-
Essay / Conflict Management and Organizational Performance in the Nigerian Civil Service
The word conflict conjures up unpleasantness, but it is as old as humanity. Man as a social animal needs interaction and in the process of interaction or work, conflicts arise due to divergent interests that surface in his views, belief system, desires, expectations and common values; which disposes him to act in a particular way. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay If properly managed, organizational conflict can increase productivity and innovation, thereby positively affecting organizational performance. Through conflict, teamwork and cooperation, between employees can be built and this will lead to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization, because difficult conflicts can be managed through bonding, dialogue and negotiation. The survey design was used for the study and the results showed that collective bargaining is the most effective strategy in conflict management. This study also pointed out that there are many causes of conflicts among employees, such as interests, individual and organizational goals. This research revealed that the presence of conflict cannot be desired in an organization as it contributes to either an increase or a decrease in organizational performance, depending on the conflict management methods adopted in the workplace. This study examined the effect of conflict management on employee performance in the Nigerian civil service organization, as a general objective. The specific objectives of this study, which will be investigated are also: to assess the causes of conflicts in the Nigerian civil service, to determine the common types of conflicts in organizations, to examine the strategies used to manage conflicts in the Nigerian civil service and assess the impact of conflict management on organizational performance in Nigeria. Public service. For the purpose of this research to understand the effect of conflict management on the performance of Nigerian civil service organizations, an empirical model was developed using data collected through questionnaires. Participants were 30 workers selected during the technique process. random sampling. Data obtained through the primary source was used. The statistical tools that were applied in data analysis to determine the relationship between organizational performance and conflict management were: regression analysis and Spearman correlation analysis. Regression analysis was used to measure the effect of conflict management on organizational performance and showed that collective bargaining was the most effective in conflict management. Spearman's correlation analysis also showed a positive relationship with the application of integrative strategies such as collective bargaining, compromise and accommodation, and a negative relationship with the use of non-integrative strategies such as competition, domination and avoidance. Conflict could be defined as negative or destructive group, community or individual relationships resulting from a conflict of interests or values (Sani Abubakar Lugga Waziri, 2007). In our contemporary public service, with its structurally differentiated character, inevitably generates conflicts of interest. An organization where there is no conflict will in turn generate demotivated workers, which will affectsignificantly and negatively productivity. Research has shown that a certain level of conflict in the workplace can lead to an increase in employee initiative, creativity and motivation, which will improve their performance. Although the opposite is the case for an organization that experiences frequent or numerous conflicts, it will also observe a hostile work environment, non-worker cooperation, and decreased production. It is the duty of managers to learn and implement conflict management strategies that promote performance. With limited resources and differences in interests, people discover that their expectations are often not met as expected. As a result, misunderstandings and friction ensue. Conflict involves communication that causes it to present itself in human relationships. Adomie and Anie (2005) posited that as long as human beings aspire to positions, security, authority and the comfort of leadership, conflict will remain in our society. Managers are therefore obliged to effectively manage conflicts in order to positively influence organizational performance. Indeed, conflict is an inevitable vice in organizations, whatever their size, what makes the difference is the manner and manner in which different managers manage it in their different workplaces. represents negative things. It involves disagreements between people and will appear where people with individual differences converge to do business. Conflict cannot be completely ignored in the organization because it can be the main driver of change that will increase profits if properly managed. Organizations are made up of groups of people with interpersonal relationships designed to transform inputs into desired outcomes by bringing together technologies and procedures to achieve organizational goals. Conflict, on the other hand, is not foreign to an organization or workplace, as it could be considered a conflict of interest among staff. The conflict as it is is like a two-edged sword that can be manipulated by both the employers and the employees to put forward their arguments, in order to draw attention to their demand. Unrest is observed in the organization when people do not feel satisfied with their goals at the workplace. Studies have shown that limited resources, unrealized needs, desires, diversity of goals, and limited information can fuel conflict within the organization. Conflict can also manifest itself when there are differences in goals. , rivalry of skills and divergences of points of view. Therefore, Kohlrieser (2007) describes conflict as a disagreement between people that manifests itself in lack of cooperation, hostility and suspicion among workers. Traditionally, conflict is seen as a conflict of interests between opposing parties, which breeds distrust and discomfort. Conflict also arises where there is competition and divergent interests. Although conflict can manifest where there are things to compete over while negotiations come into play, where there are elements of cooperation that are beneficial to the parties involved (Plunkett et al, 2005). In every organization, conflict is considered inevitable and a natural process of the parameter, which would be dealt with whenever it appears, so that it does not affect the performance of workers. In the organization, people of different races, colors, thoughts and goals come together to occupy positions and positions.different roles, which automatically causes conflicts. Additionally, poorly managed conflict can lead to a poor and unsafe work environment that encourages insubordination, poor communication, and