Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Volume 10, Issue 03, March 2019, pp. 133–143, Article ID: IJMET_10_03_013
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=10&IType=3
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359
ABSTRACT
Conflict management strategies are the measures used to manage conflict in the
university in order to improve staff performance but unfortunately these universities
have suffered major decline in Nigeria university due to conflict. The study adopted
the survey research design in collecting data from three public universities that were
chosen from three states to represent Southwest Nigeria namely: Oyo, Lagos and
Ogun. The contiguity of the three States is another factor of convenience and reach
which supported the selection of the States. The analysis which included the
quantitative analysis aimed at assessing the main conflict management strategies that
can influence the productivity of staff in the selected public universities. Based on the
results, the hypothetical model of conflict management strategies and productivity was
drawn up, which was later tested in the current study with a PLS-SEM path analysis.
The above summary shows that only two hypotheses were rejected. Accommodation
strategy does not influence staff productivity, nor does the collaboration strategy have
an effect on the productivity of staff. The results show that there are other several
connections between conflict management strategies and staff productivity.
Key words: Conflict, Compromise, Collaboration, Accommodation, Avoidance,
Productivity
Cite this Article: IGBINOBA Ebeguki, SALAU Odunayo, FALOLA Hezekiah,
OLOKUNDUN Maxwell, Ogueyungbo Opeyemi, Workplace Conflict Management
and Administrative Productivity of Staff of Selected ICT Driven Public Universities,
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology 10(3), 2019, pp.
133–143.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=10&IType=3
1. INTRODUCTION
Conflict is an inevitable and consistent trait in corporate organizations which results from
deviations in interest of individual employees and management. The workplace as a reflection
of larger society is full of conflict indoctrinating affairs (Oni-Ojo and Roland-Otaru, 2013).
Conflict occurs at both individual and collective level, and because the values, interest,
attitude and goals of individuals differ, it tends to be unavoidable (Oni-Ojo, Iyiola, and
Osibanjo, 2014). According to Igbinoba, Osibanjo and Salau, (2016) universities in Nigeria
have been plague with series of internal and external conflicts which renders the goals and
objectives of the institutions counterproductive. This can be seen by the poor performance of
the institutions in global rankings as non-Nigerian universities have featured in the best one
thousand universities in the world. This could be attributed to series of conflict that have
plagued the universities. These are clear factors to show that universities are susceptible to
conflict owing to the diversity factors and thus cannot be avoided. Conflict is a major problem
that affect performance (Adebisi, 2014). It is believed that employees cannot be committed or
dedicated to their work whenever conflict exist without proper management (Nair, 2008).
Conflict that is not managed properly can affect the university setting, affect the image of the
institution, poor relation among staff, management and parents. Alabi (2002) suggested that it
impossible for conflict to be completely avoidable in the university but can be managed
because no development can take place where there is dispute. In other to manage conflict in
the university, certain management strategies should be put in place (Havenga, 2005).
Conflict in the workplace over the years have been seen has a major duty of the
management who often times handle it with lackadaisical attitude. So conflict can be either be
positive or negative depending on the way it is handled (Oni-Ojo, Iyiola & Osibanjo 2014). In
Nigeria, conflict in the public universities has become incessant due to bad working
condition, unfavourable rules and regulation, workload, non-implementation of agreements,
pay disaffection and these have often resulted into low productivity, reduced motivation and
high turnover. Thus, there is the need to examine conflict management and its implication for
the performance of staff in public universities. Gmelch and Carroll (1991) suggested that
conflict “is sewn into the fabrics” of educational institutions. Most conflicts in Nigerian
public institutions, arises from the government not fulfilling its collective agreement with its
employees or non-academic staff union and usually persist due to the approach in managing
the conflict. Thereby, resulting in non-academic staff embarking on several industrial action
which may often last for months. Consequently, this action leaves the administrative staff
with a low morale, decrease in productivity, increase in absenteeism, increase in defective
products due to lowered commitment to work, and health issues due to stress and depression.
Therefore, since the public universities have been experiencing incessant labour unrest, it
becomes pertinent to examine its conflict management approaches on employees’ intention to
stay. In most public universities today, one of the key problems is that implementation of
conflict management is not seen as an important technique for reducing conflict in the
organisation. It is against this problem statement that this study examined the impact of
workplace conflict management strategies (avoiding strategy, dominating strategy,
compromising strategy, integrating strategy and obliging strategy) on administrative staff
productivity in public universities.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Conflict is inevitable in human activities due to divergent views and aspirations. Organisation
comprises of people with various background, attitude, beliefs, skills and personality, which
makes conflict unavoidable (Uwa 2014). Conflict centres on the inability of those concerned
to be able to iron out their differences (Oni-Ojo and Roland-Otaru, 2013). Fatile and
Adejuwon (2011) view conflict has what occurs when people have incompatible ideals over
the sharing of scarce resources to meet teeming demands. Conflict can also be a disagreement
or differences that occurs as a result of trying to use inadequate resources to meet divergent
needs which could be tangible or intangible such as opinions and ideas (Bankovskaya, 2012).
