Investigating the Relationship between School Principals' Conflict Management Styles and Perceived Organizational Ethics and Justice (Case Study: Secondary School Teachers in Isfahan city)

Perceived organizational ethics and justice of teachers is always dependent on the use of conflict management styles by principals. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between school principals' conflict management styles and perceived organizational ethics and justice.

A descriptive-correlational research method was used to study the variables. The statistical population consisted of all secondary school teachers in Isfahan city with 3537 people in the academic year 2017-2018. The sampling method was multi-stage cluster sampling based on the Cochran's sample size formula and 347 people were randomly selected for the study. The research tool consisted of four categories of questionnaires: Conflict Management Styles Questionnaire (Robbins, 2010), Niehoff and Moorman Organizational Justice Questionnaire (2003), School Principals Ethics Questionnaire (Haj Khazime, 2016) and Standard Organizational Belonging Questionnaire (Andre, 2010). Two levels of descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential statistics (Kalmogorov-Smirnov tests, Pearson correlation, stepwise multiple regression and structural equation modeling) were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that there is a significant relationship between conflict management styles in five dimensions (dominance or competition, collaboration, avoidance, tolerance, compromise) with professional ethics and perceived organizational justice at the level of P <0.05. Sense of organizational belonging mediates the relationship between five-dimensional conflict management styles with perceived professional ethics and organizational justice at the P <0.05 level. The proposed experimental model has a suitable fit.

it can be concluded that in order to improve organizational ethics and justice perceived by teachers, principals should use the conflict management style of cooperation and compromise and should avoid resisting or confronting teachers' opinions.