Author's Name:	Philip Gazimbe Regis and Fanuel Gutuza
Subject Area:	Social Science and Humanities
Subject	Education
Section	Research Paper

Conflict, participatory-decision, management, conflicts, school authorities.

Processes aimed at reaching agreement on objectives within or between organisations will entail dealing with people?s perspectives, sensitivities, values and prejudices. Since participatory decision-making is new to most school managers, any attempt to initiate it, and to develop common objectives will encroach on people?s comfort zones. Resistance to change if not properly managed will lead to conflict, and decreasing commitment and motivation. It is therefore necessary to come up with strategies to manage this conflict for effective participatory decision making. Conflict has both positive and negative outcomes which need to be managed.