Study of Reactions to Frustration and Ways to overcome Conflict Situations of Employees in HR Department and the Service Psychological Support

Pirozhkova Nella ORCID: 0000-0003-4069-6172 PhD in Economics Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Synergy University Moscow 129090, Russia, Moscow, Meshchanskaya str., 9/14 p. 1 nella@list.ru Other publications by this author

The relevance of research. At work, each employee interacts with the colleagues around him. Relationships between employees form a psychological climate within the team, if employees experience a sense of frustration or difficulty in interpersonal relationships, then this negatively affects the psychological climate in the team and the success of the enterprise as a whole.

The purpose of the study is to study the reaction to frustration and ways out of conflict situations and to identify the relationship between the way conflict situations are resolved, and hindrances in establishing contacts in the team

The subject of the study is the ways of interaction and constructive behavior of company employees in problematic situations, including in situations of frustration.The scientific novelty of the study is to diagnose the employees of the psychological support service and the HR department for the first time for this company, to identify and solve existing problems.

The competent formation of the psychological climate in the team and the selection of new employees, taking into account the psychological characteristics of potential employees, depends on the employees of this department.

Research methodology: the paper uses methods of theoretical analysis (comparison, generalization, systematization, etc.); methods of psychological diagnostics; methods of statistical data processing. With the help of correlation analysis, it is concluded whether there is a relationship between the way conflict situations are resolved and interference in establishing contacts in the team      

Research hypothesis: it is assumed that the majority of the studied employees of this company have an impunitive reaction to frustration in the direction of reactions (a frustrating situation is considered as something insignificant or inevitable, overcome over time, there is no accusation of others or oneself), and the type of reaction may be different.Introduction.

 This article investigates what type of reactions to frustration and how to resolve conflict situations are typical for employees of the HR department and employees of the psychological support department working in the same company. Reactions to failure and ways out of situations that hinder the activity or satisfaction of personal needs are investigated. If an employee experiences a state of frustration, it is necessary to trace his further reaction and ways out of this state.Many psychological scientists have been engaged in the study of frustration: N.D. Levitov, S. Rosenzweig, L. Festinger, K. Rogers, V.N. Myasishchev, A.R. Luria, N.V. Tarabrina, V.S. Merlin, A.I. Zakharov, T.V. Maltseva, I.E. Reutskaya, V.N. Astapov, etc. ^{[1, p.23]}.

Frustration is a state of tension, frustration, anxiety caused by dissatisfaction with needs, objectively insurmountable (or subjectively so understood) difficulties, obstacles on the way to an important goal ^{[2, p.119]}. If the reaction of employees is extrapunitive, that is, directed at a living or inanimate environment, the degree of frustrating situation is emphasized, sometimes the situation is required from another person to resolve the situation ^{[3, p.162]}, then this will worsen social interaction in the company's team.

Social interaction in the enterprise team is an internal layer of corporate culture that reflects the socio—psychological relationships in the team and is inaccessible to people who do not work at this enterprise. Social interaction for company employees is what binds them together and forces them to make certain decisions. This concept is part of the concept of "corporate culture", but only by a narrower, "inner layer" of corporate culture ^{[4, p.61]}.

From the existing numerous psychodiagnostic techniques relevant to the study of this topic ^{[5, p.20]}. the projective technique of Rosenzweig's pictorial frustration and the technique of diagnosing "hindrances" (barriers) in establishing emotional contacts by V.V.Boyko were chosen.

The first technique that was proposed to be performed by the subject is the Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study (Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study) ^{[6, p.151]}. The methodology is designed to study reactions to failure and ways out of situations that hinder the activity or satisfaction of personal needs. Using the technique, it is possible to study such reactions to a strong stimulus as: aggression, displacement, identification, projection, fantasy, regression, apathy, suppression, compensation, fixation, rationalization ^{[7, p.112]}. The technique belongs to the class of projective tests. There are 16 situations in which an obstacle is created (stop, discourage, offend, confuse) and 8 situations in which the subject is accused of something.

The analysis was carried out according to the following parameters: each of the answers received is evaluated according to Rosenzweig's theory ^{[8, p.65]} according to two criteria: by the direction of the reaction and by the type of reaction.

According to the direction of the reaction, they are divided into: extrapunitive: the reaction is directed at a living or inanimate environment, the external cause of frustration is condemned, the degree of frustrating situation is emphasized, sometimes the resolution of the situation is required from another person. Intropunitive: the reaction is directed at oneself, with the acceptance of guilt or responsibility for correcting the situation that has arisen, the frustrating situation is not subject to condemnation. The subject accepts the frustrating situation as favorable for himself. Impunitive: a frustrating situation is seen as something insignificant or inevitable, surmountable over time, there is no accusation of others or oneself.

