ROLE AMBIGUITY, ROLE CONFLICT, TENSION, AND JOB SATISFACTION AMONG ARIZONA SECONDARY SCHOOL COUNSELORS.

Abstract

This study was designed to determine whether role conflict and role ambiguity are problems among Arizona secondary school counselors. Role conflict and role ambiguity were treated as mediating variables. The relationship of these to a number of personal background and organizational variables were studied, as well as their relationship to the consequent variables of propensity to leave, job satisfaction, and job related tension. The data were gathered by means of a 47 item questionnaire which was sent to all of the 487 secondary school counselors in the state of Arizona. Of the questionnaires, 82 percent were returned in usable form. The data were analyzed in four phases. First, descriptive statistics were developed. In a second stage of analysis, the relationships between all of the variables were explored by means of an intercorrelation matrix. A third stage of analysis employed a multiple regression procedure to determine whether a significant amount of the variance in the consequent variables could be explained by role conflict and role ambiguity. In a final stage of analysis, t-tests were used to determine whether a number of groups that theory would predict should differ in role conflict levels actually had mean scores on the role conflict scales that were significantly different. The eight hypotheses tested resulted in the following findings: The personal background and organizational antecedents having the strongest relationships with role conflict and ambiguity were incongruence between a counselors work ideal and actual job duties, and between a counselors training and the skill demands of the job. Role conflict also seemed to be higher among counselors with excessively large case loads. Both role conflict and role ambiguity had negative relationships with job satisfaction and positive relationships with propensity to leave and job related tension. All of these relationships were significant. In addition, role conflict and ambiguity were shown to account for a significant amount of the variance in these variables. The overall conclusion of the study was that a number of personal background and organizational factors predispose secondary school counselors in Arizona to role stress on the job. This stress in turn predisposes them to a number of undesirable personal outcomes in relation to their work.