On our campus of 2200 students, 150 teachers, countless administrators and support staff, conflicts are likely to happen. With low morale, each conflict between faculty and staff seems to immediately escalate to a visit to the principal’s office rather than trying to find a solution among themselves. At times it seems that the principal is the “father” of this large family and each “child” is vying for his attention.
With any organization, conflicts are going to happen; however, how the principal and staff handle the conflicts is dependent on the cohesiveness of the staff. With a staff that works towards a common goal and shows respect and value in the contribution of others, conflicts will arise and be handled in a manner were all parties win.
If the leadership has not established a common goal where all staff are working together, the conflict will inverably result in more flight and fight solutions rather than a workable solution. Without each person valuing themselves and others in the group and working towards the overall success of the organization, each conflict will result in a lose/lose solution. The end result fosters mistrust and lack of respect for others on the team and continues to snowball into an ineffectual teaching staff and the students end up be less successful.
With conflicts on a campus, the principal, as the leader, needs to clearly communicate his/her expectations in resolving conflicts with his office being the last resort before filing a grievence. I believe all teacher should receive training in conflict resolutions. Once training has been completed, the expectation would be for teachers to practice what they learned when conflicts arise in their classroom and with other staff members.
