Chapter 4

Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Data

This chapter deals with the presentation, analysis and interpretation of

data gathered from the participants of the study. The gathered data were

focused on five basic conflict management practices of school administrators

and the challenges they faced alongside the practices which may serve as

baseline data for intervention strategies. The findings are presented based on

the order of the problems set in chapter 1.

Statement of the Problem

Just a sample how you will discuss chapter 4 based on the problems.

This study determined the conflict management practices of public

elementary school administrators of Impasugong I and 2 Districts, Division of

Bukidnon, during the school year 2018-2019.

Specifically, this study answered the following questions:

1. How often do school administrators practice the following styles in the

management of conflict:

1.1) collaborating;

1.2) accommodating;
1.3) opposing;
 1.4) avoiding; and

1.5) compromising?

2. What are the challenges encountered by the school administrators in

managing conflict?
3. What intervention plan can be designed to address the challenges

encountered in managing conflict in schools?

Scoring Guide for the interpretation of the result

The data obtained from the participants were scored based on the 5 –
point Likert Scale. The following weight and scale were established to
determine the conflict management practices of the school administrators.
Qualitative
Rating Scale Qualifying Statement
Description

School administrator is practicing

5 4.21-5.00 Always the conflict management in school
all the time.

School administrator is practicing

4 3.41-4.20 Often the conflict management in school
most of the time.

School administrator is practicing

3 2.61-3.40 Occasionally the conflict management in school
sometimes.

School administrator is practicing

2 1.81-2.60 Seldom the conflict management in school
rarely.
 School administrator is not
1 1.00-1.80 Never practicing the conflict
management in school.

Conflict Management Practices of School Administrators based on the five Basic

Conflict Management Styles

This part presents the conflict management practices of public

elementary school administrators in managing conflict in schools using the five

basic conflict management styles specifically on, collaborating style,

accommodating style, opposing style, avoiding style and compromising style.

On Collaborating Style

As can be seen in Table 2, the teachers and school administrators’

responses in general revealed that they often practiced collaborating style in

managing conflict. This manifests that the indicators in this area were present

most of the time in managing conflict.

It further shows that the responses of the participants are closely

clustered around the mean. The standard deviation rating also shows

homogeneity in the distribution of the responses by the teachers and school

administrators, hence, they had similar rating towards the collaborating style

of managing conflict.
 Among the seven indicators in this area, the public elementary school

administrators often manage the conflict in school by trying to work with

subordinate to find solution to a problem that satisfies expectations to both

parties which got the highest mean. This was followed by working with

subordinates for a proper understanding of a problem and investigating an issue

with subordinates to find a solution acceptable to the both conflicting parties. It

implies that the school administrators practiced this conflict management in

school most of the time.

Table 2
School Administrators’ Conflict Management Practices in Collaborating Style

Qualitative
Indicators x sd
Description

Tries to work with subordinates to

4.12 0.85 Often
find solution to a problem that
satisfies our expectations.

Works with his subordinates for a 4.10 0.86 Often

proper understanding of a problem.

Investigates an issue with

4.10 0.80 Often
subordinates to find a solution
acceptable to us.

Exchanges accurate information with

4.08 0.88 Often
subordinates to solve a problem
together.

Collaborates with subordinates to

4.08 0.83 Often
come up with decisions acceptable to
us.
Brings all our concerns out in the
4.05 0.90 Often
open so that the issues can be
resolved in the best possible way.

Examines my ideas with those of his

subordinates to come up with a
0.84 Often
decision jointly. 4.04

Overall 4.08 0.85 Often

This can be seen when conflict arises in school, the school

administrators are trying to look for the ways and means in solving the

problem according to the expectations of both conflicting parties. This was

confirmed during the focus group discussion wherein majority of the school

administrators admitted that most of the time they are solving the conflict

amicably. This is to prevent the distraction of school learning environment to

continue the delivery of teaching and learning process to the learners. School

administrators also believed that the good working relationship among the

subordinates in the school is important to achieve a common goal. This

supports the study of Cagas (2013) who pointed out that interpersonal relation

is important because good relationship with colleagues and administrator

could create an atmosphere favorable to teamwork.

Based on the experiences of the researcher, managing a conflict in school

desires an acceptable solution to both conflicting parties. Often times it is

observed that amicable settlement is the most preferred solution by the school
administrators in solving the problem so that neither from both conflicting

parties will be compromised in the end. Since all of the subordinates are

concern of the school administrators hence, every individual should be equally

treated.

