CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AMONG GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA: IMPLICATION FOR PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE

Abstract

The present study examined conflict management strategies mostly adopted by guidance counsellors in Kaduna State. The study used descriptive survey design and applied stratified and random sampling techniques to select 120 participants from the population of the study. An instrument tagged “Counsellors’ Roles in Conflict Management Questionnaire (CRCMQ)” was used to collect data for the study. The instrument was face validated by five seasoned lecturers. The instrument was also subjected to a split-half reliability test, which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.86 upon Chronbach Alpha statistical analysis. The data collected for the study were analysed using percentage, mean, standard deviation, rank order, and t-test. The three hypotheses formulated for the study were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study revealed that counsellors have positive perceptions of their roles in conflict management, and the most perceived conflict management strategies among guidance counsellors in Kaduna State; are using of empathic understanding, open communication and application of counselling technique such as cognitive restructuring, and that there was significant difference in the respondents’ expressions based on gender, while no significant difference was noticed based on religion and mode of practice. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among other things that; guidance and counselling practitioners should continue to make use of different counselling approaches such as; empathy, open Journal of Professional Counselling, Vol. 8, No. 1 215 communication, and cognitive restructuring to manage conflict among parties that are involved in a conflict.