PROPOSAL EXAMPLE

Table of Contents
Contents Page

List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ III

Chapter One................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1
1.2. Background of The Study ............................................................................................ 2
1.3. Statement of Problem ...................................................................................................... 3
1.3. Basic Research Questions ............................................................................................ 4
1.4. Objective of The Study .................................................................................................. 5
1.4.1. General Objective ..................................................................................................... 5
1.4.2. Specific Objective ..................................................................................................... 5
1.5. Significance of the Study ................................................................................................ 5
1.6. Operational Definitions ................................................................................................... 6
1.7. Organization of the Study ................................................................................................ 6
Chapter Two ............................................................................................................................... 7
2.1. Review of Related Literature ....................................................................................... 7
2.1.1. Definition and Nature of Conflict ............................................................................ 8
2.1.2. Types of Conflict ...................................................................................................... 9
2.1.3. Sources of Conflict ................................................................................................. 11
2.1.4. Effects of Conflict ................................................................................................... 12
2.1.5. Strategies to Handle Conflict .................................................................................. 12
Chapter Three ........................................................................................................................... 16
3.1. Research Design and Methodogy .................................................................................. 16
3.1.1. Description of the Study Area .................................................................................... 16
3.1.2. The Research Design .............................................................................................. 16
3.1.3. Research Method .................................................................................................... 16
3.1.4. Source of Data......................................................................................................... 17
3.5. Population of the Study ................................................................................................. 17
3.6. Data Gathering Tools..................................................................................................... 18
3.6.1. Questionnaire .......................................................................................................... 18
 3.6.2. Interview ................................................................................................................. 18
3.6.3. Document Analysis ................................................................................................. 18
3.7. Procedure of Data Collection ........................................................................................ 19
3.8. Method of Data Analysis ............................................................................................... 19
3.9. Ethical Consideration .................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................................................... 20
4.1. Time Schedule and Budget Break Down ...................................................................... 20
4.1.1. Time Schedule and Activities ................................................................................. 20
4.1.2. Budget Break Down ................................................................................................ 21
References ................................................................................................................................ 22

II
 List of tables
Table 3 . 1 population of the study ........................................................................................... 17
Table 4. 1 Time schedule ......................................................................................................... 20
Table 4. 2 Budget Specification ............................................................................................... 21

III
 CHAPTER ONE
1.1. INTRODUCTION
De Janasz, et al (2006) stressed that conflict is a fact of life in organizations. Conflict is not
something that is a tangible product but it lies in the minds of the people who are parties to it.
It does become tangible when it manifests itself in arguing, brooding, or fighting. The problem
lies with the inability for people to manage and resolve it effectively. If managed effectively,
conflict can be constructive. If not, conflict can be a destructive force in people and
organizations.

Chung and Megginson (1981) opine that we live in an age of conflict. In most organizations,
the level and number of conflicts seem to be increasing. Employees are becoming more
assertive in demanding their share of organizational rewards such as status, recognition, pay,
benefits, and autonomy. Conflicts among groups are also increasing. As here are so many
interest and pressure groups in organizations, it is difficult to find a sense of community and
reach any kind of agreement among them. Organizational tasks, as they become increasingly
complex, demand cooperation between various functional and technical groups. This increased
demand for task interdependence tends to foster group conflict. It was affirmed that
dysfunctional conflict is an unhealthy, destructive disagreement between two or more people,
that it shifts the focus of the people from the work to be done to the conflict itself and the parties
involved. This type of conflict becomes an obstacle in front of any movement toward
development or better performance inorganization.

Because of diverse and varied definitions of conflict, attitudes towards it and images of its role
are also varied. Conflict in schools takes different forms; for example, teachers seem reluctant
to obey the principals, they do not seem to follow rules or accept extra work, they do not easily
get along with their principals. Principals too adopt an authoritative approach, for example they
pressurize teachers for an uninterrupted working of the school activities. It, therefore, becomes
common that conflict between teachers and the school principal occur frequently at any time in
the school. In institutions, conflict occurs between various individuals because of their frequent
interaction with each other. Conflict is an expression of hostility, antagonism and
misunderstanding between the staff members.

