Let My People Go: Emancipating Values as a Remedy for Religious Role Conflict

Abstract

A decades-long decline in job satisfaction in the United States has inspired researchers and practitioners to seek out changes that might explain the trend and suggest solutions. The numbers remain dismally low, with half of American workers still declaring they are dissatisfied with their jobs. One prognosis that has been offered for this long-term trend is increasing role conflict. There is evidence that demographic, cultural, and even political shifts resulted in an increase in role conflict issues for American workers. Many organizations have made an effort to address the issue, adding perquisites such as company-provided daycare, flextime, family-leave plans, and even concierge services. Meanwhile, these same organizations, ironically often as part of their diversity initiatives, have implemented policies which segregate workers from their deeply held values. Religious role conflict has been virtually ignored by both scholars and industry. This chapter will examine the issue of religious role conflict in modern organizations and suggest actions which emancipate worker values as a potentially effective treatment.