ABSTRACT
There are many challenges that arise from the emergence of
conflict management in an organisation such as the failure to apply withdrawal method
as a conflict management strategy that hinders the organisational growth. It
also faces the challenges of the failure to apply confrontation as a strategy
for business survival and finally it faces challenges of the failure to apply
compromising as a conflict management strategy on firm competitiveness. The
main objective of this study is to ascertain the effect of the application of
withdrawal method as a conflict management strategy on organisational growth.
Three hypotheses were drawn from the research questions and a self-administered
questionnaire was used to measure the relationship between the variables using
the sample size of 180 employees from Nigeria Bottling Company and Seven Up
Bottling Company. The analysis of collected data was done through the bivariate
correlation procedures using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
Version 17. Based on the findings, the researcher concluded that conflict
management leads to employee performance which results in efficiency and
effectiveness to the achievement of organizational goals. It was therefore
recommended that firms wishing to maintain superior organization performance
should put in place mechanisms to support conflict management like having
mediating roles to resolve the issues that might cause conflict in the
organization.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The word conflict brings to mind
images such as antagonism, struggles between parties, opposition process and
threats to cooperation. But not all conflicts come in these forms especially in
the hotel industry. They came in form of needs to be met or desires to be
satisfied, disagreements to be settled and ideas to be shared that eventually
lead to change of attitudes, feelings and perceptions.
Fadipe (2004) sees conflict as a
form of disagreement in an establishment between two individuals or groups who
have cause to interact formally or informally. Similarly, Miller and King
(2009), see it as basically a disagreement between two or more individuals or
groups over compatible goals. Conflict therefore is a process of incompatible
behaviours. It may involve the interference or disruption by one person or
group of persons, or in some way or ways which make another action less likely
to be effective.
Deutsch (2007), asserts that
conflict inevitably means that people are working against each other, in such a
manner that their wants are incompatible. It could bring about competition in
the pursuit of goals. What the competitor gets comes at the expense of others
or the job. It is therefore a counter-productive, disruptive, natural and
produces a deviation from the free flow of events. A major factor that can
throw parties into a state of incompatibility is their perception of the issue
at hand or issue of interest. There are other factors that can contribute to
the creation of conflict in organizations like task interdependence, scarce
resources, goal incompatibility, communications, individual differences and
poorly designed reward system (Mgbeken, 2008).
Conflict is a necessary and useful
part of organizational life. It is inevitable and an integral part of the
process of change. Indeed, it is an aid to cooperation, not an obstacle. There
are two sides to conflict, one is destructive and unhealthy and the other has a
problem-solving base where those involved are willing to sublimate differences,
to listen to others’ views and to be open and candid to each other, to be
supportive and helpful whereas the former defeats cooperation.
Albert (2001) asserts that there are
productive and destructive conflicts. According to him, “A conflict is said to
be positive when it is constructively discussed by the parties and amicable
terms for settlement reached”. Constructively managed conflict induces a
positive performance while poorly managed conflict heats up the environment to
bring about dislocation of the entire group and polarization, reduced
productivity on job performance, psychological and physical injury, emotional
distress and inability to sleep, interference with problem activities,
escalation of differences into antagonistic position and malice, and increased
hostility (Akanji, 2009). Through conflict management, a cooperative atmosphere
is created for promoting opportunities and movement directed towards non violent,
reconciliation or basic clashing interest.
No matter how one looks at conflict,
it is important to realize that conflict management is one of the best ways in
the world to turn the tide and improve unsatisfactory conditions. As a matter
of fact, at times there may be no real dispute to be managed but there may be
need for greater understanding, cooperation and team work to promote
interpersonal harmony and good organizational climate for teaching and
learning. Therefore, conflict should not always be seen as something
undesirable but rather as a necessary outcome that can bring positive
consequences if properly managed. It is against this background that it becomes
pertinent to examine conflict management and employees performance in selected
soft drink firms in Edo states.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The study which focuses on conflict
management and employee performance in selected soft drink firms in Nigeria is
associated with many problems, however this study tends to investigate the many
challenges that may arise from the emergence of conflict management in an
organisation such as the failure to apply withdrawal method as a conflict
management strategy that hinders the organisational growth, it also faces the
challenges of the failure to apply confrontation as a strategy for business survival and finally it faces
challenges of the failure to apply compromising as a conflict management
strategy on firm competitiveness.
