesmaid, never a bride." The transitiontimetable is clear enough but, for variousreasons, the person cannot or does not wishto complete the journey. Colleges and uni-versities have their "professional students"who never seem to graduate. Training pro-grams have trainees who continually missthe boat and remain trainees indefinitely.Fixed processes differ, therefore, with regardto both the frequency and the rate of the

so-called role failurethe num ber of recruitswho for one reason or another are not ableto com plete the process.Some organizations even go so faras to provide a special membership categoryfor certain types of role failures. Somepolice agencies, for example, give recruitsunable to meet agent demands long-termassignments as city jailers or traffic control-lers. Such assignments serve as a signal to the

recruit and to others in the organization thatthe individual has left the norm al career path.To the extent that these organiza-tional "Siberias" exist and can be identifiedby those in the fixed setting, chronic side-tracking from which there is rarely a returnis a distinct possibility. On the other hand,sidetracking is quite subtle and problematicto the recruit operating in a variable sociali-zation track. Many people who work in theupper and lower levels of management inlarge organizations are unable to judge wherethey are going and when they m ight get therebecause a further rise in the o rganization de-pends in part on such uncertain factors as thestate of the economy and the turnover ratesabove them. Consequently, variable pro-cesses can create anxiety and frustration forpeople who are unable to construct reason-ably valid timetables to judge the appro-priateness of their movement or lack ofmovement in tbe organization.It is clear that to those in authoritywithin the organization time is an importantresource that can be used to control others.V^ariable socialization processes give an ad-ministrator a powerful tool for infiuencingindividual behavior. But the administrationalso risks creating an organizational situationmarked by confusion and uncertainty amongthose concerned with their movement in thesystem. Fixed processes provide temporalreference points that allow people both toobserve passages ceremonially and to hold

together relationships forged during the so-cialization experiences. Variable processes,by contrast, tend to diyide and drive apartpeople who might show much loyalty andcohesion if the process we re fixed .Tournament (contest) socializationstrategiesThe practice of separating selected clustersof recruits into different socialization pr o- 29


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grams or tracks on the basis of presumeddifferences in ability, ambition, or back-ground represents the essence of tournamentsocialization processes. Such tracking is oftendone at the earliest possilile date in a pe rson'sorganizational career. Furthermo re, the shift-ing of people between tracks in a tourna-ment process occurs mainly in one direction:dow nw ard. These people are then eliminatedfrom further consideration within the trackthey have left. The rule for the tournamentsocialization strategy, according to YaleUniversity sociologist James Rosenbaum, issimple: "When you win, you win only theright to go on to the next round; when youlose, you lose forever."

Contest socialization processes, onthe oth er hand, avoid a sharp distinction be-tween superiors and inferiors of the samerank. The channels of movement throughthe various socialization programs are keptopen and depend on the observed abilitiesand stated interests of all. In perhaps 75 per-cent of American public high schools, schooladministrators and teachers have made stu-dent tracking decisions by the ninth grade(and even before). Thus only students on acollege-bound track are allowed to take cer-tain courses. But some schools practice acontest mode. The y give their students greatfreedom to choose their classes and allow forconsiderable mobility in all directions withinthe system.

Although little empirical researchhas been done along these lines, there arestrong reasons to believe that some versionof the tournament process exists in virtuallyall large organizations. Often someone whois passed over for a management job once isforever disqualified from that position. Andaccounts from the women's movementstrongly suggest that wom en in most organi-zations are on very different tracks from menand have been eliminated from the tourna-30 men t even before the y began. A similar situa-

tion can be said to exist for most minority-group members.Even the so-called "high-potentialemployee" has something to worry about inthe tournament process. Often the trainingfor the "high potentials" is not the same asthat for the other employees. The "highpotential" track will differ considerably fromthe track afforded the average or typical re-cruit. But tournament strategy dictates thateven among the "high potentials" once youare dropped from the fast track you can't getback on it.As you move through higher andhigher levels in the organization, the tourna-ment strategy becomes even m ore pervasive.Perhaps this is inevitable. The point here issimply that the tournament socializationprocess (particularly if an extreme versionis used across all levels in an organization)has widespread consequences.

One consequence is that when tour-nament processes are used, the accomplish-ments of an employee are more likely to beexplained by the tracking system of that or-ganization than by the particular character-istics of the person. Thus the person whofails in organization X might well have suc-ceeded in organization Y. Also, those whofall out of the tournament at any stage canexpect only custodial socialization in the fu-ture. They are expected to behave only inways approp riate to their plateaued position,are treated coolly, and are discouraged frommaking further efforts. The organization, inother words, has completed its work on them.As can be seen, tournament socialization,more than the contest mode, can shape andguide ambition in a powerful way.

