ABSTRACT
The study examines the effect of impact of conflict management on the organizational performance. Thus, the specific objectives are to examine the impact of effective conflict management on organizational performance, determine the effect of grievance channel mechanism on organizational effectiveness, determine the impact of management intervention on organizational performance, and determine the impact of union mediation on organizational performance. The methodology that was used for the study was survey research design. Primary data was collected from a population consists of the management and staff of Nigerian Breweries Aba, Abia State with a total number of 205 in all. Pearson moment correlation and regression using ANOVA were employed as analytic technique in the study. Findings showed that Conflict Management has a positive and significant relationship with Organizational Performance. The result also reveals that grievance channel mechanism relate positively with organizational productivity, this relationship is found to be statistically significant. Furthermore, union mediation was tested, the result from the study reveals that union mediation has a positive and significant relationship with organizational efficiency. The study therefore concludes that conflict management and management intervention in controlling organizational conflict are necessary in order to maintain the right socio-economic environment that will enable the organization to achieve value maximization, and recommends that there is a continuous need for organizations to evaluate critically rules and regulation guiding the activities and operational workflow in the organization. It further recommends that strategic considerations are recommended when tightening or relaxing the policies regulating grievance channel mechanism in the organization.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Approval ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of content vi
List of Tables viii
Abstract x
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study 1
1.2
Statement of the Problem 2
1.3
Objectives of the Study 3
1.4
Research Questions 4
1.5 Research Hypotheses 4
1.6
Scope
of the Study 4
1.7
Significance
of the Study 5
1.8 Limitation
of the Study 5
1.9 Organization
of the Study 6
1.10 Operational Definition of Terms 6
1.11 Brief History of Nigeria Brewery Aba 7
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Conceptual
Framework 10
2.1.1 Concept of conflicts. 10
2.1.2 Types of conflicts in organizations
12
2.1.3 Conflict
and competition 14
2.1.4 Causes
of conflict 15
2.1.5 Levels
of conflict 19
2.1.6 The
conflict process in organization 24
2.1.7 Conflict
management and organization learning 29
2.1.8
Criteria for conflict management 31
2.1.9 Measurement of
organizational performance 32
2.1.10 Impact of conflict on organizational
performance 34
2.1.11 Impact of effective conflict management on
organizational performance 35
2.2 Theoretical
Framework 36
2.2.1 Cooperative theory 36
2.2.2 Principled negotiation 36
2.2.3 Human needs theory 37
2.2.4 Conflict transformation 37
2.3 Empirical Review 38
2.4 Summary of the Review of Related
Literature 41
2.5 Gap in Literature 41
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH
METHODOLGY
3.0 Introduction 43
3.1 Research Design 43
3.2 Sources of Data 43
3.2.1 Primary sources 43
3.2.2 Secondary sources 44
3.3 Population 44
3.4 Sample Size Determination and Sampling Technique
44
3.5 Sampling Technique 45
3.6 Instrument for Data Collection 45
3.7 Validity of Research Instrument 45
3.8 Reliability
of Research Instrument 45
3.9 Methods
of Data Analysis 45
CHAPTER
4: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Data
Presentation 47
4.2 Socio-economic Characteristics of the Respondents. 48
4.2 Presentation and Analysis of the Research
Questions 49
4.4 Hypotheses
Testing 60
4.5 Discussion of Findings 63
CHAPTER
5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
of Findings 65
5.2 Conclusion 66
5.3 Recommendations 67
5.4 Area
of Further Study 68
References
LIST OF
TABLES
Table
4.1:
Distributed and collected questionnaires. 47
4.2: Graphical representation
of the respondents. 48
4.3: Conflict is a natural phenomena
resulting to disagreement between
or among people in a work environment. 49
4.4: Conflict affects performance or
productivity in your organisation. 50
4.5: Work place conflict arises when
individual or group. goals are
incompatible with other attempt to realise organisation’s
objectives. 51
4.6: When conflicts are well managed,
organisation’s performance is
stimulated. 52
4.7: Conflicts arising from unfair
disciplinary measures against the individual,
deprival of promotion or annual increment among others can
have adverse
effects on concerned employee. 53
4.8: Conflict may arise due to a
breakdown of collective bargaining or
misinterpretation of collective agreement. 53
4.9: Conflict
resolution is more difficult in higher hierarchical level rather
