32

Relevant Conceptual
Framework of Role

ole is the position one occupies in a social system, and is defined by the

R functions
members
or office.
one
of a
performs
social
in response to the
system, and one's own
expectations
expectations
of the
from that
significant
position
Role and office (or
position) are separate concepts, though two sides of the same
coin. According to Katz and Kahn
("Office is essentially a relational concept, defining
each position in terms of its relationships to others and to the system as a whole").
While office is a relational and power-related concept, role an
is obligational
concept.
A role is not defined without the expectations of the role senders, including the
role occupant. The position of a personnel manager may be created in an organisation,
but his Tole will be defined by the expectations (stated or unstated) that different
persons have from a personnel manager, and the expectations that he, in turn, has
from the role. In this sense, the role gets defined in each system by the role senders,
including the role occupant.
The concept of roleis vital for the
integration ofthe Individual
with an
organisation,
The organisation has its own structure and goals. Similarly, the individual has his
personality and needs (motivations). All these aspects interact with each other and to
some extent get integrated into a role. Role is also a central concept in work motivation
as it is only through this that the individual and organisation interact with each other
An organlsation can be defined as a system of roles. However, a role itself is á
system( From the individual's point of view, there are two role systems: the system
of various roles that the individual carrles and performs, and the system of various
roles of which his role is a part. The first, we will call role space and the second,a
role set. IAE

287
 Training Instruments for Human
Resource Development
Each Individual occuples and plays several roles. A
person can be a daughter,a
mother, a salesperson, a member of a club, a
and so on. All these roles constitute the role
member of a voluntary organisation,
space of that
the role space is the self. As the concept of role is central toperson.
At the centre of
that of an organlsation,
so also the concept of self Is central to the several roles of a person. The term self
reters to the interpretations the person makes about the relerentL It is a cognitive
structure that evolves from past experience with other persons and objects. Self can
be defined as the experience of an ldentity arlsing from a
person's interaction with
the external reality-things, persons and systems.
APerson performs various roles that are centred around the self and are at varying
distances from the self
(and from each other). These relationships define the role
space, which is then a dynamic interrelationship between the self and the various
roles an individual occupies
Similarly, role set is a pattern of interrelationships between one role (called the
focal role) among many others. In a role set map, the focal role is in the centre.
The concept of role widens the meaning of work and the
relationship of the worker
with other significant persons in the system. The of
concept job is more prescriptive
in nature, while role includes more
discretionary part of work. A job assumes the
relationship of the worker with his supervisor whereas the role emphasises his
relationship with all those who have expectations from him (as he has from them).
Recently, much emphasis has been given to the development of roles and making
them more
effective organisation.
in an
To sum
up.(the concept role goes beyond
of the individual job holder, and indicates
a need to involve other significant persons in
on roles can be useful in
defining role requirements. The focus
planning organisational effectiveness, Herzberg (1968) drew
attention to the need for humanising jobs and
giving more dignity to them. The work
redesigning movement highlighted the need for involving job holders in work-related
decisions andgiving them more autonomy in work-related matters."

1. THE cONCEPT OF ROLE EFFICACY

The performance of a
person working in
an
organisation depends on his own
elfectiveness, technical competence, managerial experience, etc, as well aspotential
on the
design of the role that he
performs in an organisation. It is the
the person and the role) that ensures a person's effectiveness.integration
of the two
Unless a person has
the requisite
knowledge, technical competence and skills required for the role, he
cannot be effective.
Equally important is how the role, which he occupies in the
organisation, designed. If the role does not allow the
is
apd il he person to use his competence,
constantly feels frustrated in the role, his effectiveness
The integration of a person and a role comes about when the latter is able to fuil is likely to be low.
the needs of the
individual, and when the individual in turn is able to contribute to
the evolution of the
role) The more we move from role taking to role making. tnE

