The conflict handling styles of school administrators of the Association of Augustinian Schools in the Philippines

In the past, conflict has been viewed as something negative and equated with management failure. However, modern management philosophy acknowledges that conflict is inevitable and part of everyday life, and when managed properly it can promote efficiency and effectiveness. Educational institutions like any other organizations are not spared of conflict. Hence, this study was conducted to identify the conflict handling styles of school administrators of the Association of Schools of the Augustinian Sisters (ASAS). The study made use of the descriptive correlational research method. A total of 12 administrator-related and six institution– related variables were tested at 0.05 level of significance to determine if it would correlate significantly with the five conflict handling styles and determine if there are significant differences in the administrator’s choice of conflict handling style. Two instruments were used for the study: the Administrator Information Questionnaire and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. Statistical procedures include the computation of the mean and standard deviation to describe the respondents’ profile and conflict handling style. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation of Coefficient was used to analyze the significant relationship between the variables. The one factor ANOVA and t-test of independence were used to determine the significant difference in the respondent’s choice of conflict handling styles. The study showed that the ASAS administrators made use of all five conflict handling styles. It also reveals that the variables age, civil status, management position, number of seminars attended, number of research papers read, geographical location of the school, type of institution, school size (number of personnel and students), and accredited status are significant factors in the school administrators’ choice of conflict-handling style