Social Requirements for Occupational Success: Internalized Norms and Friendship

Abstract

Job performance ratings given by nursing supervisors to 48 hospital staff nurses working in three midwestern urban hospitals are examined in relation to (a) the extent to which nurses internalize norms held by their superiors, (b) their friendship with superiors, and (c) their friendship with peers. The general working hypothesis is that evaluations of subordinates are at least as likely to be associated with friendship choices as with internalization of official norms. An analysis of data revealed that: (1) Nurses evaluated as high-success by their supervisors do not have significantly higher consensus with their supervisors on work norms than nurses evaluated as low-success. (2) Nurses evaluated as high-success do receive significantly higher socio-metric ratings from superiors than nurses evaluated as low-success. (3) Nurses evaluated as high-success do not receive significantly different socio-metric ratings from peers than nurses evaluated as low-success. (4) Socio-metric ratings given nurses by supervisors and nurses are significantly correlated. Interpretations and conclusions are provided. T HE WAY in which subordinates are evaluated by their superiors plays an important role in the level of success subordinates eventually achieve in their careers. In this paper three factors possibly influencing superiors' evaluations of subordinates are examined: (a) subordinates' internalization of official norms, (b) their friendship with superiors, (c) their friendship with peers. The general working hypothesis is that success in an occupation requires more than internalization of the official norms of that occupation; it requires friendship with superiors as well.' METHODOLOGY The sample consists of 48 hospital staff nurses chosen from a representative cross section of typical medical and surgical wards in three hospitals located in a midwestern city.2 The concepts used are operationally specified as follows: 1. The Role Conception which staff nurses have of their work situation is measured by the Role Conception Inventory (RCI), a battery of 200 *This investigation was supported by Research Grant GN-4647 from the National Institutes of Health, U. S. Public Health Service, M. J. Taves, principal investigator. 1 Internalization concerns the relationship between the person and his conformity to an official structure, analyzed in terms of normative expectations. The sentiment of friendship concerns the relationship between primary-group membership and conformity to an official structure, analyzed in terms of groups sentiments and shared cultural values. These concepts are treated as types of relationships, not discrete phenomena. Thus, the distinction lies between official norms which form the structure of the organization and t e primary-group in which sentiment plays a basic role. 2 The hospitals include: a medical center connected with the state university; a large municipal hospital; and a privately endowed, church-affiliated Protestant hospital. Although statistical techniques are used in the analysis of data, this report is considered to be primarily a case study of three selected hospitals. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.180 on Mon, 26 Sep 2016 06:02:29 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms