Conflict Management Skills Of Nurse Tutors In Basic Schools Of Nursing

Project and Seminar Material for Nursing (Science)

Project and Seminar Material for Nursing (Science)

Abstract

This study assessed the conflict management skills of Nurse Tutors in Enugu State Basic School of Nursing. Conflict abounds in Basic Schools of Nursing which has a lot of consequences like strained relationships, collapse agreement, poor academic performances and so on. It becomes necessary to assess especially in these institutions where conflicts abounds whether nurse tutors posses the necessary skills to resolve the conflict as the findings may necessitate a training for them.

The purpose of this study is to assess the conflict management skills of nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing. A descriptive survey method was used for the study which was carried out in three (3) Basic schools of Nursing in Enugu State. All (50) nurse tutors teaching in the three Basic Schools of nursing were used. Modified Thomas Kilman’s generated questionnaire was used for the data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Results were presented in tables as percentages, means and standard deviations; t- test and ANOVA, was used to test for hypothesis.

A good number of nurse tutors highly possessed stress management skill in managing conflict. Overall mean is 4.74 SD = 0.666, most of the respondents highly make use of social skills in managing conflict. Overall mean is 5.10 S.D = 54. Most of the respondents moderately make use of avoidance skills in conflict management overall mean is 3.99, SD = 101, many of the respondents highly utilized collaborative skills in managing their conflict. Overall mean is 4.5, S.D = 50. Majority of the respondents make moderate use of competing skills in conflict management overall mean is 4.10, SD = .69. Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference between male and female nurse tutors in their conflict management skills overall F – test =.33 Hypothesis 2: There is no significant association between nurse tutor’s conflict management skills and their cadre, overall F – test = .33.

Table Of Contents

Preliminary Page(s)

  • Title page
  • Approval
  • Certification
  • Dedication
  • Acknowledgement
  • Table of contents
  • Abstract

Chapter One:

Introduction

  • Background of the Study-
  • Statement of the Problem
  • Purpose of the Study
  • Objectives of the Study
  • Research Questions
  • Hypotheses
  • Significant of the Study
  • Scope of the Study
  • Operational Definition of Terms

Chapter Two:

Literature Review

  • Conceptual Review
  • Concept of Conflict
  • Types of Conflict
  • Causes of Conflict
  • Consequences of Conflict
  • Concept of Conflict Management
  • Conflict Management Skills
  • Stress Management Skills
  • Social Skills
  • Avoidance Skills
  • Collaborating Skills
  • Competing Skills
  • Factors that Influences Conflict Management
  • Theoretical Review
  • Empirical Review
  • Summary and Analysis of Empirical Review

Chapter Three:

Research Method

  • Research Design
  • Area of Study
  • Population of the Study
  • Subject of the Study
  • Instrument for Data Collection
  • Validity of Instrument
  • Reliability of Instrument
  • Ethical Considerations
  • Procedure for Data Collection
  • Method of Data Analysis

Chapter Four:

Presentation Of Results

  • Summary of Findings

Chapter Five:

Discussion Of The Major Findings Of The Study

  • Implications of the Study
  • Limitation of the Studies
  • Suggestion for Further Studies
  • Summary of the Study
  • Conclusion
  • Recommendations
  • References
  • Appendices

List Of Tables

  • Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the respondents
  • Table 2: Stress Management skills of Nurse tutors
  • Table 3: Social skills of Nurse Tutors
  • Table 4: Avoidance skill of Nurse Tutor
  • Table 5: Collaborative skill of Nurse tutors
  • Table 6: Competing skills of Nurse Tutors
  • Table 7: Test of Hypothesis of the relationship between conflict management skills and gender
  • Table 8: Test of hypothesis of the relationship between conflict management skills and cadre

Chapter One

Introduction

Background of the Study

Man is a social being and interacts with people which may not be as fruitful as desired. Within the society there are individuals from different background, with different perspectives and approaches to life. This gives rise to opposing viewpoints, disagreement, competitions, arguments, suspicions, pain etc. Consequently, it is inevitable for conflict to exist. In fact, conflict is a part and parcel of everyday life and each individual enters into some type of conflict in his/her life.

