Roles and jobs

Do not worry about holding high position; worry rather about playing your proper role. Confucius

An organization needs to be clear as to what roles, or categories of activities, are needed to enable it to operate. A role consists of performing a task or tasks, which require a unique combination of skill and knowledge - teaching, selling, managing, etc. Jobs are then defined to accommodate one or more of these roles.

Roles:  Each role needs it own set of skills. A person performing two roles may find that different personal characteristics are required for each - one role may require an extroverted personality and the other a more introspective one. This problem often arises when technicians or professionals are called on to perform a management role, which they then find that they are unsuitable for. Some roles may be associated with an individual rather than being defined as part of a particular job, for example, the role of fire warden or medical first-aid person in a school could be taken by a teacher or one of the administrative staff.

Jobs:  A job can consist of several different roles, as with a head of department in a school who will either be taking a class in a 'teaching' role or discussing the curriculum with a colleague in a 'management' role. Jobs are what people are employed to do and are associated with a job description specifying the roles covered. Pay scales and career paths are usually linked to jobs.

Advancement:  There is often only a limited career path for people skilled in a particular role (nurse, engineer, teacher, salesman, etc.). To progress, the person finds that they must adopt another role (manager or administrator).

Evaluation considerations