Gaya Pengurusan Konflik Di Kalangan Pentadbir-Pentadbir Sekolah Menengah Daerah Kubang Pasu, Kedah Darul Aman

The aim of this study was to identify the conflict managemant styles among the school administrators in Kubang Pasu, Kedah. This study was also to investigate conflict management styles, demographic factors, organizational and personality factors. A total of 43 school administrators, 11 of them were school principals and 32 were senior assistants from 15 of secondary schools. From the 51 questionnaires distributed, only 43 (86%) were usable. The questionaires consisted of 58 items which includes 4 items on demographic factors, 10 items on organizational factors, 14 items on personality types adapted from Myers-Briggs Type indicator (MBTI) and 30 items on conflict management styles adapted from Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (T-KCMI). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequencies, percentage, means and standard deviation. To determine the relationship between conflict management styles and all factors, means and standard deviation were used. The finding of the study showed that the main conflict management style was to be compromising and avoidance style (mean=3.95). Whereas, the most prefered personality type was Thinking-Feeling (mean=4.15). The result also revealed that there were differences in conflict management styles between gender. Male administrators were more inclined to avoidance style while female were more inclined to compromising style (mean=3.78). There were differences in conflict management styles with regard to age and years of service. This research also found that age factor determines the conflict management styles of the administrators. The administrators aged below 40 (mean=4.33) and the adminstrators aged more than 50 (mean=4.0) have the tendency of using the compromising styles whereas the administrators aged 41-50 (3.97)
have the tendency of using the collaborative style. Other than that this research also discovered that hierarchical level determines conflict management styles. The principals have the tendency of using the
collaborative style (mean=4.09) whereas the senior assistants are inclined of using two styles which are the collaborative style (mean=3.94) and the avoidance style (mean=3.940. This research also discovered that personality
factor and organizational culture do not differentiate the conflict management styles chosen. The population of students in a school differentiates the conflict management styles that are chosen by the school
administrators. In schools where the student population is more than 1000, the administrators are inclined of using the collaborative style (mean=3.89). Whereas the administrators in schools with the number of students below
1000 have the tendency of using the compromising style.