The choice of strategies of behavior in conflict and emotional hindrances in communication among secondary school teachers.

Novopashina Larisa Aleksandrovna PhD in Psychology Associate Professor, Department of Human Resource Management, Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny str., Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia novopashina_2024@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Gudovskii Igor' Vital'evich PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Siberian State University of Science and Technology. M.F. Reshetnev 82 Mira str., Krasnoyarsk, 660049, Russia igudovskiy@inbox.ru Shepeleva Yuliya Sergeevna Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences and Humanities, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University prof. V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky of the Ministry of Health of Russia 660022, Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Partizan Zheleznyak str., 1 lady@mail.ru Vladykin Igor' Vil'yamsovich Master, Department of Developmental Psychology and Counseling, Siberian Federal University 660062, Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Svobodny str., 79 marin-0880@mail.ru

Varfolomeeva Yuliya Sergeevna Psychologist, Psychological Service, Siberian Federal University 660022, Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodarskaya str., 19a lady@mail.ru

Introduction.

Conflict competence is one of the main qualities that should belong to a modern teacher.  It is important for a teacher to be able to settle a conflict, successfully negotiate, and understand the essence of conflictology. An important aspect of the conflict competence of a teacher is the absence of emotional hindrances in communication. it is important to be able to manage your emotions in the process of communication, to understand and accept the emotions of another person. This is important not only for the psychological well-being of the individual, but also allows you to regulate and control the communication process, prevent the onset of conflict situations in time.

Among the specific "hindrances" of communication, one can distinguish: inability to manage emotions, dose them; inadequate manifestation of emotions; inflexibility, underdevelopment, inexpressiveness of emotions; dominance of negative emotions; unwillingness to get close to people on an emotional basis ^[1,2].

The ability to manage one's emotions, influence the emotions of the interlocutor, and understand his emotional state largely depends on the person's choice of behavior strategies in conflict situations.

Currently, the study of behavioral strategies in conflict situations is important for understanding, forecasting and correcting the interaction of all participants in the educational process. Having received data on the specifics of strategies of behavior in conflict, we can see the causes of this or that destructive situation and warn it in time. In addition, the choice of a particular strategy can influence the establishment of emotional contacts with a communication partner, which largely determines the effectiveness of interaction. Establishing emotional contact with a communication partner, especially with a child, ensures the implementation of the principle of partnership, understanding and acceptance of the other as a person with their own individual characteristics. Emotional contact makes it possible to share the partner's experiences, establish trust in a relationship with him ^[8].

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the conflict behavior strategies that secondary school teachers choose and the existing emotional hindrances in teachers' communication.

The subject of this study is the influence of conflict behavior strategies on emotional interference in communication among secondary school teachers.

We have put forward the following hypothesis: there is a connection between the teacher's choice of a strategy of behavior in a conflict situation and the existing emotional hindrances in communication: teachers who experience difficulty in managing their emotions (inadequate manifestation, dominance of negative emotions, etc.), such strategies as avoidance, adaptation, rivalry prevail;

Many researchers are engaged in the study of behavioral strategies and conflict competence of teachers.

A separate group of studies consists of works devoted to what conflict competence is, what structures it consists of and how conflict competence affects the effectiveness of teachers' professional activities. These are the works of M. V. Bashkin, E.N. Pasko, S.V. Pukhno, A.A. Volkov, O.V. Chursinova, A.A. Yaroshuk^{[3, 5, 10]}

A separate cohort of works consists of works devoted to the study of strategies of behavior in conflict situations (Babintseva L.N., Sazonova A.O., etc.) ^{[4, 13]}.

The next group of scientific developments is devoted to methods and mechanisms for the formation of effective strategies of behavior in conflict situations. These are the works of Grimailo I.N., Fateev O.A., Fateev G.V., etc.^{[6, 15]}

Finally, a separate group of works consists of works devoted to the problem of school mediation, its introduction into the education system (Grebenkin E.V., Kushekova B.K., etc.) ^{[7, 9]}.

Studies devoted to the problem of emotional regulation and its role in a conflict situation are presented by the works of Tsybulnikova V.E., Semina R.R., Savina T.A. and others^{[12, 14, 16]}

Abroad, studies of conflict behavior strategies and their relationship with emotional hindrances in communication are presented by the works of Craig, E. Runde, Jan, N.Hughes, Mark, T. Greenberg, Michael, A. Gross. and others .^{[17, 18, 19, 20]}.

In this study, we rely on the position of the theory of conflict competence of teachersPasko E.N. who believes that emotional hindrances that arise in the process of communication are largely determined by the style of behavior of a person in conflict situations ^[10].

