ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to establish Determinants of conflicts in the workplace-a case of teachers in public secondary schools in Khwisero sub-County, Kakamega county- Kenya. In public secondary schools conflict occurs among teachers and their colleagues, teachers and principals and teachers and students. The study was based on four objectives of school Management, school external environment, conflict resolution mechanism and resources distribution. The study used descriptive research design in order to gather detailed information from the field. The instrument used was questionnaire and interviews with selected respondents. The target population was 28 public secondary schools in Khwisero Sub – County, Kakamega County. The sample size was 9 secondary schools out of 28 Public secondary schools were sampled purposively from the four wards in Khwisero Sub-County to ensure all the wards were captured in the study. The respondents were school principals, teachers, and directors of studies, school bursars and board members. The data was collected using questionnaires with structured and unstructured questions. The SPSS-version 21 was used and analysis presented using descriptive statistics of percentages and frequencies. Pearson correlation was used to test relationships between and among determinants of conflicts. The study had a return rate of 83% with majority of the respondents’ female at 59%. The findings also indicated only 35.6% of the respondents had experience of 2 years or below in their respective schools. The majority of schools did not have conflict resolution policies. Majority of respondents with 93% indicated that there was not policy effective for conflict resolution. Among the recommendations was that the school management should involve all stakeholders more in conflict identification and management in public secondary schools to allow for creation of positive relationships among teachers and between teachers and the external stakeholders such parents, teachers unions and the teachers employer. Further research should be done to cover all public and private secondary schools as determinants of conflicts tend to vary from situation to situation and may need in depth analysis in order to get more information.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

            Background of the study

A Conflict in the workplace is inevitable. Sometimes lack of communication provokes huge arguments, whereas in other cases a poorly completed task can be a reason for misunderstanding and fights. Nonetheless, conflict shouldn’t be ignored. It is important to figure out its causes immediately and resolve them. When it comes to conflicts in workplace, schools are not spared either and it is against this backdrop that this study aimed at establishing the determinants of conflicts in workplace with bias at public secondary schools in khwisero sub county-Kakamega County.

According to Nelson Mandela-former South African president, (Sins of Past, 2009) Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of mine worker can become the head of the mine, and that the child of a farm worker can become the president of a great nation. However, soon this may be impeded if the conflicts witnessed in learning institutions is not checked and resolved.

Bennett, (2007) opines conflicts are an important part of human institutions around the world arising in all kinds of human relationships and social settings. Conflict is a phase of interactions and circumstances in which the desires and behaviors of individuals face block and disable the achievement of the goals of one group. Conflict is described by Cowling (2009) as the differences between and among people. Conflict is seen as a  aspect of human nature that is perceived to be part of the complexity of life that moves people into the future. In any social context, they are critical but should be properly controlled in order to create a healthy organizational atmosphere for the successful performance of duties. International labor organizations have recorded employee conflict in the workplace as a normal phenomenon that arises from disagreements and values between organizations and employees. Foster (2012) suggests that both the workplace and personal lives have become a common and natural part of conflict.

According to Kipyego (2013), the evolution of disputes in developed schools is primarily affected by actual or perceived challenges to the supply and demand of resources. However, the school is responsible for cultivating beneficial attitudes to each child’s learning and relationships, and so all attempts must be made to reduce the occurrence of conflicts. This is critical because it is at school where students are required to connect with each other for their growth, with teachers and educational administrators. Education, as advanced by several government policy papers and numerous scholars, is an element in stimulating social economic growth (ROK, 2007; WorldBank, 2005).

A country that is unable to invest in education to improve its people’s knowledge and skills and to use them effectively in the national economy will be unable to improve anything else, according to Todaro (2004). It should also be remembered that secondary education is an important ingredient for economic growth. The most significant stakeholder in driving this human capital pool, however, is teachers who, despite their tremendous commitment, are not always acknowledged.

In schools, conflict usually occurs among school heads, teachers, pupils, subordinate staffs, parents and even community( Mensah 2015).Conflict is part of daily life, normal and essential and unavoidable human phenomenon(Dogan,2016) because where there is human interactions; there is likelihood of agreement and disagreements. These agreements and disputes between persons and groups contribute to conflicts. (Shahmohammadi, 2014) suggest that conflict arises if there are disputes in a social atmosphere over drug problems or if emotional antagonism creates tension, dispute or discord between individuals or groups when one or more group members’ views or acts are either opposed by or unacceptable to one or more other group members. Conflicts can be said to be a contest or disagreement between two or more opposing parties with differing needs ideas, beliefs, values and goals co-existing in the same organization and can be harmful to employee satisfaction and job performance if it becomes excessive and unmanageable. School administrators, external environment, mechanism of conflict resolution and availability of resources influence conflicts in schools. The study intended to look into deep understanding of these determinants of conflicts among teachers.

                  Global Perspective of determinants of Conflict in Schools

Developed countries like USA and Japan have large pool of highly skilled human resources. This enabled them not only exploit local natural resources but also to identify and negotiate for other countries resources. Secondary school education is fundamental ingredient for creating economic development. In the United States it has been more important than increased capital in accounting for workers productivity and US economic growth (Smith, 2003).

Conflicts among teachers is not only a Kenyan experience, in Nigeria for instance Teaching Service Commission TESCOM reported several conflicts in secondary schools. In 1998, conflict arose between the principal and some teachers who were accused of making life difficult for the principal. The teachers became uncontrollable; they further instigated the students against the school rules and constituted authority. TESCOM set up a committee to investigate the case and one of the recommendations of the team was; posting out teachers involved to far places.