These present findings supported by the study of Crossfield & Bourne

(2018) who claimed that collaborating style of managing conflict is effective

between teachers and principal. This is because according to the authors,

when conflict arises in a school organization, it is the principal who always call

for a conference with the teachers to resolve the root cause of such conflict. It

is always the principal who always find ways for the solution. Further, this is

also an affirmation to Salleh and Safarali (2013) whose finding in their study

showed that interpersonal conflict management styles are often practiced by

academic administrators at Islamic higher education institution in Malaysia.

In the same manner, the indicator having the lowest mean is on

“examines my ideas with those of subordinates to come up with a decision

jointly” although it has similar qualitative description with all of the items, still

shows that this is practiced by the school administrators often. This clearly

shows that they practiced collaborating activities most of the time.

This is probably because school administrators cannot control the minds

of the conflicting parties. Each of them have an individual line of thinking

which is different to one another. Forcing them to have the same thought on

the situation is an impossible thing to happen considering the fact that conflict
situation cannot be managed easily but it takes a process in order to solve the

conflict situation. It involves time, energy and effort to come up with the

desired resolution of the conflicting parties.

As observed, the school administrators do not want to fail in making

decisions towards the conflict situation because it could affect the working

environment among the subordinates especially in the teaching and learning

process. It could also increase tension and resentment which can lead to more

conflict or worst scenario.

This finding supports to Aminu and Marfo’s (2010) result which states

that poorly resolved or unresolved conflict can result in feelings of

dissatisfaction, unhappiness, hopelessness, depression, and other emotions. It

can even lead to resignation from jobs, dissolution of personal relations,

aggression, and even violence.

On Accommodating Style

The data in Table 3 presents the practices of public elementary school

administrators in managing conflict in school in accommodating style. The

overall mean shows that school administrators often practice accommodating

style in managing conflict. This indicates that school administrators are

practicing this conflict management most of the time.

The findings could be attributed that the school administrators

accommodate conflicts in school. They need to make a decision to the conflict

 situation that exists. The overall standard deviation shows that the

participants’ responses are almost the same.

Table 3
School Administrators’ Conflict Management Practices in Accommodating Style

Qualitative
Indicators x sd
Description

Tries to satisfy the needs of his 4.00 0.90 Often

subordinates.

Tries to satisfy the expectations of his 3.97 0.89 Often

subordinates.

Usually allows concessions to his 3.95 0.85 Often

subordinates.

Usually accommodates the wishes of his 3.92 0.87 Often

subordinates.

Often go along with the suggestions of his 3.91 0.91 Often

subordinates.
Gives in to the wishes of his subordinates. 3.35 0.93 Occasionally

Overall 3.93 0.89 Often

 Among the six indicators in this area, public elementary school

administrators claimed to practice “tries to satisfy the needs of subordinates,

“tries to satisfy the expectation of my subordinates” and “usually allows

concessions to subordinates.” This manifests that school administrators used

this indicator most of the time in managing school conflicts.

The existence of conflict situations in every school is not a normal

situation. School administrators were tested to function as conflict manager to

satisfy the conflicting parties about the situation and to solve the problem as

much as possible.

As conflict manager, school administrators need to accommodate the

conflict that exists in the school. In accommodating the conflict, providing

satisfaction towards the needs and expectations of both conflicting parties are

highly important to come up with a good outcome of the situation. By

satisfying their needs and expectations there is a great possibility that the

conflict situation would be resolved which may lead to a positive performance

of the subordinates. Cagas (2013) affirmed that teachers who are job satisfied

manifest an attitude favorable to the organization. In addition, enhanced

performance, increased level of productivity and quality of work are indicators

of organizational commitment.
 The lowest ranked indicator under this area is “gives in to the wishes of

subordinates”. The respondents claimed to be occasionally to practice the skill

in this area. This implies that the school administrators sometimes practiced

the accommodating style in managing the conflict in school.

Every time there is an existing conflict, the school administrators need to

pay attention and facilitate the process of solving the problem. For this reason,

school administrators cannot afford to let the teachers make a decision in

managing the conflict because it is their sole responsibility as conflict manager

to facilitate the process and manage the conflict situation effectively.

On Opposing Style

The data in Table 4 demonstrates the practices of public elementary

school administrators in managing conflict in school using opposing style. The

overall mean shows that school administrators occasionally practiced opposing

style in managing school conflicts. This directs that school administrators are

sometimes practicing the indicators found under opposing style in managing

school conflict.

The standard deviation highly conveys that the responses of the

participants were scattered around the mean. This implies that school

administrators are not autocratic in dealing with their subordinates but

Table 4
School Administrators’ Conflict Management Practices in Opposing Style
 Qualitative
Indicators x sd
Description

Uses his influence to get his ideas accepted. 3.17 1.26 Occasionally

Is generally firm in pursuing his side of the

3.12 1.18 Occasionally
issue.