28
 Development
for Human Resource
Training lnstruments
ls likely to be high. The
largergroup, his efflcacy
be of value to a
goals have
he does is likely to to work lor superordinates
to role occupants groups, and those
roles that give opportunites that large
serve One major motivation
Superordinate goals are
those
the highest efficacy. c o l l a b o r a t i v e effort.
achleved without s o m e
be the opportunity to
which c a n n o t
to publc sector undertakings is
for people at the top
to m o v e
Many people
a r e liIkely to help
larger sections of soclety.
work for larger goals,
whlch
to m o v e from
the private to the
in thelr salarles
in which people leel that
cuts
have voluntarily accepted because of this. Roles
the top level, mainly have higher
public sector at in which they work,
is helpful to the organisation
what they are doing
efficacy.
Effectiveness
Role Efficacy and
seem to experience less role
with high role efficacy
Research shows that persons on their own strengths to cope
w o r k - r e l a t e d tension. They rely
stress, anxiety and and interactive with people
u s e more purposeful
behaviour, are active
show growth
with problems,
environment, persist in solving
problems (mostly by themselves),
and the behaviour. Such persons
commitment and positive and approach
orientation, attitudinal This Is a
and with their jobs and roles in the organisation.
feel satisfied with life
be related to the quality of
effective managers. Role efficacy is found to
profile of amenities at the work place,
nature of job, and
work life (measured by influence, behaviour
behaviour). Step-wise mutliple regression yielded supervisory
supervisory
in role efficacy. Role efficacy
has also been found to be
as important dimension
a n
location of the work place and length
of employment.
related to age, the type of role, the in which the employees
a participative climate,
Regarding organisational aspects, seems that a climate promoting
contributes to role eficacy. It
get higher job satisfaction, issues also
concern for excellence, use
of expertise, and c o n c e r n for the larger
control
contributes to role efficacy. On the
other hand, a climate characterised by
role efficacy. An innovation fostering climate
and affiliation seems to lower employees'
was found to be a strong predictor
of role efficacy.
Role efficacy has also been reported as a strong moderator or mediating vari. e
or enhancing organisational
climate.
having a dramatic influence of in predicting
Details of the findings are given in the footnotes
of Chapter 11 in Pareek, 1993.

2. ORGANISATIONAL ROLE STRESS

Modern liie is full of stress.As organisations become more complex, the potential for
stress increases. Urbanisation, industralisation and increase in scale of operations
are some of the reasons for rising stress. Stress is an inevitable consequece of socio-
economic complexity and, to some extent, its stimulant as well. People experience
stress
as they can no longer have complete control over what happens in theirlives
The telephone goes out of order, power is shut down, the water supply is disrupted,

292
 Relevant Conceptual Framework of Role
an expected promotion is denled, children perform poorly at school,
commodities increase prices of essenta
stressed. disproportionately to Income, etc. We leel frustrated, and then
There being no escape from
stress in modern life, we need to fInd ways ol using
stress productively, and
Several terms that are
reducing dysfunctional stress.
synonymous with stress, or similar in meaning, have
used. In order to avoid confusion
we will use the
Decn
that induce stress; stress for the following terms: stressor for
stlmuor
affective (emotional) part in the
incongruence; experlence
symptoms for the physiological, behavioural and conceptual
or changes: and
coping for any behaviour that deals with the emotlonal responses
in the experience ot incongruence ie, stress). The term stress will be used here to component
refer to such terms and concepts as strain,
Even
pressure, etc.
as
stress is inevitable in today's complex life, so is it necessary for human
progress. It is like musical instrument,
a where an optimum stress Is
neededtoo
to
produce goodmusic: loose wires (less stress) would not produce the notes, and
much tautness (too much stress) might result in screeching. A distinction has been
made between productive or functional stress (stress for creative work,
activities, olympic competitions, etc) and dysfunctional stress (stress of boredom,
entrepreneuria
unmanageable conflicts, overwork, etc). The former has been called eustress and the
latter distress.
As already stated, role can be defined as a set of functions, which an individual
performs in response to the expectations of the significant members of a soCial
system, and his own expectations about the position that he ocupies in it.(The
concept of role, and the two rol systems (role space and role set) have a built-in
potential for conflict and stress.

Role Space Conflicts

As mentioned earlier, role space is the dynamic relationship between the various
roles an individual occupies and his self. It has three main variables: self, the role
under question, and the other roles he occupies. Any conflict among these are referred
to as role space conflict or stress. These contlicts may take several torms.

1. Self-Role distance This stress arises out of the contlict between the sell-concept
and the expectations from the role, as percelved by the role occupant. If a person
occupies a role that he may subsequently find to be conflicting with the self-concept
he feels stressed. For example, an introvert, who is tond of studying and writing, may
the role of a salesman and comes to realise
develop a self-role distance if he accepts
that the expectations from the role include meeting people and being social. Such
conflicts are fairly common, although they may not be so severe.

