Conflict is inevitable in organizations following the different approaches people apply in addressing issues. These approaches may be informed by varying educational and cultural backgrounds, and differences in age among other factors. Hence, conflict resolution becomes a crucial aspect in the daily management of organizations, whereby it is capable of disrupting or propelling the momentum of a team, the entire organization, or the leader. Organizations often turn into toxic environments whenever leaders allow conflict to thrive rather than confronting it head-on. Leaders play a vital role in the conflict resolution processes within organizations through three essential approaches, including through leadership style, intervention, and directly engaging in the process. When playing a direct role, leaders apply appropriate conflict management styles in achieving the desired outcomes. On the other hand, when performing an intervention role, leaders act as mediators or arbitrators. Finally, leaders may promote conflict if their management style act as sources of conflict. Different organizations encounter different forms of disputes, which require varying resolution approaches. This paper examines the concept of organizational and interpersonal conflict theory as it relates to developmental mathematics in higher education. The function and role of developmental education have been a critical area of debate in the U.S. for several years. One of the significant sources of conflict in the field is the function that remedial education plays. While some parties argue that the training enhances the meritocratic reward system since it grants even the least unprepared an opportunity to pursue post-secondary education as well as social mobility, others maintain that learners pursuing developmental education are moved out of the pathways of higher education as an approach for balancing the achievement ideal for all in America, while paying little attention to the limited economic need reality. The disturbing poor performance and lack of success among learners pursuing developmental education programs, including mathematics largely support both arguments. Hence, this paper seeks to examine the diverse aspects of conflict theory that are particularly crucial to the concept of leadership in higher education.
The Conflict Theory
Karl Marx developed the conflict theory, which holds that society is always in a state of conflict due to perpetual competition for the available resources, which are also limited (Rahim, 2011). The theory indicates that members of the society who possess resources and wealth always devise measures to hoard and protect the resources, while those without are constantly seeking to use the available means to obtain the resources. According to the theory, the key elements in maintaining social order within societies include power and domination, which are applied in conformity and consensus. The basic principle of the theory is that groups and individuals in a society constantly work towards maximizing their benefits.
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Karl Marx perceives the society as constituting individuals in varying social classes, who are driven towards competing for material, social, and political resources, which include leisure time, education, employment, housing, and food. According to Rahim (2011), such social institutions as religion, education, and government portray the competition in their innate inequalities and play a central role in maintaining the disproportionate social structure. Given the differences in human characteristics, some organizations and individuals manage to acquire and retain more resources compared to others. The successful organizations and winners, commonly described as winners then apply their influence and power in maintaining the traditional social institutions.
Although Marx does not state whether the conflict is appropriate or not, his arguments indicate that conflict is an unavoidable element of human nature, which helps in explaining different occurrences in society. For instance, various forms of discrimination and injustice as well as such problems as revolutions, violence, and wars primarily emanate from the natural disparities that exist within societies (Palestini, 2003). Marx's theory has been applied in explaining the diverse social phenomenon, including domestic violence, discrimination, poverty and wealth, and revolutions and wars. The argument largely attributes most of the significant developments in the history of humans, including civil rights and democracy to capitalist strategies that aim at controlling populations rather than focusing on achieving social order. To a great extent, the theory is centered on the ideas of social inequality about the division of resources and concentrates on the existing inter-class conflicts. The theory is significantly useful in describing different types of disputes that occur within societies; according to such theorists as Marx, inherent social conflict plays a vital role in driving development and change in a given community.
The conflict theory is founded on four key assumptions, including war, structural inequality, revolution, and competition. Conflict theorists hold that competition is a continuous and often overwhelming element in nearly all dimensions of human interaction and relationships. Game emanates from the aspect of resource scarcity, whereby essential resources include such items as commodities, property, and money among others. In addition to competition for material supplies, groups and individuals compete for such intangible resources as social status, dominance, and leisure time among others. From the perspective of conflict theorists, human beings thrive more on competition rather than cooperation.
