Influence of Principals’ Conflict Management Techniques on Teacher Job Satisfaction in Selected Secondary Schools in Uriri and Nyatike Sub Counties, Kenya

Abstract

According to a survey by the American Management Association, managers spend 24% of their time managing conflicts. This is a waste of time as a resource, reducing this time wastage would mean improving the quality of management. Conflict is inevitable and a natural phenomenon, the secondary school principals in Uriri and Nyatike sub-counties have not been spared of the challenges of conflict management on teacher job satisfaction. Therefore, the study aimed to determine the principals’ conflict management techniques on teacher job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Uriri and Nyatike sub-counties, Kenya. It was guided by Engle& Kane, M. J. (2004 Herzberg's two-factor theory and a conceptual framework used to show the interplay between the principals’ conflict management techniques and teacher job satisfaction. The research employed a descriptive survey design to obtain information. The target study population consisted of 1960 teachers, 87 principals in 87 secondary schools in Uriri and Nyatike sub-counties. Stratified simple random sampling was used to obtain a sample of 29 principals and 319 teachers. Data was collected using questionnaires. Face and content validity of the instruments was determined by experts in educational management and policy studies. In order to enhance the reliability of the instrument, a pilot study was conducted in 6 secondary schools in the sub-counties, which were excluded from the main study. The reliability was tested using test-retest method and a Pearson’s r coefficient of 0.79 for principals’ and 0.83 for teachers’ questionnaires obtained. Quantitative data was analysed using frequency count, percentages and mean. The study established that integrating obliging had a strong and positive correlation with teacher job satisfaction, dominating and avoiding techniques had p>0.05 which is not statistically significant. The findings add to the existing body of knowledge and may be useful in developing guidelines for principals and other stakeholders to enable them to manage schools effectively. Also, help the Ministry of Education to formulate training materials for school managers to enable them to manage conflicts effectively and to enable teachers and educators to improve and manage conflicts in schools more effectively and efficiently.