2. Intra-role conflict Since an individual learns to develop expectations as a result

of his socialising and identification with signiticant others, it is quite likely that he

293
Training lInstruments for Human Resource Development
sees a certain incompatibility between the
role. For example, a professor different expectations (functions)
of his
may see Incompatibility between the
teaching students and of doing research. These my not be inherently expectations of
the individual may conflicting, but
percelve these as incompatible.
3. Role stagnation As an individual grows older, he also grows in the role that
he
occupies in an With the individual's advancement, the role
organisation.
and with his change in role, the need for changes
taking on a new role becomes crucial. This
problem of role growth becomes acute especially when an individual who has
a role for a
long time enters another role in which he feels less secure. The occupied
new role
demands that an individual
outgrow the previous one and take charge of the new
role effectively. This is bound to
produce some stress. In organisations that are fast
expanding, and which do not have any systematic strategy of human resource
development, managers are likely to experience this stress of role stagnation when
they are promoted.

4. Inter-role distance When an individual

occupies more than one role there are
bound to be conílicts between them. For
example, a lady executive often faces a
conflict between her organisational role as an executive and her
familial role as a
wife and mother. The demands on her time
by husband and children may be
incompatible with organisational demands. Such inter-role conflicts are quite frequent
in a modern
society, where an individual in increasingly occupying multiple roles in
various organisations and groups.

Role Set Conflicts

The role set consists of
important
persons who have varying expectations from the
role that an individual
occupies.The conflicts which arise as a result of
incompatibility
among these expectations by th significant others (and the individual himsell) are
by
referred to as role set contlicts/These conflicts take the forms
mentioned below.
1. Role ambiguity When an individual is not clear about the various
that people have from his role he faces expectations
role ambiguity. Role ambiguity may be
to lack of information available to a
role occupant, or his lack of due
cues available to him. Role understanding ot the
ambiguity be in
may relation to activities, responsibilities,
priorities, norms or general expectations. Generally, role ambiguity is
persons experienced by
occupyin8 roles that are
newly created in organisations, roles that are
undergoing change, or process roles (with less clear and less concrete activities).
2.
Role expectation conflict
When there are
conflicting expectations or demands by
different role senders
(persons having expectations from the role), the role
experiences this type of stress. The conflicting occupant
subordinates, peers or clients. expectations may be from the boss,

294
3. Role overload
Relevant Conceptual Framework of Role
When a role
rom the occupant feels that
there are too many ns
has been
signiticant others in his role set, he expectato
experiences role overload. Role overioad
measured
finish work
by asking questions about
people's feelings on whether they ca
given to them
during a modified
work day and whether
work they
do
might
interfere with how well it is done. the amoun o
Most executive role
experience role overload. Role overload is more
likely to occur where role
occupants
lack power, where there are
large variations in the expected output, and when occupans
or assistance cannot
procure more time. delegatto
4. erosion
Role A role
occupant may
feel that the functions he would like to
perform
are being done by other role. Role erosion is the individual's
some
that some
mportant expectations that he has from a role are shared by other subjective ieeling
within the role set. Role erosion is
likely to be experienced in an
roles
is redefining its role and
creating
roles. Studies indicate that in several such
new
organisation that
organisations the stress of role erosion was inevitably felt. In one organisation, a
particular role was abolished and in its place two were created to cater to
and planning needs. This led to executive
great erosion, and a feeling that the new roles were
less important than the previous role.
5. Resource inadequacy Resources inadequacy stress is experlenced when the
resources required by a role occupant for perlorming his role eftectively are not
available. Resources may include information, people, material, finance or facilities.

6. Personal inadequacy When a role occupant feels that he does not have enough
knowledge, skills
or to
training a role
undertake or
that he has not had
elfectively.
time to prepare for the assigned role he may experience stress. Persons who are
assigned new roles without adequate preparation or orientation are likely to experlence
feelings of personal inadequacy.

7. Role isolation In a role set, the role occupant may feel that certain roles are
psychologically closer to him, while others are at a much greater distance. The main
criterion of distance is the frequency and ease of interaction. When linkages are
strong, the role isolation will be low and vice versa. Role isolation can therefore be
measured in terms of existing and the desired linkages. The gap between them indicate
the amount of role isolation. To sum up, in relation to organisational roles, the
following ten stresses are worth considering:
distance (SRD)
1.2. Sell-role
Inter-role distance (IRD)
Role stagnation (RS)
4. Role isolation (RI)D
5. Role ambiguity (RA)
6. Role expectation conflict (REC)

