Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Subject Educational Management in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1993. / This research has looked into the methods which teachers and principals use to handle student-student, student-principal and student-teacher conflicts in KwaZulu secondary schools. It has revealed that teachers tend to use authoritarian and power based methods to manage conflicts with students. Authoritarian methods rely on coercive and position power to force students to comply. They include punishment and force of different kinds. The research has shown that authoritarian and power based methods of managing conflict in schools tend to have short term benefits only. The study has also found that some principals use competitive and authoritarian methods to manage conflicts which involve students. However, there is a definite effort by some principals to employ problem solving methods such as negotiation to solve conflicts with students. Where problem solving methods were used, positive relationships were enhanced. In some cases new ways of doing things at school were developed. The* extent to which other methods like avoidance and accommodation are used to deal with conflict was highlighted. The outcomes of these in schools were also shown. The research also indicated that the socio-economic and political history of education for Blacks in South Africa and KwaZulu, has created a great potential for conflict in schools. It was shown that schools in KwaZulu are in a situation where education does not adequately fulfill needs of students. As a result a lot of frustration occurs and students displace their feelings by resorting to socially disapproved means like violence. v(b) Other variables such as clash of values between teachers and students, misperceptions especially by students and lack of student involvement in decision making also contribute to conflict. According to the observations of principals, students also deal with conflict in aggressive and competitive ways. They demand whatever they believe they are deprived of; they become violent or resistant to school authority. Further, the study concluded that some teachers and principals increase the potential for conflicts in schools through defective management styles and negative interaction with students. The latter, namely negative interaction with students, was seen to be either part of estranged student-teacher or student-principal relationships or, in some cases, a result of poor communication and interpersonal skills of teachers or principals. All three parties (namely teachers, students and principals) cloud issues on conflicts by mixing them with emotions and by operating from certain belief systems. Such emotions as uncontrolled anger and resultant violence or beliefs that students cannot or may not participate in decisions at school, often worsened conflicts. The research discerned that a principal's or teacher's approach to managing conflicts tends to influence the outcomes.

This study investigated the relationship between an individual's communicator style and conflict management style (CMS). Six hypotheses and one research question were addressed. Specifically, hypothesis one predicted a positive correlation between Norton's contentious communicator style and scores for ROCI-ll's competitive management style. Hypothesis two predicted a positive correlation between Norton's dominant communicator style and scores for ROCI-II's competitive management style. Hypothesis three predicted a positive correlation between Norton's friendly communicator style and scores for ROCI-II's collaborative management style. Hypothesis four predicted a positive correlation between Norton's friendly communicator style and scores for ROCIII's compromise management style. Hypothesis five predicted a positive correlation between Norton's open communicator style and scores for ROCI-ll's collaborative management style. Hypothesis six predicted a positive correlation between Norton's open communicator style and scores for ROCI-II's compromise management style. The research question evaluated whether there were relationships between communicator style and conflict management style other than those tested in the six hypotheses. The total sample size was 272 undergraduate students enrolled in communication courses at a small private university and a moderate-sized state university. Two instruments, the Rahim Organizational Conflict Indicator- II (ROCI-ll) and Norton's Communicator Style Measure (CSM), were used to measure the variables. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the six hypotheses and the research question. Results indicated a positive correlation between Norton's contentious communicator style and the CMS competitive, a positive correlation between Norton's dominant communicator style and the CMS competitive, a positive correlation between Norton's friendly communicator style and the CMS collaborative, a positive correlation between Norton's friendly communicator style and the CMS compromise, and a positive correlation between Norton's open communicator style and the CMS collaborative. No correlation was found between Norton's open communicator style and the CMS compromise. The results for the research question provided positive correlations between Norton's relaxed, attentive, precise, and animated communicator styles and the CMS collaborative. The impression leaving, precise, animated, and dramatic communicator styles had a positive correlation with the CMS competing. The open communicator style had a positive correlation with the CMS accommodating and the attentive communicator style had a positive correlation with the CMS compromise. It is suggested that future research explore the relationship between communicator styles and personality traits.

Conflict has been viewed as an ugly element in human relationships which should be avoided at all costs. According to an article by Chanin and Schneer (1984) the traditional approach to conflict in organizational theory views conflicts as “Undesirable, detrimental, destructive, and unacceptable in organizations”. This thesis will examine the relationship between conflict handling strategies and Jungian personality dimensions. Since previous research has established preliminary findings about this relationship, it is the intention of this author to expand upon them.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No