Conflict presently continues to be a factor in academic life. Schools frequently appear to be

centers of tension; on occasion, they are perhaps a manifestation of problems in the community.
The term conflict is viewed in a variety of ways because of its confusion with those conditions
which lead to situations of different conflict.

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This section of the study comprises of background of the study, statement of the problem
objective of the study, significance of the study delimitation of the study and operational
definition of terms.

1.2. Background of the study

From time immemorial, conflicts have been in existence. Studies done by Yambo (2012) found
out that conflicts and stressful situations are closely associated to an extent that they can
influence principals’ work and service delivery in schools. Further, the work of Aldag and
Kuzuhara (2002) added that conflict is an old phenomenon and in fact as old as mankind and
these days have been causing concerns to all stakeholders in education and other employers
alike. Over time, the causes of conflicts have diversified, and their types have also grown in
complexity (Whetten & Cameron, 2002). Conflict is actual or perceived opposition of needs.
In politics, conflict refers to wars, revolutions or other struggles, which may involve the use of
force as in armed conflicts. According to McNamara (2007) conflicts occur when two or more
parties, with perceived incompatible goals, seek to undermine each other's goal-seeking
capability. In fact, clash of interests, values, opinions, actions or directions often spark conflicts
in every work place schools included. The work of Mudis and Yambo (2015) contends that it
is prudent to properly manage conflicts by using various means including guidance and
counseling which every school should endeavor to make effective. This is because without
proper social arrangement or resolution, conflicts can result into stress, unnecessary fatigue or
tensions among stakeholders (Yambo, Odhiambo and Odera 2014). When conflicts occur, their
effects are often broader than the individuals involved, and can affect many associated
individuals and relationships, in more or less adverse ways. In this regard, it can affect school
fraternity and academic achievement. Hence, the need to effectively manage conflicts is a
requirement for the proper functioning of any individual, group or organization.

Conflict is an essential and unavoidable human phenomenon because where there is human
interaction; there is a likelihood of personal likes and dislikes. These agreements and
disagreements among individuals and groups lead them to conflicts. Conflicts are neither
constructive nor disruptive but the ways these are handled make them either positive or
negative. Schools, like other human organizations, are prone to one or other type of conflict.
Various conflict management strategies are adopted for handling conflict; the most important
among these are, mediation, negotiation, avoidance, collaborating etc. Main aim of this study
will be on the exploration of the nature of conflicts in schools particularly in tabor secondary
school, its causes and techniques adopted for its management and redressal.

An organization consists of several people. The attitudes, feelings, needs and perceptions differ
from person to person. Individual differences may cause misunderstanding and conflicts
between

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individuals and groups. Interpersonal and intergroup conflicts therefore, affect the organization
either negatively or positively. Conflict based on scarcity of power, resources or social position
and differing value systems occurs when individuals or groups feel that other individuals or
groups have frustrated their plans, goals, beliefs, or activities (Dana, 2001). Conflict in
organizations occurs at the following four levels: intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup and
inter organizational (Robbins and Coulter, 2004). Conflict may have either a positive or a
negative effect on organizational performance, depending on the nature of the conflict and how
it is managed (Armstrong, 2009). Conflict is disagreements between two or more parties for
example individual, groups, department, organizations, countries, who perceive what they have
in compatible concern.
Conflict exists whenever an action by one party is perceived as preventing or interesting with
the
goals, needs or actions of another party. Conflict can arise over a multiple of organizational
experiences such as in compatible goals, difference in the interpretation of facts, negative
feelings different of values and philosophies disputes over shared researcher (fisher 1999).
Conflict is inevitable and often good, for example, good teams always go through a "form,
storm, norm and perform" period. Getting the most out of diversity means often-contradictory
values, perspectives and opinions.
Conflict is often needed. It:
i) Helps to raise and address problems.
ii) Energizes work to be on the most appropriate issues.
iii) Helps people "be real", for example, it motivates them to participate.
iv) Helps people learn how to recognize and benefit from their differences

1.3. Statement of problem

Conflict at the work place is inevitable and a reality of life when two or more people work
together and combine their ideas a door way of conflict is aver conflict is common in all school.
It is common to hear that with the aim of existing peacefully and standing for prosperity, our
world is said to priorities managing conflict. This is the fact that managing and resolving
conflict is a precondition for prosperity, harmonization and reaching to the designed goal. This