Thus Reece and Brandt (2006) defined conflict as people striving for their preferred outcome which if attained prevents others from achieving their own preferred outcome thereby resulting in hostility and breakdown in human relation. According to Johnansen (2012) and Kelly (2006), conflict is a result of perceived threat to one’s needs, interest and/or concern and has something to do with arms, fighting a war, a struggle between opposing principles or aims, a clash of feeling or interest. For Carnevals, Pruit, and Seilheimer (2007) conflict is a complex process affected by dispositional, contextual and inter personal factors.

The definitions indicate that conflict is multidimensional and so is of many types and varied causes. An obvious cause of conflict is disagreement over issues that lead to competition and struggle for scarce resources because of perceived threat to one’s interests. Specific causes depend on the environment and conflict could be found in all areas of life including family, workplace, and organizations/institutions. Organizational| institutional conflicts result mainly from the struggle for organizational resources. Workplace conflict can also result from poor communication, lack of employee motivation and/or unequal treatment in terms of allocation of duties/responsibility and authority or in the distribution of benefits (Morrison, 2008).

In educational institutions, conflicts can exist among staff over the leadership of departments or units and unilateral decision making by the heads of department. Conflicts can also exist between students and staff over the time and mode of delivering lectures and even among students over leadership of student union associations. It can at times be among academic and non-academic staff over administrative issues.

Whatever the cause, the cost of disputing or conflict is often too high. In addition, the outcomes of conflicts are generally unsatisfying: people do not get what they want or need, relationships are strained, agreements collapse, old disputes reemerge etc. (Bowie, Fisher & Cooper, 2005). In educational institutions, the consequences of such conflicts may be direct and indirect and they include employee grievances, diversion of management time and disruption of professional relationships, workplace aggression, psychological aggression, (Bowie, Fisher & Cooper, 2005). Hutlon (2006) and Morrison (2008) further identified some negative behaviours which are the consequences of conflict such as physical violence, harassment, bullying, emotional abuse, abusive supervision and workplace incivility. As Colson (2009) indicated, conflict can have more devastating effects in forms of breakdown of law and order, enemity, closure of the institution and school dropout. In schools of Nursing, conflict can also hamper productivity (students’ performance), lower morale, disrupt cooperation among tutors, suspicion and distrust etc. (Colson, 2009).

However, conflict may also be seen as an opportunity for learning more about the organization, its bottle necks and inefficiencies as well as its areas of expertise. Thus conflicts can have constructive consequences such as collaboration, positive relationship, problem solving, elimination of monotony and boredom and moving people into action etc, if the parties adopt appropriate conflict management resolution strategies (Colson, 2009).

Conflict management is the process of planning to avoid conflict where possible and organizing to resolve the conflict if it eventually occurs. It has to do with maximizing the benefits of conflict. To maximize the outcome of conflict, several approaches of conflict management should be considered (external and internal). The examples of external approach are mediation, creative peace building, smoothing it over, enforcing a solution and confronting the situation directly (Porter, 2005). In Western cultural concepts such as Canada and United State of America, (USA) conflict is managed by fostering communication among disputants, problem solving and drafting agreement that meet their underlying needs, a win-win solution. Vinod and Swami (2006) opined that it can also make sense to involve religious priests or community leaders to communicate difficult truth directly.

Most often, externally mediated resolution of conflict is temporary. The underlying conflict of interest that generated the dispute will remain. New disputes will arise and the parties may go back to fighting (Billikopf, 2009). If therefore, an impact is to be made beyond a single conflict, the challenge is to develop procedures that the parties or individuals may use even in the absence of external mediators to resolve conflicts more satisfactorily and at lower costs. (Billikopf, 2009).

Changing procedures alone, however, is not enough; disputants must have the motivational skills and resources to use the new procedures. The challenge is to change the conflict resolution system to the overall set of procedures used and the factors affecting their use, in order to encourage people to develop skills that will enable them to manage instead of fight over their differences. The burden of solving the conflict as Billikopf (2009) contends, remains with those who are most likely to be able to do so that is the contenders. Manual (2008) emphasized that certain skills are necessary for conflict management, so as to place the person managing the conflict at a vantage position to deal with the conflict in a more stable manner. Conflict management skills and strategies encompass styles and techniques used in managing conflict, between individuals or between groups. Manual (2008) identified interpersonal negotiation skills which are used to resolve interpersonal conflicts. To Hotepo et al (2010), conflict can also be managed in different ways, some focusing on interpersonal relationships and others on structural changes. To maximize the outcome of conflict management, however, the internal approaches/skills should be used. Such internal skills include negotiation, diplomacy, withdrawing from an actual or potential dispute, compromising, competitive, cooperation etc.

