Developing a Competency Matrix for Faculty Role Alignment in Higher Education: A Triguna Theory Perspective from Indian Philosophy

India’s sacred texts provide deep insights into people management, with the Triguna theory offering a culturally rooted framework to understand workplace personality and behaviour. In Indian higher education, non-teaching duties are as vital as teaching for faculty development; yet, aligning these roles with faculty’s natural strengths is often overlooked, leading to dissatisfaction and anxiety. Despite their importance, this issue remains under-researched. This study develops a competency mapping matrix based on the Triguna theory to align non-teaching roles with inherent faculty traits. Non-teaching tasks were grouped into six clusters, and seven personality types were defined using the Triguna framework, linked to specific competencies. The study adopted a qualitative exploratory design involving input from 15 faculty members across Indian higher education institutions. Participants were purposively selected from public and private universities, with 8–25 years of teaching experience and active involvement in administrative and committee roles. Non-teaching roles were clustered through thematic grouping based on the nature of work and competency requirements. The clustering was independently reviewed by academic experts, and discrepancies were resolved through consensus to enhance face validity. An adapted version of the Questionnaire Measure of Sahya (Manickam, 2014, Journal of Psychological Researches , 58[2], 75–83) was used to identify dominant Guna traits, with items reworded for faculty context and reviewed for contextual clarity. The resulting Guna-based competency mapping matrix offers a practical, culturally relevant method for allocating non-teaching duties, offering a culturally grounded framework that may support improved role alignment and faculty engagement.