THE EFFECT OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION ON ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

1.1 Introduction

Conflict Resolution Management is a skill any organization requires, as no organizations actually exist without the existence of conflict. The managing organizational conflict is the general framework of the entrance and comprehensive treatment by which means that depend on the resolution of problems and disputes (Taher et al., 2007). Conflict in an organization was always under interest of researches and its interest has not reducing till now (Paresashvili et al., 2017). Conflicts of interests arise in group scarcity of freedom, position and resources (Long, 2015). Employees, who have different personality, have different attitude towards organizational conflicts. As a result they have different behavior during conflicts.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Globally, the issue of conflict has destroyed many organizations in recent times. The globalization of trade has led to brain circulation and the spread of working class citizens of the world from their place of origin to other places to work and earn a living. This has ensured that the modern day employee base all over the world is diverse and has a multicultural blend to it. This has led to conflict between employees. Therefore, conflict management has been a human resource management topic has gained importance and value to organizational sustainability.

Furthermore, in Nigeria conflict is a big theme at the table of discussion among Human Resource Management experts. Nigeria is a diverse multicultural country consisting of over 371 tribes (Vanguard, 2017). This has made many workforce and employee based in Nigeria full of various people with different backgrounds, beliefs, value system and motivations. This many times lead to culture clashes amongst employees especially when there is miscommunication due to the sender not clearly stating his intent or the receiver not properly interpreting the message. Therefore, organizations are beginning to see the need for conflict management especially in multinational companies in Nigeria.

It is no secret that in order for an organization to attain its goals and objectives, its human resources must be properly harnessed and directed towards achieving those goals. Organizations’ human resources will usually consist of different people with different attitude, beliefs, abilities and personality. This variation in styles, attitude, beliefs, abilities and personality can cause clashes and in-fighting within the organization. This is termed conflict.

Conflict is not always a negative thing if handled constructively, it can help people to channel disagreement to produce constructive argument and in the end work together to achieve a mutually satisfactory solution. Bacal (2012) noted that there is a need to encourage some level of conflict in organizations in order to enhance creativity. However, when an organizational conflict spirals out of control it can create an extremely negative atmosphere, division, anger and hurt. According to Utleg (2012), workplace conflict is the presence of discord which occurs when goals, interests or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and frustrate each others’ attempt to achieve objectives in an organization. Faure (2005) noted that conflicts are the total range of behaviors and attitudes that is in opposition between owners/managers on the one hand and working people/employee on the other. Workplace conflict is cancerous which can undermine even the best of management practices in organizations and manifests in various forms as an intrinsic and unavoidable feature of employment relationship (Longe, 2015). Hence there is a need for them to be properly managed or resolved. This is called conflict resolution.

Conflict Management is defined by the American Management Association (2010) as spotting the potential value of conflict for driving change and innovation. This implies the knowledge of when to confront, and to avoid a conflict and gaining an understanding the issues around which conflict revolve. Robbins and Langton (2001) defined conflict management as the usage of resolution and stimulating techniques to achieve the appropriate level of conflict. Conflict management is the process of restricting the negative impact of conflict while increasing the positivity of its impact of conflict. The aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcome including performance in the organization setting (Rahim, 2002). Properly managed conflict can improve group outcomes (Alper, Tjosvold & Law, 2000).

The need for conflict management in the finance sector is even more important in Nigeria as finance is a sensitive subject that can get emotions running high. Many finance organizations have drawn up codes of conducts that state how conflicts should be addressed and handled.

Therefore, in Seven-Up Bottling Company where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to investigate the Effect of Conflict Resolution on Organizational Productivity.

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that little bit conflict has been encouraged among employees, it still represents great danger to any organization if not managed properly. There have been cases of organizations that have destroyed just because of conflicts that was not managed properly. The real challenge managers are facing today is the necessity of understanding and learning how to respond positively and creatively to conflict at the various levels and in the widely diverse areas found in the organization.

Additionally, some studies have suggested the use of Competitive conflict resolution strategy (Cobham, 2013). This has had a lot of criticism with conflict resolution strategies viewing it as a strategy that can notoriously make the situation “boil over”. They lecture that it can lead to escalation of tensions and the result might be a lack organizational commitment on the part of the employees hence affect the productivity of the organization (Lather, 2010; Kinnander, 2011).

