ENCOUNTER AND METAMORPHOSIS - THE IMPACT OF MILITARY SOCIALIZATION ONPROFESSIONAL VALUES

The assumption that organisations have considerable power in changing the attitudes and values of newcomers is examined in three studies ass essing the impact of socialisation into the role of military officer. Studies 1 and 2 compare the career commitment and the military values of candidates from two different officer training programs, only one o f which involves placing candidates into a total military environment. Cross-sectional (Study 1) and longitudinal (Study 2) evidence shows t hat greater change is observed among candidates subjected to more inte nse socialisation efforts. More precisely, two stages in the socialisa tion process are identified: an 'encounter' stage or a harsh period of initiation characterised by 'negative' attitude changes, followed by a 'metamorphosis' stage, where, in a sharp reversal of the previous tr end, values change in a direction congruent with those of the organisa tion. Study 3 findings reveal that being assigned to a position of lea dership during the last year of the program is one factor that can exp lain the change occurring during the metamorphosis stage. Finally, evi dence from all three studies suggests that older adults may change as much as younger candidates, supporting the lifelong openness model of attitude change. The implications of these results for the attitude st ability/self-selection thesis and for theories of organisational socia lisation are discussed.