Role conflict: causes, methods of resolution and varieties. Examples of role conflicts

Conflict - what kind of phenomenon?

It should be noted that in order to fulfill a social role, a person needs certain skills and time to learn how to do this. Sometimes it turns out that the same subject must perform conflicting duties. A striking example is the wife-director. At home she should be subordinate to her husband, and at work she should indicate to her subordinates. Because of this, contradictions appear within the individual (internal conflicts) and tense relationships with others. It is precisely because of his status and position in society that certain requirements are imposed on a person. Social role is the behavior of people depending on different requirements for them. One and the same person can simultaneously be a brother, father, son-in-law, worker, friend.

We often hear the words “conflict”, “conflict person”, “intrapersonal conflict”, what kind of concepts are these? These are certain contradictions that already exist or may exist between different social actors. They arise on the basis of a discrepancy between interests, motives of behavior, values, needs, and so on.

Conflict is a normal phenomenon in society. No two people are the same, so sometimes there is a clash of opinions and interests regarding a situation.

Experts identify many types of conflict, one of which is role conflict. Confrontation can be not only between two people, enterprises or countries. Very often a person struggles with contradictions within himself.

Role conflict in sociology

Role conflict in sociology is considered as a clash of role demands placed on an individual. Psychology considers it a negative experience that affects the inner world. Most often, this is an indicator of a person’s problems interacting with others. Whether this is good or bad can be judged by what a role conflict gives a person.

On the one hand, thanks to him, the individual strives for perfection. This is driven by the role that a person takes on, or that society offers. For example, a young department manager is trying to live up to the expectations placed on him by senior management. This forces you to improve your skills, study professional literature, that is, develop.

At the same time, like any conflict, it causes negative emotions, forcing you to make certain efforts against your desire. For example, in order to master new technologies, a worker is sent to study courses. In his heart he protests against the decision, but understands that without new knowledge he will not be able to do the job.

Important! Understanding that the values of life are not easily obtained, unwanted efforts have to be made constantly. To cope with negative manifestations (the clash of the concepts “I don’t want”, but “I have to”), it is necessary to understand the essence of the role conflict and find out a way out of it.

Definition of role conflict

In social science, it is interpreted that role conflict is a process caused by contradictions between the various roles that an individual is forced to perform. To top it off, it is customary to consider such a conflict as a type of role stress that arises due to overload with responsibilities.

For your information. Brief context for role conflict is a situation in which a person is faced with two or more different demands, and meeting some makes it impossible to follow the others. This creates internal tension, resulting in a conflict situation.

Faced with the demands of several roles at the same time and not being able to combine them, a person may experience role stress

Role conflict as a type of confrontation

This type of collision is characterized by the fact that it occurs only during certain duties performed. The concept implies a discrepancy between some elements of one or more roles. To make it clear, you can imagine a situation from life. A psychologist working in a school is perceived by children as a teacher. Because of this, a distance arises between him and the students. On the other hand, he must be on an almost equal relationship with the children in order to win them over and help them solve personal problems.

In the family, at school or at work, role conflict often manifests itself. Everyone can give examples of confrontations and clashes from their own lives. Some were able to cope with them, others cannot, but really want to. In order to solve any psychological problem, it is necessary to understand its causes.

How to avoid role conflict?

Avoiding role conflict is not easy, and sometimes even impossible. However, psychologists identify only 7 principles that will help avoid conflict:

Tell loved ones about your experiences. The discussion will allow you to analyze the situation again, you will be able to receive unique tips that will help prevent the occurrence of emotional stress and burnout.
Learn to listen and hear. Important advice, especially for those who often forget to make sure that the existing requirements are complete. Don’t be afraid to talk about your desires, because no one knows about them except you. In situations where role conflict cannot be avoided by any means, the ability to build dialogues will have a significant impact.
Consider each role and try to love them all. If you enjoy a specific activity, but the obligations are too difficult for you, only love for the functions performed will support you.
When exploring new places and areas, you should independently take on the development of a new social role. Even if something doesn’t work out due to circumstances beyond your control, continue to treat failure as a new life experience.
Rationalization of what is happening. Learn to competently assess what is happening to you at the present time. If a requirement is objectively unattainable, then admit it, but don't beat yourself up for not meeting it.
Ranking of roles. In cases where there are too many social roles and you simply cannot cope with them all, then try to transfer one of them to another person. It is not necessary to transfer the role forever; you can return it back at any time.
Temporary or permanent removal from one of the roles in order to prevent severe emotional turmoil.

