Role Orientation and Role Performance of Indian Managers

The paper explores the tend and differential movement of the managers from the processes of social identity to the emergence of work identity in Indian organizations. The focus of the Social Identity is maintenance of relationship matrix while the focus of Work Identity is the tasks and goals of the organization. The convergence toward the rubric of social identity or work identity is determined by four role coordinates and their role orientations viz., (A) Responsibility, (B) Authority, (C) Equality and (D) Identity – as expressed through five role acts viz., (1) Decision Making (2) Exercise of Authority (3) Communication (4) Evaluation and (5) Reward and Punishment. The existence of four role coordinates and five role acts can be constituted in a matrix of role coordinates and role acts, and which give rise to patterns of managerial behaviour and interaction in Indian organizations. The questionnaire was developed and data was collected from 3 organizations namely (1) an organization with foreign equity holdings (2) a family owned and managed organization and (3) a public sector organization. In the findings suggested that the managers are caught between the two conflicting demands on social and work identity. Their managerial role is very largely determined by the processes of social identity and work identity. Thus complex processes of social and work identity sometime co-exist, sometime cohere and sometime conflict in their managerial role.