According to the type of reaction, they are divided into: Obstructive-dominant. Type of reaction "with fixation on an obstacle". Obstacles that cause frustration are emphasized in every possible way, regardless of whether they are regarded as favorable, unfavorable or insignificant. Self-protective. The type of reaction "with a fixation on self-defense". Activity in the form of censuring someone, denying or admitting one's own guilt, avoiding reproach aimed at protecting one's self, responsibility for frustration cannot be attributed to anyone. Necessary-persistent. The type of reaction is "with a fixation on satisfying the need". ^{[9, p.162]}.

Pattern analysis. Based on the numerical data profile, three main and one additional pattern are compiled (if there is a certain type of reaction).

Trend analysis. During the experiment, the subject can noticeably change his behavior, moving from one type or direction of reaction to another. Any such change is of great importance for understanding frustration, as it shows the attitude of the subject to his own reactions.

Definition of the indicator "degree of social adaptability" - GCR. Next, the GCR is calculated – the coefficient of group conformity or a measure of individual adaptation of the subject to his social environment.  The indicator of the "degree of social adaptation" – GCR ^{[10, p.130]} - expresses the percentage of coincidences of the counting factors of a particular protocol (in points) with the total number of standard responses for the population.

Then the subjects were asked to answer the questions of the methodology for diagnosing "hindrances" (barriers) in establishing emotional contacts by V.V. Boyko. This technique is aimed at identifying the level of emotional effectiveness in communication and identifying the type of emotional interference. Among the emotional barriers, V.V. Boyko identifies five subgroups: inability to manage emotions, inadequate expression of emotions, underdevelopment of emotions, dominance of negative emotions, unwillingness to approach people on an emotional basis ^{[11, p.10]}.

This study was conducted on employees who have been working in the same company in the HR department and in the psychological support department for more than 1 year. The number of subjects according to all methods is 15 people, including 8 women and 7 men. The age of the subjects ranges from 22 to 45 years: the average age of the female subjects is 26.8 years, the average age of the male subjects is 37.8 years, the average age of the subjects in the entire sample is 32.3 years.

At first, Rosenzweig's Drawing Frustration technique was carried out individually with everyone. In terms of time, it took from 30 to 40 minutes for each person. The study was conducted from September 1 to September 24, 2022.

The results of an empirical study. Summary data after the diagnostic procedure of "interference" (barriers) in establishing contacts are presented below in Table 1.

Table 1. Summary data after the study in 15 subjects

Interpretation of the results according to the method of V.V.Boyko. The more points for each parameter, the more obvious the emotional problem in everyday communication. The average score is 6.5. This indicates that there are some problems in emotional communication in the team. In general, we can say that this is an average indicator and there are no significant problems in the team. Emotions do not complicate interaction and do not interfere with establishing contacts with people. There are no disorganizing states or reactions in the team. There is something to work on – you need to reach a level of communication where emotions do not interfere with communication.  Above all, the overall indicator for item 2 is an inadequate display of emotions. Separately, attention should be paid to those employees who, according to the results of the survey, have the highest indicators for the overall score and for individual parameters. These are Subjects numbered 2 and 3. Subject number 2 has a high score according to claim 4, Subject 3 has a high score according to claim 1 and 3. Here it is necessary to make an adjustment for age – two employees are 21 years old, this is the youngest age from the entire study sample.

It is necessary to pay attention and carry out adaptation measures, find out possible causes of dissatisfaction, listen to suggestions from employees to improve the existing situation.

Table 2. Summary data after the Rosenzweig drawing frustration technique in 15 subjects The subject

Interpretation of the results according to the Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study. This analysis turns out to be quite voluminous and took about 2-3 hours for each subject. In order to illustrate what the analysis looks like for each employee, the following is a detailed analysis for Subject 1 (AA). Summary data for all subjects are presented in Table 2.

Protocol 1 "Interpretation of the results according to the method of drawing frustration by S. Rosenzweig for the subject A.A."Answers to 24 tasks given by the subject (Subject 1: AA)

1. It's okay

2. Forgive my carelessness, I will try to buy you another vase similar to this one.

3. Thank you for your concern, but if I feel uncomfortable, I will ask this lady to take off her hat

4. It's okay, I'll try to change my ticket and leave by the next train

5. Let me try to find the problem again. If we fail to solve it, most likely it is a factory defect, and since you bought it only 1 week ago, you can return them back under warranty, and we will refund your money.

6. OK, then I'll take only two and next time the rest

7. I don't think I'm bothering anyone, this is a public place

8. Thank you for informing me. I'll talk to her myself and find out what caused this behavior

9. Thank you, but I'm not ready to wait that long. In this case, I need to talk to the official who replaces the manager so that he settles all the formalities now.

10. There are different situations in life. Yes, in this situation I was forced to hide the whole truth from you in your own interests.