Another way of coping with conflict is through smoothing, emphasizing the areas of agreement and common goals and de-emphasizing disagreements. This is also the method of forcing, pushing one’s own view on others; this, of course, will cause overt or covert resistance. A traditional way of coping with conflict is to compromise, agreeing in part with the other person’s view or demand. According to Butler (2013) people who use integrating (collaborating), obliging (accommodating) or avoiding style were more effective than those who use dominating (competing) style. Individuals who use integrative (collaborative style) conflict handling style experience lower level of work conflict and stress at job, but people using avoiding or dominating (competing) style were facing more conflict and work stress (Friedman et al 2010).

Armed with these skills, individuals are more likely to arrive at satisfying and enduring outcomes and conflict thus becomes a positive force, rather than a negative force which would threaten the individual or group. Moreover conflict if properly managed can increase individuals’ innovativeness and productivity (Uline, Tschannen-moran, & Perez, 2013). Conflict can offer “interpersonal relationship satisfaction, creative problem solving, the growth of the global workforce, and domestic workplace diversity (Ting-Toomey &Octzel, 2011) and can lead to “improved efficiency, creativity, and profitability” (Axelrod & Johnson 2005). If however, mishandled conflict can directly cause “organizational inefficiency, reduced productivity, stymied innovation, and compromised profits” (Axelrod & Johnson 2005).

It becomes necessary therefore to assess especially in institution where conflicts are bound whether individuals have the necessary skills to resolve the conflict as the findings may necessitate a training for them.

Statement of problem

Although the educational system in Nigeria faces many problems, one of the greatest problems in the schools according to Adegbenro (2010) is conflict. He stated that conflicts had on several occasions terminated teaching and learning activities in the school. These series of problems arising from conflict in the school system are specially caused by opposing views, uneven distribution of work load between the employees, unequal treatment, personality differences (character, age, gender) competition and scramble for scarce resources by organization members. Conflicts have also arisen from incompatibility of aims, differences in needs, values and motivations.
Observations by the researcher and causal reports by some teachers and students in Enugu State Schools of Nursing indicate that during academic staff meetings, tutors are either absent or do not participate and when they do, there are serious disagreements, grievances, fighting, antagonism, struggle or quarrels. Unfriendly relationship among nurse tutors and between nurse tutors and school principal/administrator have also been observed. Nurse tutors and students are like master and servant, leading to indiscriminate punitive punishment to the students which gulf up the students reading time, and at times lead to petition writing to the management. In addition, there is sectionalism, autocratic leadership, keeping of malice and general apathy towards service.

These are situations that may impede nurse tutors’ work performance, quality of teaching and subsequent students’ performances if not properly handled and managed. Yet issues of conflict resolution most times are handled through external conflict resolution strategies, with little attention paid to the input of individuals in resolving the conflict. In spite of these attempts to resolve conflicts in schools through external conflict resolution strategies, the incidence of conflict in some of these schools of nursing continues to be high. Therefore, one begins to ask: Do the nurse tutors make any personal input to resolve these existing conflicts? If they do, do they possess the appropriate conflict management skills to tackle these problems? If individuals do not possess necessary skills appropriate for resolving conflicts things will not be as it should be, It thus becomes necessary to investigate the conflict management skills of nurse tutors in Enugu state schools of nursing with the hope that the information obtained will help in identifying what they have, what they need to acquire as this will direct any effort in assisting them resolve their conflict adequately.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to assess the conflict management skills of nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.

Objective of the study

The specific objectives of the study are to:

  1. Assess the stress management skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.
  2. Elicit the social conflict management skills of nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.
  3. Identify the avoidance skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic School of Nursing
  4. Assess the collaborative skills in conflict management among nurse tutor in Enugu state Basic Schools of Nursing.
  5. Assess the competing skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.
  6. Determine if the conflict management skills of nurse tutors are related to their socio- demographic characteristics.