In addition, it is recommended to take preventive measures to combat emotional distress and anxiety. Reducing anxiety and fear will allow you to be calmer, more reasonable and more restrained. If a conflict develops, it is recommended to contact a specialist who will suggest an action plan. The most important thing is that a person should not let go of the brewing conflict; the most favorable situation is when a person is afraid to ask for help from loved ones.

What types of such conflict are there?

Before focusing on what causes role conflict, you need to decide on its types. After all, the nature of its occurrence depends on which contradiction dominates.

There are few role conflicts, they are divided into collisions

between roles;
within one role.

The first type implies inconsistency, a complete contradiction between several roles. For example, a woman works irregular hours, and has small children and a disgruntled husband waiting for her at home. She needs to show good results at work and fulfill her duties at home - doing laundry, cooking, communicating with her children and husband. In the end, she physically cannot cope with all this set of demands, and besides, her husband expresses dissatisfaction. This results in a conflict between the roles.

The second type of role conflict is also common. For example, when a woman is a mother. Her husband makes the following demands on her, as a mother: she must wake up the children, wash them, feed them and dress them. Children, in turn, expect fun games, educational tasks and time spent on her lap from their mother. There are contradictions between the two expectations, since the woman does not physically have time to please the two sides of social interaction.

These types of role conflicts differ significantly from each other. Inter-role conflicts occur when the behavior of a person performing different roles does not meet the expectations of others. These expectations and requirements in most cases do not depend on the subject himself. They are formed by public opinion, traditions, and stereotypes. Intra-role confrontations depend on a person’s perception of his behavior in terms of the expectations that his environment has for him. There is a process of layering the ideas of people and their groups onto the role performed by one subject.

Types of role conflicts are complemented by one more: personal-role conflict. It involves a discrepancy between the role and the needs and values of the individual. This type of collision is also considered intrapersonal. Such examples of role conflicts from life are common. Thus, an honest young accountant, trying to do his job correctly, will constantly struggle within himself if his superiors expect him to engage in financial fraud for their own benefit.

Types of role conflicts with examples

Intrapersonal conflict in psychology - types, causes and consequences

Varieties of role conflicts with examples will help you understand the meaning of the clash of social roles:

The conflict between different social roles is illustrated by the position of the mother of the family. She is respected in the profession, consulted with, and promoted. In a family, immersed in the household routine, a business woman becomes a typical housewife.
For a conflict within one social role, an example is the situation: a school graduate with a humanitarian mindset, at the insistence of relatives, goes to study at a technical university. Of course, he will feel out of place. And such a student will not succeed in his studies, there will be no true interest, since everything is subordinated to the word “should”. Conflict: for his family, he is the pride of the family, since he studies at a prestigious university, but is not the most diligent student in his studies.

Status-role

When classifying the types of role conflicts, they are first of all called status-role conflicts. It is also considered interpersonal because the object is either intergroup positions or status in interpersonal relationships.

Status-role conflict often arises in family relationships and becomes the cause of discord between spouses

An example of this type of clash is typical for rivalry in the family, when spouses fight for dominance. Psychologists say that the most acceptable resolution to this conflict situation will be adaptation, when one side makes concessions to the other. It is useful to use a compromise when the parties agree among themselves, peacefully distributing responsibilities.

Self-concept

The reason for this type of role behavior is to overcome the contradictions that arise in the individual due to the discrepancy between the expectations of society and personal abilities. It happens that it is difficult for a person to cope with fulfilling a new role for the reason that he has not yet “grown up” to it. For example, a young specialist finds himself in a large company in a responsible position. A role crisis can occur from the realization that there is not enough experience and it is difficult to fulfill the requirements. In such a situation, a change in self-concept is required. It is always painful because it is associated with emotional experiences.

Ambiguous conditions

This type of intrapersonal contradiction is ready to arise when different demands are placed on a person within the same role. For example, there is no workflow development at the enterprise. At the same time, work can only be done with the help of certain rules. Such an ambiguous situation causes role stress in the employee due to different requirements, since the conditions are ambiguous.

For your information. To follow a social role means to have a certain degree of lack of freedom. We have to act not as individuality requires, but as prescribed by the norms. For example, an assembly line worker is so regulated that almost every action he takes is limited. Such performance often causes a feeling of psychological oppression and alienation.

The social role requires a person to behave in a regulated manner, which can cause a feeling of psychological stress

Based on insufficient resources

No less common are situations when a professional position does not allow one to reveal and demonstrate one’s abilities and realize one’s life aspirations due to insufficient resources, for example, there is no motivation, not enough education, or little time to realize a goal.

