The Relationship Between Critical Thinking Skills and Conflict Management Styles in Nursing and Midwifery Faculty Members, University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Medical universities need faculty members (FMs) who use high-level thinking and the power of reason to make decisions in conflicting situations. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between critical thinking skills and conflict management styles in the Medical University FMs (MUFMs). A descriptive cross-sectional study using the stratified sampling and then Quota sampling was performed. The sample size was 160 people. The Thomas and Kilman's Questionnaire for Conflict Management Style and Critical Thinking Questionnaire Form B were used. This study showed that the total score of faculty members' critical thinking was lower than the expected mean. The participants have more deductive thinking skills. Other skills are descending respectively, including inductive thinking skills, evaluation, inference, and analysis. In the Conflict Management styles, the Compromising style scored the highest. And other styles are used in descending respectively, including; conflict management styles avoidance, competition, and collaboration. This study showed that the Compromising Conflict Management Style was the highest among the FMs and, in contrast to the Collaborating conflict management style, scored the lowest. The deductive Critical thinking skill scored the highest; in contrast, the analysis critical thinking skill was the least scored. This study showed that by increasing the total score of critical thinking skills of participants, the using of avoidance and compromising conflict management style is more likely.