Doing New Things in Old Ways.

摘要

Research in organizational socialization is typically more concerned with settings where recruits are treated harshly than with settings where they are treated well. This paper concerns the latter, and argues that such settings allow recruits to import skills, knowledge, and values. What is imported is called a culture of orientation. Three quasi-ethnographic illustrations spell out these ideas and suggest answers to: (1) how cultures of orientation are forged; (2) how cultures of orientation are carried within an organization; and (3) how cultures of orientation serve as problem-solving devices when new skills are learned. The amplification or muting of a culture of orientation across a career is the substance of a socialization chain.