On Supervisor-Postgraduate Conflicts From The Perspective Of Social Exchange Theory

Graduate student-faculty relationship,as an important factor affecting the quality of graduate education,has received increasing attention.In recent years,graduate student-faculty conflicts have occurred,showing that implicit or explicit confrontation exists between faculty and students in the process of graduate training,which affects the physical and mental health of faculty and students and the achievement of graduate education goals,and is not conducive to the high-quality development of graduate education.At present,there are not many research results on graduate student-faculty conflict,and the research perspective is relatively single,and there is a lack of research that uses the theoretical framework of social psychology to conduct in-depth analysis of the stages and causes of graduate student-faculty conflict.In this study,a qualitative research method was used to select research subjects through purposive sampling,and eight research subjects were found.Seven of them were graduate students who had experienced student-teacher conflicts,and the remaining one was a confidant of case 6 and had a relatively harmonious relationship with her supervisor,and the information provided by this interviewee was also valuable and therefore served as additional material for this study.We conducted one-on-one in-depth interviews with eight research subjects to understand the current situation of graduate student-teacher conflict,and used Homans’ behaviorist exchange theory and Blau’s structuralist exchange theory to analyze the process and causes of graduate student-teacher conflict in the case in depth.From the perspective of social exchange theory,graduate students and faculty exchange roughly go through four stages: faculty and students attract trust and establish exchange relationship;faculty and students compete with each other and seek to maximize interests;faculty and students divide power and imbalance exchange relationship;faculty and students break out in conflict and exchange relationship breaks down.The student-faculty conflict is hidden in the four stages of student-faculty social exchange,and it is mainly caused by individual behaviors of students and faculty.In the process of faculty-student social exchange,conflicts are likely to arise in the process of getting along with each other due to the inconsistency in whether to pursue academic goals and specific goals,the inconsistent perceptions of the nature of graduate education,the nature of faculty-student relationship and cultivation methods,the unclear responsibilities of both parties,the imbalance of power relationship and the unreasonable distribution of interests.The individual behaviors of graduate student teachers and students are simultaneously influenced by the social environment and education system.Therefore,this study proposes suggestions for building harmonious graduate students from several levels.In terms of improving the matching degree of teachers and students,society should strengthen the guidance of mainstream social values,colleges and universities should improve the mutual selection process of teachers and students,and teachers and students should choose the exchange partners rationally;in terms of coordinating the cognition of teachers and students,society should strengthen the management of online media,colleges and universities should guide teachers and students to establish correct understanding,and teachers and students should strengthen communication and exchange;in terms of unifying the responsibilities and rights of teachers and students,the state should formulate relevant laws and regulations,colleges and universities should implement the In terms of unifying the responsibilities and rights of teachers and students,the state should formulate relevant laws and regulations,universities should implement the responsibilities and rights of teachers and students,and teachers and students should abide by the exchange principle in the interaction.