The relationship between leadership style and conflict management among nurses in educational and health centers

Abstract

Leadership is a tool and a potential power in an organization. Managers would be able to achieve organizational goals and also manage conflicts in a more effective manner by using appropriate leadership styles. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between leadership styles and conflict management among the nurses of Hamadan City's educational and health centers. This study was carried out utilizing a descriptive and correlational procedure. Using the stratified random sampling method in this study, 240 nurses were selected from educational and health centers. Two standard questionnaires were used for gathering data regarding leadership style and conflict management. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16 and by employing statistical tests such as Pearson's correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis test. The most common leadership style observed in the nurses was the democratic type (94.6%), while the directive style and the combined approach was preferred by only 2.5 and 2.9%, respectively. Moreover, the most preferred strategy of conflict management was non-intervention (50.15 ± 10.34), followed by the solution-oriented (38.65 ± 7.31) and control (27.04 ± 3.61) strategies. A significant relationship between the leadership style attribute and the conflict management strategy was found (p < 0.001). It was found that leadership style is significantly and positively correlated with the solution-oriented and nonintervention strategies of conflict management. In contrast, the relationship between leadership style and control strategy is not significant. Adoption of the democratic leadership style and the combined strategy is recommended for nursing managers in the field of conflict management.