Consider, too, that in tournamentprocesses, where a single failure bas perma-nent consequences, those passing throughtend to adopt the safest strategies of passage.I.ow risk taking, short cycles of effort, andever-changing spheres of interest based pri-


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marily on what those above them deem mostdesirable at any given time are the norm. Itfollows that those who remain in the tourna-ment for any length of time are socializedto be insecure., obsequious to authority, anddifferentiated, both socially and psycholog-ically, from one another. On the other hand,those who do not remain in the tournamenttend to move in the other direction, becom-ing fatalistic, homogeneous, and, to varyingdegrees, alienated from the organization.

The attractiveness and prevalenceof tournament socialization strategies inwork organizations appear to rest on twomajor arguments. One is tbat such processespromote the most efficient allocation of re-sources. Organizational resources, its propo-nents sav, should be allocated only to thosemost likely to profit from them. The otber,closely related argument, is based primarilyon the faitb tbat an accurate and reliablejudgment of an individual's potential can bemade early in one's career. They believe thatthe principles of selection and personnel p sy-chology (which are uncertain at t)est) canbe used to separate the deserving from theundeserving members of tbe organization.Various tracks are then legitimized by test-ing and classifying peopie so that each testand the resulting classification represent an-other level in the tournament process. TheAmerican Telepho ne & Telegraph Co. isperhaps the foremost proponent and userof this socialization process. Each transitionfrom one hierarchical level to anotber isaccompanied by tbe rigorous evaluation ofthe ever-declining cadre still in tbe tourna-ment.

Contest socialization, on tbe otberhand, implies that preset no rms for transitiondo not exist in any other form than that ofdemonstrated performance. Regardless ofage, sex, race, or otber background factors,each person starts out equal to all otber par-ticipants. As in educational systems, tbis

appears to be tbe stated policy of mostAmerican corporations. How ever, tbose w hohave looked closely at tbese organizationsconclude that tbis Horatio Algcr ideal israrely even approximated in practice.

There is some evidence (primarilyfrom studies conducted in public schools)that contest socialization processes, wherethey do exist, encourage tbe development ofsuch characteristics as enterprise, persever-ance, initiative, and a craftUke dedication toa job well done. We also bave tbe occa-sionally impressive results of tbe workplaceexperiments tbat are designed to create au-tonomous work groups, open and competi-tive bidding for organizational jobs, and thephasing out of tbe predictive types of psy-chological tests used to locate people in the"proper" career track (sometimes in se-crecy). Instead of tests, a few organizationsbave moved toward simply providing peoplewith more reliable career information andvoluntary career counseling so that peoplecan make more knowledgeable choices aboutwhere to go in the organization.

In summary, tournament socializa-tion seems far more likely than contest so-cialization to drive a wedge between thepeople being processed. In tournament situa-tions, eacb person is out for himself andrarely will a group come together to act inunison eitber for or against tbe organization.Con test strategies, as tbe label implies, appearto produce a more cooperative and participa-tive spirit among people in an organization.Perhaps because one setback does not entaila permanent loss, people can afford to belpone another over various hurdles and a morefraternal atmosphere can be m aintained.

Serial (disjunctive) socialization strategiesThe serial socialization process, whereby ex-perienced m embers groom newcomers aboutto assume similar roles in the organiza tion, 31


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is perhaps the best guarantee tbat anzation will not change over long periods oftime. In the police world, the serial featureof recruit socialization is virtually a taken-for-granted device and accounts in largemeasure for the remarkable stability of pa-trolman behavior patterns from generationto generation of patrolmen. Innovation inserial modes is unlikely, but continuity anda sense of history will be maintainedevenin the face of a turbulent and changing en-vironment.

If a newcomer does not have prede-cessors available in whose footsteps be canfollow, tbe socialization pattern may be la-beled disjunctive. Whereas the serial processrisks stagnation and contamination, the dis-junctive process risks complication andconfusion. The recruit who is left to his owndevices may rely on definitions for his tasktbat are gleaned from inappropriate otbers.But the disjunctive pattem alsogives a recruit tbe chance to be inventive and

original. Without an old guard about tohamper tbe development of a fresh perspec-tive, the conformity and lockstep pressurescreated by the serial mode are absent. Mostentrepreneurs and tbose people wh o fillnewly created positions in an organizationautomatically fall into a disjunctive processof socialization. In both cases, few, if any.people witb similar experiences are aroundto coach the newcomer on the basis of tbelessons they have learned.