1.3 Research Questions
The following research questions
were raised by the researcher:
1.
What is the effect of the application of
withdrawals method as a conflict management strategy on organisational growth?
2.
What is the effect of the application of
compromising as a conflict management strategy on firm competitiveness?
3.
Does the application of confrontation as a
conflict strategy have any effect on business survival?
1.4 Research Objectives
The main objectives of this study
are as follows:
1.
To ascertain the effect of the
application of withdrawal method as a conflict management strategy on
organisational growth.
2.
To ascertain the effect of application
of compromising as a conflict management strategy on firm competitiveness.
3.
To ascertain the effect of the
application of confrontation as a conflict management strategy has any effect
on business survival.
1.5 Research Hypothesis
1. H0:
There
is no significant relationship between the application of withdrawal method as
a conflict management strategy and organisational growth.
HI:
There is a significant relationship between the application of withdrawal
method as a conflict management strategy and organisational growth
2. H0:
There
is no significant relationship between the application of compromising as a
conflict management strategy and firm competitiveness.
HI:
There
is a significant relationship between the application of compromising as a
conflict management strategy and firm competitiveness.
3. H0:
There
is no significant relationship between the application of confrontation as a
conflict management strategy and business survival.
HI:
There
is a significant relationship between the application of confrontation as a
conflict management strategy and business survival.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The importance of this study is to
identify the conflict management strategies in selected soft drinks firms in Nigeria
Also to help the management and workers
to recognize the destructive nature of conflict carried too far, too long and
also the positive and creative values inherent in conflict.
To also educate the managers on what
should be their attitude at such a time when there is interpersonal conflict so
that they might use the best method of compromising with workers so that some
degree of satisfaction can be brought to the aggrieved parties.
Also this research will help the
managers in the soft drink firms industries to have effective control and
co-ordination over their workers and subordinates, which will eventually lead
to maximum and efficient productivity.
Finally this research will be as a guide
for future researchers who intend on carrying out related studied on this topic
as it will serve as a guide for empirical analysis
1.7 Scope of the Study
The scope covers the areas of
conflict management and organisational performance and this study shall
Nigerian bottling company and Seven Up bottling company as the organization of
study.
1.8 Limitation of the Study
The following limitations were
encountered by the researcher during this research work:
1. Limited
Time: The time available for the collection of data for
this study from some selected soft drink firms in Edo State
2. Finance:
Finance was another difficult aspect of the work as money was needed to source
for materials / data and to and from the case study
3. Bureaucracy:
Bureaucracy which is a vital part of getting information also posed to be a
major problem as staffs/customers of soft drink firms in Edo state were
reluctant to give vital information.
1.9 Organization of the Study
The study is organized in five (5)
chapters and they are as follows:
The first which is the introductory
part of the research covers the background of the study, statement of the
problem, research aims and objectives. Questions were also raised in this
chapter to guide the research, and hypothesis formulated in this regards. The
Second chapter contains the literature review. It reviews the scholarly opinion
in the area under investigation. Various theories were also explored in order
to have a better understanding of the role of conflict in the organization.
Chapter three (3) focuses on the research methods. The procedures and methods
of administering, collecting, collating and analyzing the data gather were
stipulated. Chapter four (4) examines the data presentation and analysis of the
study. In this study, both the percentage and correlation analysis would be
employed by the researcher to analyze data for the study. Lastly, a chapter
five (5) concludes and summarizes the study. Recommendations will also be made
as to how organization can avert crises and improve on productivity.
