Lower secondary school principals' opinions on conflict and conflict management strategies

The aim of this study is to determine secondary lower school principals' views on organizational conflicts and conflict management strategies. Case study which is among qualitative research methods, was used in the study. Criterion sampling and maximum diversity sampling methods were used together in determining the study group. Seven lower secondary school principals were included in the study group. The data collection tools used in the study consist of 1 semi-structured interview form and 4 case forms prepared by the researcher. In this study, data were collected through individual interviews. The data were analyzed using thematic content analysis method, which is one of the qualitative data analysis methods. When lower secondary school principals' views on conflict and conflict management were examined, it was concluded that lower secondary school principals mostly saw conflict as a communication problem. In lower secondary schools, there are generally vertical conflicts between school administrators-teachers and horizontal conflicts between teachers. In lower secondary schools, conflicts arising from individual differences, processes related to the distribution of resources or resource insufficiency, adaptation problems arising from manager changes and inconsistent managerial behavior, the bureaucratic structures of the Ministry of National Education and schools are generally experienced. Conflicts in lower secondary schools affect students, teachers and the school in general negatively. Lower secondary school principals mostly use the strategy of dominating in the conflicts they are a party to, while they mostly turn to the strategy of compromising in the conflicts they are not a party to. As the violence of the conflicts increases, the domination strategy is used more. Lower secondary school principals' perceptions of conflict and conflict management are generally negative. Keywords: Lower Secondary School Principal, Conflict, Conflict Management, Scenario Study