Public school administrators' styles in managing conflicts

Conflict is a pervasive part of group and organizational culture and unmanaged group conflict can be very chaotic. At the same time the absence of conflict indicates or results in apathy. Therefore the goal of administrators and groups should not necessarily be to avoid conflict but to use conflict as a means of creating a more positive group atmosphere. However Hersey (10:87) has said that the increasing the acceptance and management of group conflict requires effective leadership to increase as well. As a result conflict and leadership are inseparable. Important leadership functions determine whether or not a group will work together accept improvements and try to develop better ways of doing a job. Rutherford (19:210) has written that knowledge of conflict management skills is very vital to those in leadership roles and is an “integral part of leadership effectiveness”.