decreased productivity. Every organization faces both internal and external challenges and wants to identify and manage all negative and positive conflicts in others to stay in business. Organizational conflicts can be grouped into two; informal conflict and formal conflicts. Informal conflict is fueled by unrelated work issues, but it has impacts on the organization. Formal conflict is work related and it is not hidden because it seeks to impose a demand on the organization. Conflict management is not about eliminating it completely, but it is about employing various strategies that will reduce its negative impact on workers and improve the achievement of objectives in the company. organizations. To arrive at a concrete decision in an organization, integrative approaches to conflict management are preferred over the non-integrative approach. The integrative approaches are: investigation, evaluation, negation, design and implementation, which produce positive results. In case of conflict between employers and employees, the collective bargaining approach is the most preferred , even in Nigeria. This is in line with the Nigerian Trade Union Amendment Act, 2000. Conflict management practically involves negotiations between the aggrieved parties, which will lead to the provision of a solution to their demands. These conflict management strategies that were researched in this study are: Avoidance, Accommodation, Competition, Compromise and Collaboration. In simple terms, these strategies can be briefly explained as follows: Avoidance means that the parties involved in a conflict avoid themselves. The accommodation strategy is when a party in disagreement decides to be considerate for the sake of harmony. The application of competitive strategy is when the parties involved in a conflict are not ready to inflate themselves, they do not care which horse is throated. With the compromise strategy, conflict participants are willing to give up something just to reach an agreement. In the collaborative strategy, the conflicting parties are willing to make sacrifices to meet their desires. The research model is composed of conflict management as the independent variable and organizational performance as the dependent variable. A descriptive and survey research design, using a total of 128 employees from some selected public service establishments, was used for this study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 32 participants, bringing the sample size to 25% of the organizations total workforce. The basic criteria for the inclusion of the sample were: the attendance register of each organization and the ranks of personnel classified (managerial and non-managerial) in two working frameworks. Of the 32 structured self-administered questionnaires used for data collection, respondents returned only 30 copies. , making a total of 94% collected and used for analysis. The researcher developed an instrument entitled “The Conflict, Management and Organizational Performance Questionnaire” (CMOPQ). The instrument consisted of two sections, A and B. Section A sought demographic information about the respondents and section B sought information on conflict management as well as organizational performance (dependent and independent variables). Section A contained 3 questionnaire itemswhile section B contained 7 questionnaire items to be answered by staff from the different selected organizations. The Likert scale received responses ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree, to answer section B. To verify the suitability of the instrument for the study, 25 workers from other organizations received a questionnaire and were tested with the TEST and the re Test. technical. First, the questionnaire was given to three experts for facial validation. Two of them were from the Department of Management, Faculty of Social Sciences while one was a research lecturer at the Faculty of Arts, Nile University, Nigeria. Input from research experts led to adjustments of the instruments, particularly in terms of ambiguous questions, difficult vocabulary, and excessive wording. The instrument was ultimately ratified by the researcher's supervisor as capable of measuring what it was intended to measure. A pre-test of the Conflict, Management and Organizational Performance Questionnaires (CMOPQ) instrument was carried out on 25 people who were not used for the study. main study. The data obtained were analyzed by the Cronback Alpha coefficient technique at the level of 0.05, it. The reliability coefficient index of the obtained questionnaire ranges from 0.796 to 0.895 coefficient. This is proof of the reliability of the questionnaire in this study. As this study attempts to determine the effect of conflict management and organizational performance in the Nigerian civil service, an empirical model was developed using data collected through questionnaires. The statistical tools used for the analyzes of the collected data were as follows: Spearman's correlation coefficient, mean and standard deviation, Shapiro-wilk, frequency and percentage (descriptive statistics). The demographic results showed that the professional classification of the respondents revealed that the non-managerial staff was 65.2% while the management respondents, represented 34.8% of the total number. The mean of 9.6 years and a standard deviation of 3.4 years corresponded to the organizational tenure of the respondents. This helped reveal the tenure, maturity, rank and educational status of the organization's employees, the majority of whom are non-executive managers. The table below presents 6 conflict management strategies in order of effectiveness and importance in conflict management. At the top of the graph is collective bargaining which has a mean score of 4.0 and a (standard deviation = 1.01). Next comes the compromise with a mean score of 3.35 and a (sd=1.07). Accommodation comes third in order of importance, with a mean score of 3.25 and a (sd=1.08). These 3 strategies are called integrative conflict management strategies. The other 3 conflict management strategies that are not very effective in managing conflicts are: Confrontation, on the table it has an average score of 1.24 and one (sd=0.76). The competition follows with an average score of 1.22 and a (sd=0.52). Avoidance is the least in the conflict management preference scale, it has a mean score of 1.10 and one (sd=0.62). Hypothesis 1: Spearman's correlation technique was used to test hypothesis 1, which states that there is no significant relationship between conflict management and organizational performance. This study shows that there is a significant relationship between conflict management and organizational performance, therefore the null hypothesis as postulated was rejected and the alternative hypothesis accepted. For hypotheses 2 to 7, the Spearman correlation method was applied and the collective bargaining, compromise and accommodation strategies,.