The optimal relationship between personality and role will be one in which feasible demands are made on the person, tasks that can be solved for him are offered, and he himself has the necessary resources for this.

For your information. Psychological comfort and the quality of fulfilling role responsibilities are related to the extent to which the position corresponds to the personal characteristics of the individual, and his skills and abilities to the role requirements.

Why does role conflict occur?

The clashes between people, their expectations and ideas, largely depend on the formed norms and rules of society. If a person does not conform to established stereotypes and rules, as well as legal norms for regulating behavior, he experiences a role conflict. You need to understand that it does not appear out of nowhere. First, a person’s action occurs (within the framework of his activity), then his behavior is analyzed from the outside based on the listed mechanisms, then an assessment is given.

Why and when may it occur

Experts identify the main reasons why role conflict arises. The main reason is considered to be a situation in which the intended status-role development of the individual does not occur. A typical example is that a person is ready to defend his dissertation, but he is not allowed to do so, believing that it is too early. In addition, role conflict may be due to the following reasons:

Conflicting roles and needs;
Mismatch between abilities and role;
Inadequate performance of the role.

The cause of the conflict may be a mismatch between abilities and role

Mechanisms of psychological defense during clashes of expectations

Role conflict brings discomfort to a person, because any interference in his inner world is regarded as an encroachment on the security and recognition of the individual. Therefore, during such clashes, protective mechanisms of the psyche are triggered, helping the subject maintain internal harmony.

Separation of roles. A person deliberately temporarily stops performing one of the roles, thereby giving himself the opportunity to rest and “reboot”. But, at the same time, he continues to respond to the requirements that relate to the performance of this role.
Rationalization. It occurs when the subject wishes, but due to certain circumstances, cannot behave according to the expectations of others. Defending against a significant role, the human psyche looks for its negative aspects in order to prevent role conflict. Examples of such defense are often found among schoolchildren, people who cannot achieve their goals.

Psychological roles and role conflicts

In addition to social roles, a person also performs various types of roles psychologically (Table 1).

The psychological roles that an individual plays in various life situations do not always harmoniously complement each other. The role functioning of an individual is too complex for there to be no disagreement. In fact, disagreement in the realm of psychological roles is quite common. All these contradictions are united by the concept of “role stress,” which includes three of its varieties: role conflicts, role ambiguity and role overload.

Role conflicts are characteristic of all types of psychological roles. When it comes to social roles, we are primarily dealing with problems in the area of interpersonal relationships and communication, although these problems are often associated with personality factors.

Disagreements in the sphere of personal roles are, as a rule, personal problems of varying degrees of complexity.

We observe the contradictions that accompany changes in life roles in the process of human role development in the form of a life crisis. Other disagreements in the sphere of life roles manifest themselves as various role disharmonies of the individual.

There are a lot of life situations in which role conflicts occur. They can be classified depending on the parameters described, which form the basis for the classification according to the degree of problem, complexity, and context in which they occur. Let us describe the main types of situations depending on the relationship between the main parameters of roles: role behavior, role expectations, role self-concept, etc.

1. Non-acceptance of other people's role behavior. Examples: the role behavior of the new manager does not coincide with the expectations for this role on the part of subordinates that developed under the old boss.

2. Non-acceptance of one’s own role behavior by others. This happens in the same cases as those described in the previous paragraph. Only there the subject of the appeal for help was the one (or i) who was dissatisfied with others. In this case, the subject of the appeal is the one (s) who dissatisfied others.

Possible situations when both conflicting parties are dissatisfied (that is, the factors that are given in the two previous paragraphs act simultaneously). In this case, we are talking about options for divergent roles, or complete role incompatibility.

3. The inability to simultaneously satisfy the expectations of different people. Situations arise when the fulfillment of a role is subject to conflicting demands from different people from the significant environment of the individual, demands that mutually exclude one another. Examples: ideas about the role of the head of a subsection do not coincide between subordinates and senior management.

4. Inability to perform a role that does not correspond to one’s own self-concept. These situations arise when the role that is being performed (or the one that the individual will have to take on) does not correspond to the person’s own idea of the role, as well as the idea of oneself as the subject of this role. Examples: cases of an incorrectly chosen life path (contrary to one’s calling); the absence of like-minded people who accept the person and her roles as she sees them herself.

5. Incompatibility of different roles. These situations arise when different roles (or components of a role cluster) cannot function simultaneously, when the performance of one role significantly complicates the performance of another. An example would be: contradictions between family and professional roles (a woman cannot realize herself as a mother without it affecting her professional activities); disagreements between the roles of the manager and the specialist (the director of the NDI leads the team to the detriment of his own scientific plans).

