The purpose of the study was to unravel and analyze effects of sports-related-conflicts in the CentralWestern Zone of Colleges of Education in Ghana. Quantitative descriptive survey was used to unravel the effects of sports-related-conflicts among students in the Colleges of Education in the Central Western zone. A questionnaire was administered to 369 respondents. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was revealed that the effects of sports-related-conflicts assumed different forms including; creation of state of chaos, destruction of property, retaliation, sowing seeds of bitterness, rough play action, suspicion, unnecessary tensions, blackmailing among others. It was recommended that conflicts in sports at the Colleges of Education in Ghana should be properly managed by the organizers of the sporting activities
Conflict is an unavoidable aspect of modern life. Once people from different communal, racial, religious, political and economical settings are assembled together, the opportunity for conflict increases. This also means conflict in general is pervasive and may happen in any organization, institutions inclusive. It is therefore, not surprising those gatherings such as Central-Western zone sports competitions may be besieged with its fair share of conflict.
Kreitner and Kinicki (
Conflict is a serious disagreement, arising out of differences of opinion, wishes, needs, values, and interests between and among individuals or groups (
A potential for conflict exists whenever and wherever people have contact (
The existence of conflict may be triggered by ethnic, racial, religious, economic differences, or may arise from differences in values, beliefs and attitudes regarding issues. A conflict may become violent, and in extreme cases, leading to destruction and bloodshed. This does not necessarily mean that all conflicts are bound to lead to violence; the situation becomes so when the process turns to overt hostility that involves destructive behaviour (
Conflict in organizations can range from trivial to tragic and may occur within the individual, between people, and between groups. It is closely related to change and interpersonal transactions .As people come together to satisfy a wide range of emotional needs, social relations in general are swamped with conflict. As people interact, they deal with differences as well as similarities; with strong dislikes as well as attractions (
One school of thought feels the term conflict has a strong negative connotation, evoking words such as rivalry, anger and violence. Another school of thought, however, feels conflict does not have to be negative experience. It can serve as an important positive force in the achievement of organizational goals. Conflict, however, is an everyday certainty with both benefits and costs. In recent times, it was inferred that organizational conflict of any type was detrimental and should be eradicated. Now, however, the potential positive outcomes of conflicts such as providing feedback, indicating the need for change, making supervisors aware of problems and increasing motivation are being recognized. Wright and Noe (
According to Mensah. K. (
Conflict situations are created by varied factors and so the types and nature of conflicts differ from one institution to the other. Conflicts come with their attending effects which at times leave behind damaging scars in the memory of generations even unborn. In Central-Western Zone of Colleges of Education, it was obvious that various types of conflicts were witnessed in the past six years during zonal competitions and nobody could accurately tell what actually caused them and how to curtail them. It was, therefore, extremely difficult for the administration and organizers to strategize measures to deal with conflicts which disrupted various sports competitions in the zone .The phenomenon was also destroying the purpose of sports in the zone thus creating enmity among various members. There was, therefore, the need for an empirical study of the effects of the conflicts in the zone to facilitate formulation of practical resolutions to cure the effects. This study was in response to the aforementioned need.
The purpose of the study was to unravel and analyze effects of unmanaged sports-related-conflicts in the Central-Western Zone of Colleges of Education in Ghana.
What are the effects of unmanaged sports-related conflicts in the Central-Western Zone Colleges of Education in Ghana?
Descriptive survey design was used. The target population for the study was four thousand, six hundred and eighty one (4,681) student trainees and tutors in the six colleges of education in the central-western zone in the 2009/2010 academic year. The six colleges being referred to were OLA, Holy Child, Fosu, Komenda, Wiawso and Enchi.
A sample size of three hundred and sixty nine (
The instrument developed for the study was a questionnaire. Respondents were requested to respond to each item on a four-point Likert’s scale.
The study sought to find out the effects of unmanaged sports related conflicts in the Colleges of Education in Ghana and the result is presented on Table 1.
Effects of Unmanaged Sports Related Conflicts in the Colleges of Education
Effects of unmanaged conflict Frequency Percentage (%) |
Chaos 89 24.1 |
|
Source: Field Data
From Table 1,out of the 369 respondents, 89 (24.1%) were of the view that unmanaged conflict during sports competition in the Colleges of Education in Central-Western zone resulted in chaos, 52 (14.1%) said it resulted in injuries and destruction of property, 45 (12.1%) said it resulted in seed of bitterness, 43 (11.7%) said it resulted in looking for means of retaliation, 39 (10.6%) said it resulted in unnecessary tension, 37 (10.0%) said it resulted in suspicion, 35 (9.5%) said it resulted in blackmailing, whereas 29 (7.9%) said it resulted in rough play or actions. The effects of conflict on the individual can be very detrimental to the success of any organization. This can be likened to Wright and Noe’s (
This study sought to assess the effects of unmanaged sports-related-conflicts in the life of students in the Colleges of Education in Ghana. From the findings, it can be concluded that the effects leave memorable scars in the life of students resulting in retaliation, sowing seeds of bitterness, creation of state of chaos, suspicion, unnecessary tension, blackmailing and destruction of property among others.
Conflicts in sports at the Colleges of Education in Ghana should be properly managed by the organizers of the sporting activities.
Students in the Colleges of Education should be taken through the dangers and effects associated with conflicts in sports.