Eureka! Institutional Repository

Conflicts, as a product of social interaction, are inseparably connected to the daily routine of a school. The headmaster/ress of a school unit every now and then is confronted with conflict situations, which he/she has to deal with, so as to safeguard the regular operation of the school community. To succeed in his/her work, he/ she must have, not only organizational skills, but also emotional ones, as emotional intelligence plays an important role in conflict management. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the views of the teachers in primary education concerning the conflict management techniques of their supervisors in the region of West Thessaloniki. 188 teachers took part in the research from 59 school units of the department of West Thessaloniki - representative sample (32, 59%) of the total number of primary schools, a fact which ensures the validity and credibility of the research. The participants completed a questionnaire consisting of three parts: the first part entails the recording of the individual characteristic of the teachers and their supervisors, the second part is the completion of the questionnaire (TEIQue-360οSF, Petrides 2009) concerning the dimensions of emotional intelligence, and the third part is the completion of the questionnaire (ROCI-II, Rahim 1983) concerning the research of the applied management conflict techniques. Results showed that the majority of school supervisors are equipped with a relatively high level of emotional intelligence and choose to apply cooperative techniques of conflict management («integration», «obligation», «compromise»). However, through the analysis of the structural equation model (SEM) by AMOS 22, we can deduce that, of the four in part dimensions of emotional intelligence, those which are mainly connected to cooperative techniques are «emotionality» and «self-control» – «well-being» and «social ability» are connected to «avoidance» and «obligation».