Conflict Management and Ethical Leadership: Reflections on Nyerere’s Principles in Organisational Effectiveness in Chake Chake-Pemba, Zanzibar

Abstract

This study examines the role of conflict management strategies in enhancing organizational effectiveness within the context of ethical leadership inspired by the legacy of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Focusing on public and private sector institutions in Chake Chake-Pemba, Zanzibar, the research explores how selected conflict resolution approaches, namely competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating, align with ethical governance principles and influence institutional performance. Employing a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 160 purposively selected employees using structured questionnaires. Analysis was conducted through descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression, facilitated by SPSS. The findings reveal that competing and collaborating strategies significantly improve organizational outcomes, reflecting Nyerere’s emphasis on principled dialogue, accountability, and shared leadership. Conversely, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating approaches showed limited or weak influence on organizational effectiveness, suggesting the need for more proactive and ethical engagement in resolving disputes. Correlation analysis further confirmed strong positive associations for competing and collaborating strategies, while avoiding and accommodating displayed minimal relational strength. Grounded in Nyerere’s ethical framework, the study recommends the institutionalization of participatory decision-making processes, team collaboration, and formal conflict mediation training to build leadership capacities that foster sustainable organizational development. These strategies, reflective of Nyerere’s vision for harmonious and people-centred governance, are essential for cultivating conflict-resilient organizations in Zanzibar and beyond.