295
 Training Instruments for Human Resource Development

7. Role overload (RO)

8. Role erosion (RE)
9 Resource Inadequacy (Rin)
10. Personal Inadequacy (Pln)

3. cOPING WITH ROLE STRESs

When Individuals experlence stress, they try to adopt ways of dealing or coping, with
t as they cannot remain In a continual state of tensloD. The word coping has been
used malnly with two meanlngs-ways ol dealing with stress, and the eftort to master
harmful conditlons, threat or challenge. We wll use the term coplng in the lirst sense
(ways of deallng with stress), and distingulsh between effective and ineffective coping
Generally, effective coplng strategles are approach strategles, whlch confront the
problem of stress as a challenge, and Increase the capablity of deallng with it. Ineffective
strategles are escape or avoldance strategles, whlch reduce the feelings of stress by.
lor example, denylng the reality ol stress, or through the use of alcohol, drugs or
other alds
to escaplsm.
Research has shown that soclal and emotional support helps a person to effectively
cope with stress. Persons maintalning close Interpersonal relatlonshlps with triends
and famlly are able to use more approach strategles. Soclal support includes material
support (providing resources) and emotlonal support (llstening to the person and
encouraging him). However, studles have also shown that unsolicited support may
have negative consequencecs.
Approach or elfective strategles of coplng include eflorts to Increase physlcal and
mental readiness to cope
(through physlcal exercises, yoga and meditatlon, diet
management), creatlve diversions lor emotlonal enrlchment (musle, art, theatre, etc).
strategles of dealing with the basle problems causlng stress, and collaborative work
to solve such problems.
It ls uscful for both Indivlduals and
are using to cope with stress.
organlsatlons to examlne the strategy that they
The absence ol a coplng
inelfectiveness. Coplng ls also related to thie quality and Intensity strategy may lead to
of emotlonal reactions.
There Is impressive anecdotal and
research evldence
constantly sell-regulating our emotlonal reactlons by,polnting
are
to the lact that we
lor Instance, escaping or
postponing unpleasant situatlons, actively changlng
ourselves about the Implicatlons of certaln lacts threatening conditlons, decelving
Irom unpleasant situatlons. The
or
slmply learnlng to detach ourselves
emphasls
actively nppralsing the situatlon and what he can
should be on the ndivldual (le the
sell
do, rather than on environmental
rontigeeles presunably manipulating an Indivicdual's behavlour. The
coping seens to require sone phyalcal elforts. The macho model, In whlch style or strategy
oping by an Indlvidual Is emphaslsed, may lead to aggressive
serlous health
Cuplng stylen or strategles can elther be seen as a problems.
applicable to most
situallons), general tralt (a dlspositton
or a
disposltlon appllcable to specille stress situations.
 39
Role Stress: Organisational
Role Stress Scale

THE INSTRUMENT AND ITS ADMINISTRATION

role stress scale is used to m e a s u r e ten role stresses. i.e.

The organisational (ORS)
self-role distance, inter-role distance, role stagnation, role isolation, role ambiguity,
role expectation conflict, role overload, role erosion, resource inadequacy and personal
five items for each role stress
inadequacy. ORS is a 5-point scale (0 to 4), containing
on each role stress range from
and a total of fifty staternents. Thus the total scores
0 to 20. Responses are to be given on an answer sheet (appended).

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

3 for the conceptual framework.

See Chapter 32 Section

SCORING
The answer sheet is also used for scoring. The total scores on each role stress range
the ratings given a r e totalled
Irom 0 to get the total scores for each role stress,
20. To
rate the following
horizontally (lor five items). The ten rows, respectively,

Row Stress
1. Inter-role distance (IRD)
2. Role stagnation (RS)
3. Role expectation conflict (REC)

337
 Training Instruments for Human Resource
Development
4. Role erosion (RE)
5. Role overload
6.
(RO)
Role isolation (RI)
7. Personal inadequacy (PI)
8. Self-role distance (SRD)
9 Role ambiguity (RA)
10. Resource inadequacy (RIn)

RELLABILITY
Retest reliability coefficients were
calculated for a group of about 500
from three banks (Sen,
1981). Exhibit 39.1 gives retest reliability (after employees
for all the
eight stresses, as well as for the total role stress score. eight weeks)
all the As may be seen,
coetficients, except one, are
significant at .001 level;
at .003 level. The scale has one coefficient is significant
acceptable reliability.

