Conflict Management between Academic Staff in the Universities

Abstract

The objectives of this research were (1) to study the causes of conflicts arising from academic staff in the universities and (2) to find an approach to handle conflicts arising from academic staff in the universities. The methodology used in this research was a mixed-method where both quantitative and qualitative analyses have been employed. The research found the main causes of disputes which were: 1) Communication problem – the most common cause of conflicts happened due to misunderstanding the meaning of information as well as incorrectly sending and receiving information and inaccurately receiving the same set of information; 2) Organizational structure problem – this problem arose because of unclear division of authority, unjust distribution of workload, and repetition of work; and 3) Interpersonal relationship problem – the conflicts occurred because of different ideology, work ethics, and expertise.

The results from the structural equation model showed that the structure of organization (x = 0.71) played a key role in causing conflicts among academic staff. The model also revealed that working together (x = 0.72) was the most effective way to prevent conflicts, and compromising (x = 0.61) was the best mean to resolve disputes. Furthermore, the results from the qualitative analysis revealed similar findings both in public and private universities that the instructors usually abide by their superiors’ order. If conflicts arise, both instructors and superiors tend to negotiate in order to find a common ground and fine tune their opinions. In addition, if conflicts arise among instructors, they try to resolve such disputes by talking with each other in a friendly manner to clarify any misunderstanding.