3
fact also stressed that there is always conflict in the world. The need to conduct this study is the
implication of managing conflict is a pre- condition for achieving goals particulars, educational
goals in the school.
Conflict in schools takes different forms; for example, teachers seem reluctant to obey the
principals, they do not seem to follow rules or accept extra work, they don’t easily get along
with
their principals. Principals too adopt an authoritative approach, for example they pressurize
teachers for an uninterrupted working of the school activities. It, therefore, becomes common
that conflict between teachers and the school principal occur frequently at any time in the
school. scholars like Irvins (cited in Mullins, 2002) have stated that “conflict is inevitable, it
happens in any organization and it has both negative and positive outcomes. But the positive
outcome is quality education in the school”.
Some of the most common type of conflict that is found in any organizations is individual
conflict, inter personal conflict, inter group conflict, inter-organization conflict. Conflict is not
the same as discomfort. The conflict isn't the problem it is when conflict is poorly managed that
is the problem. Conflict is existing in these secondary schools is type of interpersonal conflict,
group conflict from teacher to teacher, teacher to principals and teacher to the staff, student to
teacher. This may be one of the challenges for conductive teaching learning process, which is
to ensure quality education. Even the administrator (staff) employees have not enough
understanding about the ways and techniques of conflict management. Therefore, even though
conflict is in evitable and has positive and negative out comes it does not mean that it can’t be
solved. There is little information currently available on the effect of cause of conflict and its
management mechanism in Tabor secondary school.
Generally, whenever conflict in the school management successfully is important since there
are
different mechanisms of managing conflict. The main objective of this study is basically to
explore conflict management in basic school in Tabor secondary school.

1.3. Basic research questions

The significance of this study is predicated on the need for a peaceful atmosphere conducive
for learning and academic exercises. It is against this backdrop that the study will attempt to
provide answers to the following basic research questions:
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 1) What are sources of conflict in tabor secondary school?
2) What extent of conflict affect school performance?
3) What strategies are used by school directors to manage a conflict?

1.4. Objective of the Study

1.4.1. General Objective

The general objective of this study was to assess the cause of conflict and its management
strategies in Tabor secondary school.

1.4.2. Specific Objective

 To identify the major source of conflict between principals, teachers.
 To assess the effect of conflict in tabor secondary school.
 To identify strategies used by directors to manage conflict in Tabor secondary school.

1.5. Significance of the Study

The outcomes of this study will be expected to benefit the principals, supervisors, teachers, and
school communities in general in the following way:
 Principals and supervisors will be benefited when the study identifies and stated the
necessity of flexible conflict management for different nature of conflict.
 It will also benefit teachers in indicating the kind of conflict management mechanisms
which have to be use in the schools.
Also, it helps the management bodies to reduce their burden by analyzing data and information
in the school in collecting different views from different books by indicating the better conflict
management mechanisms for a certain kind of conflict. So, the management body of the school
might not devote much time to think how to manage conflicts which occurs in the schools
because it gives the information stated on the study about how to manage the kinds of conflict
which occur in the school. The findings of the study will also be expected to give indispensable
information for supervisor and principles on the mechanism of resolving conflict then these
bodies will imply practice in the schools, then there may be good teaching learning environment
which is again a good condition for better achievement of the school, particularly for quality

5
improvement. Furthermore, the study will used additional reference for researcher that will be
conducted on
similar or related topics.

1.6. Operational Definitions

Conflict: disagreement between two or more people /parties / who perceive that they have
incompatible concerns. Organizational conflict: involves disagreement on such issue as a
collection of resources, nature of goals and objectives, organizational procedures, distribution
of rewards and benefits. Conflict management: it is called conflict resolution it refers to any
activity aimed at keeping inter personal and inter organizational conflicts constructive rather
than allowing them to be destructive. Conflict resolution: is arranging of methods of eliminating
the source of conflict.

1.7. Organization of the Study

The study will be organized into four chapters including this introduction. The rest of the project
will be presented as follows.

Chapter 2 deals about review of related literatures that are considered useful to accomplish the
predefined objectives.

Chapter 3 deals about research design and methodology

Chapter 4 lastly this chapter presents the required time and budget specifications required to
accomplish this task.

