online) This paper examines the socialization of graduate recruits into a knowledge intensive labour
process and organizational culture. Theoretically the paper draws upon the idea of ‘preparing
for work’ to position this early socialization as a crucial moment in the production of
subjectivities suited (and booted) for the labour process of management consulting. Empirically
the paper reports on a two-day induction session for new graduate recruits joining a global
management consultancy and their responses to this training. Particular attention is given to
the use of role-play and a dramaturgical workshop used in part of the training process. The paper
argues that the utilization of dramaturgy in training is consistent with the overall approach to
control developed in the firm in response to the fact that the labour process of consulting is
often conducted on client sites, away from any direct supervisory gaze. As such, the consultants
were subjected to a form of cultural control that was designed to function independently of
direct supervision. This control did not operate directly upon the new employees professed
values, however, but at one step removed so that a ‘cynical distance’ from the content of the
organization’s culture was accepted so long as a professional ‘ethic of behaviour’ was
established. By focusing on an ‘ethic of behaviour’ these young professionals were encouraged
to internalize a self-control akin to that of an actor, rather than internalizing the corporate values
entirely