Re-thinking induction in practice: profession, peer group and organization in contention
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an interpretative framework of induction as a social practice to examine the ecology of the human and non-human actors involved in the production of induction as a social effect.
Design/methodology/approach
Three case studies are conducted in different types of organizations (private, public and network) to analyse the relation between the induction process and the actors that influence it.
Findings
Three different models of induction are described: in a professional bureaucracy, socialization precedes selections and the key actor is the profession; in a small private organization, induction is almost exclusively managed by the peer group in the form of seduction by the profession; in a large network of organizations, induction is explicitly managed by the organization and becomes a means to transmit the organizational culture.
Research limitations/implications
In the description of the empirical data, it is shown how an individual undergoes induction into the organization when he/she undergoes seduction (by the profession). Nevertheless, the models could be improved by the study of a larger sample of organizations.
Originality/value
This paper shows that induction is not the effect of solely the encounter between individual and organization, because two other agents are involved in the process, namely the profession and the peer group.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This article is a republication made available for the anniversary issue of SBR. The original article was published in Society and Business Review, Vol. 5, Iss: 1 (2010) pp. 84-98 and can be found online at: www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/17465681011017273. The data presented are part of a AIM research project, entitled “Practising learning in context: Dynamic capability development across and between sectors”, coordinated by Elena Antonacopoulou and grouping together scholars from seven countries. We are grateful to all of them for the good discussions we had and the time spent together. This article is the result of an entirely collaborative effort by the two authors. If, however, for academic reasons, individual responsibility must be assigned, Silvia Gherardi wrote the introduction, the first section and the conclusion, while Manuela Perrotta wrote the other sections.
Citation
Gherardi, S. and Perrotta, M. (2016), "Re-thinking induction in practice: profession, peer group and organization in contention", Society and Business Review, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBR-03-2016-0021
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited