The influence of conflict management
effectiveness on administrative staff
productivity in tertiary institutions
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Conflict in an organization is a state
of discord by the actual and opposing power which arise from the pursuit of
divergent interests, goals and aspirations by individuals and groups in the
organization or social environment. This is so because changes in the social
environment, such as different ideologies, beliefs, principles and social
status which develop a sense of tussle and disagreement with each other and
when this happens, the productivity of such organization is undermined Owoseni
(2012). The researcher is looking at the effective conflict management
strategies that can be adopted in the tertiary institutions to manage conflict
situations without rendering the organization porous for incessant conflicts. Otite
and Albert (1999) submitted that the most quoted traditional definitions
regarding conflict as a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power
and resources in which the aims of the opponents are neutralized, injured or
eliminated by their rivals. In this
sense, conflict may be seen as a way of settling problem originating from the
opposing interest and also attributable to an enduring power struggle between
workers and their employers. Contrary
to the prevailing perception, conflict indeed had played quite a positive role
in several respect for progressive and good governance of the universities.
After reconciliation from the conflicting parties better ideas are produced,
clarification of individual views, people willingly search for new approaches
,and long standing problems brought to the surface and resolved.
Alper,
Tjosvold and Law (2000) assert that conflict occurs when the actions or beliefs
of one or more members of a group are unacceptable to others and hence are
resisted by one or more members of the group just like the crisis that came up
in the University of Calabar in the year 2011 between students and the school
management over sudden increments of school fees which led to loss of
properties, goodwill as well as loss of opportunity, this issues would have
been averted if proper conflict management strategies were adopted. Karl Marx (1818) agreed that conflict is a
clash, confrontation, battle or struggle that could come up in any
organization. Eventually, Park and Bourgess in Otite (1999) has the same view
that conflict is truly designed to resolve any divergent dualism and achieve
some kind of unity even if it is through the annihilation of one of the
conflict parties.
Alper, Tjosvold, and Law (2000) also confirmed that
conflict occurs at all levels of organic existence and it is pervasively
ubiquitous and most destructive. It has a capacity to severally constrain
development and endeavor by destroying infrastructure, interrupting the
production process and diverting resources away from product users. Workers who
are the owners of labour the world over have been known to organize themselves
into associations or unions with the primary objective of promoting and
protecting themselves from unnecessary abuse of their human rights by their
employers as well as by fellow workers. In essence, workplace conflict can
arise among the workers themselves because people disagree for a number of
reasons such as follows: Alper, Tjosvold, and Law (2000).
i) They
see things differently because of differences in understanding and view point.
ii) People
have different styles, principles, values, beliefs which determine their
choices and objectives.
iii) People
have different ideological and philosophical outlooks, as in the case of
different political parties.
iv) People
of different social status think differently and these develop in them the
sensitivity to disagree which may result in conflicts of views or opinions.
Contrary to the prevailing perception, conflict indeed had played quite a positive
role in several respect for progressive and good governance of the
universities. After reconciliation from the conflicting parties better ideas
are produced, clarification of individual views, people willingly search for
new approaches ,and long standing problems brought to the surface and resolved.
1.2 Theoretical framework
The following theories were discussed
to provide a framework for this
study.
1.2.1 The human relations theory; by Mary, Follets (1954).
1.2.2 The administrative management theory; by Henry,
Fayol (1949).
1.2.3 The conflict theory; by Karl, Marx (1883).
1.2.1 The Human Relations Theory
Follett (1954), a great proponent of
human relations theory was also refered to as “prophetess of management”.
Follet (1868 – 1933) a Harvard Professor in social works practiced Gestalt
psychology and business consultancy. The human relations theory involves the
study of motives, behavior and the development of criteria for designing
organization which will stimulate members co-operation in order to achieve the
goals and objectives of the organization.
