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Working in the voluntary sector
Working in the voluntary sector

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2 Influences on role

Now that you have identified some different roles, you can move on to thinking about what influences those roles and the expectations people have of their roles. You will explore these influences through thinking about roles in organisations. If you currently work or volunteer (or are hoping to do so), then this section will help you to understand how people work within organisations and how they (and you) work with others such as colleagues, managers and trustees.

The roles that people play in organisations can be complex because they are shaped by different influences. People do not work in isolation – they work with colleagues in teams, are usually supervised or managed, and are guided by boards of trustees in voluntary organisations. This means that sometimes there are lots of influences on what people do in their jobs, as well as on the expectations about those jobs. The three main influences are shown in Figure 2 and they relate to task (what you do in your job), organisation (who you work for) and person (the type of person you are).

This figure is an inverted triangle with ‘role’ in the centre.
Figure 2 Sources of role