Table of Contents
Conflict
If there is human element present conflict is certain to exist in society. It is a pervasive aspect in both social circles and professional interactions. It is inevitable when there is more than one person involved in any type of enterprise or endeavor (Kapusuzoglu, 2009). Conflict should be divided into three themes to understand the term. These themes include functional, situational, and interactive.
Functionalists believe that the conflict serves a social function, those who view situational suggest that conflict is an expression under certain situations, and the others believe conflict is interactive. Conflict is believed by many to stimulate innovative thinking when properly managed. Conflicts can allow an examination of necessity of these thoughts and actions. Conflict in organizations is a daily occurrence because a consensus concerning rules governing the organization seldom exist among employees and staff (Omisore, 2014).
Conflict is very important for any manager or person in power. There is potential conflict in any decision a person in power must make for a system or organization. Coping efficiently, effectively with potential and concrete conflicts is possible one of the most important aspect of a person in power’s position (Omisore, 2014). The approaches used to resolve conflicts in a positive manner are crucial for organizational life because lack of success in conflict resolution will not only cause a breakdown in the relationships among the personnel, it will also affect their performance, motivation, and efforts negatively.
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Therefore, conflicts will also reflect on organizational goals. To ensure the goals are being met, it is crucial to for those in power as well as all other parties involved to take the necessary precautions to prevent conflict to occur and to generate and implements the proper solutions to satisfy all the parties in case any conflicts arise. The most important role and responsibility in this process belongs to all parties involved (Goksoy & Argon, 2016).
Organizational Conflict: Education System
Causes of Conflict
There are several causes of conflict in the education system. Some of the most notable reason are limited resources, poor communication network, task, interdependence, overlapping authority, role conflicts, and inequitable treatment. In terms of limited resources most schools have limited resources most schools have limited resources due to factors such as budget. The limited resources result in the struggle of teachers and principals to have their own share. The greater the limit of resources the greater the chance for conflict. Poor communication is one the main causes of conflict in schools.
Often principals introduce innovation without education the teachers and students on the benefits. This can cause a lack of cooperation and participation from both the students and teachers which is now a conflict between the principal and the teachers and students. Task interdependence is where the task of a teacher is dependent upon the work of another teacher. This can cause a high chance of conflict in the system as well. Anytime one group or individual is dependent on what another does or has to do to is potential for conflict. Overlapping authority happens where there are two or more teachers or departments that claim authority for activities or tasks. This is a likelihood for conflict.
Role conflict is associated with members occupying a position within the structure of the school. How a teacher behaves may not always be consistent with what their behavior is expected to exhibit. Role incompatibility and role ambiguity causes conflicts when there is an inadequate or inappropriate role definition in the education system. Inequitable treatment is when a teacher has the perception that they are receiving unjust treatment in the operation of personnel polices and practices or in reward and punishment systems can lead to tension and conflict (Isabu, 2017).
Types of Organizational Conflicts
There are several types of organization conflicts that are present in the education system. An emerging conflict is understood to be that schools lack the adequate organization to meet the needs of both the teachers and students. The lack of can be general and affect teachers and all students, or it can be specific and can cause concern teachers and certain students. In a research study, a teacher states that the conflict is built into the organization of the school. The organization structure does not fit the needs of the group of students who have special needs (Hakvoort, Larsson & Lundsrom, 2018).
Another organizational conflict is an interpersonal conflict which is conflict between individual members of an organization occurring because of differences in their goals and values. In the education system conflicts occur between teacher vs teacher, teacher vs principal, student vs teacher, student vs student, school vs the school board. Personality clash is a frequent cause of interpersonal conflict. Intragroup is another organizational conflict in the education system which is conflict that arises within a group, department, or team. Another organizational conflict is interorganizational conflict which is conflict that arise between one organization against another. In the education system the occurs when the school conflicts with the environment and other governmental bodies in the community (Isabu, 2017).
The organizational conflicts that occur in the education system can be analyzed by applying the structural functionalism theory. As stated above, the structural functionalist view society as an interrelated system in which each group plays a part and each practice helps the system to operate (Archibong, 2016). In the education system is in important that the parties, principals, teachers, and students all work together to ensure the quality of education is great and that each party is performing at their greatest potential. When everyone is working together the education system is performing as it should, however, when there is conflict present, many issues arise. It is important to implement conflict resolution.