This conflict can either be positive or negative (Haas, 1999). Positive conflict is useful,
support and also profitable to the organisations or person’s main objective (Oucho 2002).
While negative conflict is dysfunctional and prevent the person or organisation from
performing well and unable to achieve goals and objectives (Baker, 2011). Conflict is a
component of interpersonal interactions which cannot be avoided. Several studies have been
carried out on causes of organisational conflict and strategies have been postulated for their
effective management. However, not much attention has been paid to the impact of workplace
conflict management strategies on staff productivity. It is perceived that conflict can improve
performance and productivity when handled well. When conflict is resolved well,
relationships and organizations generally improve overall. Every conflict mode has value and
is important that focuses on desired outcomes and enhances ability to be better conflict
negotiators. To buttress this point, Olaogun, Ogunleye and Fatoki (2007) opined that, conflict
is constructive when it increases the quality of decisions made, fosters creativity and
innovation, promotes amongst group members their interest and curiosity, provides a platform
through which problems are managed thereby easing tension and encourages an environment
of self – assessment and modification.
3. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
Conflict management is necessary in order to maintain sanity and cooperation in the
workplace when conflict arises. Conflict must be managed effectively so as to prevent it from
escalating to the point that the organisation would not be able to handle it. Conflict
management is the ability of an organisation to identify the sources of conflict and implement
effective measures to bring it under control (Adamu, Abdu &Talatu 2017). Conflict
management is the implementation of certain strategies to reduce the bad side of conflict, and
increase its positive aspect in other to increase staff performance and effectiveness in the
organisation (Edwin, 2013). An organisation is therefore, to identify and implement
appropriate strategy to control conflict. Conflict managed appropriately promote open and
effective communication, feedback and effective decision making, (Awan and Anjum 2015).
Also if conflict is managed properly it would have a positive impact on employee’s
satisfaction and performance of the organisation (Abdul 2015). Effective management of
conflict can lead to better performance of staff and also improve interactions within the
organisation. Properly managed conflict would increase staff participation, innovativeness and
productivity among staff (Rum, Troena and Hadiwiioyo, 2013). The educational sector is not
an exemption. Therefore management of public universities should improve their conflict
management strategies in other to have a better understanding of conflict in the university.
But when conflict is not properly managed it can lead to bad feelings, low turnover, low
output (Henry, 2009).
5. ORGANISATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY
Appraising the productivity of administrative staff in an organisation is considered an
essential tool for improving organisational effectiveness (Salau, Oni-Ojo, Falola, and Dirisu,
2014) as it leads to accomplishing its set goals and objectives. Service quality, operational
efficiency, training and teaching students both informally and formally have been identified as
indicators for assessing the performance of administrative staff in tertiary institutions
(Mawoli, & Babandako, 2011; Mushemeza, 2016; Ologunde, Akindele, Akande, 2013;
Tinuke, 2015). Abba & Mugizi (2018) opined that these roles of teaching, research/
publication and community service are vital to any nation’s development globally as these
roles especially community service promote social service, financial literacy, health and
reduced crime in communities. Research which is one the reasons for the creation of
7. METHODS
The study adopted the survey research design to describe the situation. This purpose of this
design is to collect relevant data from respondents in the field and make analysis and
interpretation easy. The population of this study includes all the administrative staff of
selected public universities and the entire population is 1848 (NASU Prospectus, 2016). From
the three states selected, the oldest public universities were chosen to make a total of three (3)
as shown in Table 1. The study used primary sources as a means of data collection, the
primary data used was questionnaire administered to the administrative staff of University of
Ibadan, Ibadan; University of Lagos, Lagos; and Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun based on
conflict management and its impact on organisational productivity. The instrument used for
collecting data for the purpose of this study is a well-structured questionnaire. The
questionnaire was administered with the help of two (2) research assistants and respondents
filled and returned the completed questionnaire. The relationship between workplace conflict
management and institutional productivity of Nigerian public universities was tested using
structural and measurement models. Proxies of this workplace conflict management as used in
this study include compromise, collaboration, avoidance, competition and accommodation.
