CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The assessment of conflict management on organization harmony cannot be over-emphasized as it has become a virtual tool used in promoting organizational development. Certainly for organizational development to take place there must be proper conflict management as such, conflict management has become indispensable in any organization or managerial setting in order to succeed.

Conflicts are inevitable parts of organizational life since the goals of different stakeholders such as the employee and employers are often incompatible. Gordon (1997) sees conflicts as the result of incompatible potential relationships, this occurs as a result of one party perceiving that another party has impeded, or will frustrate one or more of its concerns. Johnson (2000) views conflict as a struggle or contest between people with opposing needs, ideas beliefs, values or goals while Steers (1998) refers to conflicts as a process in which individuals or groups feels that other individuals or groups have frustrated or are about to frustrate their plans, goals, beliefs or activities.

Conflict is a part of organizational life and may occur between individuals, between the individual and the group and between a group.

Mayo (1949) stated that production depends on the relationship of workers where he divided workers into groups, that is the management and the employees. He emphasized that there must be cordial relationship between these groups of workers before any organizational harmony could take place or exist. He further stated that management should always give priority to the need of other employees so that they will have a sense of belonging and as such, increase productivity, but that whenever, the management ignore the need of employees, there would be no harmony and as such productivity will decrease. In a nutshell, this scholar is emphasizing on the importance of conflict resolution or management as the cornerstone and central dynamics of organization harmony.

This study is on the influence of conflict resolution on the performance of an organization. It stresses or focuses on the causes and types of industrial conflicts as well as the important roles trade unions and other key actors in conflict resolution play as well as the effect or influence of conflict resolution or organization performance.

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There are many problems facing the organization and their effects widely varies, some of these problems includes: lack of proper welfare package for the employees, problems of poor condition of work, high rate of labour turnover as well as nonchalant attitude of management to workers, low workers productivity among many others.

As a result of these problems enumerated above, industrial conflicts may arise between management and employees. With these statement of problems in view, the research is focused on thorough investigation of what influence does conflict has on workers productivity and how can conflict resolution affect or influence workers performance?

1.3    OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Conflict is a broad topic as can be seen from the introduction and its an imperative factor in organization harmony and performance therefore this research work will attempt to look at the influence of conflict resolution or organizational performance using Kaduna State civil service as a case study with a view to proffering some solutions to industrial disputes or conflicts.

The following are the objectives of this study:

1.     To examine the influence of conflict resolution and management in promoting and enhancing organizational performance.

2.     To identify resolution mechanism, introduced by Kaduna state civil service in the resolution and management of conflict  

1.4    STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS

This study formulated the following hypothesis:

Ho:    Conflict resolution and management do not have significant influence on organizational performance

Hi:     Conflict resolution and management have significant influence on organizational performance.

1.5            SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant for the following reasons:

i)       It is an attempt to bring into light the problems faced by the civil service in Nigeria most especially before and during strike action.

ii)    The findings of this study is also significant to employee associations, trade unions, employers union, labour ministry, organizations and the society at large.

iii)  It is an avenue for assessment of all the machineries put in place by the government to help in maintaining industrial peace in the Kaduna state civil service.

iv)  Practicing managers will also find this study rich and ideal reference material as it recognizes ways and tools to tackle problem of industrial conflict management in public organizations.

v)    It is imperative to study the role of Kaduna state civil service realizing the important part the workers and trade union play in national integration.

vi)  Finally, to those in the academia and conflict researchers, this study will serve as a spring board for further investigation. 

1.6     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Industrial conflicts remains a problem that deserves to be minimized. This study will be restricted to the causes, effects or influence, and types of conflicts on organizational performance.

Therefore, this project is intended to examine the possible causes of civil service unrest and also look at what influence does conflict resolution have on the performance of public organizations. The study will source its data from the target respondents who are civil servants in Kaduna state and as well use secondary sources of data such as textbooks, journals and internet.

1.7    HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The historical background of Kaduna state civil service can be traced to the defunct northern Nigerian regional public service which was itself an off-shoot of the public service of Nigeria and southern Cameroon which originated from the colonial service or the united kingdom.

Kaduna state formally known as north central state public service commission was created in 1954 along with the premier’s office and the minister of home affairs. The public service known before now was replaced by the civil service commission established in 1974 the Kaduna state civil service commission now operates in line with the reforms which came into being in 1986 under the regime of General Ibrahim Babaginda. The reform was designed to resolve the uncertainty in the role of the political head and that of his chief civil service leader and to infuse new life into the civil service giving it purpose and direction thereby overhauling it to make it more efficient and effective.

Kaduna state civil service which comprises all staff working under the state including ministries and local governments of the state. Kaduna state civil service is headed by the head of the state civil services permanent secretaries, directors and others etc.

1.8            DEFINITION OF TERMS

EMPLOYEE: This refers to any worker or persons that is employed by another person, organization or government.

EMPLOYER: This means a person, industry company, organization or government that pay people to work for them.

CIVIL SERVICE: This refers to workers of all grades (skilled and unskilled) who are gainfully employed in any organization belonging to the government or government agency or service other than the military.

MANAGEMENT: Those who coordinate and control resources towards achieving the objectives of an organization. This involves planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling the activities of the organization.

INDUSTRIAL CONFLICT: This refers to a conflict or dispute or difference of opinion between management and involves or employees on the terms of employment or other work related factors.

LABOUR/MANAGEMENT RELATIONSHIP: This refers to the process by which employers refers to the process by which employers and employees relate regarding the terms and conditions of employment.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: Is the process that involves the negotiation, drafting, administration and interpretation of a written agreement between employees of a union for a specific period of time.

TRADE UNION: Trade union is a group of workers with the ideology and believe who come together to negotiate with employers about wages, working conditions and other work related matters.

ORGANIZATIONAL HARMONY: This is the ideal state of peaceful existence and agreement between employers and employees in productivity.