Role Efficacy

Role efficacy

It is important to understand that the performance of people working in a programme or in an

organization, depends on their technical competence, managerial skills, and their potential

effectiveness in the roles they perform. It is the merging of the two (the person and the role) that

ensures the individual’s effectiveness in an organization.

Role efficacy means the potential effectiveness of an individual occupying a particular

position in an organization.

People with high role efficacy seem to experience less role stress and work-related tension.

They rely on their own strengths to cope with problems, use more focused behaviour, interact

with people and the environment, persist in solving problems (mostly by themselves), and show

commitment to their work.

A participatory environment provides staff higher satisfaction and contributes to role efficacy.

An environment characterized by control seems to lower role efficacy.

The Ten Aspects of Role Efficacy

Role efficacy has ten aspects. These aspects can be classified into three groups or dimensions,

namely, role making, role centering and role linking.

“Role making” is an active attitude towards the role, i.e. defining and making the role one

likes to take on.

“Role centering” is concerned with increasing the power of the role, making it more

important.

“Role linking” is concerned with extending the relationship of the role with other roles and

groups. The three dimensions have been further sub-divided into the ten aspects of role efficacy

as shown in Figure 1.

3.1 Role making

Self-role integration

All people have strengths, experience, technical expertise, special skills, and some unique

contributions to make. The roles that people play should provide an opportunity to utilize these

skills and strengths to ensure a high level of role efficacy. When their role provides them with

greater opportunity for using their special strengths, their role efficacy is likely to be higher....