Uses his expertise to make a decision in his

3.09 1.22 Occasionally
favor.

Sometimes use his power to win a

2.93 1.25 Occasionally
competitive situation.

Uses his authority to make a decision in his 2.93 1.28

favor. Occasionally

Overall 3.05 1.24 Occasionally

being a democratic leader dominates their management. It can be gleaned from

the overall result that the public elementary school administrators

hesitate to use their power and authority in the decision making during conflict

situations.

During the Focus Group Discussion conducted with the school

administrators, most of them explained that as much as possible coercion of

powers and authority in dealing with conflict situation must be avoided.

According to one of the participants in the FGD, “the use of power and authority

in solving the conflict that exist can make the conflict situation more

complicated.” The researcher strongly believes that using the power and

authority to resolve the conflict cannot solve the problem since the decision is

not favorable to the conflicting parties but it is favorable to the interest of the

top management.

Examining the items, the indicator “uses my influence to get my ideas

accepted” got the highest mean and rated as occasionally practiced by the

school administrators. This indicates that in managing conflict in school, the

school administrators sometimes practiced this indicator. This is a

manifestation that most of the school administrators do not use their influence

towards the conflict resolution but they let the conflict to be solved in favor of

the conflicting parties. Conversely, there are times that school administrators

occasionally used their influence according to their authority depending on the

situation that highly requires their action and decision.

As observed, the school administrators do not monopolize the entire

conflict situation to prevent hurting the feelings of both sides thereby, adding
tension to the unfavored side. This affirms Kreitner and Kinicki (2004) who

concluded that people who are more opposing create an environment with more

conflict and also results in resentment. Thus, the focus is not on building the

relationship among the people in an organization.

Further, the least rated indicator in this area was “use my authority to

make a decision in my favor”. The teachers viewed that school administrators

occasionally use their authority in managing conflict that occurs in school.

Nevertheless, being the least rated skill, it indicates that the school

administrators rated this as the least prioritized practice in managing school

conflicts to avoid it from becoming a complicated situation.

One of the participants revealed in the interview that “being autocratic in

solving conflict situation does not solve the problem but it can make the problem

worst”. He further emphasized that, “being an autocratic leader in managing the

school highly frightened the teachers which also led to a negative perception”.

In support to this, Olujide (2001) concluded that proper delegation of

authority by the school principals ensure prevention of conflicts in the schools.

Moreover, teachers who possess high degree of competence do not want to be

manipulated by their immediate head because they want to exercise their

freedom to express their own personal thoughts.

On Avoiding Style
 The data in Table 5 displays the avoiding style of public elementary

school administrators in managing conflict in school. The overall mean shows

that school administrators often practiced avoiding style in managing the

conflict in the school. This shows that the school administrators are practicing

this conflict management most of the time. This is possible because school

administrators considered the conflict situation as critical situation that needs

proper actions to avoid dysfunctional effect to the conflicting parties. Further,

the overall standard deviation shows that the responses of the participants are

the same.

In almost all indicators shown under this domain, the participants

mostly rated that the school administrators often practiced these skills. The

indicator on “tries to avoid unpleasant exchanges with my subordinates” got the

highest rating among others. This could mean that the school administrators

do not want to discuss and argue towards their subordinates on a certain

conflict situation. By doing so, this could prevent to aggravate a particular

issue between the conflicting parties.

Table 5

School Administrators’ Conflict Management Practices in Avoiding Style

Qualitative
Indicators x sd
Description
Tries to avoid unpleasant exchanges with 3.74 1.02 Often
his subordinates.

Tries to keep his disagreement with his

3.68 0.97 Often
subordinates to himself in order to avoid
hard feelings.

3.60 1.08 Often

Avoids an encounter with his subordinates.

Tries to stay away from disagreement with 3.57 1.03 Often

his subordinates.

Attempts to avoid being "put on the spot"

3.54 0.94 Often
and try to keep his conflict with his
subordinates to himself.

Usually avoids open discussion of his

differences with his subordinates. 3.40 1.03 Ocassionally

Overall 3.60 1.01 Often

One female school administrator noted during the focus group

discussion that “sometimes, the best way to manage the conflict in the school is

to ignore”. Basically, the beginner school administrators have extreme

difficulties in leading and managing school particularly in conflict situations for

the fact that they are still young in the service and with less experience

towards handling conflict situations.

They lack proper training also prior to their promotion of being a school

head. Their experiences as novice school administrators are not enough to

warrant that they can manage the conflict situation in the school effectively.

Thus, instead of facing the conflict situation, they tend to ignore it, hence, the

conflict situation remains unresolved.