It
attaches much importance to individuals motives, goals and aspirations in the
conceptualization of organizations. The organizational success is explained in terms
of individual, group motivational and inter-personal relationships,
particularly the relationship between administration and staff. She is
associated with the discovery of various phenomena such as the “Group think
effect” in committee meetings; creativity exercises like ”brainstorming” and
most importantly, what later became Management–By-Objectives (MBO) and Total Quality Management (TQM) and Continuous
Quality Improvement (CQI). Follett admonished
employers on the over-management of employees, a process now known as “micromanaging”.
The importance of informal processes
within any organization, and the idea of the “authority of expertise” which
really served to modify the typology of authority developed by German
contemporary (Peretomode 2006). Her ideas on negotiation, power and employee
participation were highly influential in the development of the fields of
organizational studies, alternative dispute resolution and human relations
movement. Her approach to conflict was
to embrace it as a mechanism of diversity and an opportunity to develop
integrated solutions rather than simply compromising (Bassett, 2011). Follet propounded
four principles of coordination where she noted certain principles that must be
followed to make coordination effective and these includes;
i) Principle
of early stage – coordination must start at an early stage in the management
process. It must start during the planning stage.
ii) Principle
of continuity – co-ordination must be a continuous process. It must not be a
one time activity.
iii) Principle
of direct contact – All managers must have a direct contact with their
subordinates. This will result in good relations between the managers and their
subordinates. This is so because direct contact helps to avoid
misunderstanding, misinterpretations and disputes between managers and
subordinates.
iv) Principles
of reciprocal relations: The decisions and actions of all the people (managers
and employees) and departments of the organization are interrelated.
If decision or action is taken by
managers, they should first find out the effect of that decision or action on
other persons (Kalyan & Sulaiman 2011).
It should be noted however that Follett’s influence can also be seen
indirectly in the work of Ron Lippitt, Ken Benne, Lee Bradford, Edie Seashore
and others at the National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Marine, where
T-group methodology was first theorized and also developed (Kleiner, 1996). This implies that Follett’s work set the stage
for a generation of effective progressive changes in management philosophy,
style and practice, revolutionizing and harmonizing the American Workplace, and
allowing the fulfillment of Douglas McGregor’s management vision – quantum leap
in productivity effected through the humanization of the work place (Wikipedia,
2012).
Human relation theory has its origin from the work of
Mayo (1946) of the “Hawthorne studies” which was conducted in the 1920’s at the
Hawthorne works of the western electric company, USA.
Mayo stated that the reason workers
are more strongly motivated by informal things is that individuals have a deep
psychological need to believe that their organization cares about them. Workers
want to believe their organization is open, concerned and willing to listen.
Mayo believes that:
i) Supervisors
should not act like supervisors, they should be friends, and counselors to the
workers.
ii) managers
should not try to micro-manage all affairs.
iii) People
should be periodically asked how they feel about their work and their
supervisors.
iv) Humanistic
supervision plus morale equals to productivity.
v) Humor
and sarcasm are good in the workplace – it is all part of group dynamics.
vi) Workers
should be consulted before changes are made and room should be given to workers
to participate in decision making.
Bernard
(1938) was a formidable part of the human relations movement. Bernard in his
book “The functions of the Executive”, noted that managers need to know more
about human behaviors, and in particular, more about the informal groups of an
organization, especially the relationship between workers and outsiders. Chester
Bernard is best known for his concept of “zones of indifference” which is the
idea that good leaders should try to take middle – of – the – road, or neutral,
position on issues because each person’s
attitude usually has such a middle – ground area where they will believe or
obey without question. Bernard noted that a certain amount of co-operation
between management and employees is necessary and that authority is not all
that is necessary as the classical schools of management would have it. He reinforced what became a fundamental idea
in organizational theory; that all organizations pose either as a formal
organization or an informal organization.
Bernard asserted that the informal
organization regulates as if employees will obey all management orders and
instructions. The author then went ahead to outline three basic types of orders
that can be given by managers to employees;
i) Orders
that are unquestionably acceptable that are always obeyed because they lie
within what they called their zone of indifference, or typically dealt with
things that are part of an employee’s job description and are routine.
ii) Orders
that may or may not be followed, depending upon the employee and the conduct
accepted by the employees informal organization because such orders come close
to being unacceptable.
iii) Orders
that are completely unacceptable and that will always be disobeyed because
these kinds of orders go beyond an employee’s zone of indifference.
Despite the contributions of the human
relations theory to the practice of modern management, the movement has been
criticized on several grounds. The human relations theory is seen by management
scholars to be too idealistic in trying to remove all forms of conflict within
organization.(O’Conner,2011). Inyang (2004), has criticized the human relation
movement for having the tendency to be pro-worker, neglecting the primary
objective of industrialized profit and also neglecting the important role of
trade unions. However, some conflicts in work situation may not be solved by
this incompatibility between the interests of management and those of labour in
spite of the difficulties that may arise between them. The relevance of this
study is clearly seen in the progressive change in management philosophy of
establishing a veritable working relationship model for employers and
employees. It also set a stage for the involvement of staff in virtually all
the important stages of management decision making without necessarily
rendering the organization porous for possible abuse by employee unions.
1.2.2 The administrative
management theory Henry Fayol (1949)
The administrative management theory is associated with
Henry Fayol, a renowned French Engineer, manager and industrialist. Fayol
(1949) analyzed the activities of industrial undertakings into six groups:
technical (production, manufacture and adaptation); commercial (buying,
selling, exchange and market information), financial (obtaining capital and
making optimum use of available funds); security (safeguarding property and
persons); accounting (information on the economic position, stock taking,
balance sheet, costs, statistics); and managerial.
He further divided the activities into five elements
which are to forecast and plan; to organize; to command; to co-ordinate; and to
control. Fayol suggested that a set of well-established principles would help
concentrate general discussion on management theory, but emphasized that these
principles must be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances.
He recognized that there was no limit to the principles
of management but advocated fourteen (14) in his writing and these are:
1)Division of labour: The principles of
specialization of labour in order to concentrate activities for more efficiency
and increase in productivity.
2)Authority and responsibility:
Authority is the right to give order and the power to ensure obedience.
3) Discipline:
Discipline is absolutely essential for the smooth running of organization and
without discipline, there is bound to be waywardness among the workers.
4) Unity
of command: An employees should receive orders from only one superior.
5) Unity
of direction: One hand and one plan for a group of activities having the same
objectives.
6) Subordination
of individual interests: The interest of one employee or a group should not
prevail over that of the organization.
7) Remuneration
of personnel: Compensation should be fair and as far as possible afford
satisfaction.
8) Centralization:
Centralization is essential to the organization and is a natural consequence of
organization.
9) Scalar
chain: The scalar chain is the chain of superiors ranging from ultimate
authority to the lowest rank.
10) Orders:
The organization should provide an orderly place for every individual. A place
for everyone and everyone in their place.
11) Equity:
Sense of justice transform the organization.
12) Stability
and tenure of personnel: People need time to learn their job.
13) Initiative:
One of the greatest satisfaction is formulating and carrying out a plan.
14) Esprit
de corps: Harmonious effort among workers is the key to organizational success
(Mullins, 1996).
Furthermore, the theory considers management as a
profession where people can be trained and developed. The administrative
management theory sees broad policy issues as the responsibility of top
managers, which they have to handle seriously for organizational survival and
growth. It relates with the work in the sense that administrators should not see
administration as positions but as responsibility directly related/connected to
their profession and that failure in administration means failure in the
profession. More so, if the organization must succeed, the administrators
should master the heuristics of the administrative profession and follow them
seriously and professionally.
1.2.3 The conflict theory
Several theories which emphasize social conflicts have
roots in the ideas of Karl Marx (1818). As a great German theorist and
political activist, he saw conflict theories as theories of social
stratification which anchor on analysis of capitalism, social change and a view
of human liberation.
Even though it is a necessary condition for social
change to occur, individuals or groups interacting in the society which share
different interest and have different economic capabilities always resist
change. According to Marx, classes develop on the basis of the different
positions or roles which individuals play in the productive scheme of a society.
The material view of history begin from the premise that the most important
determinant of social life is the work people are doing most especially the
work that result in provision of the basic necessities of life, food, clothing
and shelter. He maintained that, everything of value in society results from
human labour, thus it is clearly seen that working men and women are engaged in
making society the conditions to suit them for their own existence.
The three primary aspects of Marxism
are as follows:
1) The
dialectical and materialist concept of history which implies that human kind of
history is fundamentally a struggle between social class. The productive
capacity of society is the foundation of society and just as this capacity
increases over time, the social relations of production and class relations
evolve through definite stages like slavery, primitivism, communism, feudalism
and capitalism esterra.
2) The
critique of capitalism was seen by Marx as dominant in 19th century.
For Marx, the central institution of a capitalist society is private property,
the system by which capital such as money, machines, tools, factories and other
material objects used in production are controlled by a smaller minority of the
population. Marx argues that in a capitalist society, an economic minority who
are called the bourgeoisies referring to the owners of capital dominate and
exploit the economic majority who are called proletariat referring to the
workers whose only property is their labour
and time which they have to sell to the capitalists. Owners are seen as making
profits by paying workers less than their work is worth and thus exploiting
them. He argued that while the production process is socialized, ownership will
still retain in the hands of the bourgeoisies and this forms the fundamental
contradiction of capitalist society.
3) Advocacy
of proletarian revolution: In order to overcome the fetters of private
property, the working class must seize political power internationally through
a social revolution and restrain the capitalist classes around the world and
place the productive capacities of society into collective ownership.
Basically, societies do not operate on conflict theory. If
this were the case, it would likely be that a high degree of confusion within
the system exist. People would individually or in groups, have been in
opposition at random and this would forestall growth of the society. Thus the
society’s continued existence in business would necessarily mean that conflict
is in positive balance with other factors such as value consensus.
If the societal value and norms are brought to bear in
the distribution of the power and means of production or in the event of
conflict management then the result will be an agreement or consensus between
individuals or group of the various segments of the society involved in the
conflict. Invariably as long as conflicts occur within the limits of the
societal system of values it is normal.
In summary, Marxist model of stratification is a useful
tool in the understanding of stratification more in a capitalist society where
class formation is distinct with two distinct income groups that is the rich
and the poor creating a class based social stratification.
These theories are relevant to the study because,
conflicts result from divergent interest of individuals or groups. The
existence of class enhances conflicts because interest of different class breeds
conflicts. Class formation brings about discrimination which is based on
stratification of individuals or groups. Employee whose aim is to achieve high
productivity should not made himself and his positions intimidated to his
staff, no selfish interest, no high handed policies, no poor communication channel
and poor staff welfarism. If these issues are clearly understood, indeed the
workers will achieve high productivity.
1.3 Statement of the problem
Conflict occurs when there is
disagreement between two parties and such situation undermines the healthy
growth of an organization. Conflict situations have led to the retrogressiveness
in the growth of our nations tertiary institutions. This work is trying to solve the problem of
unrest, disagreement due to divergent interest in working organization among administrative
staff, In 1996 for instance, the conflict between the academic staff union of
Nigeria Universities (ASUU) and Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria hindered
educational activities for almost a year. The disagreement between non-academic
staff union of universities and the Federal Government of Nigeria has also
witnessed inconsistencies in the management of Nigerian tertiary institutions. Besides, internal rancor created as a
result of delay in salary payment and the monetization of either benefits in
college of health technology have led to loss of opportunity, delay in
graduation of students and even led to transferred aggression.
Also the crisis that erupted in the University of
Calabar year 2011 due to disagreement
between students and the management of the University over issues of school
fees is a conflict situation which led to loss of properties, as well as loss
of opportunities and goodwill. These are issues that would have been averted if
proper conflict management techniques were adopted or if management was
proactive.
Recently, there was an indefinite strike by ASUU that
came up as a result of the non implementation of the 2009 agreement by the
federal government. Yet, this are issues that would have been properly managed.
This action has affected staff productivity by disrupting school calendar,
staff ineffectiveness in their duties, over all objectives of the institutions
which could mare the wishes of those whom the institutions are established to
serve ( students).
