Influence Of Leadership On Conflict Resolutionstrategies Used In Secondary School Infrastructureproject Managementin Kitui Central District, Kitui County, Kenya

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the influence of leadership on conflict resolution strategies used in secondary school infrastructural projects in Kitui Central District, Kitui County, Kenya.The study focused on the influence of leadership functions,leadershipskills,leadershippowerand leadershipstyles onconflict resolution strategies used in secondary school infrastructural projects in the district.A descriptive survey research design utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data analysis approaches was adopted. The study targeted population of 482 who have some role to play in the secondary school infrastructure building projects. Some was internal school staff and the stakeholders from outside the school setup.The internaltarget population comprised of: 81 school administrators,158 heads of departments (HODs). The external school target population comprised of the 81 BOM members and 81 Parents Teachers Association (PTA). Purposive sampling method was used to select 30 percent of the 27 secondary schools in the district with some on-going building projects. Simple random sampling method was used to select 30 percent of the external and internal administrators to give sample size of 144. The questionnaires were used as the main research instruments. Data were analyzed by both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of this study were that there was a strong significant relationship between leadership functions,skills, power and styles. From the findings of this study, the researcher made the following recommendations; there is need for the ministry of education to increase the school management training on conflict management functions, the principals should bench mark with the schools which are doing well to know how they resolve their conflicts, the parents’ days should be increased in schools so that parents can discuss on issues pertaining the school so as to reduce conflicts in schools. Further study can be done to establish why infrastructural projects are not completed in good time in secondary schools.