A sample size of 320 staff (administrative) was randomly selected from the total
population of 1848, comprising 17% of the total population. The questionnaire titled “Conflict
resolution strategies and Staff Productivity Questionnaire” (CSPQ) was used for data
collection. The instruments measured the variables under study: conflict resolution strategies,
and productivity. The instruments were given to management experts in the field for validity
check while the test and re-test method was used to establish using construct reliability and
validity. The use of Average Variance Extracted (AVE) was also adopted to reduce
measurement error and to promote attraction of SEM's measurement and modelling interface
as presented in Table 2 and Figure 1.
Model-Fit Summary
Saturated/Estimated model
SRMR 0.052
d_ULS 2.562
d_G1 1.294
d_G2 1.064
Chi-Square 419.166
NFI 0.963
9. CONCLUSIONS
The analysis which included the quantitative analysis aimed at assessing the main conflict
management strategies that can influence the productivity of staff in the selected public
universities. Based on the results, the hypothetical model of conflict management strategies
and productivity was drawn up, which was later tested in the current study with a PLS-SEM
path analysis. The above summary shows that only two hypotheses were rejected.
Accommodation strategy does not influence administrative staff productivity, nor does the
collaboration strategy have an effect on the productivity of staff. The results show that there
are other several connections between conflict management strategies and staff productivity.
This is quite understandable as constant conflicts means the resolution strategies are not
adequate resulting in staff demands not being met.
The strategies for managing conflict have effects on their administrative productivity in
many cases. This study concluded that compared to a dominating party, a compromising party
would let go more easily but not as much as an obliging party would. Also, a compromising
party would directly focus on an issue more than an avoiding party but does not carry out
deep investigations as much as an integrating party. However, the current research sample
does not represent the whole population of administrative staff of the selected public
universities. Additional research should be conducted to gain representative data from the
University and possibly compare the results with data from another university, preferably
public universities. A comparative analysis would further determine the target-country-
specific motivation and expectations of foreign students. By recommendation, the university
management can consistently address the issues of incessant strikes by adopting alternative
strategies in resolving the university conflicts as the usual remedies have not been adequate.
REFERENCES
[1] Abdul, G.A. (2015). Conflicting Management and Organizational Performance: A case
study of Askari bank Ltd., Research Journal of Finance and Accounting, 6 (11): 88-89
[2] Adebile, O. A, and Ojo, T. O. (2012). Management of Organisational Conflict in Nigeria
Polytechnics, an Empirical Study of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State.
International Journal of Asian Social Science, Vol.2, No.3, pp.229-243.
[3] Abdu, J. B. & Talatu, M. B. (2017). Conflict Management Strategy and Employees
Performance in Private Sector, Organizations in Kano State. Journal of Marketing and
Management, 8(1), 41-61
[4] Adebisi, M. (2014). Industrial Conflict and Trade Unionism in Nigeria. Journal of
Department of Business Administration, University of Ilorin, 14(1), 11-15.
[5] Alabi, A. T. (2002). Conflicts in Nigerian universities: causes and management. Ilorin
[6] Journal of Education. Vol. 21, 101.
[7] Akuegwu, B. A. (2005). Administrative factor, job-related variables and academic staff
job performance in tertiary institutions in Imo State. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation,
University of Calabar, Nigeria.
[8] Adeyemi, T. O., and Ademilua, S. O. (2012). Conflict management strategies and
administrative Effectiveness in Nigerian Universities. Journal of Emerging Trends in
Educational Research and Policy Studies 3(3):368-375
[9] Abba, H.D. & Mugizi, W. (2018), Performance of academic staff in polytechnics: an
analysis of performance levels in North West geo–political zone of Nigeria. Volume 2
Issue 3, pp 186-192
[10] Bassey, U., Akuegwu, B., Udida, L., and Udey, F. (2007). Academic staff research
productivity: a study of universities in South-South Zone of Nigeria. Educational Research
and Review Vol. 2 (5), pp. 103-108.
[11] Bankovskaya, V. (2012). Development of conflict management strategies to increase the
organisational effectiveness in Nordic companies. Master’s thesis Submitted to: Reykjavik
University, School of Business.
[12] Brahm, E. (2007). Costs of Intractable conflict. Retrieved on September 17, 2017, from;
http://beyondintractability.org/essay/costs_benefits/.
[13] Fatile, J. O. and Adejuwon, K. D. (2011). Conflict and conflict management in tertiary
institution: the case of Nigerian universities. European Journal of Humanities and Social
Sciences. Vol. 7 (1) 276.