than the
lower ones. 54
4.10 Too much or too little as well as
the channel chosen for communicating
can easily stimulate opposition. 54
4.11: In
Conflict resolution one party is willing to be self-sacrificing by
placing the
opponent’s interest above its own. 55
4.12: In
compromising there is no clear winner or loser but a willing to ration
the object
of the conflict by accepting a win win situation. 55
4.13: The action reaction interplay
between the conflicting parties results
in
consequences that may improve performance or hinder
group
performance. 56
4.15: Assessment of an organisation’s
performance can be supported by the
use of return on asset, return on equity and profit margin. 57
4.16 Conflict situation in organisation’s
make workers become more aggrieved,
less committed to work, frustrated, unmotivated and less
productive. 58
4.17. Effective conflict management
requires that the grievances of the
parties in dispute be addressed to give them a feel of
palliative. 59
4.18. Effective conflict management is
imperative for corporate organisations
because of
its direct and indirect impact on corporate performance. 59
4.19 There is no significant
impact of effective conflict management on
organizational performance.
60
4.20 There is
no significant effect of grievance channel mechanism on
organizational
effectiveness. 61
4.21 Model
summary 62
4.22 Anovaa 62
4.23 Coefficientsa 62
4.24: There is
no significant impact of management intervention on
organizational
performance. 62
4.25: There is
no significant impact of union mediation on organizational
performance. 63
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Conflict
is a regular feature of formal organizations which results from divergences in
interests of individual workers and management. Because individuals differ in
their values, attitudes and goals, conflict among them becomes unavoidable.
Conflict occurs at both individual and collective levels, personality and other
structural factors coming into play (Onah, 2010).
Two types of conflicts at work have
been distinguished. These are organized and unorganized conflicts. (Otobo,2005)
expresses that organized conflict forms part of a conscious strategy to change
the situation which is identified as source of discontent. This type of
conflict is thus a group activity involving deliberate decisions taken at a
mass meeting or by selected representatives of affected staff. In unorganized
conflict, the worker responds to the situation in the only way open to him as
an individual that is, by withdrawing from the source of discontent, or in
reaction engaging in sabotage and rudeness. Agwu (2006) argues that such reaction
rarely derives from any real calculative strategy. Indeed, unorganized
expression of conflict are often, not regarded as conflict by the persons in
the situation. This is why most people may not ordinarily associate acts of
rudeness with being in a state of conflict. Quite often such rude behaviour may
be attributed to “bad mood” and similar psychological states of mind. Conflicts
in organizations, whether organized or unorganized, individual or group, need
to be managed effectively because of their effects on the organization.
Conflict situations affect the
overall effectiveness of organizations in the sense that they cause disharmony
among organizational participants impacting negatively on organizational
performance. This is because useful time and resources are wasted during
conflicts in organizations. Nevertheless, we have to bear in mind than no
organization is immune to conflict within itself since every organization is
made up of different individuals with diverse interests, goals, ideas and
temperaments and it is very difficult to harmonize these divergences. As a
corollary, interests and goals usually conflict between the individuals and the
management team as well as within the management team members.
Conflict management is an important
aspect of organizational management. Ugbaja (2002) notes that the aim of
conflict management is not to create an ideal corporate situation since that is
not attainable given the divergences in the individuals goals, etc. However,
conflict management systematically uses the available conflict resolution
strategies to build an effective mechanism for conflict management in
organizations. Although there may be existing mechanism and procedures already
in place to deal with conflicts whenever they occur, some organizations with
reactive managers rise to the situation when it occurs. Dunlop (2002) expresses
that the virtues of organizational harmony underscores effective conflict
management which is indisputable to effective organization’s performance. For
this reason, every organization strives to ensure good work environment in
which relationships among workers on the one hand, and workers and management
on the other are cordial and appreciated by all the organization’s
participants.