Conflict, if not properly managed can cause problem in job satisfaction and organizational commitment, thus, leading to an un-conducive atmosphere, strikes, labour disputes and unrest, distress on the part of the organization as well as hindering the realization of the organizational goals and objectives. The focus of the study will be on how to manage conflict effectively in order to avoid those problems.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to investigate the Effect of Conflict Resolution on Organizational Productivity using Seven-Up Bottling Company as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the impact of conflict on organizational productivity
2. To examine the nature of conflict on employee job commitment
3. To find the means of managing conflict with the organization
4. To examine the different types of conflict and its impacts on organizations
5. To emphasized the relationship between conflict and the organizational productivity
6. To examine the causes, sources and solution of conflict in business organization

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Is there any means of managing conflict with the organization?
• Is there any relationship between conflict and the organizational productivity?
• What is the impact of conflict on organizational productivity?
• What is the nature of conflict on employee job commitment?
• What are the different types of conflict and its impacts on organizations?
• What are the causes, sources and solution of conflict in business organization?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Avoidance conflict resolution does not have any significant effect on organizational productivity.
• H1: Avoidance conflict resolution has significant effect on organizational productivity.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: Implementation of Conflict Resolution policies does not have significant effect on productivity.
• H1: Implementation of Conflict Resolution policies has significant effect on productivity.

Hypothesis Three

• H0: There is no significant effect of competitive conflict resolution on Organizational Commitment in Seven-Up Bottling Company
• H1: There is a significant effect of competitive conflict resolution on Organizational Commitment in Seven-Up Bottling Company

1.7 Significance of Study

The importance of the study is to look at the impact of Conflict Resolution in the organization. It is hope that the findings and recommendations would be useful to both public and private organizations. This study will help managers in exploring the benefits realization that conflict can bring to any organization, using NAHCO as a mirror.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Effect of Conflict Resolution on Organizational Productivity using Seven-Up Bottling Company as a case study.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

1.10 Operationalization of Variables

The variables adopted by this study are: Conflict Resolution and Organizational Productivity. The study will seek to investigate the influence of conflict resolution; the independent variable, on the dependent variable; organizational productivity.

The variables for this research are consequently operationalized as follows:

Y = f(X)

Y = Organizational Productivity

X = Conflict Resolution

where Y = Dependent variable

X = Independent variable

y = f (x1, x2, x3…xn)

x1 = Avoidance conflict resolution

x2= Conflict Resolution policies

x3= Competitive conflict resolution

y = (y1, y2, y3)

y1= Employee Productivity

y2 = Employee Productivity

y3 = Organizational Commitment

y= f(x1) __________________ (1)

y = f(x2) __________________ (2)

y = f(x3) __________________ (3)

The study will focus on equation (4) above.

Based on regression, we have

y1 = α0 + β1×1 + μ…. (1)

y2 = α0 + β2×2 + μ…. (2)

y3 = α0 + β3×3 + μ…. (3)

Where, α is the constant of the equation, β is the coefficient of X the independent variable where μ is the error or stochastic term in the equation.

1.11 Operational Definition of Terms

Behaviour: This is the way a person responds to a situation or stimulus.

Conflict: This is define as a disagreement between two or more organizational members or groups based on the fact that they need share resources or because they have different goals, values or perception.

Communication: It is primarily a mechanical process, in which a message is constructed and encoded by a sender, transmitted through some channel, then receive and decoded by a receiver.

Conflict Resolution: This is a holistic approach to divergent orientation between both parties (employer and employees) as the case may be, with the objective of mitigating the effect of the conflict, preventing conflict from ensuring and to make the most of the opportunities offered by the same conflict.

Management: The process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the effort of an organization member and of using all other organizational resources to achieve stated organizational goals.

Organization: This is defined as a co-ordinate social unit, made up of two or more people that function on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal.

Organizational Productivity: This is the aggregate level at which all the resources in the corporate organization are being put to use; its measurement in real terms is the output level of all resources in the organization.

Assertiveness: This refers to the extent to which people focus on resolving the conflict to satisfy their concerns.

Dysfunctional Conflict: This is a form of conflict that arises from confrontation or interaction among teams that have negative effect or hinder the teams and organizations actions.