Abstract
Effective conflict resolution demands that causes of conflicts should be known. University for Development Studies (UDS) over the years had been plagued by many students-management conflicts like other universities in Ghana. This paper therefore examines the causes of those students-management conflicts in UDS from 1999 to 2009. Questionnaires and interview guides were the data collection tools employed and administered to 40 respondents who were purposely selected in a case study design. Data were analyzed qualitatively in narratives and with tables and graphs. The study identified a number of causes of the conflicts which notably included: wide communication gap between students and school management, delay in meeting students’ demand by school management, failure by school management to guarantee security of lives and properties, inadequate facilities such as lecture rooms, laboratories and equipment and drastic and obnoxious rules and regulations. Other causes were: students being forced to pay special fees/hikes in students’ fees, the activities of campus secret cults and differences in the perception of group and organizational objectives. This paper concluded that wide communication gaps between students and university management, infrastructural deficiencies and leadership crises were the major drivers of the conflicts in UDS from 1999 to 2009. The paper recommended that efforts be made to enhance communication at all levels of the University especially between students and management, involve students in decision making, improve students-management dialogues, provide adequate infrastructure and provide effective institutional leadership.
Highlights
Conflicts abound in decisions administrators make about students (Bua et al, 2015)
This paper concluded that wide communication gaps between students and university management, infrastructural deficiencies and leadership crises were the major drivers of the conflicts in University for Development Studies (UDS) from 1999 to 2009
The causes of conflicts between students and management of the University during the period studied captured under Table 2 and Table 3 respectively reflecting the views of both students and management
Summary
Conflicts abound in decisions administrators make about students (Bua et al, 2015). This is as a result of the many different stakeholder interactions that take place in the university environment. Wall & Callister (1995: p. 517) defined conflict as “a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party”. The University experienced students-management conflicts in the 1999/2000 academic year on Nyankpala Campus, 1999/2000, 2001/2002 and 2004/2005 academic years on Navrongo and 2005/2006 academic year and 2008/2009 academic year on Wa Campus These conflicts were of serious concern to the University (UDS, 2009; 2011; Boateng, 2008). Ada (2013) proposed two models to the analysis of conflict in educational institutions—structural and process models These models find their relevance in aiding the understanding and effective management of school based conflicts. As noted by Rothman (1992), when symptoms instead of causes are addressed, wounds are merely bandaged, not healed and they may fester It is against this background that this paper seeks to ascertain what caused the students-management conflicts in the University for Development Studies from 1999 to 2009.
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