Exhibit 39.1
Retest Reliability of Role Stress Variables

Variables Coefficient Level of Significance

1. Self-role distance
2. Inter-role distance 001
8
3. Role stagnation .001
b3
4. Role ambiguity 001
65 .001
5. Role overload
53 001
6. Role erosion .37 003
7. Role inadequacy
.58 .001
8. Total role stress
.73 001

VALIDITY: ITEM ANALYSIS

Some evidence about validity is provided by a measure of self-consistency in an
instrument. Each item correlated with the total score on the instrument for
was
about 500 respondents. All but two
correlations were significant at .001 level; one
was significant at .002 and another
at.008 levels. The results show high internal
consistency of the scale. The distrjbution of the values of coefficients of correlation
are given in Exhibit 39.2. As can be
seen from the exhibit,
only values of three items
are below .36 (items 9, 15 and In
25). the entire scale only two items (9 and 25) were
in the positive direction, and item 15 had a
positive tone. In the final scale these
items were modified.

338
 Role Stress Scale
Stress: Organisational
Kole

Exhibit 39.2
Frequencies of Item-Total Score Correlation
Values for ORS Scale

Values of Correlation Frequency

Less than .15
16 .20
.36- 40 2
- 45 T9
-

.51 55 10
56 60

was
The lowest mean value
Mean and SD values of the items were also analysed. the total
the highest 3.66. Incidentally, the items having low correlation with
1.42 and mean of the
item 15 (3.6), and item 25 (2.9). The
have high mean values: item 9 (2.4),
5-point scale.
scores was found to be 2.1 on
a
total

VALIDITY: FACTOR ANALYSIS

of the instrument can be tested by analysis of the instrument.

factor
Construct validity
1981) were íactor analysed.
The responses of about 500 respondents (Sen, instrument. These
Exhibit 39.3 gives loadings of
ten factors on forty items of the
factors explain almost the entire variance.

Exhibit 39.3
Factor Loadings of Roles Stress

Factors
tem Variables
No. 10
4

085 3 8 8 - 096 012

167 046 149 153
SRD 165 051
065 002 038 167 131 055 076
IRD 619 310 O05
2. - 062 096 067 372 286 161
076 451-05 088
3. RD 157 366 269- 160 155
154 228 034
4. RA 144 184 076 024 033 320
335- 098 076 076 335
5. RO 181 458 146 150 055 299
105 001 122 339
6. RI
(Contd.)

339
 Training Instruments for Human Resource
Development
Exhibit 39.3 (Contd.)

S Variables
Factors
2 3 4 7
. RE
8.
103 477 038 244 114 253 - 011
RIn 127
126 228 048 099 309 038 325
9. SRD 044 296
031 034 041 026 O18
IRD 125 125 4 15 016
O05 124 110 -025 056
RS
407 126
121- 038 D07 028
226 103 033 158 058 029
RA 186
097 724 127 065 100 005 171
13. RO U2 101
255 158 007 181 143 112
14. 146 J60 140
254 167 093-047 3116
15. RE 025
040 259 86 193
248 105
16. RIn - 049-241 148 059 256 142
121 099 103 033 061 449
SRD 179 049
248 072
18. 064 -032 126 503
IRD 085 172 - 058 208 120
9. 135 208 027 035 071 027
309 057 114 059 029 249
20. RA 204 156 075
048 618 058 18 170 136
1. RO 54 075 039 012
148 016 281 O13
RI 35 241 198 139 020
434 043 002
23. RE 0
441-031 038 089 078
262 265 118
24. RIn 54 117
203
064
098 080 083-051
25.
049 083 497 149
SRD 8 43 O06
007 107
C07 047 027
Z6. IRD 6 060 139-047 410 053
128 187
27. 151 220 129
RS 5 536 081 003
020 131
28.
091 195 152
RA 159 D61 098 109 233 459
042- 130
29. RO 155
046 034-044
168 032 242 226
30. 383 I01 155
RI 71 128 007
098 002 505 033
31.
346 071
093 - 031-018
420 202 230 091
32. RIn 080 089 108
32 102 070 310 369 008
33. SRD 237 104 145
19T -

138 026
-

237 013 611

34. IRD 010 099 061 29 071 -013
-060-107
5. 045
551- 020 086 033 182 015 082- 0b6
s6. CA 105 192 015 -046
366 031 267 134
RO 168 046 - 005
020
114 166 097 667 129
8. R 18 039 O08 024
l17 083 102 196 196 518 162 280 009-095
9. RE 090 026 211 087
0. Rin 455 224 358 014 018
089 192 043 124 070 288 045 093 083
Eigen Value 8.186 2.168 1.190 1.049 0.824 0.734 0.642 0.469 0.442 0.394
% of variance 50.8 13.5 7.4 6.5 5.1 4.6 4.0
Cumulativve 2.9 2.7 2.4
50.8 64.3 71.7
percentage 78.2 83.3 87.9 91.9 94.8 97.5 99.9
Decimal points have been eliminated

340
 Organisational
Role Stress Scale
Oe Stress:

39.4 gives the summary of these loadings, mentioning the

frequeney o
Exhibit
loadings ol 7+, 6*, 5+, 4+, 3+ and 2+.