On the other hand, revolution emanates from the idea that social classes demonstrate a substantial degree of conflict always. Given that change between groups does not merely occur as a result of adaptation, but instead occurs as a result of conflict between classes, shifts in power dynamics are mainly extensive instead of evolutionary and gradual. Further, conflict theory assumes that social structure and human relations all experience power inequalities. From this perspective, some groups and individuals tend to develop more power compared to others. Hence, individuals who benefit from a given societal structure tend to work towards maintaining the structures so that they can enhance and retain their power. Finally, conflict theorists perceive war as either a societal cleanser or unifier. From the arguments presented in theory, war emanates from growing and cumulative conflicts between groups and individuals, as well as between entire societies. In this context, although society may be unified, disagreement still exists between various societies.
According to Rahim (2011), conflict affects different groups differently based on gender, race, and education, and such factors mostly moderate the reaction of people towards inequality as rates of social mobility, class differences, and the perceptions of legitimacy regarding those in positions of power. Moreover, Wallensteen (2018) argues that conflict plays a vital role in stabilizing and integrating societies. The author notes that the degree of conflict varies based on the emotional involvement of the associated parties, the limited nature, and clarity of goals, and the degree of solidarity between the different groups. Gross, Hogler, and Henle (2013) also notes that groups play a vital role in centralizing power, creating internal solidarity, and minimizing disputes. Conflict resolution, therefore, plays a crucial role in reducing hostility and tension and creating an ideal environment for future agreements.
Conflict as it Pertains to the Leadership Theory
Leadership refers to a practical skill involving the ability of an organization or individual to lead teams, other persons, or the whole organization. The concepts of leadership and conflict resolution differ in that while leadership involves the definition and communication of the long-term mission and vision of an organization, conflict resolution mainly focuses on managing the situation at hand. Effective leaders focus on building teams that function well together. Leaders are mainly responsible for facilitating the resolution of conflicts that lower productivity, distract the members of the team, contribute to anger and frustration, and lower motivation levels. According to Wallensteen (2018), human resource professionals spend approximately three to four hours each work in the management of work-related conflicts. Attending to such disputes is essential since if they are left unattended, they affect organizations in diverse ways, including lower motivation levels, employee turnover, and productivity among others. With proper conflict resolution procedures, fewer complaints or disputes are recorded in organizations. Effective conflict management requires leaders to possess such key competencies as playing the role model, integrity, capacity to apply the participative approach, the ability to effectively deal with issues, efficiency in managing individuals and monitoring team relationships.
Interpersonal conflicts in organizations are common occurrences, and they are typically divided into two classes, including task conflict and relationship conflict. Relationship conflict pertains to the disagreements, incompatibilities, and frictions that occur between group members due to personal or individual issues that are unrelated to the activities of an organization ( Wallensteen, 2018) . Conversely, task conflicts refer to the frictions, disagreements, and incompatibilities that occur among members of an organization concerning the solutions and content of the tasks that should be executed. In examining the relationship between leadership theory and conflict resolution, several approaches have been suggested to help leaders effectively resolve conflicts. These critical approaches include competitive, collaborative, compromising, accommodating, and avoiding techniques.
In the competitive approach, leaders apply their persuasive, expertise, or position capacity in exercising control over their juniors. In emergency situations when leaders need to make quick decisions, they mainly use the autocratic style of leadership in resolving problems. However, continuously, effective leaders seek for the contribution of the subordinates and avoid portraying the idea that a decision is a representation of a loss or win situation for the assistants. In the collaborative approach, leaders utilize the participative leadership style in creating an environment that promotes collaboration and cooperation, which is a vital element in fostering capable team functioning among the employees ( Gross, Hogler & Henle, 2013) . Effective leaders in this context quickly diagnose crucial issues affecting the productivity of the group, and implements immediate corrective measures in addressing the emanating disagreements, and further helping the organizations in the development of vital skills in the resolution of the conflict on their own without the need to engage management intervention.
