Isolation in Organizations: Alienation from Authority, Control, and Expressive Relations

Jon Miller In this research alienation, defined as an objective state of isolation from others, is studied among 335 members of five organizations. Four dimensions of isolation are studied: isolation (1) from formal authority, (2) from the network of perceived actual control, (3) from friends, and (4) from highly respected coworkers. As expected, these dimensions of isolation are interrelated, but they do not correlate to the extent anticipated with the subject's professional standing or location in the structure of social relations in the organization.1