© 2014 Research Academy of Social Sciences http://www.rassweb.com 246 International Journal of Management Sciences Vol. 3, No. 4, 2014, 246-253 Management of Conflicts in Senior High Schools in Central Region, Ghana Ernest Kwabena Gyan 1 , Patrick Tandoh-Offin 2 Abstract Conflict management in the Senior High Schools has become a critical issue which needs to be looked at by propounding new models to complement or replace entirely the school disciplinary committee system that has become the order of the day. Causes of conflict in the school system vary and ranges from religious cause through misapplied policy, lack of technical know-how in conflict management to representation of school leaders in the day- to- day administration of the school. The paper looks at management of conflict from different perspectives by discussing and analyzing the root causes and sources of school conflicts in the administration of schools in Senior High Schools in the Central Region of Ghana. The findings suggest that administration and management of Senior High School in the Central Region are disadvantaged by the increased rates of conflict situations and that also militate against the smooth running of school administration. Keywords: Senior High School, Single Spine Salary Structure, School Management, Conflict Resolution 1. Introduction Conflict has become inevitable in human existence and indeed a lot of institution, organization, and individuals have put in enough resources in order to curb such a phenomenon (Flippo, 1980). Harold (1998) supported this view by indicating that conflict is part of change and therefore inevitable. It is therefore not shocking news of high rate of conflict in the senior high schools. This study is paramount and timely due to the ongoing debate on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) that has been introduced by the Government of Ghana to streamline wages of public sector employees is creating conflict in the school system in Ghana. The partial implementation of SSSS after a long delay has become potential source of industrial conflicts. We argue in this paper that digging into the causes and effects will broaden the scope of educational administrators in dealing with conflicts in their areas of jurisdiction. Statement of the Problem The Ghanaian economy for the past four years has experienced low remuneration to workers hence the introduction of the single spine salary structure to correct such anomalies. The structure came with its own challenges creating disparity in salaries, coupled with high inflation in the economy has resulted in a great discomfort and industrial strikes in the country. School administration have agitated over this phenomenon of low salaries coupled with high tariffs on utilities of which teachers, parents and students have taken advantage to exhibit misbehavior, anxiety, desperation when they come to the working environment. Teachers in the Central Region Senior High School have in a space of time demonstrated three good times (that is 2012 in November and in 2013 in February and August) against remuneration, bad condition of service and unconcerned attitude of Ministry of Education and for that matter Ghana Education Service. In most cases conflict that do occur in the Senior High Schools are suppressed due to the traditional disciplinary committee put in place to arbitrate disciplinary problems in the school. There is lack of trust and 1 The Accra Institute of Technology, Accra, Ghana 2 School of Public Service and Governance, GIMPA, Accra, Ghana