Application of Role and Role Conflict Theory to Administration in Occupational Therapy Education

The purpose of this study was to determine and define, for chairpersons of occupational therapy education programs, role expectations as held by the role incumbents and those who border that role, to identify possible areas of conflict arising from differences in those expectations, and to relate those findings to theoretical writings on role and role conflict theory. The theoretical basis of this study was the work of Getzels and associates on administration as a social system. Through the instrument developed for this study from the available literature on chairperson role expectations, answers were sought to questions about ideal and actual chairperson role expectations, perceived role conflict, and the relationship of the perceived ideal role to the theoretical role found in the literature. Copies of the instrument were mailed to the dean, chairperson, and a representative number of faculty of 48 of the 49 professional education programs in occupational therapy approved by The American Occupational Therapy Association. Usable responses were received from a total of 32 deans, 38 chairpersons, and 127 faculty members. The data were analyzed by means of frequency distributions and, where comparisons were required, the Kruskal- Wallis-H test and the Wilcoxon T test were used. Results indicated areas of agreement and disagreement about chairperson role expectations and highlighted areas of potential conflict.