THE INFLUENCE OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND ITS IMPLICATION ON EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE SAGNARIGU DISTRICT
ABSTRACT
The study was conducted to investigate the impact of conflict and its management on the performance of teachers in Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District of the Northern Region of Ghana. The objective of the study were to establish the types and causes of
conflicts, find out the perceived effects of conflicts on the performance of teachers and to determine the conflict resolution strategies employed to resolve conflicts in Senior High
Schools in the Sagnarigu District. A descriptive survey design was employed with
questionnaire to collect data for the study. The target population of the study was 328 comprising 16 headmasters and assistant headmasters and 312 teachers. Simple random sampling was used to select 50% of the population of 328 as justified by Sekaran (1992), making a sample of 164 for the study. The study found that competition for limited resources, task interdependence, and competition for positions was causes of conflict. Also conflict helps to improve the decision making process and improve future communications. Decrease in productivity, violent behavior and damage to property and theft were negative effect of conflict. Collaboration, competition, accommodation, compromising and avoidance are conflict resolution strategies. Based on the findings and conclusions, it is recommended that heads of educational institutions should find the causes of the conflicts to prevent if not to minimize their reappearance and also to resolve conflict amicably to improve performance.
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study 
1.2 Statement of the Problem  
1.3 Purpose of the Study  
1.4 Objective of the Study 
1.5. Research Questions  
1.6 Significance of the Study
Limitations of the Study  
1.8 Delimitation of the Study   
1.9 Organization of the study 
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW  
2.0 Introduction   
2.1 What is Conflict?  
2.2 Stages of Conflict 
2.3 The Causes of Conflicts in Organization 
2.5 Other Conflicts in Organizations  
2.5 Conflict Situations in Organizations   
2.5.1    Conflict within the individual or intrapersonal conflict   
2.6.2    Interpersonal conflict  
2.6.3    Conflict between the Individual and the Group  
2.6.4    Intergroup Conflict   
2.6.5    Inter-organizational Conflict   
2.7    The Effects of Conflict within an Organization  
2.7.1    Negative effect of conflict   
2.7.1.1    Violence   
2.7.1.2    Decrease in Productivity
2.7.1.3    Members Leave the Organization
2.7.1.4    Stress and unhappiness and strike  
2.7.1.5    Lessening of organizational effectiveness  
2.7.1.6    Psychological withdrawal   
2.7.1.7    Aggression behavior towards person who are not directly involved  
2.7.1.8    Damage to property and theft   
2.7.2    Positive effect of Conflict   
2.7.2.1    Identify New Members   
2.7.2.2    Improve Future Communication   
2.7.2.3    Inspire Creativity 
2.7.2.4    Share and Respect Opinions   
2.7.2.5    Enhances group restructuring   
2.7.2.6    Improves the decision making process  
2.7.2.7    Improves interpersonal relationship  
2.8    Conflict Resolution Styles in Organizations  
2.8.1    Yielding or Accommodating Conflict Style   
2.8.2    Conciliation or Compromising Conflict Style  
2.8.3    Competitive or Fighting Conflict Style  
2.8.4    Cooperation or Collaborating Conflict Style 
2.8.5    Avoidance Conflict Style   
2.9    Summary of Literature Review
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY   
3.0    Introduction    35
3.1    Research Design    35
3.3    Population    36
3.4    Sample and Sampling Procedures    36
3.4.1    Sample    36
3.4.2    Sampling Procedures    37
3.5    Data Source    37
3.5.1    Primary Data    38
3.5.2    Secondary Data    38
3.6    Data Collection Instrument    38
3.7    Validity and Reliability of Instrument    38
3.7.1    Validity    39
3.7.2    Reliability    39
3.8    Data Collection Procedure    40
3.9    Data Analysis Procedure    40
3.10    Ethical considerations    40
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION    41
4.0    Introduction    41
4.1    Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents    41
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS    59
5.0    Introduction    59
Summary    59
Main Findings    60
Conclusions    61
5.4    Recommendations    62
5.5    Suggestions for Further Study    62
REFERENCES    63
APPENDIX A: LETTER OF INTRODUCTION    69
APPENDIX B : QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RESPONDENTS    70
 LIST OF TABLES
TABLE    PAGE
4.1    Demographic Characteristics of Respondents    42
 4.2    : Causes of Conflict in Senior High Schools    43
4.3    : Types of Conflict in Senior High Schools    47
4.4    : Positive Effects of Conflict    50
4.5    : Negative Effects of Conflict    52
4.6    : Respondents� Ratings on the Impact of Conflict on Teaching and Learning    55
4.7    : Conflict Resolution Strategies Employed in Senior High Schools    56
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE    PAGE
2.1    Some causes of Organizational Conflicts    17
 2.2    Structural Strategies in Resolving Conflicts in Organization or Institution    34
 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1    Background to the Study
Conflict is inevitable in all human related establishments all over the world. Conflict is an unpleasant fact in any organisation as long as people compete for jobs, resources, power, recognition, and security. Henry (2009) opined that, organizational conflict can be regarded as a dispute that occurs when interests, goals or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible with each other. This results into a situation whereby they frustrate each other in an attempt to achieve their objectives. Conflict arises in institutions among groups because of the scarcity of freedom, position, and resource. People who value independence tend to resist the need for interdependence and, to some extent, conformity within a group. People who seek power therefore struggle with others for position or status within the group (Weihrich (2000). Conflict is part of organisational life and may occur between individuals and a group and between groups.