On the other hand, the lowest in rank was on “usually avoids open

discussion of my differences with my subordinates”. It reveals that since conflict

situation is a serious issue, the school administrators are trying to escape in

deliberating the conflict situation. This could be attributed to the lack of

knowledge and training of school administrators in conflict management. They

are not equipped with these skills in managing the existence of conflict in the

school. It was affirmed by research findings of Ignace (2014) who revealed that

heads of school had little knowledge and skills on how to manage the conflicts.

As a support, Ayalew (2000) pointed out that conflict avoidance is a

dangerous way of responding to a conflict, even if it guarantees some

immediate sanity. Thus, conflict situation must be handle accordingly to avoid

any negative effects among the people in the school.

On Compromising Style
 The data in Table 6 presents the practices of public elementary school

administrators in managing conflict in the schools by means of compromising

style. The overall mean shows that the school administrators often practiced

the compromising style in managing the conflict. This was performed by the

school administrators most of the time in managing conflict to come up with

resolution.

The standard deviation can be observed that the participants had the

same views closer to the mean. This is possible because the school

administrators tend affectionate towards the conflicting parties. Hence, the

desired outcome of the school administrators is to come up with a win-win

solution on the situation between the conflicting parties.

The table further shows that a school administrator “uses give and take

so that compromise can be made” got the highest mean. This clearly indicates

that the school administrators tend to let the other side involved in the conflict

situation to concede. As observed, during the conduct of conflict resolution

process, the school administrators serve as the facilitator in conducting the

process. After hearing the statements of both sides, school administrators

weigh the gravity of their respective

Table 6
School Administrators’ Conflict Management Practices in Compromising Style

Qualitative
Indicators x sd
Description
Uses "give and take" so that a 4.03 0.89 Often
compromise can be made.

Negotiates with his subordinates so 3.99 0.89 Often

that a compromise can be reached.

Tries to find a middle course to resolve 3.91 0.84 Often

an impasse.

Usually propose a middle ground for

breaking deadlocks. 3.78 0.75 Often

Total 3.93 0.84 Often

statements and find out the cause of the conflict, thereby, finding a solution to

the problem.

Supported to this finding is Olujide’s (2001) position that school

principals can use their positions in the school to resolve conflict in the school.

For this reason, school administrators usually advise the conflicting side who
is the cause of the problem to ask for a pardon to resolve their issues. This

scenario happens most of the time to prevent aggravation of the issue which

may result to misunderstanding and inharmonious relationship with the

subordinates.

However, among the four indicators in this style, the indicator “usually

propose a middle ground for breaking deadlocks” ranked the least practice

although the participants rated the same as often practiced and described in

this study as most of the time performed by the school administrators in

managing schools’ conflict.

According to one of the school administrators in the Focus Group

Discussion “though this practice is difficult to do due to its high risk of failures on

achieving the desired outcome, we need to perform this in managing conflict even

if we end up getting the wrong results because we wanted to stop the issue

immediately.” Another school administrator added that “if certain issue cannot

be stopped immediately it can disturb the school climate”. This situation

supported the idea of Amaize and Onoyume (2007) they concluded that when

conflict is not resolved or when resolution is delayed, properties, lives and

academic hours of unimaginable magnitude are lost.

Summary of Conflict Management Practices of Public Elementary School

Administrators
 The data in Table 7 presents the summary table of conflict management

practices of public elementary school administrators as assessed by the

teachers. The overall rating indicates that the public elementary school

administrators often practiced the five conflict management practices. This

means that most of the time they were able to manage the conflict that exist in

their respective schools as qualitatively described in this study.

It can be seen further in Table 7 that among the five conflict

management practices, public elementary school administrators were observed

to practice most of the time the collaborating, compromising, accommodating and

avoiding styles. However, the opposing style was observed to be sometimes

practiced by the school administrators.

The present study was affirmed by Lee (2008) who concluded that

subordinates were more satisfied with their superiors through the practice of

collaborating, compromising and accommodating styles in managing conflict.

However, the present study was supported by Salleh and Safarali (2013) who

affirmed that the opposing style of managing conflict was

Table 7
Summary Table on the Conflict Management Practices of Public Elementary
School Administrators
Qualitative
Conflict Management Practices x sd
Description

Collaborating 4.08 0.85 Often

Compromising 3.93 0.84 Often

 Accommodating 3.93 0.89 Often

Avoiding 3.60 1.01 Often

Opposing 3.05 1.24 Occasionally

Overall 3.72 0.97 Often

inferred to as a very lowly practiced style by academic administrators in

managing interpersonal conflicts.

