Generation Change: Is Managing Role Ambiguity The Number One Challenge
Facing Employers in the Silicon Age?
Are you struggling to keep your workforce motivated and harmonious in the face of
constant change? Is your team struggling to deal with the ambiguity created by a
fast-evolving market place? You aren’t alone, and a solution may be closer to home for
your workforce than perhaps they first thought.
A recent study conducted by Dr. Ben Searle of Macquarie University in Sydney has found
significant links between workplace role ambiguity and an employees’ reported level of
anger, anxiety and threat perception.
Dr. Searle’s study involved 602 participants across a range of companies and industries
fulfilling duties all the way up to managing director. The participant group was asked to
self-report on perceptions of role ambiguity, experienced levels of anger, anxiety and
workplace threat appraisal.
In this study, participants were asked questions as to whether they fully understood what
was expected of them at work on a day-to-day basis regarding particular tasks, or a range
of tasks. This data was then compared with responses to questions which probed whether
they had felt anxious or angry at work. Threat appraisal was determined by whether the
respondent felt it was more or less likely that their work day was going to be a negative
experience for them.
Dr Searle’s study found statistically significant correlations between a lack of clarity an
individual has regarding their job requirements and reported feelings of anger, anxiety and
their threat appraisal. These findings reinforce earlier research conducted by Robert
