Management organizational conflict management of women leaders in public sector in Kuwait
[Institution Affiliated]
Introduction
With my research project, I intend to identify the causes of the numerous conflicts and the various types of organizational conflict management at the ministry of education or the perspective of women leadership. It also seeks to identify the main strategies of organizational conflict management and the perception that people have on women and conflicts in the Kuwait Ministry of Education. This study will also seek to establish if the degree one has studied in college, the number of years she has worked and the work she does has an impact on her response during the study.
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According to Bullock (1994), all over the world, there are several women working alongside men in various departments all over the world but their efforts are always considered less important than that of their male counterparts. This prompted me to carry out a study into the Kuwait ministry if education where there are several women employees who work alongside their male counterparts and my aim is to ascertain if indeed the role of women is undermined by their male counterparts especially when solving conflicts that arise during work.
I believe that the study will be important because historically women have been known as peacemakers. However, there are claims that the change of roles where most of the women are the breadwinners in most homes these days has totally transformed the role of women as peacemakers because they are now experiencing life the way their male counterparts do. Beach (1989) argues that gender related conflicts have always ensued in relationships where women seeking power are perceived to be attacking the integrity of manhood. There is resistance and serious conflict in the workplace, which has been a major drawback in the struggle to redefine the gender roles between the two sexes (Dillon, 2004).
This study also seeks to ascertain if women have the capacity solve the conflicts that arise in their workplace to the same capacity as men and if the women leadership faces more work related conflicts that that of men. This will be conducted by looking into the Kuwait Ministry of education and all women who work there. Paludi (2008) argues that men will always choose peace over conflict in any situation, this means whenever they are entitled leadership positions they will expect everyone to follow their orders, they will punish anyone who dares to oppose them under whatever circumstances. She further argues that unlike men the who rate their success at work through position and the wages they get, women rate their success through other means such as getting recognition, achieving and having an influence on those they rule over. This clearly shows that whenever a woman will be ruling people who do not obey all their orders or recognize their position, there are high chances of a crisis arising in the workplace.
I will study the nature and cause of the conflicts at the Kuwait ministry of education and ascertain if by any chance women have any role to play in creating or ending them. I will also study whether the level of education and experience that woman ahs does have an impact on the ability to initiate or solve conflicts that arise at the workplace. Martin (2011) argues that people should consider taking the view of other people in the workplace so that they can lessen the chances of a conflict occurring or so that they can solve any conflict that may have arisen already; they should put all their personal issues aside and cooperate. Storti (1999) say that harmony in the workplace improves the productivity of the people. There is no way people can have harmony if the management does not give them the peace to carry out their work in peace.
The study will take into consideration any other issues that affect the chances of women creating a conflict in the Kuwait ministry of education part from the three that have been mentioned above.
- There are a statistically considerable distinctions between the responses of the sample at the ministry of education in Kuwait to the causes of conflict, - There are a statistically significant differences between the responses of the sample at the ministry of education in Kuwait to the types of conflict, - There are a statistically important dissimilarities between the responses of the sample at the ministry of education in Kuwait to the organizational conflict management strategies,
- There are statistically significant differences between the responses of the sample at the ministry of education in Kuwait to their perception of the effects resulting from the conflict in accordance with the scientific qualifications, years of experience and the type of work.
Procedure
In order to prove or disapprove my thesis, I will conduct a survey of the available data at the Kuwait ministry of education and other government bodies. I will make use of the content analysis methodology because I feel like I can obtain all the pertinent data for use in the analysis and conclusions. Analysis the content will assist to make the necessary comparisons between the cause and effect of the conflicts and help in determining whether the hypotheses are true or not.
Causes of the emergence of organizational conflict
In the previous few years, there have been various advancements in the Kuwait government. For instance since the Kuwait minister for health, who was a female resigned in 2007, this move left just one woman in the entire cabinet, she was immediately succeed by another female candidate (Oxford Business Group. 2008). This move encouraged several Kuwait women to seek top jobs in the government.
According to Master (2002), within any workplace there are several causes of conflicts. There are numerous organizational conflicts in the ministry of education in Kuwait with regard to the leadership of women. Note that the Kuwait are dominated by Muslim traditions, which do not allow women to be leaders over men and such there are numerous conflicts with the male employees. The female leadership has experienced various forms of resistance in the course of dispatching their duties to the people of Kuwait through the ministry of education. The conflicts arise because many of the Kuwait people are still deep rooted to their traditional culture, which does not allow women to take leadership positions.
In reality, the conflicts are not caused by the women themselves but by those who believe that women should not take leadership positions and are reacting in total disregard of their directions and leadership. Some of the conflicts are caused by mere personal and ideological differences, which are not influenced by gender by any means at all. The proportion of women who are working in rewarding positions in year 2000 in Kuwait was 31% of the entire labor force. (UN. ESCWA, 2003).