Based on the forerunning it is
evidence that every organization encounters conflicts on a daily basis. The
conflicts cannot be avoided, but it is possible to manage them in a way that
managers recognize them on time. If managed properly, it will bring catalyst for change and can
have a positive impact on employee satisfaction and performance of the
organization. Conversely, unmanaged conflict negatively impacts both employee
satisfaction and job performance. According to Zeljko
(2013) One
of the more important determinants of productivity, efficiency and performance,
and finally job contentment is also the conflict as an independent variable of
organizational performance.
The Nigerian Brewery is one such
organization where conflict management is not only essential but should be
effective given the organization’s vulnerability to huge financial losses
whenever there is conflict. Against this background, therefore, this study is
set to examine conflict management in the Nigerian Brewery Plc with a view to
determining its impact on its performance.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Conflict in any organization may not enable the organization to
achieve its set objectives, result to low productivity among staff, leads to
economic loss, insubordination, lack of direction and development of new ideas,
communication breakdown, low morale, fragmentation and a host of other problems
if not properly managed. Hart (2000) asserts that, successful organization in
the future must create the capability to absorb conflict during the
organization’s life cycle. The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (2005)
supports the perception of an increase in organizational conflict with some
hard facts. Their research reported a 17% increase in organizational conflict
measured by the more than 115,000 employment tribunal applications in 2004 in
the United Kingdom. According to Rivers (2005), the hidden costs of unresolved
conflict in organizations are enormous and finding effective ways to manage and
resolve organizational conflict can have a significant impact on productivity
and therefore, enhance performance. Healthy differences of opinion are however
vital in an organization in order for it not to stagnate, but when individuals
are not able to work through their differences constructively and agree on a
way forward, the conflict becomes destructive and damaging to individual, teams
and ultimately to the organization (Rivers, 2005).
Understanding
organizational conflict like that of Nigerian Brewery is therefore, important
as it costs the management time, money, employee commitment and reputation, of
which at the end, will provide solution to any conflict situation bedeviled by
the organization in order to enhance performance. It is in the light of the
above problem that the following research questions are being asked, of which
this study is expected to provide answers to.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objective of
this study is to determine the effect of impact of conflict management on the
organizational performance. The specific objectives are;
i.
To
examine the impact of effective conflict management on organizational
performance.
ii.
To
determine the effect of grievance channel mechanism on organizational
effectiveness.
iii. To
determine the impact of management intervention on organizational
performance.
iv.
To determine the impact of union mediation on organizational
performance.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following questions
will be addressed in this study;
i.
What
is the effect of effective conflict management on organizational performance?
ii.
What
is the effect of grievance channel mechanism on organizational effectiveness?
iii. What is the impact of management intervention
on organizational performance?
iv. What
is the impact of union mediation on organizational performance?
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses were postulated
for this study and tested at o.05 level of significance:
H01: There is no significant impact of effective conflict management
on organizational performance.
H02: There is no significant effect of
grievance channel mechanism on organizational effectiveness.
H03: There is no significant impact of
management intervention on organizational performance.
H04: There is no significant impact of
union mediation on organizational performance.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study focuses on
the effects of conflict management on the performance of organizations. No
doubt, it will be practically difficult to cover all organizations in this
study. Hence, the scope of the study is restricted to Nigerian Brewery Company
Aba. It is believed that this will make a good representation.
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Conflict exists in all
organization and human groupings of which, if not properly managed, can affect
the achievement of the organization’s corporate objectives (Deer, 2006). The
outcome of this study would be of value to organizations both public and
private in that, it will provide ways of resolving different conflict
situations using the right strategies that can manage the conflict situations
effectively. The study will also provide a plat form for management of conflict
scientifically using psychometric test to examine the psychological faculties
of workers in organizations which will go a long way to minimize the rate of
conflict in the work-place. The study is also expected to be of great value to
academicians and practitioners in the field of conflict management, public
relations and public administration. The study can also be useful to
researchers for further studies in the area of conflicts and its management.
