CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC, NINTH MILE ENUGU.

ABSTRACT

In a society where people with a diverse interests, views and values co-exist, differences between such individuals and group are to be expected. This research “CONFLICT MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE”, in Nigerian Breweries Plc, Enugu, is aimed at critically looking at conflict situations and it’s causes, as well as possible areas of improvement of conflicting situations for a better working environment in an Organisation. The research shows that Conflict comes from incompatibility of goals and interest and the result destroys the Organization. Conflict affects the Organisation in several ways such as decreased employee satisfaction, insubordination, decreased productivity, leads to economic loss, fragmentation. Descriptive and survey study were the tools used to elicit information. The major findings are that That Education does not have any effect on the opinion of respondents on Conflict Management Strategies. That there is no Significance different between the opinion of male and female respondents on the causes of Conflict. That there is a significant effect of Conflict on Organisational performance. The major conclusions drawn are that management strategies adopted in handling Conflict will not be affected by differences in Educational Qualification of the respondents, That management strategies adopted in handling Conflict will not be affected by differences in Educational Qualification of the respondents, also that the causes of Conflict in an Organisation will not have any difference whether it came from the male or female respondents. That the causes of Conflict in an Organisation will not have any difference whether it came from the male or female respondents. The Recommendations are as follows. That Management must adopt Conflict Management strategies that will improve on the Performance of the Organisation. That management should ensure a free flow of communication between the management and the employee. Management should encourage and promote interpersonal relationships among co-workers to improve on their morale

CHAPTER ONE

1.1       Background of the Study

Within any organization, there are usually different positions and jobs. People occupying these positions have different perceptions, goals, thought and concerns. It is difficult to conceptualize a society or an organization without inherent differences and contradictions and these leads to conflict. Conflict can be a serious problem in an organization. It can create organizational climate that makes it nearly impossible for employees to work together. Conflict is a natural and inevitable part of people working together and should be kept at a manageable level where it will not disorganize the activities of the organization towards the attainment of it’s objectives.

Conflict can also said to be beneficial to the organization where it brings about radical change in the organization existing power structure, current interaction pattern and entrenched attitude and also can lead to increase in productivity. While some conflicts are functional others are not. It can also affect the organization negatively when it is associated with decreased employee satisfaction, insubordination, decreased productivity, leads to economic loss, fragmentation to mention but a few. It is the

management major responsibility to device strategies in bringing down conflict as low as possible, which will enable the organization to still function to succeed (Robbins & Sanghi, 2005:418) against this background the study was being carried out on the negative effect of conflict.

1.2       Theoretical Framework

The Theoretical Framework is based on the effect of conflict on Organisational performance. Conflict is a disagreement in which parties involved disagree about facts or opinion expressed by those in authority.

There are different views based on those effects in this respect we shall discuss the functional and dysfunctional Conflict (Ivanceveich, Konopaske and Matteson (2005: 365).

Functional Conflict is a Confrontation between groups that enhances the organizational performance. e.g various department in an organization may be Conflict over most efficient and adaptive method of achieving a goal. They may agree on a goal but not on the means to achieving it. Without this type of conflict their will be little commitment to change.

The second is the dysfunctional Conflict and it is Confrontation between groups that harm or hinder the organizational goal.