Similarly, what may be a serialprocess to most people may be disjunctiveto others. Consider a black lawyer entering

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a previously all-white firm or the navy's re-cent attempts to train women to become jetpilots. These "deviant" newcomers do nothave access to people who have shared theirset of unique problems. Such situations makepassage considerably more difficult, espe-cially if the person is going it alone, as is mostoften the case.

Sometimes wha t appears to be serialis actually disjunctive. Newcomers ma\' beprepared inadequately for spots in one de-partment by agents from anotber depart-ment. This is often true when the personneldepartment handles all aspects of training.Only later, after the newcomers have accessto others who have been through the sameprocess, do they discover the worthlessnessand banality of their training. Agent famil-iarity with the target position is a very crucialfactor in the serial strategy .

Occasionally, what could be called"gapping " presents a serious problem in serialstrategies. Gapping refers to the historicalor social distance between recruit and agent.For example, a newcomer to an organizationhas tbe greatest opportunity to learn aboutbis future from those with whom be works.But tbe experiences passed on to himnodoubt with the best of intentionsby thosewith whom be works may be quite removedfrom bis own circumstance.

Typically, recruits in the first classwill set the tone for the classes to follow.This is not to say tbat tbose following willbe carbon copies, but simply that it is easierto learn from people who have been throughsimilar experiences than it is to devise solu-tions from scratch. So long as there are peo-ple available in tbe socialization setting tberecruits consider to be "like tbem ," these peo-ple will be pressed into service as guides,passing on tbe consensual solutions to thetypical problems faced by tbe newcomer.Mental patients, for example, often reportthat they were only able to survive and gain


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tbeir release because other, more experi-enced, patients "set them wise" as to whattbe psychiatric staff deemed appropriate be-havior indicating improvement.From tbis perspective, serial modesof socialization provide newcomers withbuilt-in guidelines to organize and makesense of their organizational situation. Justas children in stable societies are able to gaina sure sense of the future by seeing in tbeirparents and grandparents an image of them-selves grown older, employees in organiza-tions can gain a sense of the future by seeingin their more experienced elders an image ofthemselves further along. Tbe danger exists,of course, tbat the recruit won't like tbatimage, and will leave the organization rathertban face what seems to be an agonizing fu-ture. In industrial settings, where workermorale is low and turnover isbigb, tbe serialpattern of initiating newcomers into the or-ganization maintains and perhaps amplifies analready poor situation.Tbe analytic distinction betweenserial and disjunctive socialization processesis sometimes brought into sbarp focus whenan organization cleans house, sweeping oldmembers out and bringing new members toreplace tbem. In extreme cases, an entireorganization can be thrown into a disjunc-tive mode of socialization, causing tbe or-ganization to lose all resemblance to itsformer self. For example, in colleges witb alarge turnover of faculty, long-term studentsexert a lot of control. Org;inizations such as

prisons and mental hospitals, where inmatesstay longer than the staff, are often literallyrun by the inmates.

mantle the incoming identity of a new-comer. Investiture processes ratify and es-tablish tbe viability and usefulness of thecharacteristics tbe person already possesses.Presumably, recruits to most bigb-Ievel man-agerial jobs areselected on the basis of whatthey bring to tbe job. Tbe organization doesnot wish to change these recruits. Rather, itwants to take advantage of their abilities.Divestiture processes, on tbe otberhand, deny and strip away certain enteringcharacteristics of a recruit. Many occupa-tional and organizational comm unities almostrequire a recruit to sever old friendships, un-dergo extensive harassment from experi-enced members, and engage for long periodsof time in what can only be called "dirtywork" (that is, low-status, low-pay, low-skill, and low-interest tasks). During suchperiods, tbe recruit gradually acquires tbeformal and informal credentials of full andaccepted membership.Ordained ministers, professionalatbletes, master craftsmen, college profes-sors, and career military personnel must of-ten suffer considerable mortification and hu-miliation to pay the dues necessary beforetbey are considered equal and respectedparticipants in their particular professions. Asa result, closeness develops among tbe peoplein tbat occupation and a distinct sense ofsolidarity and mutual concern can be found.Pervasive and somewhat closed social worldsare formed by such diverse groups as police-men, airline employees, railroad workers,

nurse.s, symphony musicians, and funeral di-rectors.

Investiture (divestiture) socializationstrategiesTbe last major strategy to be discussed con-cerns the degree to which a socializationprocess is set up either to confirm or to dis- 33


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Investiture processes say to a new-comer, "We like you as you are; don'tchange." Entrance is made as smooth andtroublefree as possible. Members of the or-ganization go to great lengths to ensure thatthe recruit's needs are met. Demands on tbeperson are balanced to avoid being unrea-sonable. Tbere is almost an explicit "honey-moon" period. At times, even positions ontbe bottom rung of the organizational ladderare filled with a flurry of concern for em-ployee desires. Orientation programs, careercounseling, relocation assistance, even a visitto the president's office with tbe perfunc-tory handshake and good wishes, systemati-cally suggest to newcomers that they are asvaluable as they are.