36 teachers of the gymnasium No. 1 University, Krasnoyarsk took part in the study. The teachers participating in the study are teachers of different subjects of the school curriculum, and also had different work experience: from six months to 48 years.  Teachers were asked to take two tests:

1. test "style of conflict behavior" by K. Thomas, to identify the leading strategy(s) of behavior in conflict ^[16] ;

2. diagnostics of interference in establishing emotional contacts (V. V. Boyko), to identify the level of emotional effectiveness in communication and to identify the type of emotional interference {9}.

3. Methods of statistical data processing (Pearson chi-square criterion).

These methods were chosen in order to check the connection between the prevailing strategy of behavior in a conflict situation and the specifics of establishing emotional contacts with a teacher: teachers experiencing difficulty in managing their emotions (inadequate manifestation, dominance of negative emotions, etc.) should, according to the hypothesis put forward, prevail strategies such as avoidance, adaptation, rivalry. 

In the process of conducting this study, it was noticed that this relationship manifests itself more strongly depending on the length of service. This allowed us to put forward the second hypothesis of the study: teachers with more than 10 years of work experience have a predominant strategy of compromise, cooperation, since they (teachers) are better able to manage their emotions, are focused on establishing positive emotional contacts. Conditionally, teachers were divided into 2 groups: with less than 10 years of experience and more than 10 years.

Fig.1. The choice of behavior strategies by teachers with less than 10 years of experience.

Results of the study: When calculating the results according to the Thomas method, the following was revealed: there was a separation of teachers and their prevailing strategies of behavior in conflict by work experience. Teachers with less than 10 years of experience have the following prevailing strategies of behavior in conflict – avoidance (34%), compromise (28%), adaptation (21%). The cooperation and rivalry strategies scored 7% and 10% respectively. Figure 1 suggests that

Specialists with less work experience are at the stage of entering the profession, there is an active mastery of the personality of the profession and finding their place in the team. It is at this stage that the system of personal qualities and relationships is formed.

The following diagram, shown in Figure 2, shows us the distribution of conflict behavior strategies among teachers with more than 10 years of experience.

  Fig. 2. Choice of behavior strategies by teachers with more than 10 years of experience.

It is worth noting that among the leading strategies they also have, as well as teachers with less than 10 years of experience, a compromise behavior strategy stands out (34%). Avoidance is in second place in terms of preferred strategies (23%), adaptation and cooperation have an equal percentage in terms of preferred strategies of behavior in conflict (16% each). Rivalry ranks last in terms of preferred strategies (11%).

These results allow us to conclude that there is a difference in preferred strategies among specialists with 10 years of experience. They are equally inherent in such a strategy of behavior as compromise. However, avoidance still occupies a leading place in preferred strategies among younger professionals, while older colleagues are equally characterized by such strategies as cooperation and adaptation. 

After analyzing the data obtained using the methodology for determining emotional interference in communication according to the V. Boyko test, the following was revealed:

- almost 36% of teachers have emotional problems in everyday communication;

- almost 87% of teachers have some kind of "hindrance" in establishing emotional contacts, which complicates interaction with communication partners.

 There were also differences in connection with the work experience of teachers. 

Teachers with experience > 10 years have less significant "hindrances" in establishing emotional contacts.  It is characteristic for them that emotions usually do not interfere with communicating with partners, or there are some emotional problems in everyday communication. These connections can be observed in Figure 3.

 Fig. 3 – The results of the Boyko test, showing the presence of emotional interference in a group of teachers with experience 10 years

We hypothesized that there is a connection between the prevailing behavior strategy of a teacher in a conflict situation and the specifics of establishing emotional contacts with him: teachers who experience difficulty in managing their emotions (inadequate manifestation, dominance of negative emotions, etc.), such strategies as avoidance, adaptation, rivalry prevail. 

Using table 1, we can establish links between two values (behavior strategy and emotional hindrances).

 Table 1 - Relationship between emotional hindrance and preferred behavior strategy, Human

         According to Table 1, it can be concluded which behavioral strategies correspond to various emotional hindrances. The data in the table unites all teachers who are not separated by experience. Below we will provide tables in which we will present data specifically for each group of teachers - with 10 years of experience. Based on the data from Table 1, we can fix the following:

1.                 Inability to manage emotions – emotional hindrance in most cases corresponds to such behavioral strategies as compromise and avoidance;

2.                 Inflexibility, inexpressiveness of emotions – the most pronounced strategy of behavior in this emotional hindrance is avoidance;

3.                 The dominance of negative emotions - emotional hindrance in most cases corresponds to such behavioral strategies as compromise and rivalry;

4.                 Unwillingness to get close to people on an emotional basis is the most pronounced strategy of behavior in this emotional hindrance is adaptation;

5.                 Inadequate expression of emotions:  strategies such as compromise, avoidance, and rivalry are equally expressed.