As observed, all of the five conflict management practices were practiced

by the school administrators but the preference order of usage may have

differed. This has been emphasized by Ghaffar, Zaman and Naz (2012) who

indicated that the best conflict style should be adopted according to the

demand of the situation.

Among the five conflict management practices public elementary school

administrators were assessed as often practicing collaborating style in

managing conflict. This finding is in concurrence with Kalagbor and Nnokan

(2015). Who posit that collaborating is the best approach to conflict

management in schools. They also reiterate that the collaborating strategy is

associated with positive outcomes. Ghaffar et. al. (2012) concluded and added

that collaborating is the most preferred strategy and works well.

 As observed, the public elementary school administrators gave

importance in satisfying both sides of the conflicting parties in managing the

conflict situation that exist in the school. Practicing this style towards a conflict

situation provides a win-win resolution. This was the desired result in order to

maintain the harmonious relationship among the subordinates in an

organization and in the school setting. According to Adhiambo and Samatwa

(2011), they substantially provided an idea to the present study that there is a

need of an effective conflict management to a conflict so that harmonious

relationship among the people in an organization will be continued.

Thus, practicing collaborative effort in managing conflict situations in the

school highly provides the chance of satisfying the feelings and emotions of

both the conflicting parties to come up with the desired solution which are

acceptable to them. This was supported by Rahim (2002) who concluded that

collaborating style was the preferred conflict management practices by most of

the respondents because it allowed for the achievement of greater self-interest

and the interest of others as well.

In the same manner, compromising and accommodating styles in

managing conflict were in the second rank. These conflict management

practices rated by the participants were almost equally the same. These styles

still practiced by the school administrators often in managing conflict in the

school. This means that the school administrators equally manage the conflict

in school most of the time through these styles.

 This implies that the school administrators can practice a combination of

strategies in managing a particular conflict. This supports Abhar (2016) who

discloses that school administrators used a combination of conflict

management styles. Consultative, benevolent, participative, and exploitive are

the dominant styles in schools in. As noted from one of the school

administrators in the Focus Group Discussion he stated that “there is no best

or effective strategy in solving the conflict in school but certain conflict can be

handled according to the situation”. Hence, the researcher believes that every

conflict is unique which requires an appropriate type of strategy of solving the

issue.

This conforms with the idea of Hersey (1969) who states that there is no

single strategy that can be termed best for all use but the key to proper conflict

management is to choose and execute the strategy that fits best in the

situation at hand.

However, it can be noticed in the table that opposing style was rated by

the participants as the least priority conflict management practice. This

indicates that the public elementary school administrators assessed to practice

this style sometimes as described qualitatively in managing the conflict. The

finding in this study was supported by Salleh and Safarali (2015) who disclosed

that this style was inferred to as a very lowly practiced style by academic

administrators in managing interpersonal conflicts.

 It is also parallel to the findings of Kalagbor and Nnokam (2015) who

revealed that in resolving students’ conflicts, the opposing strategy should be

avoided at all costs because its long-term effect can be devastating. Another

downside of opposing style was revealed by Freidmann et. al., (2000) who

found that individuals who used opposing style of managing conflict were

found to have increased levels of task and relationship conflict and resulting to

high level of stress.

The Challenges Encountered by the School Administrators in Managing Conflict

Managing conflict in schools always denotes challenges that highly

distract the interpersonal relationship between school administrators and the

subordinates. Different challenges are hard to handle and it requires an

effective and efficient skill to troubleshoot such issues and concerns to

continue the harmonious relationship among the people in an organization.

The challenges encountered by the school administrators in the different

conflict management styles are presented in frames in the following discussion.

In Collaborating Style

The challenges encountered by the school administrators in collaborating

style are identified and presented in Frame 1. These challenges are believed to

affect directly or indirectly in managing conflict. The three leading challenges

encountered by the school administrators were: “sometimes subordinates are

difficult to deal with due to conflict of ideas and beliefs,” “they really try to insist

on their issues and challenge our patience”, and “subordinates don’t tell the

truth.”

Frame 1
Challenges Encountered by School Administrators in Collaborating Style

Challenges Encountered by School Administrators Rank

Sometimes subordinates are difficult to deal with due to

conflict of ideas and beliefs 1

They really try to insist on their issues and challenge

2
our patience

Subordinates don’t tell the truth 3

“Sometimes subordinates are difficult to deal with due to conflict of ideas

and beliefs” was considered as the major problem of the school administrators

on this style because teachers have their own personal point of view. Teachers

have individual differences and different views that may lead to a conflict

situation. Catana (2015) investigated about the causes and effects of conflicts

between teachers. It was revealed that the area of teachers’ personal

indifference was the most perceived cause of conflict among teachers. Hence,
school administrators must be empowered to lead the individual differences of

their subordinates.

