Impact of Conflict Management on Organizational Efficiency
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYThe specific objectives of this study are:
- to ascertain the extent to which conflict management has affected the efficiency of the organization
- to examine the influence of leadership practices on organizational efficiency
- To determine the effect of conflict management to employee performance
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
Conflict refers to some form of friction, disagreement, or discord arising within a group when the beliefs or actions of one or more members of the group are either resisted by or unacceptable to one or more members of another group. Conflict can arise between members of the same group, known as intergroup conflict, or it can occur between members of two or more groups, and involve violence, interpersonal discord, and psychological tension, known as intergroup conflict. Conflict in groups often follows a specific course. This period of conflict escalation in some cases gives way to a conflict resolution stage, after which the group can eventually return to routine group interaction once again (Harvard Program on Negotiation Glossary, “Conflict” 2013). Conflict is a social factual situation in which at least two parties (individuals, groups, states) are involved, and who strive for goals which are incompatible to begin with or strive for the same goal, which, can only be reached by one party and want to employ incompatible means to achieve a certain goal (Schmid, 1998). The organizational conflict in business organizations is disagreement by individuals or groups within the organization, which can center on factors ranging from resource allocation and divisions of responsibility to the overall direction of the organization; conflict is the perception of differences of interests among people (Thompson, 1998). An addition, conflict is a belief or understanding that one’s own needs, interests, wants, or values are incompatible with someone else’s. Conflict also involves an emotional reaction to a situation or interaction that signals a disagreement of some kind. Conflict also consists of the actions that we take to express our feelings, articulate our perceptions, and get our needs met in a way that has the potential for interfering with someone else’s ability to get his or her needs met (Meyer, 2004). Conflict is a process of social interaction involving a struggle over claims to resources, power and status, beliefs, and other preferences and desires. The aims of the parties in conflict may extend from simply attempting to gain acceptance of a preference, or securing a resource advantage, to the extremes of injuring or eliminating opponents (Bisno, 1988). The conflict amongst individuals may also be increasing in both private and public sector organizations (Havenga, 2005). Organizational conflict is considered legitimate and inevitable and a positive indicator of effective organizational management. It is recognize that conflict within certain limits is essential to productivity. In organizations that use teams, especially self-managing and other forms of empowered teams, employees are supposed to resolve problems and conflicts themselves (Spreitzer, 1996; Spreitzer, Kizilos, and Nason, 1997). They are trained quality management and given the power to halt or speed up production. Their participation in resolving these issues expected to increase “ownership” of problems and more commitment to implement their solutions that in turn results in improved productivity, product quality, and work life.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter deals with the method used in collecting data required in carrying out this research work it explains the procedures that were followed and the instrument used in collecting data.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study is to examine the impact of conflict management on organizational efficiency.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of conflict management in organizations.
Summary
Conflict management strategies are crucial for the attainment and achievement of organizational goals and objectives. In other words, if the management is not knowledgeable in conflict resolution strategies, it will affect the performance of organizations negatively but if conflict is constructively managed, it will enhance organizational performance.
Organizational conflict is a regular feature in corporate organizations which arises whenever there is disagreement between individual or group of individuals and management. Various strategies are adopted in managing the conflicts but the strategy adopted in each instance depends on the nature of the conflict and the person involved. The strategies adopted 86
are largely effective in resolving the conflicts. However, the re-occurrence of specific conflict is not mainly due to ineffective conflict management but the dynamic socio-economic situation. Organizational conflicts adversely affect employees and management as well as their relationships. It impacts negatively on workers‟ productivity and overall performance and growth of the organization.
Conclusion
This study was exploratory in nature with regard to establishing the organizational conflict managing. Limitations to the study were due to the relative complication of the questionnaire and the ability of all employees to complete it, the survey had to be restricted to job-levels that eliminated the lower ranks of the workforce. Studying the lowerjob levels may reveal different perceptions as to causes of conflict and different conflict-handling styles being use by them in interpersonal conflict situations. Because of there is no studies could be found that was done to evaluate conflict dynamics and specifically conflict-handling styles in municipalities it is believed that this study contributed to the possibility of further research in various aspects of conflict management within public sector organizations. With the growing interest in the skill of conflict management where experiencing different organizations many kinds of conflict acquires the time and effort next to their negative impact on the ability of the organization to the bear management excellence responsibility scaled conflicts.
Recommendation
Management should ensure that there is effective communication between the management team and subordinates. This will ensure that all are aware of management policies and actions as well as contributory to decision-making in the organization. This will eliminate alienation and communication gap.
Individual aims and organizational goals should not be congruent. Individuals should ensure that their selfish interests do not conflict with organizational goals. Otherwise, personal interests should be re-align with organizational interests. There should be effective interpersonal relationships, as well as effective management employee relationships. This should be under covered by democratic management style. This will ensure that employees‟ problems are well addressed and opportunities are always offered to them to achieve their goals. There should always be adequate reward system or compensation plan for employees. These include adequate pay packages, prompt promotion and advancement and effective welfare and social security programs.
Reference
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