Research Question

Based on the above objectives, the following research questions were asked

  1. What stress management skills do nurse tutors possess in managing conflict in Basic schools of Nursing in Enugu state?
  2. What social skills do nurse tutors possess in managing conflict in Basic Schools of Nursing in Enugu State.
  3. What avoidance skills do nurse tutors possess in managing conflict in Basic Schools of Nursing in Enugu State?
  4. What collaborative skills in conflict management do nurse tutors in Enugu state Basic Schools of Nursing possess?
  5. What competing skills in conflict management do nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing possess?
  6. What association is there between nurse tutors’ conflict management skills and their socio-demographic characteristics?

Hypotheses

  1. There is no significant association between nurse tutors’ conflict management skill and their gender.
  2. There is no significant association between nurse tutors’ conflict management skill and their cadre.

Significance of the Study

This study will provide information on conflict management skills of nurse tutors in basic schools of nursing in Enugu State. It will thus be of great significance to nurse managers, nurse educators and researchers. If for example, the conflict management skills are found to be deficient in nurse tutors, it might sensitize the nurse educators and nurse managers to organize seminars and workshops with the aim to improve the skills in nurse tutors. Researchers could also be motivated to carry out experimental studies on the improvement of this conflict management skills of nurses. The information obtained from this study could also bring to the realization of those working in the field of conflict resolution that a multidimensional approach may be required in helping individuals resolve their conflicts,

If through this measures nurse tutors are helped to improve their conflict management skills, it is expected that there will be less tension, improved team work, in the part of teachers and subsequent better performance in the part of students. In general, there will be harmonious and friendly relationship in the school.

Finally, information gathered in this study will serve as a source of literature and guide for future researchers as well as empirical references for future studies.

Scope of the Study

This study is delimited to nurse tutors (males and females), that are teaching in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing. It is also delimited to assessing the conflict management skills of these nurse tutors. Specifically it is delimited to stress management skills, social skills, avoidance skills, collaborating skills, which are the identified skills for conflict management, and to determine further the relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics and conflict management skills.

Operational Definition of Terms

Conflict Management Skills:

In this study refer to those qualities that nurse tutors have that enable them to resolve disputes that may arise interpersonally or intrapersonally especially in their work place. These include stress management skills, social skills, avoidance skills competing skills and collaborating skills.

Stress management skills:

In this study means how one reacts to challenges e.g. knowing your limits and sticking to them, good time management, learning to be okay with “good enough and not demanding for perfectionism, focusing on the positive, avoid controlling the uncontrollable, seeing challenges as opportunities, sharing your feeling, learning to forgive and make time for fun and relaxation.

Social Skills:

This means those innate and acquired/learnt behaviours that help one to relate well with others e.g. reflecting a genuine concern for others, showing of appreciation, listening to the views of others, admittance of one’s mistakes and tendering of apology, obeying rules and regulations.

Avoidance Skills:

In this study means any action one takes that shows withdrawal from a conflicting situation e.g. keeping your true feeling to yourself, not getting involved, avoiding open discussions, encouraging others to lead in resolving controversy and avoiding people with strong opinions.

Collaborative Skills:

In this study means any action that centres on working together e.g. investigating issues thoroughly, sharing information with others in resolving disagreement, open sharing of concerns and issues, stating your position.

Competing Skills:

In this study means actions that enable someone to make decision without being moved by others or anything .e.g wanting excellent result, standing on ones principles, being firm, not convinced by others, defending ones decision strongly.

Socio -demographic characteristic:

Socio-demographic characteristic used in this study were: Gender and Status/Rank of nurse tutors.

Chapter Five

Discussion Of The Major Findings Of The Study

This chapter presents the discussion of the major findings of the study, implications for nursing, limitations of the study, suggestions for further studies, summary of the study, conclusions, recommendations.

The major findings from this study were discussed with respect to the specific objectives set for the study and in relation to findings from previous related studies.

Objective one

To assess the stress management skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.

