Role conflict is a situation in which one individual is faced with the requirements for performing different, conflicting roles, or one, but which, when implemented, causes difficulties. Literally taking this concept, it is easy to determine the phenomenon that it means. And โconflictโ is the key word: performing several roles, a person is faced with a conflict of interests or requirements for him. For example, there are situations when a student, having married and having offspring, is forced to combine the role of a husband, father and student. And if the first two roles work well together, the third one acts as a conflict: as a husband and father, he must earn money, improve his living conditions and participate in solving everyday problems, but as a student, he must devote all his free time at the same time. gaining new knowledge.
Definition of role conflict
The study of this phenomenon is the science of conflictology. To begin with, it is necessary to determine the nature of the conflict, which will give a clear idea of โโthe role contradiction.
So, conflict can be intrapersonal and interpersonal. It is characterized by the presence of opposing positions, motives, judgments, which are always opposite.
A feature of the intrapersonal contradiction is the equal in strength, but oppositely directed interests, needs, desires. A person is faced with a choice between desires and opportunities, the need to follow certain norms and at the same time unwillingness to do so. The consequence of this is often stress and uncontrolled behavior before a choice.
With interpersonal contradiction, there are always several participants whose interests and ideas do not coincide.
Role conflict is a type of intrapersonal when a person is faced with the need to simultaneously perform several of his roles that contradict each other. For example, a family man who is the boss is faced with a role conflict situation at the moment when he needs to take the sick child to the hospital and at the same time do a lot of work. To go to the hospital means to act unprofessionally, and to stay at work means to show negligence in relation to the health of your own child.
Classification of role conflicts
We suggest considering several types of this phenomenon:
This is a psychological phenomenon, associated primarily with the social role that a person performs. Conflict occurs when an individual cannot justify the expectations of society from the role that he must fulfill. In organizations, status-role disagreements generate interpersonal. For example, a person who does not meet the requirements of his post cannot perform the job in a high-quality manner, and this forces others to consider him incompetent and to face professional difficulties if the team work.
- Role conflict and self-concept
The conflict, based on the contradiction of their own ideas and expectations of society from the role that the individual performs. This often happens when a person chooses a profession for which he has weak abilities. At work, in this case, he does not manage to realize himself, he looks in the team as a โblack sheepโ, who occupies an inappropriate position. The individual understands his shortcomings, but, nevertheless, continues to work in this direction, because for this he is paid the wage that corresponds to his ideas about normal wages. There is a contradiction between abilities and desires.
- Role conflict and ambiguous conditions
This type of intrapersonal contradiction arises when different requirements are presented to a person within the framework of one role: for example, the absence of rules for the technique of performing work at the enterprise, while it is 100% feasible solely by following the rules. The ambiguity of tasks plunges a person into a stressful situation when he is faced with two different requirements.
- Resource-based role conflict
In this situation, a person is faced with the need to complete the tasks, but cannot do this due to the lack of motivation, time or any other resources that are needed to achieve the goal.