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 CHAPTER TWO
2.1. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This section is a review of related literature on management and organizational conflicts. There
are various uses for the term management, which could mean a different thing to different
people in different contexts. Some use the term to mean a field of study or an academic
discipline. For the purpose of this study the definition of Sisk and William (1981) will be
adopted. They define management as a process of coordinating all resources “through the
processes of planning, organizing, leading and controlling in order to attain stated objectives.”
From this context, management becomes very crucial for the success or failure of a business.
Further, it is observed that management as a purposive coordinative process is universal to all
forms of group endeavor, that is, it is not only confined to business enterprises, and hence every
goal to be achieved through group efforts requires some form of management. Duncanin (1995)
noted that, “effective coordination does not just happen”, but is “brought about by individuals
who possess the knowledge and skills to synchronize the actions of numerous people and
channel those actions toward a common goal”. Persons who accomplish this task are called
managers, and the knowledge and skill they use are referred to broadly as the field of
management. This is to say that management consists of all organizational activities that involve
formation of goals; attainment of the goals, appraisal of performance and the development of
mechanisms that will ensure the success and the survival of the organization within the social
system.

Conflicts affect the accomplishment of organizational goals due to their attending stress,
hostilities and other undesirable factors when poorly managed. The issue of conflict
management then becomes paramount for goal accomplishment.

One of the objectives of making this review of related literature is to get the current knowledge
in the filed or the topic that the researcher plans to study. Hence, in this section of the paper
Preview studies associated with the causes of conflict and its management mechanisms would
be examined and discussed. Generally, this part deals with the concept and nature of conflict,
sources of conflict, the effects of conflict, and conflict resolution mechanisms. This chapter
does a critical review of literature done on conflict management. It begins with discussion on
conflict management as an important issue educational institution have to deal with. This was
then followed by discussion on various conflict management styles and the challenges
encountered in managing conflicts. The chapter then further examined the factors which
influence conflict management in basic schools and the role of conflict management in
institutional growth. The chapter concludes with the development of a conceptual framework
of the relationship between conflict management and institutional performance.

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 2.1.1. Definition and nature of conflict
The term conflict carries a variety of definitions, depending on the usage and the context of its
usage. Thesaurus (1993) defines conflict as synonymous with dissention, antagonism,
opposition, disagreement, discord, combat and encounter. This is echoed by the Advanced
Learners’ Dictionary which simply puts it as ‘being in opposition or disagreement.” The view
of Rahim (1992) was corroborative: “conflict as an interactive process is manifested in
incompatibility, disagreement, or difference within or between social entities (i.e. individuals,
groups, organizations etc.).” In Dahrendorf’s view;

“The term refers to tension within the organizational system. One may observe such
tension by paying attention to possible incompatibilities among departments, to
incompatibilities among staff members or employees, to complexities of the communication
network, and even to the organizational structure itself.”

Gardiner and Simmons (1992) defined conflict as “any divergence of interests, objectives or
priorities between individual, groups, or organizations or nonconformity to requirements of a
task; activity or process”. Duncan opined that conflict implies some types of hostility and
perhaps some desires to do harm which may be considered an extreme case of competition.
Conflict is different from competition, although competition may result in conflict. Some
believe that conflicts may occur without any specific reference to competition, as it could occur
as a result of breakdown in the mechanism of decision-making. DeCenzo (1997) has this to
say:

“Whenever two people come together, there are bound to be disagreements at time. That’s
natural. However, sometimes these differences can grow to enormous proportions where they
become detrimental to the involved parties and the organization. When that occurs, conflict is
present.”

A critical analysis of the definition of conflict as “the struggle over resources or ideas, between
two or more parties caused by the perceptions of the contending parties that both or all cannot
have what they desire”, buttresses the idea of conflict as originating from competition. This is
in line with Sisk and Williams’ (1981) definition of conflict as the process which begins when
one party perceives that one or more of its concerns have been or are about to be frustrated by
another party. From various points of view, the definition of conflict connotes that a trace of
competition cannot be totally ruled out.