The results from Table 2 revealed that nurse tutors highly possessed stress management skills in managing their conflict. This is shown by their indicating that they always know their limit in their personal life and stuck to them. They are okay with “good enough” and do not demand perfection. They try to focus on the things they can control like how they react to problems. This could be as a result of the nature of nursing work both in the schools and clinical areas which is highly demanding and stressful. Therefore the tendency for nurses to develop skills to manage stress is high. This possible explanation could be supported by the other findings from this study. For example, the respondents indicated that they focus on the positive, see challenges as opportunities and always forgive their offenders, and they manage their time well by listing their daily activities in order of priority. These are habits that are acquired with experiences in life such as working /teaching as a nurse. This automatically helps in resolving stressful situations especially when they relate to conflicts. It is not surprising, therefore, that nurses highly possess stress management skills in managing conflict. The findings of this study is in line with the opinion of Johnson (2012), who said that the nurse managers must possess the conflict management skills in order to effectively resolve conflict.

The results are also in line with the findings of Friesen et al (2009), Tabak and Orit (2007), Hendel et al (2005) and Johnson (2010) who reported that modes of conflict management possessed by nurses include stress management skill, avoidance and compromising. Roberson (2012) equally asserted that delegation of duties, preparing ahead of the time by good scheduling of activities are improved methods of managing stress.

This study further revealed that many of the respondents talk to trusted friends or make an appointment with a therapist in times of stress and make time for fun and relaxation. This could be attributed to the area of study, because people in Enugu like fun and relaxation to a great deal, counting on the patronage of eat out joints by both males and females and as families. This is in line with a study done by Paul (2013) who opined that relaxation, physical exercises; meditation, yoga, tai chi, taking enough sleep and getting professional help are also included in the improved methods of managing stress.

Objective Two:

To elicit the social conflict management skills of nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.
Result from Table 3 revealed that most of the respondents highly possessed social skills in managing conflict. This is indicated by some of the responses, like being honest while reflecting a genuine concern for others, appreciating others for what they have done or are doing, listening to the views of others and respond appropriately whether in agreement with their views or not. This is probably because as teachers, they are expected to acquire good communication skills which are fundamental in developing social skills. Moreover, working in a social environment, people especially females desire peer acceptance and satisfactory school adjustment which allows one to cope effectively with the large social environment (Steedly, et al 2011). This is also in line with what Steedly et al (2011) reported, that social skills form the basis for social competence and good communication skills allow the manager to accomplish interpersonal situation and conflict.

Moreover this study pointed out that many of the respondents admit their mistake and apologise, make a point of presenting their own view in conflict situation and invite others to do the same. The above statement is clearly understood, since they also indicated that they obey the rules and regulations guiding the school of Nursing. The above could be attributed or linked with the factors affecting conflict management by Lawana (2010) which include external experience and social norms. Their being obedient to school rules and regulation could be attributed to the behavior they learnt from role models, especially when the results were perceived to have positive outcomes (external experiences) and from unwritten rules from the society which an individual must conform with before he can fit in the society (Social norms). In spite of their possession of this skill, conflict still abound in these schools which implies that they don’t seem to be using it to resolve their conflicts. This calls for the need to look for factors that impede the use of these skills so as to get them resolved to enable nurse tutors employ them in resolving conflicts.

Objective Three:

To identify the avoidance skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.

The result from Table 4 revealed that most of the nurse tutors moderately possessed avoidance skills in conflict management. This is evidenced by their trying not to be involved in conflict, keeping to themselves, and avoiding people who have strong opinion. This result could explain why the conflicts abound in school of Nursing inspite of their possessing other skills such as social skills, collaborating skills etc. Moderate possesseion of avoidance skill by the nurse tutors in this study supports the findings of Zaid et al (2011) who worked on conflict management styles possessed by nurse managers in the Sultanate of Oman. His result showed that avoidance was the least possessed among the 5 conflict management styles studied which according to usage are integrating compromising, obliging, dominating and lastly avoiding. As also revealed in this study, avoidance is among the skills that are moderately possessed as opposed to others like stress management, social and collaborating skills which are highly used. Contrary to this result, Daphn et al (2012) who worked on conflict management and job satisfaction in pediatric Hospital in Greece which aimed at assessing the major causes of conflict and its management, reported that avoidance was found to be the most frequent mode chosen.

