Principals’ Emotional Intelligence and Conflict Management in Secondary Schools in Benue South Senatorial District, Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between principals’ emotional intelligence and conflict management in secondary schools in Benue South Senatorial District, Benue State Nigeria. Three research questions with corresponding three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A correlational survey research design was adopted for this study. The total population of this study consisted of 2140 (97 principals and 2043 teachers) obtained from all the 97 senior secondary schools. Krejcie and Morgan's table of specifications for determining sample size from a given population was used to obtain the sample size of the study which consisted of 322 respondents (19 principals and 303 teachers). The instrument used for data collection was principal emotional intelligent and conflict management Questionnaire (PEICMQ). The instrument was validated by experts in Educational Management and it yielded 0.74 as validity index. The instrument was pilotested on 10 principals and 40 teachers in Government Secondary School, Otukpo to determine the reliability index of the instrument. Cronbach Alpha method was employed to compute the coefficient of internal consistency of the instruments which produced reliability index of 0.78. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were employed to answer the research questions while Pearson’s product-moment correlation was used to analyze the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between principals’ self-awareness and conflict management in secondary schools in Benue South Senatorial District, the relationship between principals’ social awareness and conflict management of secondary schools in Benue South Senatorial District is positive and significant, there is a positive and significant relationship between principals’ empathy and conflict management of secondary schools in Benue South Senatorial District, he relationship between principals’ self-management and conflict management of secondary schools in Benue South Senatorial District. Based on these findings, it was recommended that the ministry of education should consider the emotional intelligence test as one of the criteria for the appointment of principals, to ensure that the intending principals have the ability to identify, assess, and manage their emotions and that of others which is necessary for effective management of conflict in the school system.