11. Good night, it's okay

12. I need to look carefully. It's okay if we switch with Petrov tomorrow and laugh at this funny case.

13. The fact is that I spent time on the road, and you did not warn me in advance about the cancellation of the meeting. Let's do this – I can wait for some time, but you have to solve my question today.

14. I think she's a little late. We'll wait a little longer and then we'll go.

15. It's okay, so I'll come to you a little later

16. Maybe, but I haven't seen you. Don't worry, I'll call the police now and settle all the formalities related to the accident. I am sure that my insurance will cover the damage caused to you.

17. It's okay, most likely I forgot them in the car or at work. Don't worry, I'll take you to a neighbor (or to a cafe) for a cup of tea, and I'll quickly solve this issue myself.

18. It's okay, I'm ready to buy the copy that's on display

19. Sorry, I was wrong and didn't notice how I exceeded the speed limit

20. I think it's her choice and there are reasons for it. Don't worry, you and I will spend a wonderful evening together

21. Oh, how inconvenient it turned out... Tell me which hospital he is in, I want to visit him soon and settle the situation

22. Thank you, everything is fine, I just slipped

23. Dear, we have 15 minutes, after that time we have to leave. If she has time to come within these 15 minutes, then ok. If he doesn't make it, we're leaving, otherwise we'll miss the plane. If we don't see her, we'll call her on the phone, talk to her and say goodbye.

24. It's okay, don't worry.

 Then the analysis of the subject's responses was carried out, the results are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Evaluation of each response of the Subject 1

After that, based on the analysis given in Table 3, it is necessary to build a profile of the frustration reactions of the subject 1.

Table 4. Profile of frustration reactions of the Subject 1

Patterns, trends and individual factors were analyzed.Part 1. Patterns:

1) The general pattern. M’ (10.5)> i(5)> m (2.5)

2) Super ego pattern. There are no indicators E and I

3) The indicator of pure aggression E is equal to 0.5 – the tendency to blame others I is equal to 5 this is how much the subject is inclined to apologize

4) all M + I = 13 is a general indicator without accusatory reactions (the ability of a person to remove guilt from himself and others).

 Part 2. Trend indicators:1) Check for trends.

M’ a= 5, b= 5.5 turns out -0.047 the trend is insignificant. i a=3.5, b=1.5 turns out to be 0.4 – there is a trend. m a=1, b=1.5 it turns out -0.2 – the trend is insignificant

2) there are no trends of type 2 (with a fixation on self-defense)

3) trends of 3 types – to meet the needs (e, m) = -0.14 – the trend is insignificant

4) trends for reaction directions.  Extrapunitive, a=1, b=2 = -0.33 – there is a tendency. Intropunitive, a=7, b=6, we get 0.07 – the trend is insignificant. Impunitive, a=9, b=11, we get 0.1 – the trend is insignificant

5) trends for different types of reaction. With fixation on the obstacle, a = 8, b = 9, it turns out -0.05 the trend is insignificant. With a fixation on self–defense, a = 1, b = 3 turns out -0.4 - there is a tendency. With a fixation on satisfying the need, a = 8, b = 7, 0.066 is obtained, the trend is insignificant.

Part 3. Analysis of the results obtained, conclusion. After the analysis, it can be seen that most of the reactions are impunitive, by type - with fixation on an obstacle. In the direction of the reaction, they are impunitive (54.17%) - a frustrating situation is considered as something insignificant or inevitable, surmountable "over time, there is no accusation of others or oneself. According to the type of reaction – obstructive-dominant, "with fixation on the obstacle" (52.09%). Obstacles that cause frustration are emphasized in every possible way, regardless of whether they are regarded as favorable, unfavorable or insignificant. The subject has a rather flexible behavior and the ability to use various ways to overcome difficulties: either the complexity of the situation is not noticed, or the subject himself undertakes to resolve the frustrating situation, or postpones the solution of the situation for some time.

Analysis of individual factors and patterns. In accordance with Table 1, it turns out that most of the reactions of the subject M’ (10.5) The difficulties of the frustrating situation are not noticed or reduced to its complete denial. Example: "Late, so late." Second in the number of reactions i (5), the subject undertakes to resolve the frustrating situation himself, openly admitting or hinting at his guilt. Example: "I'll get out of it myself somehow." The third reaction is m (2,5) - The hope is expressed that time, the normal course of events will solve the problem, you just have to wait a little, or mutual understanding and mutual understanding will eliminate the frustrating situation. Example: "Let's wait another 5 minutes."

The resulting patterns. E=0.5 indicates a tendency to blame others. The average norm is 1.5-5.5, here the indicator is below the norm, there is no tendency to blame others. I=5 is how much the subject is inclined to apologize. The average norms are 0-2, which means that there is a tendency to apologize. There is a tendency for the subject to remove the blame from himself and others.