From the result of the study, the respondents also indicated that instead of facing their challenges squarely, they avoid open discussion, keep their true feelings to themselves and encourage others to take the lead in resolving their problems. This finding contradicts the other finding of this study where the same respondents indicated that they possess both collaborative and social skills. It may however be explained by the fact that these other skills
are probably being suppressed due to the conflicts in the environments. The finding is however supported a study done by Hotep et al (2010) on effect of conflict on organizational performance in Nigeria. Their result showed that managers make use of avoidance skill. It is also supported by another study done by Koya and Akinseinde (2007) on variability pattern in conflict management strategies among school administrators of secondary schools in Nigeria where they found out that more members of the board of education show preference in the application of avoidance skill.

Objective four:

To assess the collaborative skills in conflict Management among nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.

The result from Table 5 revealed that many of the respondents highly possessed collaborative skills in managing their conflict. From the result of the study, the respondents always strive to investigate issues thoroughly, jointly investigate issue with people involved and openly share information with others in resolving disagreement. Their action could be connected to their gender and poor relationship in the school. Majority of the respondents are females, and average women in our society are encouraged to be more collaborative than men and are friendlier and tolerant. This finding is however surprising since most often, from observation, the causes of conflict among nurse tutors are lack of collaboration and trust. As conflicts still abound in this school, it is probably that they do not apply this skill in managing it. This therefore implies that the nurse tutors should be made to understand the consequences both in productivity and students performance of not using the conflict management skills. The non-possession of collaborative skills may however be explained by the fact that it may not be possible to use this skills in spite of their possession if their relationship with others are poor, no effort being made to improve it (Curtis 2012) This is supported by Aigbedion (2010), who opined that collaborating skill is used when improving relationships.

Further in the study, the nurse tutors indicated that they state their position as only one point of view to enable them make slight modifications in their goals to meet other people’s need and adjust their priorities to reach a solution in conflict situation and if view points are opposite, they generally propose a middle ground. This is supported by Kelly (2006) who said that collaborating is the pooling of individual needs and goals towards a common goal. The issue of most concern is that nurse tutors have collaborating skill but they may not put it into use since conflict still abound in school of Nursing. Therefore ways of ensuring that the possessed conflict management skills are used should form part of the continuing education programme for nurse tutors.

Objective Five

To assess the competing skills in conflict management skills of the nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.

Table 6, showed that majority of the nurse tutors moderately use competing skills in conflict management. This is evidenced by the fact that respondents usually stand on their principles when conflict arises, always confident in all their actions, are not always empathetic in any situation, always express their opinion because they feel free to face challenges. This is probably because of the higher position of the nurse tutors. People in higher status positions usually feel freer to engage in conflict and are less likely to avoid confrontation and may be doing that because of position one desires to establish to maintain influence over others (Lawana, 2010) This finding is contrary to findings of a study done by Hotep et al (2010) on effect of conflict on organizational performance in Nigeria, where their result showed that managers make use of avoidance skills instead of competing. The explanation in the variance of the two studies could be that this study was carried out in Enugu State which is in Igbo
tribe and the other study was done in different ethnic groups in Nigeria with varied culture.

To further buttress the above statement findings from the study indicated that nurse tutor always confront their conflicting partners and express their desires so that people will notice. This could bring about more conflicts in schools of nursing and also explain why conflicts still exist since Friedman et al (2000) said that people using competing style were faced with more conflict and work stress.

Hypothesis One: (objective six)

There is no significant difference between males and female nurse tutors in their conflict management skills.( P=.33)

The findings of this study revealed no gender difference in conflict management skills of Nursing tutors. From Table seven, the anova statistics shows that no significant gender differences exist between Nursing tutors in stress management though the mean score of females were slightly higher.This is an indication that gender is not a significant barrier or determinant in stress management skills among Nursing tutors. This may not be a surprise because whether a nurse tutor is male or female, they receive the same training and encounter similar situations that aid in developing stress management skills.

Stress management is one of the techniques of managing conflict therefore every Nurse tutor either male or female who is trained on conflict management will definitely possess it. Above all, the items that make up stress management may not necessarily be a gender factor. In order words, it does not require being male or female to do it better; for instance, the last item that says “Making out time for fun and relaxation” is not a type of behavior that is gender specific. In line with the outcome of this finding, Chusmir and Mills (2014) reported that sex differences do not exist among managers in method of conflict management. In addition, Havenga (2013) and Thomas (2008) reported no gender difference on conflict management.

