Social Requirements for Occupational Success: Internalized Norms and Friendship

Job performance ratings given by nursing supervisors to 48 hospital staff nurses working in three mid-western urban hospitals are examined in relation to (a) the extent to which nurses internalize norms held by their superiors, (b) their friendship with superiors, and (c) their friendship with peers. The general working hypothesis is that evaluations of subordinates are at least as likely to be associated with friendship choices as with internalization of official norms. An analysis of data revealed that: (1) Nurses evaluated as high-success by their supervisors do not have significantly higher consensus with their supervisors on work norms than nurses evaluated as low-success. (2) Nurses evaluated as high-success do receive significantly higher socio-metric ratings from superiors than nurses evaluated as low-success. (3) Nurses evaluated as high-success do not receive significantly different socio-metric ratings from peers than nurses evaluated as low-success. (4) Socio-metric ratings given nurses by supervisors and nurses are significantly correlated. Interpretations and conclusions are provided.