6. Contradiction or incompatibility of different requirements for fulfilling a role (role ambiguity). Situations arise when there are contradictions in social standards regarding a certain role. Examples: at an enterprise, under the prevailing conditions, it is possible to complete tasks only by raising safety rules; the absence of job standards for an employee creates favorable conditions for all sorts of psychological games on the part of both the employee and the management. (Typical statements: “My work is a complete uncertainty, you can always find something to scold for”; “When it is impossible to fulfill all the requirements, then only the obedient will be considered beautiful”).

7. Insufficient resources to perform a role (role overload). Such situations arise when there is not enough motivation, emotional satisfaction from the result, time to perform or other resource components to fully perform the role. Such situations are often accompanied by the effect of emotional burnout.

The difference between tension and conflict within a role

We all go through a certain process of socialization. From a young age, children repeat the actions of adults, thereby adopting experience and role-playing behavior. Everyone goes through the process of socialization differently, some have had good experience since childhood, others have not seen anything positive. When a person grows up, he begins to behave according to his position and role. And here role tension can arise - the subject is simply not ready for the demands that the public places on him. To eliminate such tension, students undergo practical training, teenagers learn household management skills, and so on.

Tension increases and leads to conflicts when opposing roles are layered on top of each other. For example, a girl is passing exams, being a successful student, and trying to care for a child, having recently taken on the role of mother.

Concept, types and characteristics of the role

In psychology, interaction between people is determined by role relationships. On the other hand, roles are individual personal characteristics of subjects. Most of what a person thinks and does relates to his social roles.

Society controls the interaction of people in accordance with the repertoire of their roles, which are performed by communicating people. For each individual, a wide variety of roles are provided throughout life: child, schoolchild, student, father or mother, engineer, doctor, representative of any segment of society, etc.

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Role training is needed in order to:

Performing duties and exercising rights depending on the role accepted and performed;
Acquiring attitudes and behavioral skills that correspond to the accepted role and have an adequate emotional state.

A role, from the point of view of sociology and psychology, is a set of social norms that society (group) encourages a person to master. Most often, a role is defined as a dynamic aspect of status, a list of real functions that a group assigns to its member, a system of expected behavioral stereotypes for performing a specific job.

Types of roles determine the characteristics of the groups in which the individual is included. In accordance with social relations, social and interpersonal roles are distinguished. The first of them relate to social status, profession or type of activity (for example, teacher, student, seller, client, etc.). Socio-demographic roles (for example, husband, wife, daughter, son) are also considered separately. Man and woman are also certain roles that are biologically predetermined and involve specific aspects of behavior.

Finished works on a similar topic

Course work Roles and role expectations 470 ₽ Essay Roles and role expectations 230 ₽ Test work Roles and role expectations 190 ₽

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Note 1

Interpersonal roles in psychology refer to interpersonal relationships regulated at the emotional level (for example, leader, family idol, etc.).

In accordance with the norms and expectations that are assigned to a particular role, they are divided into:

represented roles (system of expectations of a person and a certain group);
subjective roles (expectations a person associates with his status, i.e. his subjective idea of how he will act in relation to persons with a different status);
roles played (the observable behavior of a person who has a given status in relation to other people with a different status).

Ways to resolve role conflicts

They are divided into two types:

external;
internal.

The first type is that a person has the opportunity to protect himself from role conflicts. He may quit his job, stop communicating with his old friends, change his vacation spot, and so on.

The second type, on an unconscious level, protects us from unnecessary stress associated with role tension and conflict. Here the classic defense mechanisms come first: repression, isolation, rationalization, identification and some others. He begins to actively act when there is no way to solve the situation differently; the person either does not know how to do it or cannot. In this case, it is not the situation of conflict or tension that changes, but the person’s attitude towards it, his perception of the environment.

The essence of the concept of “personal-role conflict”

Definition 1
Personal-role conflict is a situation in which the requirements of an individual’s social role are in conflict with his interests and life aspirations.

In the course of his activities, a person performs many roles and their inconsistency may arise, which can develop into an intrapersonal role conflict. A kind of split personality occurs, forced to fulfill social roles with opposing requirements. It turns out that role conflict is a contradictory situation when people face different demands and must fulfill several roles simultaneously. A person in this situation faces a difficult choice.

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Note 1

Traditionally, there are two types of role conflicts: personal-role conflict and inter-role conflict.