Furthermore, table seven revealed no significant gender difference in the possession of conflict management skills among nursing tutors with reference to social skills, though the mean score shows that males adopt social skills more than females in managing conflict. This implies that gender may not significantly influence social skills of Nurse tutors in managing conflict as has already been reported in literature (Emby 2012). The table also shows no statistically significant gender difference in using avoidance as a technique in dealing with public. In line with the outcome of this findings various researchers have shown that women as well as men engage in avoidance technique. (Gerrad & Lipsey, 2007; Wilson & Lipsey 2007). The findings also show no significant gender influence in the use of collaboration skills in conflict management.

In other words, being a male or female does not determine the collaborative skills a nursing tutor uses in conflict management. This finding supported the work of Cooke, Machelle Beauleu and Ford (2012) who reported that good inter-personal relation and collaborative skills yielded positive effect in conflict resolution among managers. Furthermore, no significant gender difference was found on competitive skills as a technique in conflict management. In consonance with the outcome of this finding Cooke et al. (2012) listed competitive skills as one of the effective skills in conflict management irrespective of age, gender and profession.

Hypothesis two: (objective7)

There is no significant association between Nurse Tutor’s Conflict Management skills and their Cadre (Status).

The findings of the study shown in table 8 revealed that the means of the Chief Nurse, tutors, Directors and Deputy directors are high compared to senior nurse tutors, principal nurse tutors and assistant chief Nurse tutors. The difference in the mean scores is stastiscally significant. The result of the study shows that Nurse Tutors on higher Cadre manage stress better than those in the lower cadre. This may be attributed to experience and training. To collaborate the fact that status plays important role in conflict management, Babajide (2013) reported that the

Methods Managers use in stress management differ from that of ordinary staff in an organization.
In the use of social skills as a technique in conflict management, Deputy Director and Senior Nurse tutors Cadre were not the same in the mean of the study. This may not be a surprise because looking at some items that make up the social skills such as “I often admit my mistake and apologize”. one will such realise that such behaviours will be common among junior Cadre than senior Cadre. Another factor that may cause this difference could be perceived social class. A deputy Nurse tutor may be seeing a Senior Nurse tutor as a junior and as such will not adopt this method of social life in conflict management. This finding collaborated the work of Chusmir & Mills (2014) who reported differences in methods of conflict and management among managers. This finding shows that status is a factor in using avoidance skills in conflict management among nurse tutors. In other words being a deputy Nurse tutor or senior Nurse determines the avoidance skills Nurse tutors use in conflict management, however this finding is in line with the finding of most researchers who observed status as a factor in conflict management (Chusmir and Mill, 2014; Babajide, 2013).

However, the little difference with their findings and the findings of this study may be attributed to the population of the study. They used managers in organizations while the present study used Nurse Tutors.

Also Deputy Directors Nurses, and Chief Nurse Tutors differ from Senior tutors in adopting collaborating skills in conflict management. The higher status nurse tutors adopt collaborative skills more on conflict management than lower Nurse Tutors. This may also be attributed to experience. Higher nurse tutors are more experienced and as such may have discovered that collaborative skills is of great importance in conflict management. This finding is also in line with the works of earlier researchers like Bobajide (2013) and Chusmir and Mill, (2014). The finding also shows little or no difference in competitive skills among nurse tutors with reference to their status. In other words being a deputy director Nurse Tutor or senior Nurse Tutor does not affect their use of competitive skills in conflict management. The finding implies that all cadres of Nurses acknowledge that competitive skills as very important in the management of conflict.

Implications of the Study.

Result of the study shows that a greater portion of the nurse tutors in Enugu State basic Schools of Nursing possessed the conflict management skills studied. This therefore, emphasized the need to carry out other studies on the other causes of conflict in Enugu State Basic School of Nursing as the conflict continually occur there despite their possession of conflict management skills.

The study also found out that nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic Schools Nursing posses conflict management skills , since the conflict abounds and they have skills .They should be made to realize the consequences of this conflict in the school and made to use the skill they possess.

Those nurse tutors that possess some skills moderately should be sent on continous education on conflict management skills.

Limitation of the studies.

The limitation encountered in this study was scarcity of literature in the topic.

Suggestion for Further Studies

Further studies could be carried out in the following area:

  • Other causes/ sources of conflict in Enugu State Basic Schools of Nursing.
  • A similar study should be carried out in Nursing Departments of Nigerian Universities to ascertain if Nurse Lecturers possess conflict management skills.

