IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v12y2022i6p186-d998291.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Staff Stress and Interpersonal Conflict in Secondary Schools—Implications for School Leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Bruce

    (School of Surveying and Construction Innovation, Technological University, D01 K822 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Carol Bruce

    (School of Surveying and Construction Innovation, Technological University, D01 K822 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Victor Hrymak

    (School of Food Science and Environmental Health, Technological University, D07 ADY7 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Niamh Hickey

    (School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Limerick, Ireland)

  • Patricia Mannix McNamara

    (School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Limerick, Ireland
    Faculty of Education, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences Inndalsveien, 28, 5063 Bergen, Norway)

Abstract

The importance of school leadership and workplace stress is a recurring theme in education-based research. The literature reports that workplace stress in teaching is a difficult matter to resolve, with mixed outcomes from interventions. The aim of this initial scoping study was to report on the experiences of school leaders with interpersonal conflict (IPC), a known cause of this workplace stress. Accordingly, a sample of twelve school leaders working in Irish post primary schools were recruited to participate in this study using semi-structured interviews. All twelve participants reported experiencing workplace stress and linked other people as a source of this stress. Nine out of twelve had experienced IPC as a school leader. School leaders also noted a fear of reporting workplace stress. Half of the participants reported becoming ill from workplace stress and had taken time off from work. Participants also reported ‘balkanisation’ of like-minded cliques that tried to exert control over other groups. None of the participants expressed confidence in organisational strategies to resolve workplace stress or IPC. This study demonstrates that resolutions for IPC were scant. Further research is needed to conceptualise this phenomenon in the school environment and to support school leaders to effectively manage IPC as a cause of workplace stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Bruce & Carol Bruce & Victor Hrymak & Niamh Hickey & Patricia Mannix McNamara, 2022. "Staff Stress and Interpersonal Conflict in Secondary Schools—Implications for School Leadership," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:12:y:2022:i:6:p:186-:d:998291
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/6/186/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/6/186/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Wit, Frank R.C. & Jehn, Karen A. & Scheepers, Daan, 2013. "Task conflict, information processing, and decision-making: The damaging effect of relationship conflict," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 177-189.
    2. Patricia Mannix-McNamara & Niamh Hickey & Sarah MacCurtain & Nicolaas Blom, 2021. "The Dark Side of School Culture," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Dr Heather Rolfe, 2006. "Welfare or Farewell? Mental health and stress in the workplace," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 268, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    4. Dr Heather Rolfe, 2006. "Welfare or Farewell? Mental health and stress in the workplace," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 268, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Smaranda Boroș, 2020. "Controversy Without Conflict: How Group Emotional Awareness and Regulation can Prevent Conflict Escalation," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 251-269, April.
    2. Smaranda Boroş & Lore Gorp & Brecht Cardoen & Robert Boute, 2017. "Breaking Silos: A Field Experiment on Relational Conflict Management in Cross-Functional Teams," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 327-356, March.
    3. Alejandro Salado & Hanumanthrao Kannan, 2019. "Elemental patterns of verification strategies," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(5), pages 370-388, September.
    4. Chenli Meng & Yuhui Ge & Eugene Abrokwah, 2020. "Developing Sustainable Decision Performance for Science and Technology Industries in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, March.
    5. Shavindrie Cooray & Donna Champion, 2023. "A systems approach to enabling student‐led critical discussion," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 429-436, May.
    6. Lukasz Derdowski & Torvald Øgaard & Einar Marnburg & Gro Ellen Mathisen, 2018. "Creative and innovative behaviours of corporate directors: an elusive role of task-related conflicts," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(4), pages 1045-1069, December.
    7. Juan Pablo Diánez-González & Carmen Camelo-Ordaz, 2016. "How management team composition affects academic spin-offs’ entrepreneurial orientation: the mediating role of conflict," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 530-557, June.
    8. Ayesha Rashid khan & Muhammad Hassan, 2022. "Understanding the Role of Ethical Leadership and Workplace Conflicts a Mediation Moderation Model: A Time-Lagged Study," iRASD Journal of Management, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 4(2), pages 221-242, june.
    9. Carmen Camelo-Ordaz & Joaquín García-Cruz & Elena Sousa-Ginel, 2015. "The Influence of Top Management Team Conflict on Firm Innovativeness," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 957-980, November.
    10. Kerwin, Shannon & Walker, Matthew B. & Bopp, Trevor, 2017. "When faultlines are created: Exploring the conflict triggering process in sport," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 252-260.
    11. Battaglia, Daniele & Paolucci, Emilio & Ughetto, Elisa, 2021. "Opening the black box of university Proof-of-Concept programs: Project and team-based determinants of research commercialization outcomes," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    12. Boris Maciejovsky & David V. Budescu, 2020. "Too Much Trust in Group Decisions: Uncovering Hidden Profiles by Groups and Markets," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(6), pages 1497-1514, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:12:y:2022:i:6:p:186-:d:998291. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.