Rethinking Workplace Conflict Management in the Kenyan School Context: A Qualitative Study of Women Principals

Abstract

This study sought to explore how women principals utilised communication strategies to manage workplace conflicts at secondary school level Migori County, Kenya. The study was prompted by the fact that despite several conflicts experienced in secondary schools in Kenya, very minimal research has been conducted to investigate potential causes of unrests in schools related to inappropriate communication by school principals. The study focused on women principals because it is normally assumed that women have better communication strategies and that their schools experience less conflicts. However, a review of relevant literature shows this issue has not been established through research, especially, in the Kenyan context. The specific research questions were: 1. what communication strategies are utilised by women principals to manage workplace conflicts 2. How do the women principals utilize these strategies? This study was informed by relativist-interpretivist paradigm which is consistent with the qualitative approach and case study method, which were adopted. Forty research participants who were sampled purposively to take part in the study included women principals, the deputy principals, HoDs, Guidance and counselling leaders, the senior teachers as well as prefects from the study schools. Semi- structured interviews, focused group discussions and document analysis were used to generate data which were analysed thematically. All relevant ethical issues were addressed. Findings indicate that the women leaders have developed unique approaches of communication in managing workplace conflicts depending on their leadership predispositions as well as situations of conflict as follows: 1. Dialogic coaching collaborative communication 2. Nurturing counselling communication 3. Mongrel masculine-feminine communication 4. Machiavellian monologic competitive communication. In conclusion, the women principals, who were participants in this study, have shared their unique experiences and their actual practices on utilisation of communication strategies in managing workplace conflicts through research. Hence, this study has contributed to the body of knowledge in gender and communication literature while explicating the role of communication in workplace conflicts at grass root level