The above cases and many more however, have given the
impetus for researching into conflict management in tertiary institutions to
explore the impact of negotiation in conflict situations as well as other
conflict management techniques.
1.4 Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study is to examine the extent to
which conflict management effectiveness may influence administrative staff productivity in tertiary institutions.
Specifically, the study seeks to
determine:
1. The relationship between
effective consultation and administrative
staff productivity.
2. The
relationship between effective communication and administrative staff productivity.
3. The
relationship between effective staff remuneration and administrative staff productivity.
4. The
relationship between periodic training (in-service) and administrative staff
productivity.
5. The
relationship between workers participation in decision making and
administrative staff productivity.
1.5 Research questions
To guide the study, the following
research questions were posed.
1. What
is the relationship between effective consultation and administrative staff productivity
in tertiary institutions?
2.
Is there any relationship between effective communication and administrative staff
productivity?
3.
What is the relationship
between effective staff remuneration and administrative
staff productivity?
4. What
is the relationship between effective in-service training and administrative staff
productivity?
5.
Is there any relationship between effective workers participation in
decision making and administrative staff productivity?
1.6 Statement of the hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated to give the
direction to the study.
1. There
is no significant relationship between effective consultation and administrative
staff productivity.
2. There
is no significant relationship between effective communication and administrative
staff productivity.
3. There
is no significant relationship between effective staff remuneration and administrative
staff productivity.
4. There
is no significant relationship between effective periodic staff training and administrative
staff productivity.
5. There
is no significant relationship between workers participation in decision making
and administrative staff productivity.
1.7 Significance of the study
It is hoped that the research study may go a long way to
throw more light on how conflicts should be managed so as to ensure optimum
productivity .
Educational
administrators will derived some ideas from the study; since it may give a
guide on strategies and policy formulation that may help resolve conflict in tertiary
institutions.
The study may provide knowledge and new research
information which may help to bridge gaps in research literature though not
first of its kind. It may also help in enhancing good relationship between
workers and administrators in government, non – governmental organizations,
parastatals, and labour unions in
different organizations.
To government, it may reveal to them the effective conflict
management strategies that can enhance productivity through understanding of the place of motivation, in-service
training, effective communication, consultation and workers participation in
decision making in an establishment.
Finally, the study may further help different trade unions
in institutions like Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior staff
Association of Nigerian Universities (SANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of
Universities (NASUU) to spell out their functions which include the political
benefits of unionism.
1.8 Assumptions of the study
The following assumptions underlie the
study.
i) That
conflict in educational sectors has some positive effect on productivity.
ii) That
the responses provided by the respondents are reliable.
iii) That
the population used in this study is a true representation of the workers in
the research area.
iv)
Conflicts can be investigated.
1.9 Scope of the study
The study is delimited to conflict
management effectiveness in Cross River State which covers tertiary
institutions in Cross River State of Nigeria. it covers only the 6 tertiary institutions
located in the 3 senatorial zones of Cross River State. These include Federal
College of Education Obudu (North); School of Nursing and Midwifery Itighidi
(central) and University of Calabar, Calabar (South).
1.10 Limitations of the study
This study like any other research in
education was expected to face a
number of constraints. Some of which were;
1.
The numbers of staff in each institutions
varies from one another
2.
Human factor; since the topic is on
conflict, people don’t want to be quoted for their response which made them to
be diplomatic.
1.11 Definitions of terms
Conflict:
Conflicts in an organization is a state of discord by the actual opposition of
power, claims, lands, and interests between people working together.
Productivity:
This is the ratio of output to inputs, it is the attainment of the highest
level of performance with the lowest possible expenditure of resources.
Communication:
it is defined as a means of sending and receiving information which could be
done verbally, in writing, Symbols and in non-verbally.
Consultation:
This is the coming together of a group to deliberate on matters concerning the
conflicting parties for a possible solution.
Training:
The process of providing instructions for the purpose of learning a skills for
a particular job or activity.
Remuneration:
Formal payment for a job or service rendered.
Employee:
Someone who receives a salary or wages for work done for an organization or
person.