ABSTRACT
This research was concluded on administrative conflicts between principals and teachers in secondary schools in Udi Education zone in Enugu state. Five research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A 24 item questionnaire was developed by the researcher and administered to 52 principals and 250 teachers in the two local government Areas. Mean and standard deviations were used to answer the five research questions while the t-test statistics was used to test the two null hypotheses formulated for the study. The sample for the study was 52 principals and 250 teachers. The major findings from the study indicated that the causes of administrative conflicts in secondary schools in Udi Education zone include: Communication barriers, inadequate resources, lack of motivation, hatred and frustration among staff, poor human relationship and jealousy. It also identified how the non-involvement of teachers in indecision making results to administrative conflict in schools such as: punitive transfer of staff, principals use of threat on their teachers, lack of instructional materials and principals having too much powers on the teachers. The study identified equally how principals qualification contributes to administrative conflicts in secondary schools include: principals with forgery certificates, principals without portfolio and the in ability of the principals to abide by his professional ethics when the need arises. There are conflict strategies to be adopted for effective conflict management in the secondary schools such as: Teachers should be involved while making certain decisions about them, holding regular meetings with the P.T.A members and the officials from the school board, being fair and firm to all concerned and having a good human relationship, insist on dialogue for resolving conflict among teachers and principals. Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made. The appropriate authorities, school principals and teachers should ensure that there are teachers representative councils (TRC) established for the management of conflict in secondary schools and Principals should understand the causes of conflict in the school system and use appropriate strategies to ameliorate the situation.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In every organization, like the school, conflict is very inevitable and must be resolved for the organization to achieve her objectives. There is no school which does not experience conflict at some time or another as part of daily interactions. Conflict occurs when people or groups are engaged in competition to meet goals which are perceived to be incompatible.
| 1 |
Conflict is viewed as a human and social phenomenon in the school environment which brings about hostility and prevents progress. Conflict, according to Imhabekhai (2000), connotes a product of disagreement between or among individuals or groups in an organization or, in a society over allocation or distribution of resources which are relatively scarce to the demand for them. Conflict is an open disagreement between two people or groups of people who have different values. According to Ikejiani-Clark (2007), conflict is natural and inevitable part of people working together, sharing diverse thoughts, concerns, perspectives and goals. According to Nye (2004), conflict is conceived as “mutual hostility” at interpersonal, inter-human, inter-group and inter-ethnic, inter-cultural and at inter-national level. It is a situation where the disputants are hostile to each other or to one another in order to achieve their set goals or objectives which are usually regulated by hierarchy of human needs, selfishness, greediness as well as sociological, political, cultural, psychological and religious motives.
According to Udomo (2010) conflict is disagreement and misunderstanding between two parties concerning issues. Conflict, he said, exists where there is divergent or different ideas to a matter under consideration. People who are in conflict are termed to be quarreling, disunited, struggling and fighting over
somethings.
Zwei (1997) gives a comprehensive idea of conflict situation when he explains that a conflict is a major disagreement that generates antagonism and oppositions in the relationships between persons, groups and organization. It occurs when some persons, because of differences, interfere with, in terms of obstructions, counteraction or opposition, the attainment of the goals and interest of others.
By a single word definition, conflict means, a fight, battle, struggle, sharp disagreement or opposition. Conflict enables an individual or groups to reassure their priorities. Fadipe (2000) defines conflict as a form of disagreement in an establishment between two individuals or groups who have cause to interact formally or informally. He further adds that when two or more people who work together in an organization are not in good terms, especially in matters that relate directly or indirectly to their work schedules, there is conflict.
All the definitions presented above specify that: there must be a group, there must be some contest over an interest and there must be disagreement. There must also be opposition or disharmony in the struggle between or among the groups or parties. This means therefore that in conflict there must be a group/party, not a single individual. Conflict therefore connotes a situation where there are two or more parties whose interest clash or goals appear to be incompatible.
Secondary schools are educational institutions where students are exposed to various educational programmes for acquisition of knowledge and also for the well-being of their communities. In secondary schools, various types of personnel are involved. These include the principals, the teachers, students, non – teaching staff and even the communities. The principal administers the secondary school and it is his/her responsibility to provide and maintain a healthy academic environment.