Further, compromising involves both sides of the conflicting parties giving up something to reach a point of agreement. Effective leaders motivate their followers to embrace concession whenever there is a need to maintain high productivity levels rather than carrying on with disagreements and conflicts. Leaders applying this technique help their followers to resolve interpersonal disputes and encourage them to embrace diversity in the organizations. On the other hand, accommodating pertains to a member of the team surrendering their position to accommodate the needs of others, an element that extensively fosters harmony and promotes productivity. However, in cases where more aggressive members of the team take advantage of those who are less assertive, conflict is likely to emerge. Hence, effective leaders actively monitor the environment of their teams and provide their members with mentoring and coaching, which in turn helps them to achieve proper functioning without necessarily taking advantage of others. Finally, the avoiding approach pertains to an unpopular or controversial decision, whereby the most effective strategy that leaders can apply is resisting the temptation to avoid or ignore the decision ( Gross, Hogle, & Henle, 2013) . Through such measures as encouraging active learning, the definition of the problem's root cause, inviting members of the team to forgive one another and negotiating a viable resolution can play an essential role in helping leaders to achieve a productive team. However, in cases where a solution is hard to attain following lengthy discussions, the leader may engage a third party, such as a mediator or facilitator to help in settling the conflict.
Conflict Theory and Leadership in Higher Education
Similar to other fields, conflicts also occur in higher education systems due to the differing perceptions, goals, and objectives of the leaders in the field. In the context of developmental mathematics, leaders have always questioned the need for learners to pursue education, given that they failed to attain the desired grades at the lower levels of learning. Conflict ensues between the parties supporting the education as a crucial tool in enabling learners to pursue similar courses to those who passed their mathematics examinations at the junior levels and those who do not support the idea citing it as a waste of economic resources, particularly with the high rates of poor performance among learners pursuing the developmental subject ( Melguizo, Bos, & Prather, 2011) . Presently, developmental mathematics is characterized by high rates of failure, dwindling numbers of learners enrolling in the program, and low retention rates among learners taking the course.
These factors surrounding developmental mathematics largely resonate with the conflict theory in that they demonstrate features of competition for equal opportunities in the society, and the constant need for some groups to maintain the status quo to continue controlling the education and labor sectors. In the American context, education plays a vital role in supporting the achievement ideal for all, which is a key objective that the society seeks to achieve ( Bailey, Jaggars, & Scott-Clayton, 2013) . However, conflict emerges in the area because some parties feel that the learners’ achievement in the secondary education should be applied in shaping the career paths for all the individuals, and given that there are adequate opportunities for all, there is no need for the developmental learning since individuals can still find careers to pursue.
However, supporters of developmental learning argue that such education is crucial in granting all individuals equal opportunities, particularly since it enables learners who are least prepared to pursue some courses to equal opportunities to pursue post-secondary education and achieve the desired social mobility. To a great extent, developmental mathematics faces conflict because it seeks to establish equality in terms of enabling members of the society to access the same opportunities irrespective of their attainment at the secondary education level. Largely, the conflict increases with the poor performance and low success rates recorded among learners pursuing developmental mathematics, since opponents start arguing that it translates to wastage of the limited available resources.
Given the current conflicts regarding the perceptions of the value of developmental mathematics versus the utilization of limited resources, conflict resolution is vital in this area of higher education. There is a need to examine the benefits of learners pursuing developmental education vis-à-vis the withdrawal of education from the system, particularly from the perspective of the societal contribution that learners make after undertaking the education. Some of the major criticisms that developmental education faces include that the courses are too costly, the courses take relatively long to complete, and that the courses prevent learners from quickly progressing towards acquiring degrees since they hold them in several different levels of remedial classes.
