Leading Through The Use Of Productive Conflict:

A Professional Development That Teaches Principals To Use Productive Conflict Among Teachers For Organizational Learning and Growth

By

Brandee Louise Stewart

Doctor of Education

University of California, Berkeley

Professor Heinrich Mintrop, Chair

In recent years, models for school leadership encourage shared or distributive leadership. In a shared leadership model the principal and teachers collaborate and share responsibility for improving the quality of the school. The Principal is encouraged to focus on instruction over day to day operations; and the teachers are encouraged to take responsibility for more than just their classrooms. This model has become common practice in many districts. A popular model for this type of teacher leadership and collaboration is Professional Learning Communities. In these structures the principal facilitates teacher collaboration around student data, sharing ideas, and instructional practices. These models are generally based on consensus and cohesion among the adults involved. But what the research and experts in the field often overlook with these models is adult conflict. When teachers who have previously been allowed to work alone, in the confines of their classrooms, are asked to work together and agree on practices related to their teaching and the school there will inevitably be some disagreement. However, none of the research or principal training related to PLC’s or shared leadership offers principals support for how to manage these conflicts. As a result principals often struggle to ignore or stop conflict. However, not all conflict is the same. Some conflict can actually support the growth and development of the PLC and their ideas. This study focuses on supporting principals with managing teacher conflict. The purpose of this study is to teach principals how to identify and manage productive conflict.

For this design study I drew from literature on adult learning, the historical role of the principal, types of workplace conflict, and conflict mediation. I used this literature to develop a theory of action to guide the design and implementation of my intervention. The theory of action is based on three key principles. In order to effectively manage productive conflict principals must 1) know the difference between productive and unproductive conflict 2) be able to identify productive conflicts in schools 3) have a process to manage productive conflict for a positive outcome. Based on this theory of action I developed a five session professional development that aimed at helping principals identify and manage productive conflict.

In this design development study I collected both impact and process data. The impact data was based on a pre and post interview with the principals. Each principal’s answers were mapped onto a four point rubric to determine their pre and post scores. For the process data I recorded and transcribed each professional development session. The transcripts, and written documents from each session were used as data to analyze the effectiveness of the professional development and facilitation. Three currently practicing principals participated in the professional development. The design was originally five sessions but was reduced to four sessions after the principals were not able to complete the on site mediations. Overall the principals showed an increase in their basic knowledge about conflict, but they were not able to apply their learning to their scenarios or real life. This study provides a skeleton for a professional development for principals on managing productive conflict, however further iterations are required.