Making an ethical commitment: A rhetorical case study of organizational socialization

Abstract

This essay approaches formal socialization in organizations as a rhetorical process, presenting a rhetorical‐critical study of one organization's formal orientation to company objectives. The analysis reveals the orientation program as a complex act aiming to shape ethical conduct of newcomers. The study identifies a strategy of evoking identification to the organization through a series of strategically focused identifications which culminate in an attempt to shape commitment to a set of organizational values. Ethical dimensions of the discourse are analyzed from a moral rights framework, revealing a rhetorical statement about the moral role of this business in society.

Key concepts:

• Ethics
• Rhetoric
• Organizational Communication
• Organizational Socialization
• Employee Orientation
• Moral Rights
• Identification
• Commitment
• Business
• and Family