Leadership Skills, Conflict Management Practices, and Organizational Climate in Public Elementary Schools in Zone 4, Division of Catanduanes: Basis for an Action Plan

Abstract

Educational leadership plays a critical role in promoting organizational effectiveness in public elementary schools, particularly in rural settings where school heads must balance instructional leadership, conflict management, and organizational development. Despite the recognized interrelationship of these organizational dimensions, limited evidence has simultaneously examined leadership skills, conflict management practices, and organizational climate from the perspectives of both school heads and teacher s in rural Philippine schools. This descriptive-comparative study assessed these variables among 50 school heads and 50 teachers from public elementary schools in Zone 4, Division of Catanduanes, and developed an action plan to enhance leadership effectiveness. Data were analyzed using weighted mean, standard deviation, and independent samples t-test. Findings revealed that transformational leadership was the most frequently practiced leadership style, whereas autocratic and laissez-faire leadership were the least practiced. Conflict management was generally characterized by accommodating, collaborating, and compromising strategies, while the organizational climate was highly manifested, with people-oriented climate receiving the highest ratings and innovation-oriented climate the lowest. Independent-samples t-test results further revealed no significant differences between the perceptions of school heads and teachers regarding leadership skills, conflict management practices, and organizational climate across all measured dimensions. These findings indicate a shared understanding and consistent evaluation of leadership behaviors, conflict management approaches, and organizational climate among school stakeholders, reflecting organizational coherence in school management practices. Accordingly, the proposed action plan focuses on sustaining effective leadership practices, strengthening collaborative and reflective leadership, enhancing conflict management competencies, fostering innovation, and maintaining a positive organizational climate through continuous professional development, participatory governance, and systematic monitoring and evaluation.