ing said personally, you will not be socialized. The last part of the socialization is complying with the norms. The attorneys are not comfortable with change, and therefore, the norms are very important to them.The norms of the office allow us to function without having discord among the members of the office and allow us to keep from making contradictory statements to clients. They help to define the appropriate way to act around clients and others who come through our office. Most of the norms are directed toward Eric and I. They consist of proper ways to dress and proper ways to answer the phone or speak with clients. These allow us to coordinate our efforts instead of creating havoc (Becker). Another set of norms deals with the correct way to put papers away and to distribute work to be reviewed. Without these norms the office could not function.Compliance with the norms is rarely a problem. If an employee does not follow the norms, they will be fired. With as few rules as exist in the office there is no reason for not following them. Another enforcement of complying with the norms is the production of work. If a person does not go along with these norms, files, documents, and other important items are lost and time becomes wasted. If a person is not following the norms set forth in this office, one of the attorneys will talk to him or her and set the person back in the right direction. If one of the attorneys is not following the norms, it simply takes a quick conversation by either Eric or I to find out if new norms are coming into play or if we should continue with the existing norms. The attorneys rarely stray from the norms since they are not fond of any kind of change.In conclusion, this office offers an interesting social structure. Depending on how you look at the intricacies of the structure, several layers of activity can be seen. The formal and informal organizations are complete opposites in this office...
