THE ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN THE BANKING SERVICE INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT

In a society where people with a diverse interests, views, and values coexist, differences between such individuals and groups are to be expected. The objective of this research study is to look at conflict situations and its causes, as well as possible solution of improve working environment in an organization. The study shows that conflict stems from incompatibility of goals and interest and if it continued it will destroy the organization. Conflict affects the organization in several ways such as decreased employee satisfaction, insubordination, decreased productivity, economic loss, fragmentation, and poor performance. A formal questionnaire was constructed and survey method was used to collect data from a target group of respondents. Descriptive analytical techniques such as frequency, percentage, and Chi-square was used to analyzed the research hypotheses. The major findings revealed that there is a significant difference between the causes of conflict in banking sector and selected banks in Southwest region of Nigeria. However, there is a significant difference between the effects of organizational conflict and performance of employees in banking sector. The study concluded with some recommendations that management should adopt conflict management strategies that improve the performance of the organization, besides ensuring a free flow of communication between the management and the employee as well as promote interpersonal relationships among co-workers to boost their morale.

1.0            INTRODUCTION

According to David ideal (1983) public relations is the study of principle philosophies theories attitudes and the ideas which govern human activities. The public relation practitioner employs effective communications to build, sustain and defend his organization’s reputation among both its internal and external publics.

Conflict among workers in an organization is inevitable. If it manages 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. When organizational leaders ignore workplace conflict, they send a message that unsatisfactory job performance and inappropriate behavior are acceptable.

Awan and Anjum (2015), says that properly managed conflict promotes open communication, collaborative decision making, regular feedback, and timely resolution of conflict. Open communication and collaboration enhance the flow of new ideas and strengthen work relationship, which can have a positive effect on employee morale. Regular feedback and timely resolution of conflict has the potential of improving employee satisfaction and job performance.

Awan and Anjum (2015) argue that a negative work environment that does not promote conflict resolution can result in poor employee behavior and job performance. Unmanaged conflict promotes dysfunctional communication and poor behavior among staff. Poor behavior on the part of one employee has the power to affect overall employee morale, which results in lower productivity. According to Dana (2000), “conflict is not just an annoyance. It costs money and those costs can be calculated, in terms of wasted time, bad decision, lost employees.” In the health care industry, patients’ health and even their lives can be affected by unmanaged conflict.

Awan and Ibrahim (2015) contend that if the individuals do not have the communication or interpersonal skills to resolve their disputes, the conflict can grow and spread to others, eventually affecting their job performance, which, in turn, affects the job satisfaction of others, as well in addition to the staff not having the communication skills to address their disputes, their leaders often lack the necessary skills to be effective in conflict resolution. Once human resources personnel are involved, the process becomes punitive and results in disciplinary action, which contributes to an even greater reduction in employee morale and employee satisfaction. 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 society or an organization without inherent differences and contradictions and these leads to conflict. In organization a serious problem can be conflicts that are very serious. This is the bad practice that will be impossible for the workers to at the same place for work.