1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The following are the limitations
of the study;
1. Uncooperative attitude of some
of the staff of the organization who refused to complete the questionnaires
given to them or to be interviewed for fear of official reprisal. Their refusal
to cooperate adversely affected the amount of data collected through primary
sources.
2. Financial Constraint: The study
could have been very extensive if more organizations were included. But the
researcher could not afford the cost involved. Thus, the study is restricted to
only one corporate organization.
3. Time Constraint: The researcher
could not complete the study within a record time because of the pressure of
other academic works on him.
1.9 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This
study is divided into five (5) chapters and organized as follows;
Chapter
one formed the introductory part; this is where the main theme of the research
questions and hypothesis, significance of the study, scope, organization of the
study, operational definitions of terms.
Chapter
two dealt with the literature review.
Chapter
three centered on the research methodology which includes sources of data, model
specification and analytical tool.
Chapter
four is the data presentation, analysis and discussion of findings while
Chapter
five focused on summary, conclusion and recommendations.
1.10 OPERATIONAL
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Conflict: This refers to a
situation of disharmony and grievance. Organization: This refers to a
combination or group of people who work together to achieve a goal.
Idiosyncrasy: This refers to a set
of attitudes, behaviors and values which characterize an individual.
Goal: This refers to a set
objective.
Goal congruency: This is a
situation of overlapping personal interests.
Strategy: This is an approach or
measure adopted in order to achieve a goal.
Organization: This refers to a
business entity.
Disharmony: This refers to a
situation of absence of togetherness.
Management: This refers to the art
of planning, organizing, directing and controlling. It also refers to
decision-makers in an organization.
1.11 BRIEF HISTORY OF
NIGERIA BREWERY ABA
We are proudly
Nigeria’s pioneer and largest Brewing firm. Our company was incorporated in
1946 and in June 1949, we recorded a landmark when the first bottle of STAR
lager beer rolled off our Lagos Brewery bottling lines. This first brewery in
Lagos has undergone several optimization processes and as at today boasts of
one of the most modern brew house in the country.
In 1957, we
commissioned our second brewery in Aba. The Aba Brewery has also recently
undergone several optimization processes and has been fitted with best in
brewery technology. In 1963 we commissioned our Kaduna Brewery while Ibadan
Brewery came on stream in 1982. In 1993, we acquired our fifth brewery in
Enugu. A sixth brewery, sited at Ama-eke in 9th Mile, Enugu was commissioned
and christened Ama Brewery in October 2003. Ama Brewery is today the biggest
and most modern brewery in Nigeria.
Operations in the Old
Enugu Brewery were however discontinued in 2004. We acquired a malting Plant in
Aba in 2008.
In October 2011, our
company bought majority equity interests in Sona Systems Associates Business
Management Limited, (Sona Systems) and Life Breweries company Limited from
Heineken N.V. This followed Heineken’s acquisition of controlling interests in
five breweries in Nigeria from Sona Group in January 2011. Sona Systems’ two
breweries in Ota and Kaduna, and Life Breweries in Onitsha have now become part
of Nigerian Breweries Plc, together with the three brands: Goldberg lager,
Malta Gold and Life Continental lager.
In 2014, we got
approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the respective
shareholders of both Nigerian Breweries Plc and Consolidated Breweries Plc to
merge the operations of both companies. The merger became final on December 31,
2014
Following the
successful merger, we now have three additional breweries in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun
State, Awo-Omamma in Imo State and Makurdi in Benue State. The merger also
brought an additional seven brands into our portfolio.
Thus, from that
humble beginning in 1946, our company has now grown into a Brewing Company with
11 breweries, 2 malting plants and 26 Sales depots from which our high quality
products are distributed to all parts of Nigeria.
Nigerian Breweries
Plc has a growing export business which covers global sales and marketing of
our brands and dates back to 1986. NB Plc offers sales, logistics and marketing
support to make our brands shelf-ready in international markets, including
world-class outlets such as TESCO and ASDA Stores in the United Kingdom. Our
brands are available in over thirteen countries, across the United Kingdom,
South Africa, Middle-East, West Africa and the United States of America.
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