Conflict Management Strategies by Administrators of Universities in South West Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria
KOLAWOLE, Bolanle Oluwatoyin Ph.D
Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Education, Atiba University, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
The study investigated conflict management strategies by university administrators in the South West Geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The study investigated differences among school ownership on conflict management strategies adopted by the universities administrators. One research question was answered while one hypothesis was formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was employed. From a population of 3,211 administrators of the universities in the South West Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria, a sample of 900 university administrators representing 28% from the universities (federal, state and private) was drawn from the six (6) states (Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo) in the South West Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria. A researcher developed instrument titled: Conflict Management Strategies Questionnaire (COMSTAQ) was used to collect the data. The Split-Half reliability alpha (α) for the scales are: 0.86 for conflict management strategies and 0.74 for effective conflict management strategies. The data collected after administration were analysed using Means (X ̅), Standard Deviation (S.D) and rank-ordering while the hypothesis was tested using the Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistic and Sidak Multiple Comparison Post-Hoc test for the three independent sample means was done. The results showed that accommodating and avoiding were the most prominent and most effective strategies adopted by university administrators of the universities in the management of conflict in the South West Geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It was recommended that effective interpersonal relationships between student and students, lecturers and lecturers, non-academic and non-academic staff, student and lecturer and students’ and non-academic staff should be encouraged through the use of the democratic management style and participative decision making among the aforementioned groups by the university management.
Keywords: Conflict, Management, Strategies, University administrators