The second problem was on “they really try to insist on their issues and

challenge our patience”. School administrators also have difficulties on

teachers’ personal issues and some of the teachers made to challenge the

patience of their heads. Part of the daily management and operations of the

school is to have issues and concern which are unavoidable. Issues that start

from little things may become conflict if they are not settled earlier. As

observed, some teachers tend to test the patience of their school administrators

towards their duties and responsibilities. From the casual interview of the

school administrators, it came out that some teachers of their school are just

complaisant towards their work. This call for attention to the school

administrators since teachers are responsible in the teaching and learning

process of the learners. med

The third challenges were on “subordinates don’t tell the truth”.

Sometimes school administrators also facing problems on teacher’s dishonesty.

This can be observed during conflict situation in school when the conflicting

parties have their own statements. Thus the truth of these statements are

difficult to validate since everyone claims to tell the truth. As observed, school

administrators challenged to manage this conflict situation because the

statements of both conflicting parties contradict to each other. As a result,

school administrators may prolong their decision on the situation since it

needs more time for investigation.

 These challenges imply that school administrators encountered problems

that needed their attention. They considered it as a natural phenomenon that

requires appropriate action to continue the delivery of learning to the pupils.

Proper communication can be employed in the school by means of meetings

and conferences to lessen the misunderstanding among the teachers in the

school that may cause conflict.

In Accommodating Style

Frame 2 shows the challenges encountered by the public elementary

school administrators using accommodating style. These challenges are

believed to affect directly or indirectly in managing school’s conflict. The two

primary challenges encountered by the school administrators were:

subordinates don’t like to give in during investigation and it is hard to decide and

to be neutral always.

As shown in the frame, school administrators find difficulties in

managing conflict situations. During the process of investigation, as observed,

no one from the both sides of conflicting parties afford to give way in the

settlement.

Frame 2

Challenges Encountered by School Administrators in Accommodating Style

Challenges Encountered by School Administrators Rank

Subordinates don’t like to give in during investigation
1

It is hard to decide and to be neutral always 2

It can be observed that in the conflict situation, both conflicting parties

stand for their own rights and believing that they are in the right position. This

situation is challenging to the school administrators for the reason that it takes

time to settle an issue.

As noted in the Focus Group Discussion, one school administrator

shared a situation that happened in her school she said that, during the

process of conflict settlement of teachers, it really takes time in listening

different arguments from both conflicting sides. She further added that,

managing conflict in the school highly disturbs her main function of providing

technical assistance to the teachers in the teaching and learning process.

School administrators as conflict manager is a challenging task to do

because it involves a skill in order to troubleshoot a conflict situation. Decision

making also needs critical thinking so that the decision being made towards

the conflict situation is the right one. In addition, such decision towards a

conflict situation is either acceptable to the conflicting parties or not. It could

have always an effect to the person or to the whole organization that may affect

either positive or negative way.

According to Goksoy and Argon (2016), teachers who experience conflicts

either respond, by arguing, evading the situation or using violence, or remain

unresponsive. Hence, school administrators were being challenged on their

daily management and operations of the school. To be equipped with skills in

managing conflict is highly necessary.

In Opposing Style

Frame 3 presents the two challenges of public elementary school

administrators using opposing style. These challenges are believed to affect

directly or indirectly in managing school’s conflict. The two crucial challenges

encountered by the school administrators were identified as: difficulty in using

my influence and power to win a competitive situation and

cannot give a situation for them to realize a situation and solution on the

problem.

School administrators have a high regard on the democratic leadership

wherein teachers are always involved in the plans and decision making of the

school. The use of influence and power by the school administrators in

managing conflict serves as a challenge to their role. Able to make judgement

according to their authority may result to a win-lose settlement in a conflict

situation.

Frame 3
Challenges Encountered by School Administrators in Opposing Style

Challenges Encountered by School Administrators Rank

Difficulty in using my influence and power to win a

competitive situation 1
Cannot give a situation for them to realize a situation
2
and solution on the problem

As observed, school administrators cannot afford to decide for a situation

that he or she knows can hurt the feelings of the other party if not favored with

the decision. As much as possible school administrators often times manage

the conflict into a win-win solution so that nobody will be hurt with respect to

the final decision. As revealed from the Focus Group Discussion, majority of

the school administrators affirmed that as much as possible they will refrain

the win and lose settlement of the conflict situation. This is because it brings a

lot of issues and it may harm also the relationship of school head, teachers and

other people around. They also pointed out that as school administrators you

were put there to serve as a leader, providing help and technical assistance to

the subordinates.