These data can help us to draw the following conclusion: the most common behavioral strategies in the presence of emotional hindrances in the respondent are avoidance, compromise. On a smaller scale, rivalry and adaptation.

Table 2 - Relationship between emotional hindrance and preferred behavior strategy (work experience less than 10 years), Human

Table 3 - Relationship between emotional hindrance and preferred behavior strategy (work experience more than 10 years), Human

As we can observe, the data of the tables vary. It is possible to observe the connection between emotional hindrance and the preferred behavior strategy for teachers with less than 10 years of experience. The most preferred strategies in the presence of emotional hindrances are avoidance, adaptation, compromise in the presence of such emotional hindrances as inability to control emotions, inflexibility, inexpressiveness of emotions, unwillingness to approach people on an emotional basis.

Teachers with more than 10 years of work experience have the opposite thing: the relationship between strategy and emotional interference is either not expressed or weakly expressed, which allows us to talk about confirming our hypothesis that teachers with higher experience have less emotional interference, are better able to manage their emotions, are focused on establishing positive emotional contacts, which is why their prevailing strategy of behavior is a compromise.

In table 4, we can trace the dependence of behavioral strategies and emotional hindrances.

Table 4 - Statistically significant dependence of strategies and emotional hindrances

 According to the Chi-square criterion, there is a statistically significant dependence of strategies and emotions. Chi-squared is 26, 4118. The result is significant at the level of statistical confidence p = 0.04. It is also worth noting that statistically significant differences are most pronounced for compromise and avoidance strategies.

Also, to more accurately test our hypotheses, we looked at how strongly behavioral strategies correlate with each other based on the data of our study. To calculate this data, we used the statistical program SPSS.

The data show that the set of emotional hindrances of teachers with the compromise strategy is closest to the set of emotional hindrances of the rivalry strategy. Just like cooperation is closest to rivalry (correlation coefficient 0.833). These data suggest that in our study, the set of emotional hindrances is not directly determined by the behavior strategy, since otherwise our hypothesis would be correct and the compromise strategy would be as close to cooperation as possible, and avoidance, adaptation and competition to each other. It is worth noting that the data of the study of specific strategies through the specific emotional hindrances we are investigating are given. It can be assumed that the results would be different on larger samples, so the data in Table 4 should be considered as more reliable.

The data obtained suggest that the hypotheses put forward in the work have been partially confirmed.

Conclusions.

The following methods were chosen for the study: a test questionnaire by K. Thomas to determine the style of behavior in a conflict situation, a method for diagnosing "interference" in establishing emotional contacts by V.V. Boyko. When calculating the results according to the Thomas methodology, the following was revealed: there was a separation of teachers and their inherent strategies of behavior in conflict by work experience. Teachers with less than 10 years of experience have the following prevailing strategies of behavior in conflict – avoidance (34%), compromise (28%), adaptation (21%). The cooperation and rivalry strategies scored 7% and 10% respectively. Among the leading strategies of teachers with more than 10 years of experience, as well as teachers with less than 10 years of experience, the compromise behavior strategy stands out (34%). Avoidance is in second place in terms of preferred strategies (23%), adaptation and cooperation have an equal percentage in terms of preferred strategies of behavior in conflict (16% each). Rivalry ranks last in terms of preferred strategies (11%). Teachers with 10 years of experience to a lesser extent have significant "hindrances" in establishing emotional contacts.  Teachers with less than 10 years of experience have a strong connection between behavioral strategies and emotional hindrances. For teachers with more than 10 years of experience, this relationship is expressed to a lesser extent, in some places it is not expressed at all. Thus, it is possible to observe the connection between emotional interference and the preferred behavior strategy for teachers with less than 10 years of experience. The most preferred strategies in the presence of emotional hindrances are avoidance, adaptation, compromise in the presence of such emotional hindrances as inability to control emotions, inflexibility, inexpressiveness of emotions, unwillingness to approach people on an emotional basis.

Teachers with more than 10 years of work experience have the opposite thing: the relationship between strategy and emotional interference is either not expressed or weakly expressed, which allows us to talk about confirming our hypothesis that teachers with higher experience have less emotional interference, are better able to manage their emotions, are focused on establishing positive emotional contacts, which is why their prevailing strategy of behavior is a compromise.

Based on the results of the statistical significance assessment (chi-squared), we can conclude that the relationship between the preferred behavior strategy and emotional hindrances is significantly expressed.

Thus, the hypothesis of our study was partially confirmed, since the preferred behavior strategies of teachers with more than 10 years of experience turned out to be compromise and avoidance, this only partially confirms our hypothesis.