An Analysis of Socialization Incubators in Selected Military Commissioning Institutions
Abstract
This study attempts to uncover some of the key processes clan like organizations use to socialize their constituencies, especially newcomers. Newcomer indoctrination and the practices associated with those processes are particularly critical components of socialization. This research effort investigated two organizational settings, the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University and the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. This study was accomplished by analyzing the pamphlets and manuals that describe those settings as well as survey questionnaires that attempted to assess organizational culture and membership values. Significantly, these data reveal a heretofore unexplored constellation of socialization processes. Those tactics dealing with the socialization of newcomers in clans are especially compelling, What the data suggest is that a principle goal of clan like organizations is newcomer socialization. To accomplish this task, these types of organizations place new recruits in a special division of their organization, the socialization incubator. A socialization incubator being, as this biological metaphor suggests, an artificial environment created to foster conditions promoting maturity. In this incubator, new recruits undergo a myriad of unique socialization processes, which acting in concert, intensify the enculturation of newcomers into the organization. The implications of the existence of a socialization incubator are compelling and a plea for further research is put forward.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 10, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA371317
Entities
People
- Mark Ward
Organizations
- Southern Illinois University Carbondale