Speaking of the individual's initial entry into an organization (rather changes, such as a raise or move to a different department, once in the organization), Dubin has this to say:
"During this 'breaking in' period, the organization may be thought to be most persuasive, for the individual has few guidelines - other than what the immediate situation supplies - to direct his behavior and has little, if any, organizationally based support for his 'identities' which may be the object of influence. Hence, the initiation of an outsider into the organization is indeed a stressful period." (p. 78)
You may remember our earlier discussions regarding brainwashing and total institutions (e.g., prison). It seems that the more a situation resembles a total institution the more the "persuasive" breaking in efforts might be seen as brainwashing. But in any case, if the Vienna mission was a total institution, or an approximation of one, the entrant (e.g., me) should not have had an adversarial attitude (as an unrecalcitrant prisoner might in prison).
The fact it, as I believe I've mentioned before, I thought I had a relatively good handle on missions to Eastern Europe/Communist Countries and also life in Europe and I still held out a belief that the ills in some missions to this part of the world were not universal. I never thought I would become the target of a group trying to make me become like what I avoided as unethical and unbiblical. So this realization in itself was a shock to me ("a stressful period" in the words of van Maanen (the chapter author)).
I also didn't see myself as an "outsider" needing such initiation, because of my previous experience in this field. I obviously was wrong on this count, though, and was more of an outsider than I could ever have imagined.
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This next quote refers to the inductee's efforts to assimilate:
"Depending upon the neophyte's general values and motivations, he may feel a strong desire to define the expectations of others (i.e., the organization, the work group, the supervisor, etc.) and develop constructs relating himself to these expectations. One researchers has called this process building a 'mental map' of the organizations (Avery, 1968)." (p. 79-80)
I guess this was in my "general values and motivations" because I did try to make sense of what was going on, including trying to understand the rules of play and how relationships worked in the group. Even though I'm not that phased by positionality one way or another in my relationships, I do think it is helpful to understand the lay of the land, so to speak, and I did try to make sense of this aspect of the life of the organization. But as to expectations of others towards me, I found that there was a lot going on that seemed stereotypical in some areas, and others that were seemed to me cliquish depending on your position in the organization. What I mean is that some things seem to be expected of me because I was a single gal (e.g., making a special effort to befriend my boss's wife and kids) or limiting (e.g., choosing to be closer to those in my rank - secretaries - than others). These apparent expectations was especially true regarding choosing one's confidants. If an outsider attended a large group social, though, it's unlikely that this kind of thing would be noticeable.
I had expected to hit the road running when I arrived in Vienna, but the mission had other plans for me. If "running" is a metaphor for effectively carrying out meaningful work, I am not sure I ever got that far - I just hit the road splat and was a casualty that never had a chance to run. The leadership would deny this interpretation, with what I would call paternalistic encouragement, saying that au contraire, I was a valuable and vital member of the team that they couldn't have functioned without. Double splat (this time it's a puke on my part from the saccharine-coated garbage).
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This was a short section, but there's only one more section and it's some 35 pages long. I'll start it later today, but at least that subchapter is broken down into sub-subchapters.
