Exploring Relationships Between Goal Orientation and Conflict Management Capacity Development in Agricultural Leadership Development Program Participants

Abstract

Motivational dispositions behind how learners approach, interpret, and respond to challenging goals can serve as beneficial foundations to conflict management training and implementation. There is a dearth of research connecting the constructs of goal orientation and conflict management and this study does so, for the first time in an agricultural leadership context. Using The Conflict Management Scale and The Work Domain Goal Orientation Instrument, 80 members of a LEAD21 agricultural leadership development cohort exhibited a 15.2% increase in conflict management capacity. Learning goal orientation was predictive of conflict management capacity prior to the start of LEAD21. Both learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation-prove were found to have predictive qualities after LEAD21 conflict management training. In addition to a discussion on future research directions, educators, as well as learners, are encouraged to incorporate goal orientation into curriculum development and planning for the enhancement of learning environments.