Compatibility of Leadership Styles with Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Conflict Management Strategies

Abstract

Conflict among leaders and subordinates is natural meanwhile same is observed among headteachers and teachers; if it is not managed appropriately can create an adverse impact on organizational climate and subsequently on performance. A plethora of literature looked at the leadership styles that have direct/indirect influence on cooperative and non-cooperative conflict management practices. The present study examines the compatibility between leadership styles and cooperative and non-cooperative conflict management strategies of the secondary schools in Punjab. 360 randomly selected head teachers participated in this study. Two questionnaires were used, one for leadership styles and the other for cooperative and non-cooperative conflict management strategies. The results indicated that cooperative strategies of conflict management such as accommodation, collaboration and compromising are much helpful in a place where democratic leadership style was being practised, and authoritative leaders intended to follow non-cooperative such as competing and avoiding strategies in order to manage conflicts in schools. Therefore, it can be inferred that Headteachers who perceived to exhibit a more democratic style of leadership adopted cooperative strategies of conflict management. The headteachers who were perceived to exhibit a more autocratic leadership style opted for non-cooperative strategies of conflict management.