ROLE THEORY CLASSIFICATION FOR THE WORKER'S JUDGMENT.

Abstract

The worker's judgement of his situation is worth study because it is an effective cause of his action at work. Lists of what people like and dislike about work have little theoretical unity. Role theory seems appropriate for the analysis of work situations; however, terms of this theory are not clear and precise enough. A mathematical model of role theory from Oeser and Harary (1962) does offer a set of clear basic terms. They suggest that tasks (activities) positions (organizational networks) and persons are suitable elements for an analysis of the work situation. In this paper a classification scheme is presented, based on these elements as referents for common experience at work. The construction of the classification scheme shows that the stark structure of a mathematical model for structural theory can be connected with the important specific realities of work. The next problem is to see if the categories of the classification scheme can be used as variables in a theory of the dynamics of work motivation. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1967
Accession Number
AD0654910

Entities

People

  • Richard C. S. Trahair

Organizations

  • University of Missouri

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Cognition
  • Construction
  • Dynamics
  • Judgment
  • Mathematical Models
  • Mental Processes
  • Models
  • Motivation
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes

Readers

  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Theoretical Analysis.