Position, Successful System, and Intelligence
Alongside the concept of role, terms such as position, rank, and qualification are also used. These help to better describe human activities.
Qualification and rank are characteristics of the executor/performer of a role. Qualification indicates a person’s level of mastery in performing a particular role. This assessment is given by an organization, community, or the state. A rank is assigned by competent authorities and reflects a person’s standing within a specific hierarchy established by those authorities. For example, this applies in science, the military, computer games, and so on. At Aisystant, there is also a qualification system[1] and 8 qualification levels.
A position determines the possibility and obligation to play certain roles, as well as the authorities to manage resources (money, performers’ time). For example, job descriptions specify duties, which can be understood as obligations to play certain roles and the possibility to play others. HR documents and position-specific documents also define which financial, material, and human resources a person in a given position may manage. A person is appointed to a position and signs the relevant documents regarding their rights and responsibilities. For example, someone may be appointed to the position of enterprise manager.
A layperson would say that after being appointed to a position, a person is required to follow the job instructions. From a systems thinking perspective, it can be said that in a position, a person has the opportunity and obligation to play the corresponding roles and manage certain resources.
An enterprise manager is a position that requires a person, at a minimum, to play the roles of manager and leader. This person is responsible for the enterprise’s resources and has the opportunity to play any role within the enterprise. And who could forbid them?[2]
Thus, an enterprise employee can be viewed from several perspectives:
- functional perspective — role, actions according to the role, methods;
- organizational perspective — position, subordination and leadership, resource management, organizing and carrying out work.
A person-agent in a position[3] with certain resources (financial, technological, etc.) is the minimal organizational unit. Organizational units also include divisions: departments, directorates, and companies within a holding.
When organizations are designed, organizational places are identified: positions and slots in the staffing table (in organigrams), vacancies, and so on. In this way, one can see the structure of subordination among organizational places. When a person-agent occupies an organizational place, an organizational unit appears. An organization is an organized group of people who understand their authorities, subordination, roles, and responsibility for resources.
Some managers take advantage of this opportunity and centralize all decision-making. As a result, they play all the roles themselves, while employees only prepare documents but do not make decisions within their professional roles and do not “put their own skin in the game.” Imagine a surgeon who, during an operation, goes to the chief physician to get approval for where to make an incision. ↩︎
And, accordingly, having the right and/or obligation to perform certain roles. ↩︎