Occupational Roles, Organisational Identity and Autonomy

Abstract

An occupational role is a role ‘in which the incumbents perform certain functions valued in the society in general, and by these activities typically earn a living at a full-time job’.¹ Thus, it is that set of rules, norms and expectations which apply to a person’s behaviour while he is carrying out his job. A knowledge of the content of his occupational role is one of the most important sets of knowledge that the individual in the industrial subculture must acquire. In talking about occupational roles in the context of industrial organisations, the shorter term ‘job-role’ will usually be used.