Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if differences exist in the interpersonal styles of managing conflict with superiors between Hispanic and Anglo elementary and secondary administrators in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The study utilized the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory II (ROCI-II) instrument to examine the following five styles of interpersonal conflict management as the dependent variables: integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising. A background (demographic) questionnaire instrument was also utilized to examine the following demographic data as the independent variables: ethnicity, gender, years of experience in administration, school level, administrative level, age, ethnic self-identification and generation. The research design of this study was descriptive, ex post facto (causal comparative). The two instruments utilized were mailed to 226 Hispanic administrators and 274 randomly selected Anglo administrators. The first mailing yielded 311 (62 percent) returns: 159 Hispanics and 152 Anglos. The second mailing generated 92 additional responses. Thus, 403 (81 percent) of the population surveyed participated in this study; 183 were Hispanic and 220 were Anglo. Key findings. The results indicated that Anglo administrators have higher scores on the "avoiding" style of conflict management (p $<$.01) than Hispanic administrators. Additional differences were found based on selected demographic variables. Anglo administrators with four to six years of experience had higher scores on the "integrating" style than their Hispanic counterparts (p $<$.001). A significant difference was also found between Anglo and Hispanic elementary administrators with Anglos having higher scores on the "avoiding" style (p $<$.001) and the "dominating" style (p $<$.002). In addition, Hispanic middle school administrators scored higher on the "dominating" style (p $<$.03). Furthermore, Anglo principals scored higher on the "dominating" style than Hispanic principals (p $<$.05) while Hispanic administrators between 21 and 39 years of age scored higher on the "integrating" style than Anglo administrators of similar age (p $<$.002). Finally, Hispanic administrators who identified themselves as "Chicano" scored higher on the "obliging" style than Hispanic administrators of other self-identifications (p $<$.0001). Conclusions and recommendations. It was concluded that differences do exist in the conflict management styles between Hispanic and Anglo administrators. There did not appear to be any consistent pattern of differences in styles based on demographic variables. The results of this study were inconsistent compared to earlier research. Earlier studies both supported and opposed the results of this study depending on the demographic variable. Therefore, the results of this study were inconsistent in determining if the demographic variables influenced the choice of conflict management styles. It was recommended that a study be conducted to examine the conflict management styles that administrators utilize with their subordinates and peers to enhance this study which focused primarily on conflict management styles with superiors. A study on other ethnic groups was also recommended to determine if culture and background have an impact on conflict management. The results of these studies could be useful in providing researchers and practitioners with additional knowledge about conflict management skills and organizational success.