Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Candace White

Abstract

Organizational culture is the interconnected pattern of norms, values, beliefs, and symbols within an organization that give an organization its identity. Organizational assimilation is the process of communicating that culture to new incoming organizational members. The women's athletic department at The University of Tennessee relies on a strong assimilation process to prepare freshmen collegiate student-athletes not only for the normal stress of college, but also for the pressures of being an elite Division 1 athlete. This study examined the assimilation practices the women's athletic department used to assimilate 58 female freshmen student-athletes into the culture of the department. This study focused on the socialization aspect of assimilation rather than on the individualization aspect. The scope of this study included the first two stages of the assimilation process, anticipatory and encounter, and did not address the metamorphosis stage. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Semistructured interviews with key athletic administrators helped define the cultural constructs for the women's department. These cultural constructs were enriching student-athletes' lives outside sport, maintaining a family oriented department, and being nationally competitive in athletics. These constructs were used to produce a survey that was administered twice to the freshmen life skills class in order to determine their understanding of the values and expectations of the department. Those three cultural constructs were operationalized into seven research questions that focused on family atmosphere, national competitiveness of athletic department, academic progress towards graduation, career development, personal development, and health of mind and body. The results reveal that female freshmen student-athletes possess a strong understanding of what the department values and what is expected of them before they arrive on campus. This indicates that female freshmen student-athletes at UT experience strong anticipatory socialization. The most significant source in communicating these values and expectations was the head coach of the student-athlete's team. There is very little statistically significant change in understanding of values and expectations over time. The only statistically significant decrease was a decrease in perception of feeling a part of the Lady Vol family.

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