Exhibit 39.4
Stress
Summary of Loadings of Factors of Role

% ol variance
Frequency of Loadings
Factors
5
2
13.5

5
()
7

2
(-2)

3+ only on o n e item,
be seen from Exhibit 39.4 that factor 10 has a loading of
It may thesee
total variance. In view of
2+ another item. It contributes 2% to the
and of on
of 3 on one self-
be dropped, Factor 9 has loading
considerations, this factor can item. We
of 3 o n another self-role distance
distance item. It has a negative loading which have at least
this factor. We have taken only those factors
may also ignore factors. Exhibit 39.5 gives the summary
of 3. Thus we are left with eight
three loadings dimensions included
of three of the eight factors on different role stress
of loadings
About Your Role.
in the instrument Your Feelings item each
o n four items of
inter-role distance and one
Factor 1 has high loadings between the
role inadequacy. Three IRD items relate to conflict
of role overload and contributes to
role. Role overload, in a way, also
organisational role and the family I feel should
32) relates to doing "all the things
Such a conflict. Role inadequacy (item distance. This factor has
done. In a way, this item
also relates to inter-role
be time with
item 10 ("My role does not allow me to have enough
loading of about 8 on distance (F) factor. F stands for family.
my family"). We may call this an inter-role role and
This factor has the dominant theme
of conflict between the organisational
conflict
(F) and IRD S)-one concerned with
family role. IRD can be of two type: IRD
with family roles, and the other with social roles.
each of
role stagnation items, and
on one
Factor 2 has high loadings on all five

341
 Training Instruments for Human Resource Development

Exhibit 39.5
Summary of Loading of 3+ on Eight Factors on Role Stress Dimensions

Role Stress Dimenslons

Factors Inter Role Role Role Role Role Role Selt-Role
Role Stag- Ambi Erosion Overload Isolation Inade-
Distance nation
Distance
quity quacy

interrole distance,
role erosion, role isolation, and role inadequacy. On role
isolation
item, which it has a 4+ loading, relates to consultation with other
on
roles; one role
erosion item (31) relates to the desire to have more functions in one's own
role
indirectly referring to role stagnation); one role inadequacy item (40) on which the
factorhas 5+ loading refers to lack of skills in handling responsibility (reílecting role
stagnation). Since most of these items refer to stagnation, we may call this a role
stagnation factor, interpreting stagnation as lack of growth of the individual, and lack
of growth of the role. This factor contributes I3.5% to the total variance of role
stress.
Factor 3 (explaining about 7%
variance) has high loadings on only threerole ambiguity
items: number 12, on conflicting demands of various
people (loading of 7+); number
20, relating to conflicting demands of peers/subordinates (loading of
36, relating to demands of clients and others having
6+); and number
expectations (loading of 3.). lts
loadings of other role ambiguity items relating to clarity of res ponsibilities (4), and
clarity about what people expect (28) are very low (-0 or + 1). Therefore, this factor
can be called the role
ambiguity (CE). CE stands for conflict of expectations. Role
ambiguity may consist of two elements: lack of
clarity and conflict of expectation
Role Ambiguity (LC), and Conflict
Expectations (CE).
Factor 4 has high loadings two role erosion iterns with
on
7, relating to reduction of importance of the role; and number
loadings of 4+: number
functions being assigned to other roles. It has a
31, relating to important
15
slightly negative loading (of 1)
on
item relating to taking on more
responsibility. On other role erosion items it has
loadings of 2+. It has a high loading on item 6 (role isolation), "Other role occupants
do not give enough attention and time to
my role". This item also reflects the lower

