Conflict Management Strategies for Efficient Organization of Secondary School Teachers in Awka-South Local Government Area of Anambra State

Abstract

Conflicts not only negatively impact the well-being and job satisfaction of teachers but apparently jeopardize the overall performance of secondary school students. This assertion necessitated the research work which determined conflict management strategies for the efficient organization of secondary school teachers in Awka-South Local Government Area, Anambra State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and guided by three research questions. The population comprised 542 senior secondary school teachers from 20 public schools. A random sampling technique was used to select 120 participants (teachers) for the study. A researcher-structured questionnaire on a 4-point rating scale validated by 3 experts with the reliability coefficient of 0.84 obtained by Cronbach Alpha coefficient was used for data collection. The research questions were answered using mean, with a cut-off score of 2.50. The findings revealed that collaborative approaches include open dialogue, team-building, and joint problem-solving as well as compromising and accommodating strategies among others were considered effective in managing conflicts. It was concluded that application of such strategies could foster effective conflict management in schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that school authorities should introduce or encourage reward system to enable teachers to embrace dialogue.