1.1 Introduction
Conflict between employers and employees affects many facets of organizational performance and operation, making it a major global concern for businesses. Different goals, expectations, communication styles, or perceptions of justice in the workplace can all lead to conflict between bosses and employees. If such issues are not handled, they may negatively impact overall company effectiveness, employee morale, and productivity. Moreover, employee-employer conflict can contribute to increased absenteeism, turnover rates, and employee disengagement, further exacerbating its impact on organizational performance. High levels of conflict can create a toxic work environment, characterized by stress, resentment, and decreased job satisfaction, which can, in turn, affect employee motivation and commitment to organizational goals.
Proactive steps are needed to address employee-employer conflict, such as open communication, training in conflict resolution, and the creation of just and transparent policies and processes. Companies are better able to lessen the negative consequences of conflict and improve organizational performance when they manage it well by encouraging a culture of respect, trust, and cooperation (Jehn et al., 2001).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Conflict in an employment relationship has been an issue of continuing interest and debate. Over the years, dealing with conflicts in an organization has been viewed as the sole responsibility of managers, who frequently take a rigid stance on how to deal with them. Conflict is a normal part of organizational life and has its own advantages and disadvantages, which organizations that handle conflicts in this way have overlooked.
Conflicts among and between individuals are taking up so much time and energy in many Nigerian organizations these days that it appears as though conflict is their main focus. Leaders in Nigerian work organizations have not been able to approach conflict resolution with the same systematic thinking that they have applied to information, human resource, and financial management systems, which has led to this development. Rather than being seen as a local occurrence, conflict is seen and managed differently. At some firms, conflicts have become dysfunctional due to a lack of a systematic approach to viewing and managing workplace disagreements.
Conflict is described as the presence of discord that occurs when the goals, interests or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and frustrate each other's attempts to achieve objectives in an organization. It is a communication process and an inevitable consequence of transactional relationships, manifesting in disagreement and dissonance with and between individuals and groups in the work-environment. In this context, workplace conflict is a fact of life in any organization as long as people will compete for jobs, power, recognition and security (Adomie and Anie, 2005).
Conflict is wide spread in human societies and runs through the whole organization both profit and non-profit making organization. It arises among members in an organization and even within the personality of an individual. Thus, conflict is one of the most difficult challenges a manager faces. The American Heritage College Dictionary defines conflict as “a state of disharmony between incompatible or antithetical persons, ideals, or interest; a clash”. A modern view of conflict is defined as follows: “conflict is a process in which one party perceives that its interest are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.
Conflicts occur due to the dynamic state of things today in organization and the society at large. In this way we could say that there is a growing recognition of the importance of conflict in organization. A recent survey that managers spends a considerable portion of their time dealing with conflict, and that conflict management has become increasingly important to their effectiveness most especially in the area of organizational productivity, therefore we can say that conflict is inevitable and important in human process.
In the earlier stage, conflict was viewed as evil and also linked with violence, destruction arid irrationality to re-engage it negative connotation by this definition “Conflict” is regarded as harmful and must be avoided.
To the “traditionalist” the absence of conflict in an organization is an evidence of success in status- quo interest, yet the existence of conflict in an organization shows that the degree of co-operation is generally present in a well-managed organization. Due to this, we could say that conflict is better off when it is managed than eliminated. In this way one agrees that with the growing realization, conflict has a number of benefits as well as costs. Therefore it needs to be managed rather than eliminated. The various ideals about conflict, human relations argued that conflict is a natural and inevitable occurrence in all groups and organization and that conflict is a normal and natural consequence of human interaction :n organization settings, but they are complex and its occurs for many reasons. Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to investigate the Effect of Employee-Employer Conflict on Organizational Performance.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the real challenge managers are facing today is the necessity of understanding and learning how to respond positively and creatively to conflict at the various levels and in the widely diverse areas found in the organization. Conflict, if not properly managed can cause problem in job satisfaction and organizational commitment, thus, leading to an un-conducive atmosphere, strikes, labour disputes and unrest, distress on the part of the organization as well as hindering the realization of the organizational goals and objectives.
Regrettably, internal disputes inside an organization sometimes lead to violence among members, which could land the group and its members in legal hot water. Organizational conflict that remains unresolved has detrimental effects that are expensive both in terms of money and human resources. Anger, strain, low morale, missing deadlines, low self-esteem, low trust, poor communication, absenteeism, and legal actions are all possible outcomes of conflict. Therefore, the goal of the study is to investigate how employee-employer conflict affects organizational performance.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to investigate the Effect of Employee-Employer Conflict on Organizational Performance. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine the causes, sources and solution of conflict in business organization;
- To examine the nature of conflict on employee job commitment;
- To determine the impact of conflict on employee performance;
- To find the means of managing conflict with the organization;
- To investigate the effect of employee-employer conflict on organizational performance; and
- To emphasized the relationship between conflict management and the employee performance.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Is there any means of managing conflict with the organization?
- Is there any relationship between conflict management and the employee performance?
- What is the impact of conflict on employee performance?
- What is the nature of conflict on employee job commitment?
- What is the effect of employee-employer conflict on organizational performance?
- What are the causes, sources and solution of conflict in business organization?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: Conflict management does not have any significant effect on Employee performance.
- H1: Conflict management has significant effect on Employee performance.
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There is no significance effect of organizational conflicts on employee performance.
- H1: There is a significance effect of organizational conflicts on employee performance
Hypothesis Three
- H0: There is no significant effect of employee-employer conflict on organizational performance
- H1: There is a significant effect of employee-employer conflict on organizational performance
1.7 Significance of Study
The significance of the findings will be useful to managers, employees, and business owners. Managers, the study will enlighten them on the need to adopt the conflict management strategies studied, since they are found to be effective in managing conflicts in an organization.
Furthermore, the study will enable them to be on their best behavior while working for a company in order to reduce the occurrence of conflict.
More so, this study will contribute to existing literature, serving as a reference material for both students and academia in related studies and creating opportunities for further studies in related fields.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Effect of Employee-Employer Conflict on Organizational Performance using some selected Organization in Lagos State as a reference point (case study).
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research Material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Operational Definition of Terms
Employee-Employer Conflict:
An employer and employee will be in conflict when the compensation paid to the worker is not sufficient to meet what are considered basic needs.
Conflict:
It refers to a disagreement between two or more organizational members or groups based on the fact that they need share resources or because they have different goals, values or perception.
Conflict management:
This is a holistic approach to divergent orientation between both parties (employer and employees) as the case may be, with the objective of mitigating the effect of the conflict, preventing conflict from ensuring and to make the most of the opportunities offered by the same conflict.
Communication:
It is primarily a mechanical process, in which a message is constructed and encoded by a sender, transmitted through some channel, then receive and decoded by a receiver.
