Abstract
This paper discusses the functionalist perspective of stratification and institutional processes of values inculcation in schools and organizations. It is assumed that students’ school-to-work transition entail certain differences in life and work expectations as the education system forms the basis of cultural reproduction and values formation. A quantitative study was conducted to investigate the variations in value priorities between managers, professionals and executives in a MNC in Singapore. The questionnaire survey involved 252 participants. The findings highlight that the notion that differences in the relative value preferences between the three hierarchical groups may be a result of their previous respective educational socialization and achievements in schools.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, V. L. (1970). Personality correlates of poverty. In H. L. Minton., & F. W. Schneider (Eds.),Differential psychology. Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth, Inc.
Allport, G. W., Vernon, P. E., & Lindzey, G. (1960).A study of values. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (1999).Third APEC Human Resources Development ministers meeting: Joint ministerial statement. 27–29 July 1999. Singapore: APEC Secretariat.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (2000).Twelfth APEC ministerial meeting: Joint statement. 12–13 Nov 2000 Singapore: APEC Secretariat.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (2001).4th APEC Human Resources Development ministerial meeting. 29 – 30 Sep, 2001. Singapore: APEC Secretariat.
Ballantine, J. H. (2001).The sociology of education: A systematic analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice- Hall, Inc
Ballantine, J. H., & Spade, J. Z. (2004).Schools and society: A sociological approach to education. Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Bandura, A. (1977).Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Bandura, A. (1986).Social foundations of thought and action: A social-cognitive view. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (1989).Managing across borders: The transnational solution. Boston, MA.: Harvard Business School Press.
Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (2000).Transnational management: Text, cases, and readings in cross-border management. Boston, MA.: Irwin McGraw Hill.
Bartlett, C. A., Doz, Y., & Hedlund, G. (Eds.) (1990).Managing the global firm. London: Routledge.
Billings, R. S., & Cornelius, E. T. (1980). Dimensions of work outcomes: A multidimensional scaling approach,Personnel Psychology, 33, 151–162.
Blood, M. R. (1969). Work values and job satisfaction.Journal of Applied Psychology, 53, 456–459.
Bourdieu, P. (1984).Distinction: A social critique of judgements of taste. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Bourdieu, P. (1988).Language and symbolic power. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. (1977).Reproduction: In education, society and culture. Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage Publications.
Bowles, S. S., & Gintis, H. (1976).Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and contradictions of economic life. New York: Basic Books.
Child, J. (1984).Organization: A guide to problems and practice. 2nd edition, London: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Davis, K., & Moore, W. (1945). Some principles of stratification. In L. A. Coser and B. Rosenberg (Eds.).Ideological theory. New York: Macmillan.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985).Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. New York: Plenum.
Durkheim, E. (1960).The division of labour in society. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press.
Earley, P. C., & Mosakowski, E. (2000). Creating hybrid team cultures: An empirical test of transnational team functioning.Academy of Management Journal, 43(1), 26 - 40.
Earley, P. C., & Singh, H. (1995). International and intercultural management research: What’s next?Academy of Management Journal, 38(2), 327–340.
Elizur, D. (1984). Facets of work values: A structural analysis of work outcomes.Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 379–389.
Elizur, D., Borg, I., Hunt, R., & Beck, I. M. (1991). The structure of work values: A cross-cultural comparison.Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 12, 21–38.
Erez, M., & Earley, P. C. (1993).Culture, self-identity and work. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Feagin, J. R., & Feagin, C. B. (1978).Discrimination American style: Institutional sexism and racism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Freud, S. (1963).Civilization and its discontents. London: Hogarth Press.
Giddens, A. (1989).Sociology. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Gomez-Mejia, L. R., & Palich, L. E. (1997). Cultural diversity and the performance of multinational firms.Journal of International Business Studies, 28(2), 309 - 335.
Hall, E. T., & Hall, M. R. (1990).Understanding cultural differences. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, Inc.
Harpaz, I. (1985). Meaning of work profiles of various occupational groups.Journal of Vocational Behavior, 26, 25–40.
Harris, P. R., & Moran, R. T. (1999).Managing cultural differences: Leadership strategies for a new world of business. Woburn, MA.: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Harrison, F. (1969). Aspirations as related to school performance and socioeconomic status.Sociometry, 32(1), 70–79.
Hofstede, G. (1984).Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage Publications, Inc.
Hofstede, G. (1994).Cultures and organisations: Software of the mind. London: Harper Collins.
Hofstede, G. (2001).Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviours, institutions and organisations across nations. 2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage Publications.
Houston, J. P., & Mednick, S. A. (1963). Creativity and the need for novelty.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66, 137–141.
Illich, I. D. (1973).Deschooling society. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Jackson, S. E., & Ruderman, M. N. (1995).Diversity in work teams: Researching paradigms for a changing workplace. Washington, DC.: American Psychological Association.
