Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/learning-the-ropes-the-job-socialization-of-directors/5012792/
Afew months ago as part of a study I am conducting on directors' role perceptions, I interviewed a young woman named Deborah who had recently been hired as the director of a large child care center. Her center is part of an established social service agency. In her new role, Deborah functions as a "middle manager" - she supervises a staff of 30 and reports to the agency's director of educational programs.When I asked Deborah how she would characterize her first six months on the job, she replied, "This has been a slow process of learning what ropes to pull and what ropes to jump." Her remark got me thinking about how directors are socialized into their jobs, particularly when they are caught in the middle, being tugged by demands from above as well as below.
Job socialization describes how individuals adapt to their roles - how they act on their beliefs and values and adapt to the beliefs and values of others. As directors mature in professional competence, the kinds of social strategies they use to conform to different organizational and institutional demands goes through a subtle transformation. I believe four stages describe the thought patterns and belief ...