To some, conflict is synonymous with violence, but to the United Nations International
Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF, 1995) in conflict is not necessarily synonymous with
‘violence’ and that conflict occurs not only in situations of violence but conflicts inevitably
occur between people over ideas, values, positions and perspectives on a range of issues. In the
opinion of Kerzner (1998) conflicts can occur with anyone and over anything. Seville’s

8
statement on violence and human nature (as cited by UNICEF, 1995) nevertheless stated that it
is not part of human nature to be violent and that violence is a learned response to conflict and
if violence can be learned, other responses are possible and can be learned as well.

Thamhain and Wilemon (1974) in their attempt to define conflict provided both sides of the
coin the negative and the positive side of it. They stated:

“Conflict is defined as the behavior of an individual, a group, or an organization which impedes

or restricts (at least temporarily) another party from attaining its desired goals. Although
conflict may impede the attainment of one’s goals, the consequences may be beneficial if they
produce new information which, in turn, enhances the decision-making, lengthy delays over
issues which do not importantly affect the outcome of the project, or a disintegration of the
team’s efforts.”

Wright (1990) also stated that the word conflict is derived from the Latin word configures
meaning to strike together. It was anticipated that conflict may occurred in a physical sense
when two or more different things moves to occupy the same space at the same time which
there is logical inconsistency and the process of solution are identical. Laue (1990) expressed
that conflict may arise when wants, needs and beliefs between two or more parties struggle to
agree. Chung & Megginson (1981) Carrell et al (1997), and, Dubrin (2005) mentioned that
conflict happens whenever disagreements exist in a social situation over issues of substance, or
whenever emotional antagonisms create frictions between individuals or groups. They agreed
that conflict continues when either side do not believe in a certain agreement and intertwine of
the other party is merely impossible. Rahim (2001) identifies that conflict takes various forms,
such as dyadic conflict, involving persons or groups, and coalition behavior, involving more
than two parties.
No matter how hard one tries to define the term, one is prone to agree with Sisk and Williams
(1981) that, “conflict is one of those phenomena that are experienced by everyone but that can
be defined completely and accurately by no one”.

2.1.2. Types of conflict

Several types of conflicts are identified in literature, including intra-personal, intra-group, inter-
personal, inter-groups, etc. According to DeCenzo (1997) organizational conflicts can take the
following forms: horizontal conflict, vertical conflict, and role confusion/conflict. From
literature, sources of conflicts can be classified into three, namely, competition for scarce

9
resources, drives for autonomy, and goals divergence as a result of differences in opinion.
According to Ivancevich (1996) four factors are known to contribute to conflicts. They are:
work interdependence, differences in goals, differences in perceptions, and increased demand
for specialists. Five stages of conflict were identified by Pondy (1969). These are: latent
conflict, perceived conflict, felt conflict, manifest conflict, and conflict aftermath. The
classification of conflict is often made on the basis of the antecedent conditions that lead to
conflict. Conflict may originate from a number of sources, such as tasks, values, goals, and so
on.
It has been found appropriate to classify conflict on the basis of these sources for proper
understanding of its nature and implications. Following is a brief description of this
classification.
a) Affective Conflict
This is defined as “a condition in which group members have interpersonal clashes
characterized by anger, frustration, and other negative feelings”.
b) Substantive Conflict
This type of conflict as “disagreements among group members’ ideas and opinions about the
task being performed, such as disagreement regarding an organization’s current strategic
position or determining the correct data to include in a report”.
c) Conflict of Interest
This is defined as an inconsistency between two parties in their preferences for the allocation
of a scarce resource. This type of conflict occurs “when each party, sharing the same
understanding of the situation, prefers a different and somewhat incompatible solution to a
problem involving either a distribution of scarce resources between them or a decision to share
the work of solving it.
d) Conflict of Values
This type of conflict occurs when two social entities differ in their values or ideologies on
certain issues. This is also called ideological conflict.
e) Goal Conflict

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This occurs when a preferred outcome or an end-state of two social entities is inconsistent. In
rare cases “it may involve divergent preferences over all of the decision outcomes, constituting
a zero-sum game
f) Realistic versus Nonrealistic Conflict
Realistic conflict is associated with “mostly rational or goal-oriented” disagreement,
nonrealistic conflict “is an end in itself having little to do with group or organizational goals”.

g) Institutionalized versus Non-institutionalized Conflict

The former is characterized by situations in which actors follow explicit rules, and display
predictable behavior, and their relationship has continuity, as in the case of line–staff conflict
or labor–management negotiations. Most racial conflict is non-institutionalized where these
three conditions are nonexistent.