1.10 Organizational Corporate Profile (History of Nigerian Bottling
Company & 7up Bottling Company)
Brief History of
Nigerian Bottling Company
The Nigerian Bottling Company Plc has
its parent company as coca-cola international company, which was founded in
1892 in Atlanta Georgia, United States of America (by Asa Griggs Candler). The
company was incorporated in Nigeria to carry on the manufacturing and marketing
of coca-cola brand of soft drinks it started in Nigeria in 1953 by holding
franchise for coca-cola company of America. This means that the formula for the
concentrates and receipts for the production of coca-cola soft drinks were not
released to the Nigerian Bottling Company, but the formulae for the mixture of
syrup were given to it for bottling the products in Nigeria.
Nigerian Bottling Company Plc started
its operations in Lagos where it established its first plant. Later it spread
its plants and depots all over the country. Today it has many production plants
and marketing depots dotted over many cities in Nigeria. Such cities include
Onitsha, Owerri, Aba, Enugu, Ibadan, Umuahia, Kano, Apapa, Ikeja, Benin City
and many other places. They started production by producing only one brand of
flavour coke. This was the major project and is still a brand liked by almost
every customers of Nigerian Bottling Company Plc. As at now, the company has
more than twenty brands of products. The Coca-Cola Company (Nigerian Bottling
Company Plc Ngwo Enugu) offers these products to the customers. Diet coke,
Fanta, 5 Alive, Sprite, Soda Water, Eva table water etc are the products it
produces in order to compete with their competitors. The Nigerian Bottling
Company has many departments as follows production, quality assurance, finance,
Workshops, human resources, ware house, sales, depots, maintenance, information
system and process system. The production department is divided into two
sections - the carbon dioxide section, which manufactures carbon dioxide for
carbonizing soft drinks and the products section which does the actual
production of soft drinks by mixing the right proportion of syrups to bring the
finished products. The Nigerian Bottling Company is the largest producer of
carbon dioxide for the production of soft drinks in Nigeria. The quality of
it’s unequaled efforts plus good network of distribution account for the
success of the company in Nigeria. From available records, the Nigerian
Bottling Company Plc is definitely a market leader in the soft drinks industry.
It is the largest manufacturer and marketer of soft drinks in Nigeria.
The company has contributed a lot to the
growth of the Nigerian economy. As part of this contribution, the company has
branched out into non-soft drinks business in such area as agriculture and
investing in other manufacturing companies like production of pure water. The
coca-cola in Nigeria is one of successful and growing Multinational Corporation
in the country. The company (coca-cola international company) made 23.1 billion
U.S.D 2005, and they make more than 60% of soft drinks consumed in Nigeria.
Brief History of Seven
Up Bottling Company
Seven-Up bottling company Plc is one of
the largest independent manufacturer and distributor of the well-known and
widely consumed brands of soft drinks in Nigeria. Their brands are Pepsi, 7UP,
Mirinda, Teem and Mountain Dew, they produce and market in all their present 9
manufacturing plants. They also market their products through their over 200
distribution centres that can also be called depots spread over the nooks and
crane of Nigeria. Their workforce is currently in the neighbourhood of 3500
employees. Its head office in Nigeria is located at 247, Moshood Abiola Way,
Ijora, Lagos, P.O. Box 134, Apapa, Lagos. A Lebanese Mohammed El-khalil who
came to Nigeria for the very first time in 1926 founded the company. Mohammed
is the father of the company's current chairman Faysal El-Khalil. The company
metamorphosed from a very successful transport business (El-Khalil Transport) in
a bid to diversify the then largest transport company in the entire West of
Africa. On October 1st 1960, the exact day this great country Nigeria won her
independents, Nigerians also experienced the birth of a soft drink giant as the
first bottle of 7Up rolled out from the factory located in Ijora. Since then,
the company continued to grow in the leap and the bound. In the late 80s, they
also established two more plants in Ibadan and Ikeja. In the early 1990s when
Pepsi International took over 7Up international, they again got great
opportunities to introduce the Pepsi brand to the Nigeria people. As at today,
the company has its Headquarters in Beirut and operational bases in three
African countries, namely Nigeria, Tanzania and Ghana.