Summary of the Study

The main purpose of the study was to assess the conflict management skills of nurse tutors in Enugu State basic schools of nursing. The specific objectives were to: Assess the stress management skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu State Basic schools of nursing; assess the social skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu state basic schools of nursing; assess the avoidance skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu state basic school of nursing; assess the collaboration skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu state basic schools of nursing; assess the competing skills in conflict management among nurse tutors in Enugu State basic schools of nursing and if these conflict management skills of nurse tutors are determined by their socio-demographic characteristics. The study answered 6 research questions based on the objectives of the study. Relevant literature were reviewed and Dual concern model of conflict resolution was used to anchor the study. A cross sectional descriptive survey design was employed in the study. The entire population of 50 nurse tutors were used in the study. Data was collected using research constructed questionnaire with a reliability of 0.716. Statistical analysis of the data generated was done using simple descriptive statistical analysis and inferential statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the relationship between the variables. The major findings of this study are that in Enugu state Basic schools of nursing, a good number of nurse tutors highly utilized stress management skill in managing conflict. Overall mean is 4.74 SD=0.66. Most of the respondents highly make use of social skills in managing conflict. Overall mean is 5.10 SD=.54. Most of the respondents moderately make use of avoidance skills in conflict management. Overall mean is 3.99 SD=1.01. Many of the respondents highly utilized collaborative skills in managing their conflict. Overall mean is 4.5 SD=-.50.Majority of the respondents make moderate use of competing skills in conflict management .

  • There is no significant association between nurse tutors ‘ conflict management skills and their status. Overall F- test=.33
  • There is no significant difference between male and female nurse tutors in their conflict management skills .Overall F- test=.33

Conclusion

Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were made. The findings of this study are that in Enugu state Basic schools of nursing.

  • A good number of nurse tutors highly utilized stress management skill in managing conflict. Overall mean is 4.74 SD=0.66.
  • Most of the respondents highly make use of social skills in managing conflict. Overall mean is 5.10 SD=.54.
  • The list number of respondents moderately make use of avoidance skills in conflict management. Overall mean is 3.99 SD=1.01.
  • Many of the respondents possessed collaborative skills in managing their conflict.
  • Overall mean is 4.5 SD=.50.
  • Almost half of the respondents make moderate use of competing skills in conflict management. There is no significant association between nurse tutors ‘ conflict management skils and their Gender . Overall F- test=.33.
  • There is no significant difference between nurse tutors’ conflict management skills and their Cadre .Overall F- test=.33

Recommendations

  1. Other sources of conflict management should be identified to solve their problems.
  2. Nurse tutors should use the skills they have to solve their problems.
  3. Nurses should find other ways in addition to conflict management skills they have..
  4. Conflict management to be part of school of nursing curriculum to reduce conflict between nurses within and outside the profession.

How To Get The Complete Material For “Conflict Management Skills Of Nurse Tutors In Basic Schools Of Nursing“

Project Material Download

3,000 Naira

The Complete Material Will Be Sent to You in Just 2 Steps

Quick & Simple…

Step One Purchase

Make Payment (Through Transfer) of ₦3,000 to Any of the Account Below

Access Bank Plc Acc No: 0811003731
Samphina Academy
Current Account
Zenith Bank Acc No: 1225513212
Samphina Academy
Current Account
PalmPay Main Logo Acc No: 8143831497
Samphina Academy
Digital Account

Or CLICK HERE To Pay With Debit Card

FOR CLIENTS OUTSIDE NIGERIA
CLICK HERE To Purchase Material ($15)
FOR GHANIAN CLIENTS
Make Payment of 80 GHS to 0553978005 | Douglas Osabutey | MTN MoMo

Step Two Purchase

Send the Following Details on WhatsApp ( 08143831497) After Payment

  1. Payment Details
  2. Email Address
  3. Conflict Management Skills Of Nurse Tutors In Basic Schools Of Nursing

The Complete Material Will Be Sent To Your Email Address After Receiving Your Details
T & C Apply

  Contact Our Help Desk

Need a Different Topic? Perform a Quick Search

Samphina Academy

Samphina Academy is an Online Educational Resource Center that is aimed at providing students with quality information and materials to aid them in succeeding in their academic pursuit.