342
 Role Stress Scale
Role Stres5: Organisational
In which taking
called role erosion,
of the role. This factor can be
importance given by
is not significant, but the general
feeling of the importance
responsibility
role the central theme.
is to
others to the
role overload items:
number 37, relating the
5 has high loadings on two
Factor role (loading of 6.),
and number 5, stating workload
some parts theone role inadequacy item ("I do not have sufficient
of
need to reduce of and
Deing high (loadingto do3.), all the things I feel should
be done"). The
role inadequacyy
time or
ources
resrellects resources. On other role
a feeling of role
overload with the existing
tactor
can call this
temalso items it has 2+ items) and 1+ (on one item). We
overload (on two

role overload. three role inadequacy

Factor has high loadings all five role isolation items,
on
to joint
6 item. It has a loading
of 5+ on items related
items and one role erosion
collaboration and help (item 38);
a
loading
solving (item 30) and response for
problem
on items related to
attention from other role occupants
(item 6) and mutual
of
4 related to interaction with other
of 3+on an item
consultation (item 22); and a loading
items related to getting
of 4+ on role inadequacy
roles (item 14). It also has loading
However, there are two other
needed information. This
item also denotes isolation.
one related to authority given
which it has loadings of 3+,
role inadequacy items on
available (item T'he main theme in
32).
the other to time and resources
(item and
8), a role isolation
tactor.
this factor is lack of with other roles; we can call it
linkages
about 50% of the total variance.
This factor contributes
has high loadings on two role ambiguity
Factor 7 (accounting for 4% variance)
has loading of 4+ ona
overload and role inadequacy.
items, and one each of role a role ambiguity
to lack of adequate knowledge, and
role inadequacy item (16) related
the people I work with expect of me"). The emphasis
item (28: "I do not know what
one's own inadequacy, "l do not know. Similarly,
in the latter item seems to be on
item (number 4 "I am not clear... ),
and a
it has loadings of 3+ on a role ambiguity these
expect too much "). Both
role overload item (number 29: "Too many people
We may, therefore, call this factor
items show helplessness and personal inadequacy.
There may be two types of role inadequacy:
role inadequacy (P), P standing for personal. and
internal r e s o u r c e s to meet the role demands);
personal inadequacy (lack of to
resource inadequacy-role inadequacy
(R)-related to lack of external resources
accounts for about 3% variance of role
stress.
meet role demands. This factor
distance items, and one each on role
Factor 8 has high loadings on three self-role
items. It has a loading of 6+ on SRD itemm
stagnation, role erosion and role inadequacy
33 (value-role conílict), loading of 5+ on SRD item 17 (interest-responsibility conflict)
and loading of 3+ on SRD iteml (value-role performance conflict). All these are self
role distance items. The other items on which it has loadings of 3+ are: role stagnation
item 3 (not learning in the role), role inadequacy item 8 (not having enough
Out of
responsibility) and role erosion item 39 (attention being given to other roles).
these,item 3 reflects conflict between self-image (of learning) and the role contents.
We may thus call this a self-role distance factor. This factor explains about 3% variance.

343
 Training Instruments for Human Resource Development

We thus got the following lactors for ORS Scale:

Factor 1 Inter-role distance (RD) 51% variance

Factor 2 Role stagnation (RS) 14% varlance
Factor 3 Role expectation conflict (REC) 7% varlance
Factor 4 Role eroslon (RE) 7% variance
Factor 5 Role overload (ROO) 5% variance
Factor 6 Role isolation (RI) 5% variance
Factor Role inadequacy (Person) (R In P) 4% variance
Factor 8 Self-role distance (SRD) 3% variance

Factoranalysis of the responses of 380 executives from three organisations, one each
in thepublic, private and joint sector, gave similar evidence of the validity of the
scale, although role underload was also
suggested as a factor (Srinivasan and
Anantharaman 1988). More recently, Srivastav (1995) got similar results from factor
analysis of data on ORS of about 400 executives in a public sector
company.

NORMS

Based on median and quartile deviation, the following

1986) for managers:
norms
are suggested (Khanna

Stress Median Low High

SRD 9
IRD 2 8
RS
RI 5 9
RA
REC 4
RO
RE
39
12
RIn 8
PI 8

cORRELATES
Srivastava (1991) found a signiflcant positive correlation of various dimensions of
role stress with the symptoms of mental ill health. Stress arising from role
ambiguity
and role stagnation most intensively correlated with somatic concomitants of
anxiety.
In a sample of 120 engineering executives, Rajagopalan and Khandelwal
(1988)
344
 Role Stress
Scale
Role Stress: Organisational

avoidance and a negative

correlation (,28) with
found total role stress had a positive at
.001 level.
both being significant
with approach coping styles, IRD, RI
correlation (-,29) correlated with each other;
correlations in c a s e of
REC, RE and SRD were not Pl and Rin) these
were

at .05 level, and in others (RS, RO,

and RA were signigicant
significant at .01 level.

