Influence of strategies adopted by school management in containing conflicts in public primary schools in Lamu County.

Abstract

Conflicts seem to be a continuous factor in leaning institutions these days and it is becoming a part of academic life. Schools frequently appear to be a field of disagreement and on occasion, they are perhaps a manifestation of problems in the community. For a school to be effective, individual members need to be able to work in a conflict free environment. The general objective of the study was to investigate on the influence of strategies adopted by school management in containing conflicts in public primary schools in Lamu County. Specifically, the study sought to establish the influence of competing strategy adopted by school management; the influence of collaboration strategy adopted by school management; the influence of avoiding strategy adopted by school management and the influence of compromising strategy adopted by school management in containing conflicts in public primary schools in Lamu County. The thesis was founded and based on the dual concern theory and max conflict theory. Target population for this study included 68 public primary schools of Lamu County and therefore targeted a population of 272 respondents comprising of the school’s head teachers, Deputy Head teachers, senior teachers respectively and Chairmen of Boards of Management. The sample size was 80 respondents randomly selected from the 68 schools in both Lamu East and Lamu West Sub-Counties. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentages, means and standard deviations), and inferential statistics (t-test) using SPSS software version 23. The study adopted a survey design where both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to analyze data. Piloting of the study was done in 10 schools randomly selected which did not take part in the real research. Information about the number of schools is as recorded by the MoEST and the TSC County offices. This excludes the schools prone to frequent attacks by the Al-Shabab militia from both sub counties. Generally, it is hoped that findings of this research study will help improve the understanding of strategies to be adopted by school management in containing conflicts in public primary schools in Lamu County and their ultimate effects conflict resolutions. This study’s findings will also help improve on the future management of conflicts by head teachers, deputies, senior teachers and board members in public primary schools in Lamu County. The study concluded that school administrations have been adversely affected by lack of knowledge of conflicts management as most administrators handled conflict by trial and error approach because there were no specific procedures and methods of managing conflicts. The study therefore recommended that no one strategy is enough in conflict management and containment hence the study recommends that the school management to consider the utilization of at least two strategies in order to contain conflict. A blend of two or more strategies in containing conflict will enhance effective conflict management in public primary schools in Lamu County. It further recommended that; it is from the source of conflict where the best strategy shall be employed in containing the nature of conflict. It is therefore necessary to identify causes of conflict in an institution and subsequently suggest the best strategy to put in place.