Examining the Relationship between School Administrators Conflict Management Strategies and School Culture According to Teachers Views

The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between conflict management strategies and organizational culture used by school administrators according to the opinions of teachers working in public schools in Mersin. The study group of the research consists of 622 teachers (274 males, 348 females) working in official primary and secondary schools in the central districts of Mersin (Yenişehir, Akdeniz, Toroslar and Mezitli). The research data were obtained with “Rahim Organizational Conflict Scale (ROCI-II)” adapted to Turkish by Neiderauer (2006) and “School Culture Scale” developed by Kuyumcu (2007). Descriptive analysis tests, t-test and ANOVA were used. According to the results of the research, there is a positive and high level relationship between the conflict management strategies used by school administrators working in primary and secondary schools and school culture. The opinions of teachers, working in primary schools, about organizational culture are more positive than teachers working in secondary schools. The point that attracts the results of the research is that the administrators managing the conflicts by applying the “dominating” strategy shows a reverse relationship with the organizational culture of the schools. As the dominant and authoritarian behaviors increase, organizational culture is negatively affected. Organizational culture reveals that integration, compromise and reconciliation strategies in terms of conflict management relation, dimensions of organizational culture and high level of positive relationships, integration, compromise and reconciliation strategies should be preferred more in schools. On the other hand, strategies of domination and avoidance should be avoided in terms of building and continuity of organizational culture in schools.