Many people see conflict as being destructive and unhelpful but, Jones (2006) notes that conflict in itself need not be a problem; it is the hostility that is usually seen as the harmful aspect of conflict. A conflict that prevents the achievement of organisational objectives is negative and seen as dysfunctional conflicts and leads to hostility causing physical and psychological withdrawal of people, property damage physical injury, streets, anxiety and negative interpersonal attitude, while that which supports the achievement of organisational objective is functional which in turn builds self-image, encourages recognition, improve status and respect, develops assertive principles and helps to clear the air. Regrettably, the term �conflict� has only the connotation of bad for many people; so
 much so that they think principally in terms of suppression, giving little or no attention to its more positive side. Rico (2001) emphasizes this by stating that it seems entirely likely that many, if not most, organizations need more conflict, not less. Pondy (2000) also stated that the absence of conflict may indicate autocracy, uniformity, stagnation, and mental fixity; the presence of conflict may be indicative of democracy, diversity, growth, and self- actualization. Conflict should not be seen as the opposite of cooperation, but a mechanism that allows perceiving benefits of cooperative work.
In addition, conflict is socially healthy because it encourages opposition to the status quo and provides conditions for social changes and democracy stemming from pluralism and respect to diversity. Therefore, conflict is ubiquitous, not necessarily dysfunctional and can be required to defy people to perform and stimulate progress and performance. Much is happening globally on the issue of the influence of conflicts on performance. Most people had the notion that conflict is always associated with the negative effect as the views of some writers also supported that with the following definitions:
Jones (2000) stated that conflict is a process where one party perceives that another party has negatively affected or is about to affect negatively something that the first party cares about. Different people also view conflict differently, traditionalist believe that conflicts should be avoided, while human relations view is that conflict is a natural part of life and that people need to know how to resolve it. The interactionism�s view it as a positive force that is for groups to perform effectively. It can therefore be concluded that conflict is a characteristic of human life existence which drives people into the future. Mullins (2009) also agreed with the statement when he said that conflict is a normal part
 of everyday life on or off the job. Pondy (2000) also disagreed with people who think that conflict has only the connotation of �bad� they think principally in terms of suppression, giving little or no attention to its positive side.
All over the world, conflicts cannot be ignored with the increasing number of employees in organizations so managers need to identify the forms of conflicts as part of organizational life which may occur between individuals, between individuals and groups, and between groups. Heads of educational institutions need to know that conflict can result
from competing for limited resources, new information which challenge old ideas, contradictory information (when people are not sure of what to believe). Others include personal antagonism, defensiveness, a closed culture, stress and polarization.
Heads of educational institutions and managers should be aware that the challenges of the world are now pressing them not to suppress their employees when conflicts exist, but rather see conflict from the interactionism�s view. Conflicts keep groups changing and innovative. Some conflicts are beneficial and these types of conflicts should be encouraged as a way to promote performance in our educational setting, including Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District. Conflicts are a disruptive, clash of interests; objectives, or
 personalities between individuals and groups, or between groups (Bittel, 1985). essence of conflict then is disagreement or incompatibility.
