Organizational Socialization as Information Processing Activity: A Life History Analysis

Abstract

Organizational socialization is most commonly viewed as the process by which individuals internalize the norms and values of the culture surrounding them. Through socialization, external, situational constraints are transformed into subjectively held assumptions that shape the premises behind individual decision making and so condition the individual's response to the situation. However, the way in which individuals learn, or internalize, organizational or cultural values is still uncertain because the cognitive processes that mediate such learning are rarely explicated. The purpose of this paper is to offer an explanation of the way in which socialization occurs by analyzing the way in which one individual came to know the social world. Using the life history methodology, the autobiography of Helen Keller is analyzed in order to expose the nature of socialization. This analysis is informed by an information processing perspective based on semiological theory. It suggests that learning takes place through...