The causes, styles and effects of conflict management on teachers in selected secondary schools of Mongu District, Zambia

Abstract

I his study souglit to assess the causes, styles of conflict management and effects of conllict management styles on teachers in selected secondary schools of Mongu District. The major objectives of the study were; to identify the major causes of contlicts in selected secondary schools of Mongu District; to establish condict management styles common amongst teachers and head teachers in selected schools of Mongu District: to as.sess how conflict management styles affect teachers in selected secondary schools ofMongu District.

A descriptive survey design was adopted which used interviews, document review and questionnaires to collect data from 110 respondents in 10 selected secondary schools. This sample compri.sed of 10 head teachers, 20 heads of department and 80 subject teachers. The schools were sampled using random sampling. The head teachers and heads of department were sampled using purposive sampling whilst the subject teachers were sampled using snowball sampling. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in analyzing data.

The cau.ses of conflicts in schools were said to be incompetence of the head teachers, favouritism, educational level, scarce resources, unsatisfactory, class allocation, poor work culture, late coming, lack descent accommodation, not submitting teaching files on .schedule, lack ol teaching resources and the introduction of the new curriculum. Ihc findings of the study established that conflict management styles are used by head teachers, heads of department and subject teachers. The findings showed that head teachers were able to manage conflict using conflict management styles such as compromising, dialogue and avoidance while the heads of department and teachers used completion and confrontation as conflict management styles.

The study also established that conflict management styles affected teachers in various ways such as work withdraw, frustrations and poor attitude towards work.

In the light ol" the finding.s, the .study recommended that Head teachers should encourage team work among teachers in the departments as a way of minimizing conflict. Ministry of llducation should include a course on management of conflicts in