Influence of principals’ conflict management styles on academic performance in public secondary schools in Makueni sub-county, Makueni county

Abstract

Conflict is a necessary and useful part of organizational life. It is a dispute that occurs when interests, goals or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible with each other. Success a nd failure in the school system depends on the principal’s effectiveness that manifests in his ability to plan, organize, coordinate, direct and control the activities of the school system so as to achieve the goals and objectives of the school. The academic performance of secondary schools in Makueni sub - county has not been up to standard despite the high marks that those who are selected to join these schools scored in KCPE. Primary schools in this region perform far much better compared to their secondary school counterparts; which begs the question, could there be something that these students in secondary schools go through that distracts them hence poor performance? It is against this backdrop that this study sought to find out the influence of principals’ conflict management styles on academic performance in secondary schools. The study therefore tried to find out the conflict management styles used by principals in the course of their administration and how this impacts on the school’s academic performance. This study was guided by the following objectives: t o establish the influence of compromising as a conflict management style on academic performance in secondary schools in Makueni Sub - county; to find out the impact of collaboration conflict management style on academic performance in secondary schools in Makueni sub - county; to establish the impact of accommodating conflict management style on academic performance in secondary schools in Makueni sub - county; and to find out the influence of competing as a conflict management style on academic performance in secondary schools in Makueni sub - county. The study was carried out as a descriptive survey design. This study employed the use of questionnaires to collect information. Data from the questionnaires were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). This study found out that principals in Makueni District, Makueni County use all the four conflict management styles. A high percentage of teachers and principals agreed that there is use of competing style as a method of conflict management in their schools. There is also a high percentage of schools which their principals use both compromising and accommodating methods of conflict management. Most of those schools whose principals relied a lot on competitive, compromising and accommodating strategies in managing their school conflicts had a mean score of between 2 and 6 with those whose principals used them in moderation having a mean score of between 6 and 10. This study will be significant to principals in Makueni sub-county and the county at large as it will make them to know the appropriate conflict management styles which they need in managing conflicts in their schools.