PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP STYLES AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EDO STATE

Abstract

The study investigated principals’ leadership styles and conflict management strategies in public secondary schools in Edo State. To guide the study, two research questions and three hypotheses were raised. The study was a descriptive research design adopting the correlational research design. The population of the study was all the 136 principals in the public secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District. The sample size of the study is 68 principals constituting 50% of the population. The Principals’ Leadership Styles Questionnaire (PLSQ) and Conflict Management Strategies Questionnaire (CMSQ) were used to collected data. The data was analysed using the Pearson Product Moment Coefficient Statistics and Fisher Z-test. The findings revealed that the predominant principals’ leadership style is the charismatic leadership style, while the predominant conflict management strategy is the accommodating conflict management strategy. The study further revealed that there was a significant relationship between leadership styles and conflict management strategies. However, there was no significant difference in the relationship between leadership styles and conflict management strategies based on gender and experience. It was therefore recommended that ministry of Education should create leadership training programmes to educate leaders on the various styles of leadership, expose principals to the different conflict management strategies and gender and experience should be considered in appointing a principal.