One of the greatest tasks of a principal in the secondary school is the management of conflicts between a principal and teachers who implement the instructional programmes of the school. Effective and efficient secondary school administration has relationship with the ability of a principal to manage conflict. In an organization such as secondary school, people find themselves in various kinds of conflicts either as a result of their birth or religious beliefs or way of life-culture.
In the secondary schools for example, teachers may resort to boycott of classes, quarrels with the principal or refusal to carry out assigned tasks. Others may resort to physical aggression, and defiance. All these do mar the achievement of the objectives of the secondary school. Ezegbe (1997) lamented that conflicts between principals and teachers are capable of causing administrative inefficiency, fighting, breakdown in teaching and learning process, indiscipline among staff and students, and a general failure in the delivery of education. It equally appears that conflicts tend to question the administrative competence of the principals thereby undermining the hierarchy of authority and channels of command in the affected schools.
According to Beggy (2003), conflict is part and parcel of the school and the school cannot shy away from it, because it is experienced daily in the teaching and learning process. It is demanded of the principal to use his personal characteristics to proffer plausible solutions to grievances that emanate as a result of conflict among the school personnel so that the school goals and objectives will not be hindered.
The principal’s experience can be linked to the way conflict is managed in the school in order to achieve the school goals and objectives.
According to Bass (2003), principals with longer experience perform better than their other colleagues with less experience when it comes to resolving conflicts within the school. The gender of the school administrator is very important in the secondary schools administration. A significant relationship exists between principal’s sex and conflict management in secondary schools.
Likert (1999) submitted that male principals perform more effectively and efficiently in conflict management in an organization than female counterparts.
Conflict may be as a result of decision-making process, conflict by nature changes over time. Whenever a group cannot accomplish set goals or complete a task, the group members’ experience frustration, then those involved may perceive that conflict exists and formulate ideas about conflict issue.
DecisionMaking has been characterized as one of the major responsibilities of educational administrators or policy makers (Ogbannaya, 2002). It is simply the process of choosing from among alternative ways of providing a solution to a problem. There are three types of decisions namely: Intermediary decision, Appellate decisions and Creative decisions.
Intermediary decisions do not originate from the school administrator, rather, they are decisions delegated to him by superior officers in the administrative hierarchy. Appellate decisions are the decisions which subordinates, examples, provost of a college of education refers matters to the National Commission for Colleges of Education for their disposition. Creative decisions are those concerned with improving some aspect of education such as curricular programmes, admission policies, and in-service education programmes.
Conflict may be caused by competition for inadequate resources, contradicting value system, manipulation of information and perception.
Conflict is part of a school because teachers have varying ideas about issues, they have different backgrounds and their experiences are different. These differences cause so much damage to the school if they are not well managed. School administrators are managers and they should be able to manage conflict effectively rather than suppress or avoid them.
The principal’s qualification will contribute a long way in conflict management in the secondary schools. A principal’s qualification is a good determinant of how he or she manages conflict in the school system. Yolk (2010) observed that principals with higher qualifications tend to perform better in conflict management in the secondary schools. The nature and types of conflicts that occur in secondary schools administration vary from one school to another. These types of conflicts include internal and external conflict. Internal conflict is person versus self, while external is person versus nature and environment.
Conflict which lies on the shoulder of an administrator between opposing motives or ideas is shown by it’s “internal dialogue” and is at the intra-personal level. The primary concern here is with the social conflict, that is, conflict between people and organization whether they are acting as individuals, as members, as groups, or as representatives of organizations or nations (Okeibunor and Anugnom, 2002). Interpersonal conflict occurs when two or more people have incompatible needs, goals, or approach in their relationship.
Communication breakdown is often seen as an important source of interpersonal conflict and learning communication skills is valuable in preventing and resolving such difficulties. Inter-group conflict occurs between groups of people such as ethnic or racial groups, departments or levels of decision making in the same organization, union and management. Competition for scare resources is a common source of inter-group conflict in less disruptive ways. According to Fisher (2000), social-psychological processes are very important in inter-group conflict, group members tend to develop stereotypes (oversimplified negative beliefs) of the opposing group tends to blame them for their own problems (scape-goat), and practices dissemination against them.
