Role conflict and Role taking

 

Experience with role conflict and role taking

 

 

Role conflict –

It refers to a situation where an individual is given a role or assigned work which he/she is not compatible enough to perform. This might result in the failure of the person to perform the task or achieving less satisfactory results.

My experience with role conflict –

I did have an encounter with a similar situation during my school days. When I was in 10^th standard, I was a part of student council where all of us were assigned some duties at the beginning of the year. But during a singing competition, the respective council member took a leave and I was asked to look after the practice of the group. Although it was an inter-house competition, I had no experience in singing and stuff. Not that I was not musically inclined, just that singing never seemed to be my cup of tea. Nevertheless, I had no other option but to follow the instructions given by the house coordinator. I knew the group wasn’t singing well but at the same time had no idea how to correct them. I tried changing people in the choir, also changed the song a couple of times but that didn’t seem to work out. So, I let the choir practice the song on their own since my presence wasn’t making the practice any better. Lastly, the competition happened and we got the first position from the bottom. I was scolded by the house coordinator for not paying attention on what I had been asked to do but it was a role conflict for me I had absolutely no expertise or experience in that arena.

Role taking –

It refers to looking at a situation from someone else’s perspective to understand that particular person’s viewpoint and thoughts about the matter in hand. Kind of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.

My experience with role-taking –

This situation might have been pretty common in everyone’s lives. One incident that I can certainly recall is the teacher’s day role play. I acted one of our teachers who taught history, a subject I have strongly disliked growing up. But to act like him I had to pretend to be an expert in that subject which was quite a tough task. I copied how he entered the class, his first remarks, his tone while scolding, his signature punishments and the jokes we were used to of listening by then. I also memorized his pet words and appreciation skills. But that wasn’t too tough the tough part was being able to answer the queries the way he did because I barely knew anything about the subject. However, I did learn some specific topics and planted people in the crowd who could ask me the questions I had prepared answers to. When I was being asked questions I knew the answer to along with all the behavioral aspects that I had tried to copy, I could exactly assume myself in his role of a history teacher. The role play turned out well despite the fact that everyone in the crowd knew that I had mugged up the answers to the questions I confidently answered without fumbling.