The received trends. There is a tendency with a fixation on self-defense, there are few tendencies in total, this means personal maturity and the presence of frustrating tolerance.

Summary data for all subjects are given in Table 2.

Next, the Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated ^{[12, p.208]} (in order to establish links between the indicators). The choice of the coefficient is due to the fact that the sample is small and the data do not obey the law of normal distribution, the results are presented in Table 3.

Table 5. Calculation of the correlation coefficient according to the Rosenzweig and Boyko method

Table 5 shows the results, there is a significant relationship between two indicators: inability to manage emotions /dose them – impunitive reactions and between the indicators of dominance of negative emotions – extrapunitive reactions (-0.92 and 0.93, respectively). The second correlation coefficient is easy to explain: since extrapunitive reactions assume that the reaction is directed at a living or inanimate environment, the external cause of frustration is condemned, the degree of frustrating situation is emphasized, sometimes the resolution of the situation is required from another person, then negative emotions directed at another person often prevail. The first coefficient refers to impunitive reactions (when a frustrating situation is considered as something insignificant or inevitable, surmountable for a certain time, there is no accusation of others or oneself). That is, the inability to dose emotions / manage emotions is precisely related to this reaction, because the degree of someone's guilt is minimized, responsibility is sometimes shifted to circumstances, so emotions are often not directed at the culprit of the event.

It is necessary to note a significant coefficient (0.78) on the relationship of factors: inability to manage emotions / dose them – extrapunitive reactions. It is clear here that reactions are directed at the environment (the culprit of the event), and it is not always possible to control emotions. 

The obtained correlation coefficient (0.68) with the relationship of factors dominance of negative emotions - intropunitive reactions and coefficient 0.61 in combination of factors dominance of negative emotions - impunitive reactions is explained by the fact that regardless of the direction of the reaction, negative emotions can dominate (to varying degrees), there are large differences in the manifestation (not manifestation) of this aggression.

A high correlation coefficient (0.72) was obtained by the parameters: unwillingness to get close to people - intropunitive reactions. This is explained by the fact that a person who has intropunitive reactions predominate (the reaction is directed at himself, with the acceptance of guilt or responsibility for correcting the situation that has arisen, the frustrating situation is not subject to condemnation) is more inclined to keep emotions inside himself, less interact with others.

 Conclusions:

1. According to the method of diagnosing "interference" in the interpersonal attitude of employees, an average indicator was obtained, which is 6.5. This indicator indicates that there are no significant problems in the interaction of employees in the team. Emotions do not complicate interaction and do not interfere with establishing contacts with people. There are no disorganizing states or reactions in the team. It is necessary to pay attention to two parameters: 3 – inflexibility, underdevelopment of emotions and 2 – inadequate manifestation of emotions. 

2. After carrying out the Rosenzweig drawing frustration technique, it was revealed that most employees have an impunitive way of resolving conflicts, while a minority of employees have an extrapunitive way. So, the hypothesis of the work was confirmed. A frustrating situation is considered as something insignificant or inevitable, surmountable over time, there is no accusation of others or oneself, this is the most common and most adequate way of responding, which is inherent in the employees of the department under study. The technique of drawing frustration by S. Rosenzweig will help at the initial interview with new colleagues to study reactions to frustration and ways out of conflict situations and determine how the employee corresponds to the proposed vacancy. The methodology for diagnosing "interference" (according to V.V.Boyko) in establishing emotional contacts among employees who already work in the company under study will help identify problematic moments (Table 1), and determine whether an employee has a tendency to emotional burnout. That is, these psychodiagnostic techniques are an effective tool for the tasks that the management of the organization sets.  

Conclusion. Such a study can be conducted in commercial organizations in order to understand whether there are "hindrances" or barriers (according to V.V.Boyko) in establishing emotional contacts and how employees react to a frustrating situation. The presented methods will be effective for diagnosing employees when applying for a job. Especially for those employees who work on a permanent basis in the man-to-man system. Different priorities and proportions of the considered components of activity, emphasized in foreign management theories (K. Levin, R. House, T. Mitchell, R. Hersey, K. Blanchard, etc.), reflect the versatility and complexity of the world of professions of the "man-man" type, the ambiguous representation of the subject of the very content of interpersonal interactions. In addition, in professions of the "man-man" type, the impact of environmental factors is noticeable, such as the socio-economic policy of the state in certain periods, various socio-psychological phenomena of public life, simultaneously covering different organizations and their personnel ^{[12, p.208]}.

In order to expand the base of scientific knowledge on this issue, it is planned to conduct research on ways out of conflict situations and reactions to frustration with a larger sample in various companies. This will help to expand the knowledge base on this issue, identify existing problems in a timely manner and make the necessary management decisions.