'Role' and 'Position': Job Expectations and Practices

Abstract

The paper studies a middle management position at an academic institute and examines the official nature of “role” and “position” in organisational structure to discuss the distinct concepts of roles and positions in an academic context and enrich our understanding of organizational roles. Data for the investigation includes official documents from the institute and entries in a work diary. The paper describes ‘role’ and ‘position’ and examines the tension between them. It also brings to the forefront the importance of an individual’s endogenous functioning disposition in the workplace situation and exogenous labelling-cum-expectations among individuals in an organisation.