2.1.3. Sources of conflict

The possible sources of conflict are poor communication, competition for common but
scarce resources, incompatible goals and the like. Fisher (1997) notes, both individuals and
groups have undeniable needs for identity, dignity, security, equity, participation in
decisions that affect them. Frustration of these basic needs becomes a source of social
conflict. According to Plunkett and Attner (1989), the sources of conflict include; shared
resources, differences in goals, difference in perceptions and values, disagreements in the
role requirements, nature of work activities, individual approaches, and the stage of
organizational
development. Gray and Stark (1984) suggested that there are six sources of conflict.
These are:
1) Limited resources;
2) Interdependent work activities;
3) Differentiation of activities;
4) Communication problems;
5) Differences in perceptions;
6) The environment of the organization.

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 According to these writers, conflict can also arise from a number of other sources, such as:
1) Individual differences (some people enjoy conflict while others don't);
2) Unclear authority structures (people don't know how far their authority extends);
3) Differences in attitudes;
4) Task symmetries (one group is more powerful than another and the weaker group tries
to change
5) Difference in time horizons (some departments have a long-run view and others have a
short -run view).
Another author Deutch in camp bell et-al (1983:187) identified a list of sources of conflict.
These are; control over resources, preferences and nuisances, values, beliefs, and the nature
of relationships between the parties.

2.1.4. Effects of conflict

Conflicts have both positive and negative effects on an organization depending on the
management and its final outcome. To Zikmann (1992) “effectively managed conflicts can help
identify previously undetected problems and attitudes. They can also help clarify uncertainties
and improve overall co-operation”. Conflicts should not totally be seen as evil, but rather as a
challenge to effect change. An organization should not run away from conflicts because they
are part of human existence as no one or organization is an island to himself or itself. Conflicts
should not be handled with hypocrisy, suppression or presence. A good approach to its
management is highly essential for peace and progress and result a positive impact to an
organization.

2.1.5. Strategies to handle conflict

David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson (1996) hold that Conflict resolution and peer
mediation programs are often promoted as a way to reduce violence (and destructively managed
conflicts) in schools. Management of conflict is a human relations concept long recognized in
business and industry as a necessary component of the developmental process. Sweeney and
Caruthers (1996) define conflict resolution in a most general and concise way, “the process

12
used by parties in conflict to reach a settlement”. Hocker and Wilmot (1985) initially discuss
conflict management styles in terms of assumptions. Their assumptions are:
 People develop patterned response to conflict.
 People develop conflict styles for reasons that make sense to them.
 No one style is automatically better than another.
 People's styles undergo change in order to adapt to the demands of new situations.
Robbins (1974) concentrates on strategies specifically labeled as resolution techniques. He lists
eight techniques as follows:
1) Problem solving
2) Super ordinate goals
3) Avoidance
4) Smoothing
5) Compromise
6) Authoritative command
7) Altering the human variable
8) Altering structural variables
.
Thomas (1971) examines conflict management strategies by focusing on general strategies used
by administrators in an educational setting. In his research he points out that there is no
difference between management and leadership; hence, manager is synonymous with leader.
Thomas eight strategies for management are:
1) Citizens advisories
2) Confrontation sessions
3) Sensitivity training
4) Process involvement
5) Educational pluralism
6) Volunteerism
7) Cooperative studies
8) Failure