Ordinarily, the degree to which asetting represents an ordeal to a recruit indi-cates the degree to which divestiture pro-cesses are operative. Rehabilitation institu-tions, such as mental hospitals and prisons,are commonly tbought to be prototypical inthis regard. But even in these institutions,initiation processes will have different mean-ings to different newcomers. Some "rehabili-tation" settings, for example, offer a newinmate a readymade bome away from homethat more or less complements his enteringself-image. Thus, for some people, becomine^a member of, say, the thief subculture in aprison acts more as an investiture than a di-vestiture socialization process. In sucb cases,one's preinstitutional identity is sustainedwith apparent ease. Prison is simply an an-noying interval in the person's otherwise or-derly career. The analyst must examine so-cialization settings closely before assumingpowerful divestiture processes to be actinghomogeneously on all who enter.

Yet the fact remains that many or-ganizations consciously promote initiationordeals designed primarily to make the re-cruit whatever the organization deems34 appro priate. In tbe more extreme cases, re-

cruits are isolated from former associates,must abstain from certain types of behavior,must publicly degrade themselves and othersthrough various kinds of mutual criticism,and must follow a rigid set of sanctionablerules and regulations.This process, when voluntarily un-dergone, serves, of course, to commit andbind people to the organization. In suchcases, the sacrifice and surrender on tbe partof tbe newcomers is usually premised upona sort of institutional awe the recruits bringwith them into the organization. Sucb aweserves to sustain tbeir motivation throughoutthe divestiture process. Within this society,there are many familiar illustrations: the.Marine Corps, fraternal groups, religiouscults, elite law schools, self-realizationgroups, drug rehabilitation programs, pro-fessional athletic teams, and so on. All theseorganizations require a recruit to passthrough a series of robust tests in order togain privileged access to the organization.In general, the endurance of thedivestiture process itself promotes a strongfellowship among those wbo bave followedthe same path to membership. For example,college teaching, professional crime, den-tistry, and the priesthood all require a personto travel a somewhat painful and lengthyroad. The trip provides the newcomer witba set of colleagues who have been down the.same path and symbolizes to others on tbescene tbat the newcomer is committed fullyto the organization. For those who complete

the ordeal, the gap separating recruits frommembers narrows appreciably while the gapseparating members from nonmembersgrows.Clearly, divestiture rather than in-vestiture strategies are more likely to pro-duce similar results among recruits. And, itshould be kept in mind, tbe ordeal aspects ofa divestiture process represent an identity-f)estowing, as well as an identity-destroying.


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process. Coercion is not necessarily an assaulton the person. It can also be a device forstimulating personal changes that are evalu-ated positively by the individual. What hasalways been problematic witb coercion istbe possibility for perversion in its use.

SUMM ARY AND CONCLUSIONSI have attempted to provide a partial frame-work for analyzing some of tbe more perva-sive strategies used by organizations to con-trol and direct the behavior of their members.For instance, the tightness or looseness ofday-to-day supervision could also be de-picted as a socialization strategy. So, too,could tbe degree of demographic and atti-tudinal homogeneity or heterogeneity dis-played by the incoming recruits, since itcould affect the probability that a singleperspecti\ e will come to dom inate the groupof newcomers. W hat I have tried to do here,however, is describe those processes tbat aremost often both ignored by organizationalresearchers and taken for granted by organi-zational decision makers.

It is true that someone undergoinga transition is not tabula rasa, waiting pa-tiently for the organization to do its work.Many people play very active roles in theirown socialization. Eacb strategy discussedhere contains only the possibility, and notthe actuality, of effect. For example, tboseundergoing collective socialization maywithdraw from tbe situation, abstainingfrom the group life that surrounds otber re-cruits. Or a person may undergo a brutaldivestiture process with a calculated indif-ference and stoic nonchalance. A few excep-tions are probably the nile in even tbe mosttyrannical of settings.

How ever, the preponderance of ev-idence suggests that the seven strategiesdiscussed here play a very powerful role in

influencing any individual's conception ofhis work role. By teasing out the situationalprocesses variables that, by and large, definean organization passage, it becomes apparentthat for most people a given set of experi-ences in an organization will lead to fairlypredictable ends.

