MANUAL TEAMWORK, LEADERSHIP AND NEGOTIATION

TEAMWORK, LEADERSHIP AND NEGOTIATION

We will understand how each of us assume and elaborate our role.

5.1.1. What is a role

Let each of us define what we understand by role and list the different types of roles we may be assigned: student, child, parent, friend, teacher, leader, group leader, etc. Let us reflect on how each of us can assume one type of role or another depending on a given situation or context, on a particular scenario. The role establishes who must do what, when and where. This concept implies, then:

• An obligation (a doctor must treat a patient). • An expectation (the patient expects the doctor to examine him/her).

The role allows us to classify people, facilitates our perception of the social environment and simplifies it for us.

I go to a job interview. I identify the girl dressed as a biker as a messenger and the person sitting behind a counter as the clerk who can tell me where to wait.

This categorisation is always subjective since there is always some information about the other person that escapes us; we categorise according to certain characteristics (way of dressing, expressing oneself, etc.).

Role and identity

The role guides our performance. When we take on a role, we must clarify what we are and what is expected of us; this is what determines our identity. When we have problems in this process, role conflicts arise.

If as a group coordinator I spend most of my time on the phone, this will have an impact on my role. I will have to ask myself whether there is a problem with my role

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