Does Transformational Leadership Still Run Effectively in A Conflict Setting?

Abstract

This article aims to describe the influence of servant and transformational leadership on teacher work productivity and the role of mediating conflict resolution. There is a lot of research on leadership but not much research on how leadership handles conflict. Several research studies have investigated how leaders respond to conflict and the most common conflict management. However, no research is available to determine public preferences for conflict resolution options. The application of transformational leadership is known for its toughness and has been widely discussed. However, there is a phenomenon where school principals experience a decline and schools experience many problems. One of the factors inhibiting school progress is conflict. The author presents how to manage a school or organization in conflict settings by offering a servant leadership style. These matters are discussed in this article. This study used a quantitative survey design with 300 high school teachers as respondents to rate the leadership of school principals from 15 districts in Lampung Province. The results of Amos 23 calculations state that servant leadership has a positive effect on handling conflict (87.5%) and on teacher’s work productivity (37, 4%), while transformational leadership has a positive effect on handling conflict (8.7%) and negative effect on teacher work productivity (-68.8%). The research concludes that (1) servant leadership is a good predictor of teacher work productivity and a solution for conflict resolution in schools; (2) when there is conflict, transformational leadership is not a solution; (3) conflict handling is directly proportional to teacher work productivity; and (4) conflict handling becomes a good mediator for servant leadership and transformational leadership for teacher work productivity.