School administrators need to prepare themselves in managing conflict

situations that may result to win and lose settlement, for the reason that, it

may affect the school climate and the performance of the teachers towards

their mandate in the delivery of teaching and learning. Hence, school

administrator has a vital role in keeping the school positively in all aspect.

Furthermore, studies conducted in selected schools in Bermuda

revealed that teachers having that interpersonal conflict generally decreases

their job effectiveness (Crossfield & Bourne, 2018). This was also supported by

teachers in Ghana who also reported that the occurrence of conflicts in schools
have direct negative effects on teaching and learning. In the same way,

teachers who get involved in conflict with their head teachers tend to feel

awkward in school, often becoming withdrawn or unwilling to teach, and if they

do it at all, they do not put in much effort to deliver the lessons as they are

expected to do.

In Avoiding Style

The challenges encountered by the school administrators in avoiding

style were identified and presented in Frame 4. These challenges are believed to

affect directly or indirectly in managing conflict. The two leading challenges

encountered by the school administrators were: difficulty in managing

disagreements in best possible way to avoid hard feelings and having difficulty

in avoiding discussion with my subordinates.

Managing disagreements highly challenged the capacity of the school

administrators in the sense that both the conflicting parties are part of the

team and organization.

Frame 4
Challenges Encountered by School Administrators in Avoiding Style

Challenges Encountered by School Administrators Rank

Difficulty in managing disagreements in best possible

1
way to avoid hard feelings
Having difficulty in avoiding discussion with my
2
subordinates

Any decisions made by the school administrators as mediator in settling

the conflict situation always have an impact to the people around and the

entire group.

In settling conflict situation able to have hurt feelings as a result of the

conflict management process is normal. The other side of the conflicting parties

whom deprived with the decision as they thought may believe that they were

unfavored. With this situation, the good relationship of the school

administrator and the other side of the conflicting sides who loses in the

settlement process will be affected.

Moreover, discussion with the subordinates in conflict management

process cannot be avoided for the reason that since it is a disturb situation it

may need appropriate action. Denying to acknowledge the existence of the

conflict situation may lead to a low performance of the people in the

organization. In support to this finding, a study found out that avoiding style

reduced human resources performance in organization (Jahanian, 2016).

Thus, school administrators have the critical role in managing conflict in

schools. Withdrawing the attention towards the conflict situation may not solve

the problem but will lead to more complex situation. Montoya-Weiss, Massey

and Song (2001), found that using this style will hurt relationship of a team.
People usually let the conflict be lessened while time goes on. In fact, avoiding

the problem does not make it go away, but make it worse.

In Compromising Style

The challenges encountered by the school administrators in avoiding

style were identified and presented in Frame 5. These challenges are believed to

affect directly or indirectly in managing conflict. The three top challenges

encountered by the school administrators were: do not have a formal grievance

committee, had a hard time in doing negotiations and

difficulty in explaining the rules and regulations.

Frame 5
Challenges Encountered by School Administrators in Compromising Style

Challenges Encountered by School Administrators Rank

Do not have a formal grievance committee 1

Had a hard time in doing negotiations 2

Difficulty in explaining the rules and regulations 3

School administrators considered the formal grievance committee is one

of their major problems in school. This is probably because of the level of

implementation. In the Focus Group Discussion with the school administrators

they affirmed that, although they were able to organize their own grievance

committee in the school, they have difficulties in the implementation process.

As observed, in the present education system the implementation of the

grievance committee is not strong in terms of performing their duties and

responsibilities.

This could be because the members of the grievance committee have not

undergone any formal trainings and even seminars towards their respective

functions to perform. School administrators find this as a challenge because

they have no support system in managing the conflict situation in school.

In like manner, school administrators have problems of their schedules

to make negotiations to conflict situations most probably because this is not

the only function that they need attend. School heads are always called for a

meeting in the district office and in the division office. They were also called for

seminars and trainings they need to attend too. Most of the time school

administrators are called to submit immediate reports to the division level and

district level. This is the reason why school administrators had a hard time to

schedule the conflict negotiations.

Furthermore, difficulty in explaining the rules and regulations was

identified as one of the major problems on this area. As observed, majority of

the school administrators do not have time to read orders and memorandums.

Some of the school administrators have their bulk of works that needs to be

accomplished and so they just rely to get information from their district

supervisor. This implies that they lack or even they do not have an idea or

information updated orders and memorandums. For this situation they may
have difficulty in explaining some important and latest rules and regulations of

the department.

This could be a great challenge in the part of the school administrators

because they are the head of the school. As a head, they are expected to be

knowledgeable enough on taking the lead in the proper implementation of the

departments thrusts and programs.