USE FOR HRD

different role stresses experienced
instrument gives data about the number of
has high
This A detailed analysis of s t r e s s e s on which a respondent
by a respondent. out to manage and
reduce these.
s c o r e s c a n be done and
some
plans c a n be worked

345
 Training Instruments for Human Resource
Development

ORS SCALE
Please do not write anything on these pages. Responses should be given on the
answer sheet provided.

1.
2.
My role tends to interfere with
my family life.
am afraid I am not learning
enough in my present role lor
taking up higher
responsibility.
3. am not able to
satisBy the conflicting demands of various people above
My role has recently been reduced In importance. me.

5. My workload is too heavy.

. Other role occupants do not
give enough attention and time to my role.
7. do not have adequate knowledge to handle the
8.have to do things, in
my role, that are against my better judgement.
responsibilities
in my role.

9 . a m not clear on the

scope and responsibilities of my role job).
10. I do not the
get information needed to out carry responsibilities assigned
me. to
11. T have various other interests
(social, religious, etc) which renain neglected
becauseI do not get time to attend to
these.
12. am too
preoccupied with my present role responsibility to be able to
for taking up prepare
higher responsibilities.
13. I am not able to
satisfy the conflicting demands of my peers and juniors.
14. Many functions that should be a part of my role have been assigned t0 some
other role.
15. The amount of work I have to do
interferes with the quality I want to
6. There is not enough interaction maintain.
between my role and other roles.
7. wish I had more skills to handle the
18. I am not able to use responsibilities
of my role.
my training and expertise in my role.
19. I do not know what the
20.
peopleI work with expect of me.
do not get enough resource to be
21 My role does not allow me enough time effective in my role.
for my family.
22. Tdo not have time and
of my role.
opportunities to prepare myself for the future challenges
23. I am not able to
satisfy the demands of clients and others, since these are
conflicting with one another.
24. I would like to take on more
25 I have been given too much
responsibility thanI am
handling at present.
26. wish there was more consultation
responsibility.
between my role and other roles.
7. I have not had the
right training for my role.
28. The work I do in the
organisation
is not
related to my interests.
29. Several aspects of my roleare vague and unclear.
30. I do not have enough
people to work with me in my role.

346
 Role Stress Scale
Organisational
Role Stress:
roles.
organisational
interfere with my extra
organisational
responsibilities
3. My growth in my role.
little scope for personal my juniors.
32. There is very of my seniors
contlict with
those of

35. he expectations
do much more
than whatI have
been assigned.
can role.
34. need to reduce
some parts of my involved in joint
There is a mine) being
35. several roles (including
is no evidence of action.
36.
There collaboration for planning
or
problem solving myself well for my role.be doing s o m e things differently
37. T wish I had prepared would
define my role, I
full freedom to
38.
1I had
from the way I do them now.
in detall.
defined clearly and role.
role has not been facilities needed in my
39. My that I lack the necessary the
them due to
I am rather worried timé with
40.
that I do not spend
friends complain
41. My family and role.
demands of my work
heavy
role. have from
42. 1 feel stagnant in my expectations
different people
the contradictory
43. 1 am bothered with
nyr o l e . more challenging
tasks to do.
44. I wish I had been given
in my role. is not muchn
45. I feel o v e r b u r d e n e d d i s c u s s i o n s o r help,
there
the initiative for
46. Even when I take
the other roles. work role.
response trom
and preparation to be effective in my
role.
need m o r e training have to do in my
values and whatI
a
between
conflict my
48. I experience
are in my role.
49. I am not clear what the priorities to me.
resources for the work assigned
50. I wish I had m o r e financial

347
 ORS SCALE

Answer Sheet

Name: Role:

Organisation: Date
Read instructions carefully before responding on this sheet.
People have different feelings about thelr roles. Statements describing some of
them are given below. Use the answer sheet to write your responses. Read each
statement and indicate, in the space against the corresponding number in the answer
sheet, how often you have the feeling expressed in the statement in relation to your
role in the organisation. Use the numbers given below to indicate your own feelings.
If you find that the category to be used in answering does not adequately indicate
your own feelings, use the one which is closest to the way you feel. Do not leave any
item unanswered. Answer the items in the order given below.
Write 0 if you never or rarely feel this way.
Write if you occasionally (a few times) feel this way.
Write 2 if you sometimes feel this way.
Write 3 if you frequently feel this way.
Write 4 if you very frequently or always feel this way.

21 31 41 1
2 12 22 32 42 ** 2
13 23 33 43 3
14 24 34 44 4
15 25 35 45 5
16 26 36 46 6
17 27 37 47
18 28 38 48
9 19 29 E 39 49
10 20 30 40 50 10