Remember the first time I hear the word "institutionalize" is from a movie, name "The Shawshank Redemption". By the way, it`s really a great movie that everyone should watch it at least one time. The story happens in a jail. After 50 years` prison life, a poor old man -- Brook finally gets free and moves into a halfway house. But ironically, he is unable to adjust to the outside world, and begins to miss the life in the jail. At the end, he hangs himself on the beam. When his friend Red hears the news, he told Heywood, "These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized."
Yes, Brook has been institutionalized by jail. He only knows the way of life inside the wall. All his friends are there. It`s a very classical scene in the movie. However, the same thing is also happening in our real life.
Today, most of us need a job in a company, organization or group. For convenience, let`s call them institution. So what is institution?
In my opinion, institution is a big aggregation of knowledge, memory, relations, systems, cultures and goals. Just like an operation system, contains many of applications. As an employee, you are a unit of intelligence that has your own professional knowledge, relations, experiences, and personality. Like a flash driver, or portable hard driver.
When you get hired by an institution, it just like a flash driver plugged into a computer. The OS and driver will exchange data each other. To an employee, when you get hired, you should learn the product/service company has. That`s the transfer of knowledge. You will learn the history of company, it`s the transfer of memory. Also, you will begin to know who are the business partners and customers; who is your supervisor, and what`s the life in the company. They are the transfers of relations, systems, and culture. I call this whole process of transfer is, "institutionalize". And at the end of the process, you will be a well-trained employee for the company. But meanwhile, the transfer is two ways. When you are being institutionalized, you are also personalizing the institution. Your knowledge and experiences will be learnt by colleagues within the department; your previous customers or friends who may be valuable to the current institution will be shared; even your special personality may also change the way how people treat each other within the institution. But, if an institution was changed or affected too much by one person, I will say the institution has been personalized.
OK. It`s my theory of institutionalized and personalized. Sorry for my poor English. In the future, I will continue to develop the theory and describe its effect, result and solutions. Thank you for your time.
By Rex_Wang
