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Role ambiguity. Questions. Module 6. Science: turning your hobby into profession. Grammar revision. Inversion. 1. Choose the correct option.
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Role ambiguity
Role ambiguity results when there is some uncertainty in the minds, either of the focal person or of the members of his role set, as to precisely what his role is at any given time. One of the crucial expectations that shape the role definition is that of the individual, the focal person himself. If his occupation of the role is unclear, or if it differs from that of the others in the role set, there will be a degree of role ambiguity. Is this bad? Not necessarily, for the ability to shape one’s own role is one of the freedoms that many people desire, but the ambiguity may lead to role stress which will be discussed later on. The virtue of job descriptions is that they lessen this role ambiguity.
Unfortunately, job descriptions are seldom complete role definitions, except at the lower end of the scale. At middle and higher management levels, they are often a list of formal jobs and duties that say little about the more subtle and informal expectations of the role. The result is, therefore, to give the individual an uncomfortable feeling that there are things left unsaid, i. e. to heighten the sense of role ambiguity.
Looking at role ambiguity from the other side, from the point of view of the members of the role set, lack of clarity in the role of the focal person can cause insecurity, lack of confidence, irritation and even anger among members of his role set. One list of the roles of a manager identified the following: executive, planner, policy maker, expert, controller of rewards and punishments, counselor, friend, teacher. If it is not clear, through role signs of one sort or another, which role is currently the operational one, the other party may not react in the appropriate way — we may, in fact, hear quite another message if the focal person speaks to us, for example, as a teacher and we hear her as an executive.
Questions
1. What is the source of the text?
a. A guide for new managers in a company.
b. A textbook analysis of behavior in organizations.
c. A critical study of the importance of role signs in modern society.
2. What is an individual’s role in any situation?
a. A uniform of some focal group.
b. Some likelihood.
c. A combination of the role expectations that the members of the role set have of the focal role.
3. In social circumstances, dress has not been used as …
a. a role sign to indicate the degree of any gathering formality.
b. the social status of people present.
c. means to heighten the sense of role ambiguity.
4. What is the main reason for using a change of location?
a. To indicate a change in role.
b. To clarify the role of the focal person.
c. To indicate roles with excessive signs.
5. Role ambiguity can be eliminated by...
a. job descriptions.
b. the ability to shape one’s own role.
c. certain situations.
Module 6
SCIENCE: TURNING YOUR HOBBY INTO PROFESSION
Academic Word List: abandon, accompany, accumulate, ambiguous, append, appreciate, arbitrary, automate, bias, chart, clarify, commodity, complement, conform, contemporary, contradict, crucial, currency, denote, detect, deviate, displace, drama, eventual, exhibit, exploit, fluctuate, guideline, highlight, implicit, induce, inevitable, infrastructure, inspect, intense, manipulate, minimize, nuclear, offset, practitioner, predominant, prospect, radical, random, reinforce, restore, revise, schedule, tense, terminate, thereby, uniform, via, virtual, visual, widespread.
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GRAMMAR REVISION
Inversion
1. Choose the correct option.
1. Rarely do you get / you have the chance to see an active volcano from its rim. 2. They not only took / did take our passports but they also stole our shoes. 3. The children were taught how to catch fish and so did / was their grandmother. 4. So heavily the rain fell / did the rain fall that the water level in the river rose quickly. 5. Not only the visitors but also their guides felt / did they feel nervous in some parts of the jungle. 6. Little they realized / did they realise how dangerous the soldier ants were. 7. I didn’t know much about Asian history and so / neither did my fellow travellers. 8. Never again would he / he would see such an amazing sunset. 9. Neither during this stay nor during the last one did the hotel owner give / the hotel owner gave me a discount. 10. Neither Anya nor Lora offered / did they offer to show me around.
Inversion of Subject and Object: Adverbs
2. Rewrite these sentences putting the word in italics as the first word in the sentence.
Example: It was only when we saw the results that we understood the full meaning of our experiments. = Only when we saw the results did we understand the full meaning of our experiments.
1. You can only proceed with the tests when all the samples have been cleaned. 2. We had never seen such a powerful reaction before. 3. People become overweight not by overeating but through lack of exercise. 4. This can be achieved only when x = 1. 5. Such data have seldom been reported in the literature. 6. I have rarely seen a paper of such high quality. 7. The paper not only fails to report some important references, but it also… 8. It is only when you see it that you realize how big it is.
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