Joynt, P., & Warner, M. (Eds.) (1997).Managing across cultures: Issues and perspectives. Boston: International Thomson Business Press.
Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1966).The social psychology of organisations. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kluckhohn, C. (1951). Values and value-orientations in the theory of action: An exploration in definition and classification. In T. Parsons, & E. Shils (Eds.).Toward a general theory of action. New York: Harper & Row.
Kluckhohn, F. R., & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1961).Variations in value orientations. Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peterson.
Korman, A. (1974).The psychology of motivation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Levitt, T. (1986).The marketing imagination. New York: Free Press.
Maddi, S. R. (1961). Exploratory behaviour and variationseeking in man. In D. W. Fiske, & S. R. Maddi (Eds.).Functions of varied experience. Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey.
Maslow, A. H. (Ed.) (1959).New knowledge in human values. 1st edition, New York: Harper.
Minton, H. L., & Schneider, F. W. (1980).Differential psychology. Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth, Inc.
Morris, C. W. (1956).Varieties of human value. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Nord, W. R., Brief, A. P., Atieh, J. M., & Doherty, E. M. (1985). Work values and the conduct of organizational behavior. In B. M. Staw, & L. L. Cummings (Eds.).Research in organizational behaviour. Greenwich, CT.: JAI Press.
Nord, W. R., Brief, A. P., Atieh, J. M., & Doherty, E. M. (1988). Studying meanings of work: The case of work values. In B. M. Staw, & L. L. Cummings (Eds.).Research in organizational behaviour. Greenwich, CT.: JAI Press.
Palich, L. E., & Gomez-Mejia, L. R. (1999). A theory of global strategy and firm efficiencies: Considering the effects of cultural diversity.Journal of Management, 25(4), 587
Parkin, F. (1979).Marxism and class theory: A bourgeois critique. New York: Columbia University Press.
Parsons, T. (1951).The social system. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Pine, G. J., & Innis, G. (1987). Cultural and individual work values.Career Development Quarterly, 35, 279–287.
Pryor, R. G. L. (1979). In search of a concept: Work values.Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 27, 365–375.
Pryor, R. G. L. (1982). Values, preferences, needs, work ethics and orientations to work: Toward a conceptual and empirical integration.Journal of Applied Psychology, 20, 40–52.
Pryor, R. G. L. (1987). Differences among differences: In search of general work preference dimensions.Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 426–433.
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1952).Structure and functions in primitive society. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press.
Redding, S. G. (1990).The spirit of Chinese capitalism. New York: Walter de Gruyter.
Rokeach, M. (1968).Beliefs, attitudes, and values: A theory of organization and change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Rokeach, M. (1973).The nature of human values. New York: The Free Press.
Rokeach, M. (1979).Understanding human values. New York: Free Press.
Ronen, S. (1978). Personal values: A basis for work motivational set and work attitude.Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 21, 80–107.
Ros, M., Schwartz, S. H., & Surkiss, S. (1999). Basic individual values, work values, and the meaning of work.Applied Psychology: An International Review, 48(1), 49–71.
Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries.Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65.
Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Are there universal aspect in the structure and content of human values?Journal of Social Issues, 50(4), 19–45.
Schwartz, S. H., & Bardi, A. (2001). Value hierarchies across cultures: Taking a similarities perspectives.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(3), 268–290.
Schwartz, S. H., & Bilsky, W. (1987). Toward a psychological structure of human values.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(3), 550–562.
Schwartz, S. H., & Bilsky, W. (1990). Toward a theory of the universal content and structure of human values: Extensions and cross-cultural replications.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(5), 878–891.
Scott, W. A. (1965).Values and organisations: A study of fraternities and sororities. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Sewell, W. H., Haller, A. O., & Ohlendorf, G. W. (1970). The educational and early occupational status attainment process: Replication and revision.American Sociological Review, 35, 1014–1027.
Smith, M. B. (1969).Social psychology and human values: Selected essays. Chicago: Aldine.
Super, D. E. (1970).Work values inventory. Chicago, Ill.: Riverside Publishing Co.
Trompenaars, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (1998).Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Weber, M. (1978).Economy and society. (G. Roth & C. Wittich, Trans.). Berkeley: University of California Press.
White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence.Psychological Review, 66, 296–333.
Willis, P. (1977). Learning to labor: How working class kids get working class jobs. In A. Giddens (1989).Sociology. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Wollack, S., Goodale, J. G., Wijting, J. P., & Smith, P. C. (1971). Development of the survey of work values.Journal of Applied Psychology, 55, 331–338.
Wright, E. O. (1979).Class structure and income determination. New York: Academic Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Choy, W.K.W., Lee, A.B.E. & Ramburuth, P. Does socialization in schools matter? differences in value priorities between managers, professionals and executives in a singaporean firm. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 8, 129–141 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03025839
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03025839