Effective School Management

party that means more to them than it ‘costs’ me?; and
(3) focus on issues and facts and avoid personalizing the conflict.
These are the principles of positive negotiation which should produce a ‘win–
win’ situation.
However, it is all too easy for an emotional desire to ‘beat the blighter’ to
creep in and, once it does, it may well spread from one party to the other. At
the other end of the spectrum many so-called ‘personality clashes’ have an
element of conflict of interest, and are attributable to role, system or culture
problems as much as individual cussedness.
Some conflicts do have their roots in the contestants’ personalities; for
example, introverts may resent flamboyant behaviour by extroverts, and two
deputy heads with different management styles may find it difficult to work
together. We find it helps some management teams to deal with such
situations when they have jointly received training that incorporates the use
of psychometric instruments such as the Myers–Briggs inventory, manage-
ment style questionnaires – or even so simple an exercise as the Team Role
Inventory cited on page 168. However, some people are strongly opposed to
the use of any personality tests, despite their potential, in the right hands, for
enhancing mutual understanding and professional respect. For this reason it
is usually wiser, in the absence of a competent facilitator, to adopt more
procedural approaches to the management of conflict.
THE DANGERS OF CONFLICT
Conflict becomes a dangerous and disruptive force whenever personal ‘glory’
is staked on the outcome. The further the conflict develops, the more ‘glory’
is staked, the more bitter the conflict becomes and the less easy it is to achieve
a solution. Decision-taking is paralysed because neither party dares to make
any concessions for fear (probably justified) that these will be seized upon by
the other party as a victory and a bridgehead for further advances.

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MANAGING CONFLICT
101
At such a point, we speak of a ‘win–lose’ situation since this is how the