ABSTRACT
The term ‘socialization’ conveys quite different meanings to people in different cultural settings. To some, the term is almost synonymous with brainwashing or, at the least, ‘swallowing’ in an uncritical fashion the purposes and procedures of one’s organization or group of colleagues. To be socialized, from this perspective, is to become simply a cog in the organizational wheel, a mindless bureaucrat serving the policies of the organization, which are interpreted in a literal fashion and without a sense of personal empowerment.