Out of all the conflicts found in the education system, the one found most interesting was the lack of adequate organization to meet the needs of both teachers and students. In the research study the lack of adequate organization had an affect on the special needs students as well as the teachers which caused conflict in t school. Special needs have roots in conflict which caused a law to pass in 1975. Children with special needs were given the right to a free appropriate public education in 1975 when the U.S. Congress mandated public special educational services for those with special needs through the Education for All Handicapped Children Act which was later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (Lipkin & Okamoto, 2015).
According to the World Health Organization’s World Report on Disability, an estimated 95 million children that are in the age range of 0-14 have some form of disability. The common issues these children are faced with include Developmental Delay, Autism Spectrum, Behavior Disorders, and learning difficulties. In the U.S., these students have the right to be included in inclusive classrooms (Maciver, et. Al, 2019). Inclusive classrooms refer to the practice of students with disabilities being able to learn alongside their peers in a general education classroom. These classrooms should provide these students to services and aids that meet their needs (Ford, 2013).
Studies show that the classrooms and schools should include school-based approaches alongside both teachers and parents to ensure the needs are being met of each student with a disability. The inclusion is important because children with disabilities are at a significant risk for limited participation in school. The restrictions have significant lifetime consequences for wellbeing, achievement, and quality of life. Special needs student participates less in structured and unstructured activities and experience a reduced interaction in playground activities and engagement in organizations and clubs (Maciver, et, al., 2019). These results in this study shows that there is a conflict with meeting the needs of student with disabilities or special needs.
In personal interviews with a retired Special Education teacher and a parent of a child with who has Cerebral palsy they spoke about conflicts they had with the schools in relation to their position. First, retired teacher, Marjorie Graham, explained that she worked in the Special Education department for over 30 years and in those 30 years she saw a lot of changes and development. She noted the biggest conflict she had with the school was lack of resources and adequate organization for her students that were in the inclusive classrooms.
She spoke about how the school was not prepared for certain special needs student with handicaps in the classroom such as rails or ramps at one time in her career. She also spoke about how the organization for school activities and organizations were not meeting the needs of special needs students to participate. She voiced that she was always an advocate for her students and parents and had a good relationship with principals and board members and they were good in listening to the issues and resolving them (M. Graham, personal communication, April 22, 2020).
Second, Jermaine Brown, father of 6-year-old daughter who has cerebral palsy. He states that his daughter is bright, funny, and eager to learn new things. He says that her cognitive skills and abilities are excellent, she has physically disabilities that limit her from doing what some of her peers are able to do. He states that even with her physical disabilities he always seeks out activities and organizations she can join to feel a part of a team. He talked about the first school he placed her in was very behind in time when it came to special needs students.
He said their handicap assessment was just at regulation and was isolated from his daughter’s peers. He said the teachers were not equipped to teach her and he felt were not provided with the necessary and proper training for his daughter. He spoke about how the teachers would leave her in the classroom during playground time because they were not trained to take her out and find activities for her to be included. He said he had a negative effect on his daughter, and she did not want to go to school most days. He spoke about how when he finally find the right school for her it wasn’t perfect in the beginning, but the teachers and principals at this particular school unlike the previous were willing and ready to help get the resources and the professional team that would allow his daughter to excel.
He told how the school provided his daughter an assistant in the room that was able to help her with engage in classroom activities such as coloring or circle time. He said they school made sure the playground had areas she was able to interact with her peers. He said the conflict he had at the previous school was never resolved, however, the new school seemed to have a plan for resolution before the conflict got to far (J. Brown, personal communication, April 22, 2020).
Interpersonal conflict is an inevitable consequence in human interaction. The education system is not immune and can have serious impacts on the school’s environment and success. Of all the conflicts that may arise in a school, those that arise between principals and teachers can be the most debilitating. The conflict can have damage school morale, climate, and could erode a good school’s culture. This could ultimately affect student achievement in the school as well (Devon & Andrew, 2018).
The resolution and management in the educational setting requires strategies that will promote the amicable handling of disputes that are constructive, cooperative, and successful for all parties involved in the conflict. When conflicts such as the above conflict discussed, all the disputants are satisfied, relationships are improved, and the parties do not have the ability and resources for any future conflicts that may arise.
The sociologist in a study suggests that the education system should implement a Win-win strategy approach when dealing with conflict between principals and teachers involving interpersonal conflicts such as the lack of resources and lack of adequate organization. In this approach there are realistic goal oriented, problem-solving components. The parties are more problem-centered rather than ego-centered. This strategy requires everyone to be heard and nobody loses, instead the parties come to an agreement or resolution that makes everyone leave feeling like they won the conflict. It mediates for all parties involves (Devon & Andrew, 2018).
