Adult Socialization, Organizational Structure, and Role Orientations

Thi's paper examines the types of role orientations shown by scientists and engineers employed by a major American aerospace company. The respondents had been exposed to extensive professional and organizational socialization experiences, and the focus of the research was upon the relative importance of these types of socialization experience, and their combined effects, in accounting for differences in the types of role orientation found. Two types of role orientation-professional and bureaucratic-were identified empirically, as were more complex types derived from these two dimensions. The data suggest the type of role orientation shown by these professionals was largely the result of differences in the length and type of educational training they had received. The effect of the organization was to reinforce, rather than to change these orientations.