If we are interested in strategiesthat promote a relatively high degree of sim-ilarity in the thoughts and actions of recruitsand tbeir agents, a combination of the for-mal, serial, and divestiture strategies wouldprobably be most effective. If dissimilarityis desired, informal, disiunctive, and investi-ture strategies would be preferable. Toproduce a relatively passive group of hard-wo rking bu t undifferentiated recruits, thecombination of formal, collective, sequen-tial, tournament, and divestiture strategiesshould be used. Other combinations couldbe used to manufacture other sorts of re-cruits with, I suspect, few exceptions.

At any rate, the single point I wishto emphasize is that mucb of tbe controlover individual behavior in organizations isa direct result of the manner in which peo-ple are processed. By directing focused anddetailed attention to the breakpoints or tran-sitions in a person's work career, much canbe gained in terms of understanding boworganizations shape the performances andambitions of their members. And, most criti-cally, the strategies by which these transi-tions are managed are clearly subject to bothempirical study and practical change.

Increased awareness and interest intbe strategies of people processing may be amatter of some urgency. The trend in mod-ern organizations is apparently to decreasecontrol through such traditional means asdirect supervision and the immediate appli-cation of rewards and punishments and in-crease control by such indirect means asrecruitment, selection, professionalization,increased training, and career path manipu-


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lat ion. To these mo re or less remo te co ntrolmechanisms., we might well add the sevenstrategies described in this paper.

Certain features of organizat ionspromote bebavioral styles among subordi-nates, peers, and superiors. Since many ofthe strategies for breaking in employees aretaken for granted (part icularly for employ-ees beyond the raw recrui t level), tbey arerarely discussed or considered to be mattersof choice in the circles in which managerialdecisions are reached. Furthermore, thosestrategies that are discussed are often kept asthey are simply because their effects are notwidely unders tood.

People-processing strategies are alsofrequently justified by the traditional illogicof "that 's the way I had to do it, so that 'sthe way my successors wil l have to do i t ."Yet, as I have attempted to show, socializa-t ion processes are not products of somefixed, evolut ionary pat tern. They are prod-ucts of both decisions and nondecisionsand they can be changed. Unfortunate ly,many of the strategies discussed here seem tobe institutionalized out of inertia ratber thanthoughtful act ion. This is hardly the mostrat ional pract ice to be fol lowed by managerswith a professed concern for the effectiveuti l izat ion of resourcesboth material andhuman.

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

For a much fuller consideration of just howthese socialization strategies are linked to oneanother and hovi' they can he used to help pre-dict the behavioral responses of people in or-ganizational settings, see John Van Maanen andEdgar H. Schein's "Toward a Theory of Or-

ganizational Socialization," in Barry Staw's(ed.) Research in O rganizational Behavior (JAIPress, 1978). Some of the ideas developed inthis paper are also to be found in John VanMaanen's "Breaking-In: Socialization to Work,"a chapter in Robert Dubin's Handbook ofWork, Organizmion, and Society (Rand-McNally, 1976). An examination of the contrastbetween the content variables of organizationalsocialization and the process variables treatedhere can be found in several of the selections inthe recent book edited by Van Maanen, Or-ganizational Careers: Some New Perspectives(John Wiley, 1977).

The view of the individual presented in thispaper places greater emphasis on the socialsituations and institutions in which a personresides than it does upon the inner personality.This view suggests that m an is social to the corenot just to the skin and it is presented best byF.rving Goffman in his classic w or ks . The Pre-sentation of Self in Everyday Life (Doubleday,1959) and Asylums (Anchor, 1961). Goffmanhas recently published a difficult but ultimatelyrewarding book. Frame Analysis (HarvardUniversity Press, 1974), that summarizes andties together much of his sometimes obscureearlier w ritings.

Some of the better treatments of the sociol-ogy of human behavior in organizational set-tings of direct relevance to managers includeEverett C. Hughes's Men and Their Work(Free Press, 1958), Melville Dalton's Men WhoManage (John Wiley, 1959), and, most recentlyRosabeth Ranter's Me^i and Women of theCorporation (Basic Books, 1977). A somewhatbroader but nonetheless still pertinent examina-tion of the issues addressed in this paper can befound in Orville Brim and Stanton Wheeler'sSocialization After Childhood (John Wiley,1964) and Blanch Greer's (ed.) Learning toWork (Sage, 1972). And for a most practicaleffort at weaving many of these sociologicalideas into the psychological fabric that presentlyinforms much of our thinking about behavior inorganizations, see Edgar H. Schein's suggestivetreatment of Career Dynamics (Addison-Wes-ley, 1978).


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Strategies of Org Socializaton_Van Maanen_Org Dynamics

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