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Since conflict is seemingly unavoidable, particularly in a scholarly setting, it is obviously
necessary for administrators to be able to recognize conflict, to view its constructive as well as
destructive potential, to learn how to manage conflict, and to apply conflict management
strategies in a practical way. Jhonson (1996) state that conflicts are resolved constructively
when they
a) Result in an outcome that all disputants are satisfied with,
b) Improve the relationship between the disputants, and
c) Improve the ability of disputants to resolve future conflicts in a constructive manner
Conflict Resolution Education (CRE) and Ohio Department of Education (ODE) define
conflict resolution as a philosophy and set of skills that assist individuals and groups to better
understand and deal with conflict as it arises in all aspects of their lives. Bodin and Crawford
(1999) maintains that since school is an entity which composes of different people with different
generational ages and that negotiation and mediation must be identified as the best
strategies for eliminating conflicts.
Three types of situations demand from the negotiator to face and find solution to them; these
situations are task and relationship-oriented conflict, intellectual and emotion-oriented conflict
and compromise and win conflict. Conflict management is deemed to be successful if it has
achieved its goal by reaching a win-win, or approach-approach or consensual agreement which
is accepted by both parties.
Mediation is another way of conflict management used today. Bentley (1996) describes
mediation as a form of problem-solving process where a neutral third party assists disputants to
reach a mutually acceptable agreement. Mediation proves as an effective method because it
involves a democratic and structured process that enables disputants to resolve their own
conflict, with the assistance of trained peers. Deutsch (2005) argues that mediators follow these
steps:
1) They establish a working alliance with the parties,
2) They improve the climate between the parties,
3) They address the issues, and
4) They apply pressure for settlement
Mediators should adopt the following skills in order to handle conflict, namely;

14
  They must be able to establish a working relation with each of the conflicting parties,
 They must be able to establish a cooperative problem-solving attitude among the parties,
 They must be able to develop a creative group process and group decision making, and
 They must gather considerable substantive knowledge about the problems around which
the conflict centers.
.

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 CHAPTER THREE
3.1. Research Design and Methodogy

3.1.1. Description of the study Area

This research will be conducted in a particular secondary school Hawassa Tabor Secondary
school found in Hawassa city near the mount called Tabor. in Hawassa, the capital of the
Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State (SNNPRS) located at the eastern
shore of Lake Hawassa 275km. south of Addis Ababa. It lies at an elevation of 1680m and has
a plain topography.

3.1.2. The research Design

According to Creswell (2014), there are three types of research designs in general. These are
quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods study; the inquirer also decides on a type of study
within these three choices. Research designs are types of inquiry within qualitative,
quantitative, and mixed methods approaches that provide specific direction for procedures in a
research design. In this study, the researcher used qualitative research design. Qualitative
research is an approach for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups
attribute to a social or human problem. The process of research involves emerging questions
and procedures, data typically collected in the participant’s setting, data analysis inductively
building from particulars to general themes, and the researcher making interpretations of the
meaning of the data. In qualitative research designs, there are different types of approaches such
as: - Narrative research approach, Phenomenological research approach, Grounded theory
research approach, Ethnography research approach, and Case studies research approach. The
researcher will use the Case study research approach.

3.1.3. Research Method

For collection of primary data for this research work survey and observation methods have been
used. Experimental method is not found suitable for this study because the topic is a theoretical
topic and there is no need to have experiments. Survey is used to collect quantitative
information about items in a population. Surveys are used in different areas for collecting the
data even in public and private sectors. Observation is a complex research method is mainly
used by higher experts A survey may be conducted in the field by the researcher. The
respondents are contacted by the research person personally, telephonically or through mail.
This research will use survey methods to convey valuable information through questionnaire
and interviews.

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 3.1.4. Source of Data
The primary and secondary sources of data will be used for this study. These teachers, principals
and student will be the primary source. Whereas, the secondary source of data will be minutes,
books, pamphlets.
3.1.4.1. Primary Source of data
Primary data are information collected by a researcher specifically for a research assignment.
In other words, primary data are information that a researcher must gather because no one has
compiled and published the information in a forum accessible to the public. Primary data are
original in nature and directly related to the issue or problem and current data. Primary data are
the data which the researcher collects through various methods like interviews, surveys,
questionnaires etc.
3.1.4.2. Secondary source of data
Secondary data are the data collected by a party not related to the research study but collected
these data for some other purpose and at different time in the past. If the researcher uses these
data then these become secondary data for the current users. These may be available in written,
typed or in electronic forms. A variety of secondary information sources is available to the
researcher gathering data on an industry, potential product applications and the market place.
Secondary data is also used to gain initial insight into the research problem. Secondary data is
classified in terms of its source either internal or external. Internal, or in-house data, is
secondary information acquired within the organization where research is being carried out.
External secondary data is obtained from outside sources.

3.5. Population of the Study

The population under consideration in this study comprised of principals and teachers of
Tabor secondary schools in Ethiopia, SNNR.