 The Conflict is pervasive in all human experience. Most people dislike conflicts because of its negative effects and consequences. Their natural reaction is to avoid it, so managers and heads need to address and resolve issues of conflicts in a non-violent way by fighting the conflict and not the people as happened in Tamale Senior High School where students
 were beaten leading to the closure of the school in the middle of the academic year due to conflicts between the school and a cross section of its students that led to violent agitations. Jones (2006) indicated that some of the strategies adopted to resolve conflict are competing, collaborating, avoiding, accommodating, and compromising. Conflicts that cannot be resolved between the two parties need the presence of a third party that would use the techniques of conciliation, fact finding, mediation, and arbitration which will enable the conflict not to escalate and thereby enhance performance.
1.2    Statement of the Problem
As stated in the background to study, conflict is inevitable in all human related establishments all over the world. Conflict is an unpleasant fact in any organisation as long as people compete for jobs, resources, power, recognition, and security. Conflict is a challenging issues that every human institution or organization encounter in performing their duties as part and parcel of life. In spite of the efforts made by heads of institutions and managers to eradicate conflict at the latent stage before it escalates to increase performance and productivity, it is still inevitable. It has been revealed that of conflicts exist in organizations, within individuals, between groups, and between organizations (Weihrich, 2000). Many people view conflict to be negative or dysfunctional, thinking principally in terms of suppression, violence, stagnation, and autocracy (Pondy, 2000).
Researchers all over the world who have studied conflict, focus much on the
dysfunctional or negative aspect of it and not much is encountered in literature, regarding empirically documented works about the positive or functional aspect of conflict on performance. This gap in literature needs to be filled in order to increase our knowledge
 and understanding of conflict and the various resolution strategies used to resolve conflict to bring about improved performance in organizations. However, the concept of the traditional teams and that of the interactionism�s teams have not been effectively tested. Thus, the study was conducted to provide feedback on how conflict when effectively resolved can stimulate performance in Senior High Schools in the Sangnarigu District of the Northern Region of Ghana.
1.3    Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of conflict and its management on the performance of teachers in Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District of the Northern Region of Ghana.
1.4    Objective of the Study
Specifically, the study sought to:
1.    establish the types and causes of conflicts that exist in Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District.
2.    find out the perceived effects of conflicts on the performance of teachers in Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District.
3.    determine the conflict resolution strategies employed to resolve conflicts in Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District.
1.5. Research Questions
1.    What are the types and causes of conflict in Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District?
 2.    What are the perceived effects of conflicts on the performance of teachers in Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District?
3.    What are the conflict resolution strategies employed to resolve conflicts in Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District?
1.6 Significance of the Study
The study will be significant in the following perspective:
It will enable school heads and staff to have deeper knowledge of the various types and
causes of conflict and how to manage and resolve conflict before it escalates.
The study will provide the Ghana Education Service and stakeholders in education
with in-depth knowledge on how to manage and resolve conflicts to improve performance of educational institutions.
It will enable the general public to get a deeper understanding that conflict is inevitable and if managed and resolved effectively, its functional effect is healthy for every organization to maximize performance to improve productivity.
Finally, to other researchers in education, the outcome of the study will help them to find out more on the impact of conflict on performance of workers and also help them to know what has been done and what is left to be done.
Limitations of the Study
Due to financial constraints, the sample was limited to the impact of conflict and its management on the performance of teachers in public Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District even though there are other private senior high schools in the district. Some respondents failed to return the questionnaire on time despite one or two reminders.
 Another constraint was that some of the respondents felt reluctant to disclose full information due to fear of intimidation by their superiors and colleagues. The generalization of the finding of the study was limited to only public senior high schools in the study area.
1.8 Delimitation of the Study
The study was delimited to the influence of conflict and its management on the
performance of teachers in public Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District of the Northern Region of Ghana. The study was delimited in scope due to financial and time constraints. It therefore, confined itself to only public Senior High Schools in the Sagnarigu District, therefore, its application to a larger population or wider area may not be possible.
1.9 Organization of the Study

The study consists of five chapters. The first chapter dealt with the introduction of the study including the background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research question, significant of the study, delimitation of the study, limitation of the study and organization of study. Chapter Two dealt with the literature review. It reviews related literature by other scholars in the field of institutional conflict. Chapter Three dealt with the methodology of the study. It describes the research design, the population sample and sampling procedure, data collection instrument, data collection procedure, data analysis and ethical considerations. Chapter Four presented and discussed the result of the study based on the research questions. Chapter Five dealt with the summary, conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for further research.