Around 1920,
while Dr Pepper was growing in favor, C.L. Grigg, an advertising veteran of 30
years, had formed the Howdy Company in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was
named for the Howdy orange-flavored soft drink Grigg had developed, but the CEO
had other ideas--specifically, to invent a new flavor of beverage. For two
years, Grigg tested different combinations of lemon and other flavors. By the
mid-1920s he had settled on a distinctive lemon-lime formula and in 1929 the
Howdy Company introduced the soda to the general public.
Grigg and
company were confident of their invention's appeal. As an early sales bulletin
noted, consumers 'are tired of the insipid flavors, and the aftertaste of the heavy synthetic flavors is more
objectionable. ... So in our beverage we have provided seven natural
flavors so blended and in such proportions that, when bottled, it produces a
big natural flavor with a real taste that makes people remember it.'
The
only thing that might have stood in the way of the drink's early success was
its name, 'Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.' Griggs derived the new and
much simpler name, 7 Up, from the beverage's 'seven natural flavors.' The new
name first appeared on the bottle later in 1929. The beverage sold well, and
the new name made it easy for consumers to remember. In 1936, the Howdy Company
became the Seven-Up Company, and by the 1940s its product became the world's
third largest selling soft drink.
1.11 Operational Definition of Terms
1.
Conflict:
The
word ‘conflict’ can be defined as a controversy or dispute between workers and
management in order to open up an issue in which the end result may either be
positive or negative. Conflict includes fighting between employees as a result
of non-implementation of employment terms.
2.
Compromising:
This is searching for solution that brings some degree of satisfaction to the
conflicting parties.
3.
Forcing:
Exerting one’s view point at the potential expenses of another often open
competition and a win-loss situation.
4.
Confrontation:
Addressing disagreement directly and in a problem solving mode- the affected
parties work through their disagreement.
5.
Withdrawal:
Retreating from an actual or potential conflict situation.
6.
Productivity:
Productivity is defined as the measurement of output of labour hour during a
production process.
7.
Competing:
This style of conflict power oriented and approaches conflict in terms of a
loss strategy.
8.
Accommodating:
This style of conflict is low in assertiveness and high on cooperativeness.
9.
Avoiding:
An avoiding style may appear to have no as a mode meaning conflict. An avoiding
style reflects a failure to address important issues and a tendency to remain
natural when there is need to take a position.
10.
Strike:
Strike according to trade dispute (emergency provision) decree, is a cassation
of work and it include deliberately working at less than usual hours or with
less than usual efficiency. Strike is a concerted withholding of labour supply
in order to bring economic pressure to bear upon the employer to cause him to
grant employees demands.
11.
Lock
Out:
This involves the shutdown of a place of business by management in the cause of
labour dispute with employers for the purpose of forcing workers to accept
management terms of agreement.
12.
Collaboration:
The collaborating style is higher on both dimension of co-operation and
assertiveness.
13.
Management
of an Agreement: The condition of agreement already
exists between the management and the workers.
REFERENCES
Akanji, I. (2009).
Perspectives in Workplace Conflict Management and New Approaches for the Twenty
First Century. In Albert I.O (Ed.), Perspective on Peace and Conflict in
Africa: Essays in Honour of Gen.
Abdusalam Abubakar, Ibadan: John Arches Publishers.
Albert, I. (2001). Introduction
to Third Party Interventions in Community Conflict. Ibadan: John Arches
Publisher.
Deutsch F.L., (2007).
Impact of Conflict Management on Corporate Productivity: An Evaluative Study. Australian
Journal of Business and Management Research, 1(5), 44-49.
Fadipe A.I., (2004).
Stress and Conflict in Organisations. In Ogunbameru O.A. (Ed.), Industrial
Sociology. Ibadan, Spectrum Books Ltd.
Mgbeken, N.E., (2008). Conflict
and Conflict Management: A Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. New York, USA: John Wiley and Son.
Inc.
Miller S., and King O.,
(2009). Conflict Management and Organisational Performance in Secondary Schools
in Cross Rivers State. Nigeria Research Journal in Organisational Psychology
and Educational Studies, 2(2),
67-71.
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