An Investigation Of The Strategies Used By Secondary Principals In Managing Conflicts: A Case Of Migori County Kenya

ABSTRACT

Conflict Management is a theme that has occupied the thinking of scholars of organizations for a long period of time. Educational institutions of Kenya have experienced conflicts of varies nature. The climax of the conflicts was witnessed in the Kenyan Secondary Schools in 2008 when conflicts threatened security in schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the strategies that principals in Migori District use in conflict management and how they affect performance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. The target population was 32 secondary schools, 7823 students and 274 teachers. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules and purposive, simple, random and stratified sampling was done to get samples. The instruments were piloted in four schools which were later not included in the final study sample. Validity of the instrument was done by giving the instruments to education management experts who advised on their validity. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained through the spearman rank order correlation. Qualitative data was coded for easy interpretation. Data was presented tables, bar graphs, pie-charts. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics i.e. frequencies and percentages through SPSS Programme. From the findings the study indentified four types of conflicts in secondary schools in Migori County which included interpersonal, intrapersonal, emotional and group conflicts. Competition and collaboration were found to be the most commonly used strategies employed by headteachers to manage conflicts. It was established that conflicts affected performance and various cross-cutting measures were suggested to improve conflict management which included, co-operation between parents and teachers adequate provision of resources, training in conflict management and investment in cocurriculum activities to deal with stress. The study concluded that conflicts ate evitable in schools and it is therefore important that they are managed well. The study recommended that the MoE and TSC conduct regular conflicts management trainings. KICD to develop a manual on conflict management strategies and how to apply them. Future researchers should study challenges teachers face as they resolve conflicts in Migori County. Also the study recommends, further study should be conducted to determine the effectiveness of conflict management strategies in all schools across Kenya and across all levels of education.