ABSTRACT THE EXAMINATION OF GUIDANCE AND RESEARCH CENTERS&rsquo / ADMINISTRATORS&rsquo / CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES WITH THE PERCEPTIONS OF SELF AND TEACHERS Cebeci, S&uuml / lbiye M.S., Department of Educational Sciences Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hasan SimSek September 2006, 136 pages The purpose of this study is to examine conflict management strategies of administrators who are working in Guidance &amp / Research Centers (GRCs) of Central Anatolia with the perceptions of teachers and administrators themselves. The subjects of this study included 30 administrators and 141 teachers who worked in the 30 GRCs in 13 cities of Central Anatolia of Turkey. Data collection was carried out by using quantitative techniques. A survey technique was used to collect data. A questionnaire which was translated to Turkish by G&uuml / m&uuml / Seli (1994) from The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory II (ROCI II) to identify administrators&rsquo / conflict management strategies was used to collect data. The questionnaire has two parallel forms, one for administrators to rate themselves and the other for teachers to rate administrators. Administrators&rsquo / self-ratings of their own coflict management strategies and teachers&rsquo / ratings of administrators&rsquo / conflict management strategies were measured with a 5-point likert scale. In addition, the data related with demographic characteristics of both teachers and administrators were gathered by demographic inventory. Demographic Inventory (DI) was developed by the researcher to provide basic demographic information about participants. Descriptive statistics and SPSS 14.0 were utilized to analyze data. The results revealed that concerning rank ordering of styles, both administrators and teachers indicated administrators as using the Integrating style of handling conflict first, followed by Compromising, Obliging, Avoiding, and Dominating. The data did not reveal rank order of differences between the perceptions of administrators and teachers. The study also revealed that with the perceptions of self, administrators used integrating style at 5th level (strongly agree), compromising style at 4th level (agree), obliging style at 3rd level (undecided), dominating and avoiding style at 2nd level (disagree). On the other hand, with the perceptions of teachers, administrators used Integrating and Compromising style at 4th level (agree), obliging and avoiding style at 3rd level (undecided), dominating style at 2nd level (disagree). Keywords: Conflict management, conflict management strategies, conflict management strategies of administrators, educational administrators.

Conflict is a complex phenomenon and a major part of sustainability challenges and therefore requires holistic approach for its prevention. This thesis argues that integrating Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) at the structural level of conflict prevention can provide long term solutions to conflict escalation around the world. SSD provides a holistic approach for addressing the sustainability challenges and complexity of conflict prevention. Sustainability issues (social and ecological) were identified to be at the heart of many conflicts. Both the social (human needs) and ecological (environmental) dimensions are always violated in each conflict. The mechanisms for these violations are embedded in the structures (Political, Economic, Social and environmental) and institutional arrangements that are inherent in conflict-prone societies. Addressing these structural factors has potentials to provide long term solutions to conflict escalation. The connections between conflict and sustainability might not always be easily seen. Using the FSSD as an analytical tool in conjunction with other conflict analysis tools has greater capacity to bring to limelight previously unrecognized risk factors of conflict escalation while at the same time revealing known factors as sustainability challenges. The thesis described the links between conflict,structural conflict prevention, sustainability and Strategic Sustainable Development. Keywords: Conflict, Conflict Prevention, Conflict prone-societies, Structural Prevention, Sustainability, and Strategic Sustainable Development. / <p>+46767485159</p>