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Among university business students today there is much idealism and a strong belief in the rational model of business activity. For those who are headed for initial appointments in corporate structures there will be disillusionment. Whether entering a new organization as a first‐time employee, or entering a new position as an employee of long standing, individuals are likely to experience feelings of anxiety, helplessness, and surprise. This effect is commonly known as “entry shock.” In this paper we (1) review an experiential exercise designed for classroom use, (2) describe implications and use of the exercise in anticipatory socialization to help abate future business entry shock for students, (3) present the results of several such applications of the exercise, and (4) suggest procedures which may be used to facilitate the use of the exercise.

Findings from a partial replication of Blau's 1966 study of small bureaucracies suggest that small businesses of six or fewer employees offer substantial promise for the construction of theories of organizational behavior. Based on the strategy of examining simple forms of phenomena to isolate basic relationships, certain bivariate relationships rejected by Blau for larger organizations, are found to be significant for the smallest organizations in the present study. An expanded multi-variate causal regression analysis provides additional evidence. Seventy-seven small business firms constitute the sample and the variables analyzed are division of labor, professionalization, managerial hierarchy, and administrative apparatus.

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