Conflict in schools: Student nurses’ conflict management styles

Summary 

Background

Unless conflicts between the students and the instructors can be successfully managed, they will certainly result in negative outcomes for the students. The conflict management styles of the students should be recognized in detail in order to attain positive outcomes in regard to the conflict management styles.

Aim

The purpose of this study was to examine the conflict management styles used by nursing students in conflict with faculty members and the differences in use of style from the aspect of some variables.

Methods

This study was conducted with 151 students in a public university nursing school. Data were collected using a personal information form and the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory II (ROCI II). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, Tukey test, Kruskal Wallis test, Mann–Whitney U test and Cronbach alpha coefficient analyses.

Findings

The students were found to use integrating (X=3.82) and obliging (X=3.81) styles the most, and dominating style (X=3.02) the least. In addition there were differences determined in management style between classes, frequency of experiencing conflict, and feeling of success in the conflict (p<0.05). It was determined that the integrating and obliging styles were used more by those who evaluated themselves as successful in conflict management, but the avoiding and compromising styles were used more by students who evaluated themselves as unsuccessful.

Conclusions

It was determined that the students preferred to use styles that produced positive results in conflict resolution and that the frequency of experiencing conflict and the feeling of success in conflict had an effect on choice of style. It will be helpful to analyze the relationship between the causes of conflict between the student and the instructor in the practice field and the uses of conflict management styles.

Keywords: Conflict, Conflict management style, Student nurse, Faculty, School, Student–faculty relationship