ROLE

A role is the pattern of actions expected of a person in activities involving others. Role
reflects a person’s position in the social system, with its accompanying rights and obligations,
power and responsibility. In order to be able to interact with one another, people need some
way of anticipating others’ behavior. Role performs this function in the social system.

A person has roles both on the job and away from it. One person performs the
occupational role of worker, the family role of parent, the social role of club president, and
many others. In those various roles, a person is both buyer and seller, supervisors and
subordinate, and giver and seeker of advice. Each roles call for different types of behavior.
Within the work environment alone, a worker may have more than one role, such as a worker
in group A, a subordinate to supervisor B, a machinist, a member of a union, and a
representative on the safety committee.

Who is an
A club
A employee? president
follower
A A worker
stockholder

Each Employee Performs Many Roles.

ROLE PERCEPTIONS

Activities of managers and workers alike are guided by their role perceptions that is,
how they think they are supposed to act in their own roles and how others should act in their
roles. Since managers perform many different roles, they must be highly adaptive (exhibiting
role flexibility) in order to change from one role to another quickly. Supervisors need to change
roles rapidly as they work with subordinates and superiors and with technical and non-technical
activities.

When two people, such as manager and an employee, interact, each one needs to
understand at least three role perceptions. For a manager, the three roles are as follows: First
there is the manager’s role perception as required by the job being performed (A). Then there is
the manager’s perception of the role of the employee being contacted (B). Finally there is the
manager’s perception of his/her role as likely to be seen by the employee (C). Obviously, one
cannot meet the need of others unless one can perceive what they expect. Three related role
perceptions (D, E, and F) exist from the employee’s perspective, with dramatic differences
(from the manager’s perceptions) possible- especially in the direct comparisons such as A-D, B-
E, and C-D. The key is for both parties to gain accurate role perceptions for their own roles and
for the roles of the other. Reaching such an understanding requires studying the available job
descriptions, as well as opening up lines of communication to discover the other’s perception.
Unless one role are clarified and agreed upon by both parties, conflicts will inevitably arise.

The Complex Web Of Manager-

Employee Role Perceptions
MENTOR

A mentor is a role model who guides other employee by sharing valuable advice on the
roles to play and behaviors to avoid. Mentors teach, advice, and sponsor their employees so as
to expedite their career progress. The advantage of successful mentoring programs include
stronger employees loyalty, faster movement up the learning curve, better succession planning
through development of replacements, and increased level of goal accomplishment. Some
organizations actually assign employee to various mentors, but this practice can create
problems of resentment, abuse of power, and unwillingness to serve. As a result, other firms
simply encourage employees to seek out their own mentors. Tips for employee’s working with
mentors are provided and as well as tips for mentors.

Mentors are usually older, successful themselves, and respected by their peers
(influential). They also must be willing to commit time and energy to help another person move
up the corporate ladder, be able to communicate effectively and share ideas in a
nonthreatening fashion, and enjoy one-on-one development of others. Mentors are often not
the employee’s direct supervisor; therefore they can provide additional support to aid an
employee’s career progress. Their detachment from a supervisory role also allows them to be
more objective about the strengths and weaknesses observed with a en employee.

Several problems can arise in mentoring programs, however. Some mentors are more
effective role models than others, or simply more interested in being good mentors. Similarly,
some employees are more aggressive in seeking out the prime candidates for a mentor, leaving
other employees with less skilled mentors. On other cases, a mentor might provide advice or
information to an employee that actually hinders the employee’s development. A special
problem sometimes confronting women minorities is the difficulty of finding successful role
models from the same gender or ethnic group. When there are gender differences in the
mentor-employee relationship, difficult issues sometimes arise, such as when one party exploits
the others effort and time, or when a legitimate but close emotional bind stimulates humors of
a sexual relationship. .Finally, an employee’s career might be stifles abruptly if the mentored is
transferred or leaves the organization. For these and other reasons, common practice is to have
more than one mentor for each employee, resulting in a constellation of relations from which
the employee can derive perceptions. Despite well-meaning attempts, efforts to establish
mentoring relationships sometimes fail.

Tips for Employees Using Mentors:

1. Select more than one mentor. Draw your mentors from your peer group, higher
management’s levels, or even professional colleagues outside the organization.
 2. Consult them periodically. Discipline yourself to meet with them at regular intervals.
3. Brief them on your progress, currents issues, and problems you are facing.
4. Seek feedback from them. Inquire how your work is regarded. Show them samples of
your work, and ask for suggestions for improvement.
5. Share a summary of your own strengths and weaknesses, and your action plan for
overcoming your limitations. Compare your view with their perceptions of your
strength, and probe them for improvement ideas for the areas where you need work.
6. As for mentors to watch for new opportunities opening up that might use your skills.
7. Seek their advice on career-building moves that will enhance your promotability.

Tips for Mentors Who have Employee:

1. Identify employee strengths, and help them build on them.

2. Foster self-discover/ by asking insight-generating questions.
3. Let the employee make the decisions, for that will increase ownership.
4. Choose your words carefully; avoid being directive or judgmental.
5. Listen; watch from a distance; intervene only when necessary.
6. Don’t place yourself on a pedestal, avoid sounding like an expert.
7. Be real; be authentic; eliminate signs of power.
8. Be open to alternative views and choices; help the employee refine them.

ROLE CONFLICT

When others have different perceptions and expectations of a person’s role, that person
tends to experience role conflict. Such conflicts make it difficult to meet one set of expectations
without rejecting another. A company president faced a role conflict, for example, when she
learned that both the controller and the human resource director wanted her to allocate the
new organizational planning functions to their departments.

Role conflict at work is fairly common. A national sample of wage and salary workers
reported that 48 percent experienced role conflict from time to time and 15 percent said that
role conflicts are frequent and serious problem. Role conflict was most difficult for employees
with many job contacts outside the organizations, that is with boundary roles. They found that
their external roles are placed demands on their jobs different from the demands of their
internal roles, so role conflict is resulted. When people were classified according to the number
of their outside job contacts, those with few contacts had the least role conflict and those with
frequent contacts had the most conflict.
ROLE AMBIGUITY

When roles are inadequately defined or are substantially unknown, role

ambiguity exists, because people are not sure how they should react in situations of this type.
When role conflict and role ambiguity exists, job satisfaction and organizational commitment is
likely to decline.
Employees tend to be more satisfied with their jobs when their roles are clearly defined
by job descriptions and statements of performance expectations. A better understanding of
roles helps people know what others expect of them and how they should act. If any role,
misunderstanding exists when people interact, than problems are likely to occur.