Proposed Intervention Plan to Address Challenges Encountered by Public

Elementary School Administrators in their Conflict Management Practices

Accordingly, the daily management and operations of school

administrators in the school setting requires functions that need to be

performed as the main duties and responsibilities. Leading and managing the

school and group of people always brings a lot of decision making to be made.

Making decisions is the most critical role of the school administrators, hence,

the ability to make just and exact decisions is essential to achieve.

Studies have shown that conflict both provides positive and negative

effects on the educational organizations. Positive effects of conflict may become

the cause of new ideas, beliefs, and assumptions that will lead towards

innovation, thereby contributing to good performance and organizational

improvement. However, negative effects of conflict can break the organization

and disturb its resources. It can block the way of success as well and makes

the organization stops the progress.

 Thus, this Intervention Plan is designed to address the challenges

encountered by Public Elementary School Administrators in managing conflict in

schools. Conflict in school needs to be addressed effectively in order to

maintain the school climate and continue its progress and development. School

administrators need to be equipped with skills in managing conflict so that the

harmonious relationship will be sustained. Sustaining the good relationship

among school administrators and subordinates contributes to positive

performance.

Furthermore, majority of the public elementary school administrators

lack formal trainings and workshops relative to conflict management. Based on

the result of Focused Group Discussion, it was revealed that most of the newly

promoted school administrators have no ideas and skills on managing conflicts

in school.

The result of the Focus Group Discussion conducted with the school

administrators brought out an interest on the crucial role of the school

administrators as conflict manager. This provides an idea to the researcher to

design an intervention plan that will provide basic understanding about

conflict management and give assistance to the school administrators in

addressing their challenges in conflict management practices.

The objectives of the intervention plan are the following:

1. Provide basic information and understanding on conflict and its

management practices.
 2. Guide the school administrators on the effective conflict management

strategies in a conflict situation.

3. Equip the public elementary school administrators as conflict manager

with the skills in managing conflict situations.

Matrix 1. Proposed Intervention Plan to Address the Challenges Encountered

 Chapter 5

Summary, Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations

This chapter presents the summary of findings, conclusions, and

recommendations of the entire study on conflict management practices of

public elementary school administrators during the school year 2018-2019.

Findings are highlighted with the conclusions in line with the research

questions. It also gives recommendations to help school administrators manage

the conflict effectively.

Summary

The study determined the conflict management practices of public

elementary school administrators. The participants of the study were the 20

public elementary school administrators and 207 randomly selected teachers of

the 2 districts. This was conducted in the Districts of Impasugong 1 and

Impasugong 2, Division of Bukidnon during the school year 2018-2019.

The conflict management practices were focused on the 5 conflict

management styles which include collaborating, accommodating, opposing,

avoiding and compromising. Challenges encountered by school administrators

in managing conflict were also identified.

Descriptive method of research was employed in this study. It utilized a

modified 28 items questionnaire of ROCI-II instrument (1983). Focused Group

Discussion (FGD) and interview were also conducted to gather the challenges

encountered by the school administrators. Mean, standard deviation and rank

were used to analyzed the gathered data.

Findings

The findings of the study were as follows:

1. The public elementary school administrators often practiced

collaborating, compromising, accommodating, and avoiding styles in

 managing conflict. They occasionally practiced opposing style in

managing conflict.

2. The school administrators encountered challenges in managing

conflict namely: difficulty in dealing with subordinates, subordinates

do not like to give in during investigation; difficulty in managing

disagreements in the best possible way to avoid hard feelings; and do

not have a formal grievance committee.

3. There is a need to design and implement an intervention plan to

address the challenges encountered by the school administrators in

managing conflict.

Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were

drawn:

1. Since in general, the public elementary school administrators often

practiced the conflict management styles, therefore, they managed

conflict most of the time.

2. Since the school administrators encountered challenges in the

management of conflict thus, it needs an intervention plan to help

address the challenges.

 3. Since the intervention plan was developed to address the encountered

challenges of the school administrators in managing conflict, it is

anticipated that this could provide technical assistance to the school

administrators.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are given:

1. It is necessary that the public elementary school administrators will

undergo a comprehensive trainings and workshops on dealing with

conflict in order to manage effectively the struggles in school.

2. DepEd may provide a prerequisite trainings and workshops to the

newly promoted school administrators before leading and managing

schools to equip them with managing the conflict properly.

3. It is recommended that the developed conflict intervention plan may

be utilized by the school administrators to strengthen and improve

their conflict management practices. It could be used also in the

future trainings or maybe improved for the future use.

4. School administrators may strengthen the school grievance committee

and initiate mechanisms to make it functional to every school.

5. School administrators may take the lead in crafting a school grievance

handbook that will serve as the roadmap in managing conflict in

school.