Severing Primary Ties: Exit From Totalistic Organizations

Abstract

This narrative analysis examines the exit process from totalistic organizations, defined as organizations with a far greater reach into a member's life than traditional employment or volunteer memberships. Findings suggest a nuanced view of exit that challenges both Jablin's (2001) phasic model of exit and Kramer's (2011) observations of a fluid and indefinite volunteer exit. Where previous research has privileged pay as the defining feature of organizational membership and exit, this study suggests that organizational form and organizational processes such as exit may be tied more to the reach of organizational values into the member's life than previous research has indicated.

Keywords:

• Assimilation
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Exit
• High Reliability Organizations

Notes

The researcher is a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, raised as a sixth-generation member of the faith. The researcher was also raised in an HRO family in a small town economy dominated by HRO professions. Additionally, a close personal friend of the researcher is a police officer, and served in a consulting role during this research project. This background puts the researcher in tune with the nuances of culture and the turns of phrase used by the narrative writers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amorette Hinderaker

Amorette Hinderaker is an Assistant Professor and the Convener of Debates in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas Christian University.