Tensions and conflicts are a regular, but complex, part of organizational life. Triangulating multiple related theories is useful in gaining deeper insights into the complexities of tension or conflict management processes in organizations. This dissertation consists of three related essays that collectively contribute to answering a common research question: How and why tensions or conflicts are experienced and managed in different organizational contexts? The focus is on how three theoretical perspectives (contingency, paradox and dialectic) can be deployed to understand tension or conflict management in different contexts. This topic is relevant for three reasons. First, recent evidence demonstrates that both tensions and conflicts have constructive potential for individual and/or organizational change. Second, conflict studies have been shifting from short-term focused resolution to long-term-oriented transformation. This trend suggests that conflict studies might benefit from tension research, which is often long-term oriented due to the persistence of organizational tensions. Third, the advancement of tension research at the organization level calls for more tension research at the individual level. This presents a good opportunity to complement conflict studies, which mainly focus on individual and team level analyses. The dissertation uses a multi-perspective framework to analyze tension or conflict management in three organizational contexts that are rich in tensions and conflicts: family businesses, innovation in government, and the entrepreneurial university. The contingency perspective features either-or thinking that stresses the importance of making either-or choices according to contingencies. The paradox perspective features both-and thinking which favours strategies that address competing demands simultaneously. The dialectic perspective involves more-than thinking that aims to transcend tensions or conflicts through third parties, reframing, or other workarounds. The study of three different contexts (family business, government, and the university) allows for a better understanding of how different contexts shape the manifestation of tensions and conflicts and influence the choice of tension and conflict management strategies. The first essay (presented in chapter 2 and co-authored with Professor Mark Freel) is based on a literature review of family-related conflicts and how these conflicts are managed in family businesses. The review illustrates how the popularity of certain conflict management strategies is associated with some unique aspects of family businesses, such as the prevalence of relationship conflicts and the relatively high emotional bonding in families. The second essay (presented in chapter 3 and co-authored with Professor Samia Chreim) uses a longitudinal case study to examine how tension management evolves regarding two tensions observed in a government innovation diffusion process: control versus resistance and competing interests among stakeholders. The study demonstrates how tension management strategies evolve from simple to complex through a mechanism of joint learning between innovators and the government. The study also finds that tensions can be leveraged strategically to move the innovation project forward. The third essay (presented in chapter 4 and co-authored with Professor Samia Chreim and Professor Mark Freel) explores how academic and non-academic staff in two Canadian universities manage the reward and resource tensions associated with entrepreneurship-related activities. The study finds that individuals' strategies in managing the reward tension influence the type of entrepreneurship-related activities they engage in, and individuals' strategies in managing the resource tension influence the scale and scope of entrepreneurship-related activities at the university level. The study also illustrates that power relations are dynamic and that the implementation of both-and strategies can help balance power relations in a tension context. Collectively, the three essays in this dissertation shed light on how organizations, teams or individuals manage tensions or conflicts in three organizational contexts featuring hybrid logics (family and business; innovation and bureaucracy; entrepreneurship and scholarship). The multi-perspective framework has proved useful as a tool for analyzing both tension and conflict management. It also helps to frame important new research questions around topics such as how constructive potential is realized, why certain management strategies are more or less popular, and how strategies evolve with different types of tension or conflict.

Asymmetric prisoner release initiatives (APRI), such as Israel's trade of 1027 security prisoners for one soldier, differ in kind from diplomatic POW exchanges and remain both undertheorized and unexamined. Most explanations tend toward the psychological or sociological. My data-driven plausibility probe finds that regime (democratic) and conflict (counterinsurgency) type are likely background conditions for APRI. Cross-case comparison of four democracies (Israel, UK, US, Spain) uncovers specific commonalities. Prisoner Discourse (international law/norms; "terrorist" belligerents; "worthy" prisoner) dictates state negotiation posture; societal support for asymmetric exchange, and underlies counterinsurgency praxis. These practices, the "Democratic Counterinsurgency Complex", paradoxically lead to prolonged conflict; favor recourse to "counterinsurgency through capture", and consequently create a "prisoner marketplace" which makes kidnapping state personnel a viable insurgent tactic. But APRI is contingent; not all democracies executed an asymmetric exchange during counterinsurgency. An Historical Institutionalist, within-case study of Israel from 1978-2011, shows that Menachem Begin faced a critical juncture of energy insecurity, Egypt peace negotiations, and electoral pressures. Begin's APRI (76 prisoners/one soldier) was socially and politically contested in 1979. By 1988, Israeli APRI had hardened into path-dependent praxis, and "social fact" by 2011. Specific cross-case factors strongly linked to APRI are a "no negotiation with terrorists" stance; external safe haven for insurgents; and family access to leaders. Denying cross-border access to insurgents, and limiting family access to leaders is important. But without a diplomatic posture/negotiation structure which allows direct talks with belligerents, democratic regimes are unlikely to be successful in counterinsurgency, and also more likely to execute APRI. / Doctor of Philosophy / Asymmetric Prisoner Release Initiatives (APRI), such as Israel's trade of 1027 Palestinian prisoners for one soldier still mystify some observers. I have found that there are specific conditions which explain APRI: first, democracies engaged in counterinsurgency campaigns are most likely to execute APRI. Second, specific factors such as the Prisoner Discourse (international law/norms; "terrorist" belligerents; and state prisoners considered especially "worthy"); and democratic counterinsurgency practices lead states into a tactic where mass detention of prisoners becomes routine. This prisoner imbalance makes insurgent kidnapping of state personnel a viable tactic. The factors most strongly associated with APRI include third-country safe haven for insurgents; a "no negotiation with terrorists" policy; and family access to state leaders. An absence of these, results in a less likely recourse to asymmetric prisoner exchange. It appears that if a government controls for these factors it is more likely to conduct successful counterinsurgency and be less likely to require such uneven prisoner trades.