However, studies have demonstrated that these criticisms do not support the idea of terminating remedial courses since they are not founded on facts ( Holschuh & Paulson, 2013) . First, Gallard, Albritton, and Morgan, (2010) note that most learners pursuing developmental courses complete them within a year; although a year may be considered a long time, the available alternative is the learner failing to complete college at all. With this alternative, therefore, it would be better for a learner to pursue developmental education and benefit from acquiring a college degree. In this context, it would be better to graduate after a long time than risk never achieving a degree and lose out on economic opportunities and access to employment altogether.
Another criticism of developmental education indicates that education is unreasonably costly since it consumes a notable amount of public resources without presenting viable benefits due to the low success rates among learners. However, Gallard, Albritton, and Morgan, (2010) note that education consumes less than 1% of the total expenditure allocated to higher education in the United States. Further, Bailey Jaggars and Scott-Clayton (2013) argue that the benefits of developmental education far outweigh the associated costs. This can be examined from the perspective of the economic contribution that individuals present to society once they complete their degrees successfully as a result of the help they derive from the developmental courses. The individuals are capable of securing well-paying opportunities through which they contribute to the public resources through taxation.
Personal Approach to Conflict Resolution and Leadership
Given the above analysis, the benefits of developmental mathematics outweigh the costs associated with the education, which forms the key argument for parties supporting the elimination of the course from the context of higher education. There are different approaches that leaders in higher education can apply in resolving the existing conflict between parties against developmental education and the supporters of the programs, who consider the courses vital in enabling more people to acquire degrees and access equal economic opportunities as individuals who perform well in secondary education and do not demonstrate a need for remedial learning. The techniques as indicated earlier include compromising, collaborative, avoiding, accommodating, and competitive strategies. As a leader, I would consider applying the collaborative approach within the learning institutions and the compromising approach when working with such vital stakeholders as policymakers and parents in making decisions that affect institutions of higher learning.
The collaborative approach would play a vital role in building effective teams within the institutions of higher learning since it pertains to participative leadership that focuses on the elements of cooperation and collaboration. In this context, managers of the institutions and educators would work towards identifying problems that contribute to such negative outcomes as low success rates, failure to complete the courses, and longer periods in pursuing the courses and jointly work towards establishing appropriate corrective measures (Kaplan, 2017). One of the key solutions that these teams would work towards is establishing teaching strategies that would help in improving the learners’ outcomes and scores to promote quicker progression towards degree courses. Better scores and higher success rates would also play a vital role in eliminating the notion that developmental education is an unnecessary cost in higher education.
On the other hand, the compromising approach would play a significant role in the resolution of conflicts between higher education institutions that support developmental education and policymakers, parents, and other parties that largely consider the courses as an unnecessary cost as well as delaying learners in pursuing their degrees. Compromising would extensively enable the opposing parties to understand and embrace the diversity of learners, and therefore support the need to provide personalized teaching services to some groups of learners who are not as competent in such subjects as mathematics. Embracing such diversity would further help the conflicting parties to understand the future benefits of the courses not only to the learners but to the society, and therefore resolve to support the education instead of advocating for its elimination.
Conclusion
Conflicts are normal occurrences in organizations since different parties demonstrate varying desires, characteristics, and objectives among other elements. However, allowing conflicts to thrive in organizations is detrimental since they contribute to low productivity as a result of dwindling employee morale. In the higher education context in the U.S., one of the key elements that bring about conflict is the idea of developmental education. Often the education is criticized for being costly and failing to meet its objectives due to the low success rates recorded. However, education proves to be an essential element in enhancing the wellbeing of society since it grants all learners equal opportunity to complete college degrees and acquire employment successfully. Hence, although education may seem not to be achieving its objectives presently, it is more beneficial to establish strategies for improving learner outcomes than considering to eliminate it altogether. The compromising and collaborative conflict resolution strategies would offer the best approaches to eliminate existing conflicts.
References
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