PRINCIPALS’ COLLABORATING AND ACCOMMODATING CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AS CORRELATES OF TEACHERS' JOB PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Ensuring a harmonious school climate helps to facilitate improved job performances of the teachers. This study examined principals' collaborating and accommodating conflict management strategies as correlates of teachers' job performance in public secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 significance level. Correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 8,103 teachers in the 267 public secondary schools in Anambra State. A random sampling procedure was used to select 10% of the population, totaling a sample size of 810 teachers representing the entire population. Principals’ Conflict Management Strategies Questionnaire (PCMSQ) and Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (TJPQ) were the instruments for data collection. The instruments were validated by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka and the reliability to ascertain the consistency of the instrument was established using Cronbach alpha reliability technique which yielded aggregate coefficients of .74 and .77 respectively and were considered fit for the study. The administration of the instrument was done through the direct method approach with the help of five research assistants. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was utilized for data analysis. In a test for the null hypotheses, p-value was used to determine the relationship of the variables at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that principals’ collaborating conflict management strategy has a high positive and significant relationship on teachers' job performance while accommodating conflict management strategy has a moderate positive and significant relationship on teachers' job performance in public secondary schools in Anambra State. The study recommended amongst others that principals should be encouraged to consider the need to discuss, dialogue and adjust to more appropriate ideas of others to make the right choices and decisions for a peaceful school environment and improved job performances.