Personal-role conflict is a conflict between the “I” and the role. This is where differences arise between the requirements of a role and how the individual represents that role. The problem arises when the individual is unable or unwilling to meet the requirements of the role.

There are two ways to resolve this issue - refuse to fulfill the role or accept this role, but change yourself. To resolve the contradiction, a compromise option is possible.

Personal-role conflicts are quite common, lead to stress and even mental illness and require moral regeneration of the individual.

The second type of conflict is inter-role. Its essence lies in the contradiction that arises between different and incompatible roles, for example, for some reason it is impossible for an individual to combine family and work.

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Course work Personal-role conflict 460 ₽ Abstract Personal-role conflict 220 ₽ Test paper Personal-role conflict 200 ₽

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The factors that determine the strength of this type of conflict are as follows:

degree of incompatibility of role expectations;
stringency of requirements;
characteristics of the individual and his attitude towards role expectations.

Those conflicts that affect the zone of standard roles are especially tragic, because when resolving the conflict, the need arises to change the self-concept of the individual.

A way out of the conflict in this case is also possible - this is the use of intrapersonal defense mechanisms, which postpones the solution to the problem or blocks its awareness.

Western and domestic psychology have different attitudes - domestic psychologists consider the mental world of the individual as an integrity, and conflict is defined as an element of a difficult situation for the psyche. Western conflictologists divide conflicts into specific types and work with each form separately.

Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, and if they shared a common methodological platform, then everyone would benefit from this interaction.

Give examples that specify the situation of role conflict...

Part 1.
A1. M.'s family has a five-year-old child. The grandmother is preparing the child for school. What function of the family does this example illustrate?
1) educational 2) reproductive 3) economic 4) leisure
A2. Social inequality is manifested in:
1) differences between people according to natural data 2) different marital status
3) absence of private property 4) level of income received
A3. The distinctive features of the family as a social group include:
1) joint activities 2) common political views
3) common life 4) common goal
A4. Belonging to the F. family provides its members with the opportunity to get a job in a commercial bank. This example reflects the function of the family:
1) economic 2) social control
3) emotional-psychological 4) social-status
A5. Find and indicate a social group that “falls out” from the series, formed not on an ethnosocial basis.
1) Latvians 2) Catholics 3) Estonians 4) Lithuanians
A6. The four social groups are listed below. Three of them have a common socially significant feature. Which group is excluded from this series?
1) children 2) elderly people 3) men 4) youth
A7. In the list of social groups, the following are superfluous:
1) estates 2) castes 3) classes 4) parties.
A7. What feature underlies the unification of people and their groups into such a social community as townspeople?
1) political; 3)professional;
2) social class; 4) territorial.
A8. The achieved status of a person does not include:
1) gender 2) education 3) profession 4) financial situation.
A9. A small social group based on marriage or consanguinity, whose members are connected by a common life and mutual responsibility, is:
1) clan 2) class 3) family 4) elite
A10. Both adolescents and adults have a social role:
1) a conscript serviceman;
2) a deputy of the city duma;
3) a student of a secondary school.
4) consumer of mobile communication services.
A11. The class division of society reflects
1) type of government 2) type of social stratification
3) the nature of economic relations 4) the peculiarity of the political system.
A12. Social role characteristic of both teenagers and adults:
1) graduate of a vocational college; 3) football fan;
2) a candidate for deputy of the legislative assembly; 4) serviceman - contract soldier
A13. Which of the following social groups is distinguished according to economic characteristics:
1) Muscovites 2) engineers 3) Muslims 4) landowners
A14. Are the following judgments about social status correct?
A . Social status is a person’s position in society, which gives him rights and responsibilities.
B. People acquire all social statuses from birth.
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both judgments are correct 4) both judgments are incorrect
A15. Are the following statements about social conflicts true?
A . The divergence of interests of social groups can lead to social conflict.
B. Interethnic conflict is a type of social conflict.
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both judgments are correct 4) both judgments are incorrect
A16. Are the following statements about the family true?
A . The family regulates the behavior of family members.
B. The family provides economic support to minors and disabled family members.
1) only A is true 2) only B is true 3) both judgments are correct 4) both judgments are incorrect
There are more tasks in the attachments

Concept

Before explaining a complex concept, you must first understand the simple ones. A social role is an expected pattern of behavior focused on a given social status . For what the latter term means, see this article.

Each status presupposes role behavior, a certain model of behavior. Moreover, it is absolutely expected from a person with this status. For example, the status of a bus conductor implies the behavior of withdrawing money from passengers to pay for travel.