Table 3. 1 population of the study

Male Female
Principals 1 2
Teachers 42 98
Total 133

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 3.6. Data Gathering Tools

3.6.1. Questionnaire
The first data collecting instrument employed in the study was questionnaire. Self-developed
questionnaires will be prepared based on review literature in English language. The
questionnaires were distributed for key informants’ teachers, and principals. In this study, open
ended questions will be included since it gave respondents every freedom to give their extended
views on the issue. Close ended questions were used for their easiness in tabulation, objectivity
and sustainability to keep respondents on the subject of discussion. Respondents from
participants were taking using rating and the respondents are expected to express their responses
on provided rating scale that was relevant to the issue. Questionnaire will design collecting the
necessary data from the selected sample. It will be prepared for teaches to collect data related
to the school conflict management mechanisms and as well as the future attainting their
effectiveness and their level of use in the school. i.e. How often each conflict resolving or
managing mechanism has been used in the school. For this purpose, both open ended and close
ended questions is used or developed.

3.6.2. Interview
Interview is other vital data gathering instrument to undertake this study. The main reason why
this instrument was employed is with the belief that deeper information was obtained on issues
critical to the study under way. In order to get deeper information related to the causes of
conflict and its management practices in secondary schools. In the study area, a semi-structure
interview will be held with school principals to cross-check the responses obtained through
questionnaire.

3.6.3. Document analysis

Document Analysis is an important data collecting tool and hence various documents including
guidelines conflict management process in Tabor secondary school, minutes and compiled
data’s if any that was previously used by the school directors will be explored in the process of
the study.

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 3.7. Procedure of Data Collection
The first thing that the researcher will perform is, visiting Tabor secondary school and informed
them the objective of the research and showing them the letter of cooperation from Hawassa
University. The researcher collects the necessary information from the school director office.
Next, the researcher will visit the school’s principals and ask them their willingness to be
interviewed and distribute the questionnaires to the selected teachers and other concerned
personnel.

3.8. Method of data Analysis

The collected quantitative data will be presented, analyzed and interpreted by descriptive and
inferential statistics tools. Mean ranking will employ to identify the major causes of conflict
and
strategies of conflict management. One sample t –test was used to determine the prevalence of
conflict among principal, teachers and students in the study area. The data collected through
Interview was analyzed by narrative description of responses gained from the interviews.

3.9. Ethical Consideration

The researcher will look the following essential aspects of ethical consideration to prefect from
hard informed consent, right of privacy and honesty with the subject populations. Asking
permission from the school to collect data. The purpose of the study will be explained to the
target population. The information will be gathered from only voluntary individual. The data
collection process took place without interrupting the teaching learning process of the School.

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 CHAPTER FOUR
4.1. Time schedule and Budget Break Down

4.1.1. Time Schedule and Activities

In order to achieve pre-defined goals and objectives for the task series of activities will be
performed. Those activities end their expected time span as summarized in table 1 below. The
project is expected to be completed in a time span of 3 months as per the university schedule.
The tasks that will be performed and their expected time span is summarized in table below.

Table 4. 1 Time schedule

No Tasks Duration of time Remark

1 Approval of proposal Feb. 4/2019-Feb.13/2019
2 Purchase of necessary stationary materials Feb. 16/2019-17/2019
and supplies
3 Analysis conflict and its management on Feb. 22/2019-Mar.7/2019
Tabor secondary school
4 Analyzing the research Mar. 21/2019-Mar.31/2019
5 Check research work again Apr. 17/2019-Apr.24/2019
6 Write up and compiling of Research May. 15/2019-May.29/2019
7 Submission the final research Jun. 18/2019-Jun.24/2019

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 4.1.2. Budget Break Down

Table 4. 2 Budget Specification

No Item Description Quantity Unit Total

cost cost
(Birr) (birr)
1 Stationary material Pen 5 5 25
Notebook 1 60 60
Paper 1 pack 250 250
Flash disk 1 300 300
3 Communication For acquiring - 100 100
information (mobile
phone, internet…)
5 Printing About 50 pages 3 100 300
(Documentation)
6 Binding - 3 50 150
(Documentation)
7 Sub-total - - 1135
8 Miscellaneous cost If inflation occurs - - 170.25
(15%)
10 Total 1,305.25

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