THE WORKER AND HIS WORK

WORLD

Dr.C.S.RANGARAJAN

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely
players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many
parts,
His acts being seven ages (Shakespeare
in
‘As You Like It’, Act 2, scene 7, 139–143)

The concept of role is an important tool that can

be made use of in the study of bureaucracy.
Through the individual actually involved, the role
he performs helps us to understand the 'basic
content and processes in the bureaucratic
situation' (Reissman quoted in Stein et al 1961).
Workers employed in industrial situations, from
the time they clock in, till the time they clock out,
are entrusted with a set of activities associated
with their jobs. It becomes necessary for the

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modern industry to employ the 'formal socializing
process (Bakke 1953), so that the workers carry on
imprint of the image of the organization. However,
a 'personalizing process' (Bakke 1953) in which the
individuals endeavour to impose their image on
the organization may be seen as operating
simultaneously. The status and role, the obverse
and reverse, are the products of the 'process of
fusion' (Bakke 1953), which prescribe the
performance expected of individuals in the employ
of the organization. Role Conception is an
important aspect of one's participation in a work
organization, since it is recognized that the role
performance in an organization is not precisely
according to the blue-print of the organization, nor
does it closely correspond to the rational rules and
procedures established within an organization. On
the other hand, it is recognized that the role
performance is very much determined by the type
of role conception one has of one's role. It is one's
role conception that becomes crucial in explaining
one's relations with others within the organization.
Role Conception itself is influenced by a number of
factors. Among them, the more significant are,
one's position within the organisation, the

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professional or technical skill that one has, and the
kind of opportunity one gets for utilizing one's
abilities and skills in the position that one occupies
within the organization. The above are some of
the significant factors within the work
organization, which play a vital role in explaining
the kind of role conception that one has.
Another set of factors that may also have an
important influence over one's role conception
pertains to the larger society. It is from a specific
'social milieu’ that one derives one's occupational
values and role expectations. In that way, each
member of an organization is associated, both
directly and indirectly, within, as well as outside
the organization, with members and non-members
whose influence upon the behaviour of the
members may at times be pronounced. These
constitute the 'role-set' (Merton 1959). The 'role-
set' is after all, the 'dialectic personal growth or
the dialogue of the self and others... the give and
take between the individual and his fellows
(Baldwin 1961). The members and non-members
who make up the role set of a Worker, hold certain
expectations of him/her, since the worker's role
performance or behaviour has consequences for

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them. Role expectations held by some constituents
of an individual's 'role-set' at times go far beyond
the job description. Since they may have an
interest, conformity with the expectations, both
written and unwritten, is sought to be brought
about by 'role pressures'. Though the worker reels
under role pressures, sanctions and penalties,
perceived as a consequence of following conflicting
role expectations prove to be a major basis for
ensuring compliance with the requirements of the
formal organization. In that way, role pressures
may be seen as partial determinants of the
behaviour of the worker. The motivation, however,
for proper role performance, might perhaps, stem
from the intrinsic satisfaction that one derives
from the role content. Though jobs carry very few
prestige differentials, forfeiture of workers'
control over the pace of their work, lack of scope
for exhibiting ability and creativity, and close
supervision are conducive to low role conception.
Role conception increases with the control over
work pace increasing. Role conception can be seen
as decreasing with the amount of close supervision
increasing. In other words, high role conception
and close supervision are inversely correlated,

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whereas, there is positive correlation between high
role conception and the realised need for control.
Workers' conception about their choice of the
Company for whom they work is intended to
establish a linkage between their role in the
Company, and whether they view their own roles as
meaningful and rewarding or just a meaningless and
routine. The workers' image of the Company is
very much determined by the way their role in the
Company is viewed. The findings about the way the
workers view their own Company in terms of their
own conception of their role could be interpreted

A worker who is able to perform his role with the

requisite kind of technical competence might feel
secure. But otherwise, he is likely to be haunted by
a feeling of insecurity born of inadequacy of
technical competence. In that way, the major link
is between skills, its utilisation, the job challenges
and job rewards on the one hand, and the
development of a positive role conception leading
to an overall sense of job satisfaction on the
other. It is to be admitted that a positive role
conception of the worker depends upon the
interaction between the demands of the job and

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the education and skills brought to the job by the
worker. Apart from the worker's expectations, the
challenges of the work assignment go to influence
the level of role conception. A link between the
skill level of the job and the challenges the job
offers can be established as jobs requiring higher
skills provide opportunities for the challenges.
Since men thrive 'in meeting occupational
challenges'(Kohn and Schooler 1973), jobs can be
seen to have 'a substantially greater impact on
men's psychological functioning than the reverse'
(Kohn and Schooler 1973).
The opportunities for skill utilisation and on the
job acquisition of skills are vital components, which
may suffer serious constraints. The nature of
operations and the technology employed may be
such that they do not offer scope for the workers
to try out new ideas. One consequence is a kind of
negative role conception in which workers whose
skills are under utilised, and who are not facing
problems that come up as a Challenge in their work.
In line with Quinn and Mandilovitch (1975)
investigation, 'challenge index' for test of the
utilisation of skills can be constructed. In an
effort to observe and account for the observed

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differences in workers' role conception, questions
dealing with work role may be addressed to the
workers through the interview schedule. The
responses to these questions taken together would
yield a measure of what may be termed as 'role
conception'.
The importance of role conception, as derived
through responses to the twelve question items as
stated above,lies in the fact that it will provide us
with a measure of the degree of favourableness, or
otherwise, of the workers' relationship with the
various elements of the work situation. It may be
pointed out that the workers' role conception is
determined not only in terms of the
characteristics of the work situation, but also in
terms of the differentiation of skills and positions
relating to the workers.
We may now consider what questions may be fairly
appropriate to elicit responses that would reflect
the role conception of the workers. The set of
question items is given below;
1. Do you think the Company is the best place for a
person in your position?
2. How secure do you feel in your job here?
3. Do you often face problems that come up as a

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challenge in your work?
4. What steps do you take when you are faced
with such problems?
5. Is your job too routine and simple as not to call
for your special abilities?
6. Does your work ever give you a chance to try
our new ideas?
7. Have you enough freedom on the job?
8. Do you ever feel pushed about in your work?
9a.Do you feel you like the actual work you do?
9b.How frequently do you feel as you do?
10.How strongly do you feel that the work you do
contribute to the success of the Company?
11.How would you rate your own professional skills
in relation to your work?
12. What degree of professional skill does your
work demand?

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(To be continued)
Reference: International Bibliography of Social
Sciences: Sociology, Volume XLV 1995, page 243

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