Thus the proportion of women who are working for the with the Kuwait education ministry will be quite small as well, thus the women in the leadership positions had a rough time administering the male majority who are full of chauvinism and demeanor against the women. The UN. ESCWA, (2003) figures indicate that of the entire women population employed, more than 70% are working in the service industry, which is such a small figure still. A large number of the politicians in Kuwait allow their religion to guide their political beliefs, and this is what is bringing about major problems in the appointment of leaders all through the country. However, the Islamic feminine’s who have acquired the western beliefs never get their ideas together with their competitors, which have created continuous rivalry in the workplaces. According to Women Living under Muslim Laws Organization (1986), the empowerment of women depends on the class ruling over the county and their strategies for social development.
Types of organizational conflict at the ministry of education in Kuwait
There are various categories of organizational conflict between various individuals at the Kuwait ministry of education. The women themselves are facing off each other in serious conflicts where they are disagreeing in various matters, note that there are two categories of women; those who are tough feminine’s against the deprivation of their rights by those who claim to be superior under the traditional law, while there are women who are strong conservationists following the laws of the traditional society closely. These two groups are continually clashing at the workplace especially in the way that commands are passed out in the ministry.
According to the World Data on Education (2010), the responsible authorities are entitled the responsibility to make rules for the educational institutions and staff to follow. The rules should help to strike a balance between the preparing the citizen with all skills needed to compete in theinternational market and safeguarding the integrity of the state.
There are other clashes in the ministry of education where the women din various leadership positions are continually clashing with various groups within the ministry of education. The conservative groups, which have been formed to oversee the conduct of women especially in matters of dressing, are continually clashing with the groups of evolved women at workplace. It is quite challenging to address these issues because the two groups have strong ideological beliefs that both of them are right.
Within the ministry of education, there are various groups of people who hold their ideological beliefs strongly. The rivalry between this groups is intense especially when addressing social matters in the ministry, some of these groups have the belief that the other groups are inferior thus are always unwilling to make any debates as far as work is concerned.
The conflicts are serious, and at times, they are political in nature owing to the sensitivity of Islamic law and the rights of women. However, these conflicts are getting much easier to solve as time goes by since the people are accepting the changing gender roles in the modern world. A large number of the individuals who have undergone western education have realized the role of women in management and are welcoming to the decisions of the women. This has helped to cool down the conflict, with the conflicts realized reducing more and more each day.
The outstanding strategies used in organizational conflict management
World Data on Education (2010), says that the education system should be administered jointly be the Ministry of education in cooperation with other state agencies, and it is through the ministry of education that the other responsible bodies are formed. In line with their argument, we can conclude the ministry has overall responsibility to ensure the education system runs smoothly. Coontz (2007) says that no matter their disagreements the management of anybody has to come out with various decisions that will see the system running so well.
There are various strategies that are applied by women leaders in the declaration of conflicts, which take place in the ministry of education. If their opponents prove to have a point worthy objecting to the women leaders will agree to cooperate with them and improve upon the proposed ides for the betterment of the education system in the country. They can also use the strategy of pacification and that of settlement if the matter gets out of hand. Women leader are at times forced to use the avoidance strategy especially when they have sole responsibility of making decisions for the benefit of the girl child and this has worked really well in various instances. At times, the strategy of force is applied if the opposition does not have a genuine reason for opposing the decisions that have been made by their leaders. According to The National Report on Development of Education (2004), the ministry of education should move quickly when making important decisions. This means that the management can act independently is there are too many confusing issues to be considered yet the matter is urgent.
Perception of women leaders at the ministry of education in Kuwait about the consequences of organizational conflict
Organizational conflict is a vital topic for people who work in groups (Rahim, 2011). He further argues that this phenomenon if any management does not admit the presence of organizational conflict while it is indeed there then there will be trouble in running the organization.
The women at the Kuwait ministry of education have the perception that most of the organizational conflict is not caused by their weaknesses but rather by people who are against their positions in the ministry. They are keen to oversee the execution of their orders at all times, and this has really helped them to make important decisions on behalf of their competitors. “While admittance of a conflict is good, there will be no step made if the management goes on admitting all criticism, so they have resolved to assume most of it and carry on with work” (Fisher, 2004).
The women leaders have the idea that the consequences of having organizational conflict are real and that is why they always on toes when handling all conflicts that arise within the ministry. If the organizational conflicts persist, it will be hard to run the ministry, and thus they have to take care of this through various strategies. Cloke (2000) argues that the major solution for this conflict is through proper management and realization of interpersonal roles.
References
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Dillon, E. M. (2004). The gender of freedom: Fictions of liberalism and the literary public sphere. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press.
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Rahim, M. A. (2011). Managing conflict in organizations. New Brunswick [NJ: Transaction.
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The National Report on Development of Education (2004). Retrieved from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/National_Reports/ICE_2008/kuwait_NR08.pdf
UN. ESCWA. (2003). Survey of economic and social developments in the ESCWA region: 2001-2002. New York: UN.
Women Living Under Muslim Laws (Organization). (1986). Dossier. Combaillaux (Montpellier), France: Women Living Under Muslim Laws.
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