Employee-Influence Strategies as Possible Stress-Coping Mechanisms for Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity

The purpose of this study was to examine the coping mechanisms associated with role conflict and ambiguity. One hundred twenty-four salaried employees of a metal fabricating firm completed Form-M of the Profile of Organizational Influence Strategies Scale (POIS-M; Kipnis & Schmidt, 1982) and the Role Conflict and Ambiguity Scales (House & Rizzo, 1972b). Pearson product-moment correlations were used to analyze the relationship between the influence strategies and role measures. The results appeared to support the hypothesis that rising levels of role conflict would be significantly related to frequent use of strategies by employees to influence their managers (role senders). No such relationship was found with role ambiguity. The findings are discussed in terms of how employees can engage in influencing behavior to cope with role conflict.