[14] Gmelch, W. H., and Carroll, J. B. (1991). The three R’s of conflict management for
department, chairs and faculty. Cited in Din, S., Khan, B., Rehman, R., and Bibi, Z.
(2011). An investigation of conflict management in public and private sector universities.
African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(16), pp. 6981-6990.
[15] Havenga, W. (2005). A comparative analysis of conflict dynamics within private and
public sector organisations. Ph.D Thesis, North-West University, Potchefstroom
[16] Henry, O. (2009). Organisational Conflict and its Effects on Organizational Performance.
Research Journal of Business Management, 2(1), 16-24.
[17] Oni-Ojo, E. E., Osibanjo, O.O. and Salau, O. P. (2016). Strategic communication as a
means of resolving conflict among academics in the Nigerian public universities.
International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies. 3 (2), 61-72.
[18] Igbinoba, E.E. (2015) Conflict Management Strategies and Academic Staff Productivity in
Some Selected Universities in Nigeria (Ph.D. Thesis), Covenant University, Ota, Ogun
State, Nigeria
[19] Igbinoba, E., Falola, H., Osibanjo, A., Oludayo, O. (2018). Survey datasets on the
influence of conflict management strategies on academic staff productivity in selected
public universities in Nigeria. Data in Brief 19, 322-325
[20] Ige, K., Adeyeye, F and Aina, S. (2011). An empirical study of the factors influencing
Industrial Conflicts in Nigeria (1980-2010). European journal of humanities and social
sciences, 10.(1), pp. 423-439.
[21] Leffel, A., Hallam, C., and Darling, J. (2012). Enhancement of entrepreneurial leadership:
A case focusing on a model of successful conflict management skills. Administrative
Issue Journal: Education, Practice, and Research. Vol. 2, Issue 2.
[22] Lertputtarak, S. (2008). An investigation of factors related to research productivity in a
public university in Thailand: A case study. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education, School of Education, Faculty
of Arts, Education and Human Development, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
[23] Mawoli M. A, Babandako A. Y. (2011). An evaluation of staff motivation, dissatisfaction
and job performance in an academic setting. Australian Journal of Business and
Management Research. 1(9):1–13.
[24] Mushemeza, E.D (2016.). Opportunities and challenges of academic staff in higher
education in Africa. International Journal of Higher Education. 5(3):236–246.
[25] Nair, N. (2008). Towards Understanding the role of emotions in conflict: a review and
future directions. International Journal of conflict Management, 19(4), 359-381.
[26] Osisioma, H.E. Osisioma, B.C. and Chukwuemeka, E. E.O. (2012). Developing a conflict
management model for the Nigerian executive. Singaporean Journal of Business
Economics, and Management Studies, 1 (1), 1-19.
[27] Obasan, K. (2011). Impact of Conflict Management on Corporate Productivity: An
Evaluative Study. Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 1(5), 44-49
[28] Ologunde A. O., Akindele R.I., Akande, W.O. (2013). Moonlighting among university
lecturers and their performance in the South–Western Nigeria. Journal of Management
and Sustainability. 3(4):92–102.
[29] Oni-Ojo, E. E., and Roland-Otaru, C. (2013). Alternative dispute resolution strategies for
[30] sustainable development in Africa: insights from Nigeria. Journal of Management and
Entrepreneurial Development. 3 (1), 37-54.
[31] Oni-Ojo, E. E., Iyiola, O. O., and Osibanjo, A. O. (2014). Managing Workplace Conflicts
in Business Environment: The role of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). European
Journal of Business and Management, 6 (36) 74-82.
[32] Oyekan, O. A. (2014). Resource situation as determinants of academic staff productivity
in Nigerian universities. European Journal of Globalization and Development Research,
Vol. 9, No. 1,pp 545.
[33] Rum, Troena and Hadiwiioyo, (2013). Role Conflict toward Performance (Studies in
Government Budgeting Team at Kendari). International Journal of Business and
Management Invention Vol. 2. Issue 11.
[34] Rahim, M. A. and Bonoma, T. V. (1979). Managing Conflict: A model for diagnosis and
intervention. Psychological Reports, 44, 13.
[35] Starks, G. (2006). Managing conflict in public organisations. Public Manager 35(4): 55.
[36] Tinuke, F.M. (2015). Dimensions of university academic staff Performance appraisal in
selected public Universities in Nigeria. Journal of Global Economics, Management and
Business Research 3(3): 139-147
[37] Uwa, K. L. (2014). Conflict Management Strategies and Employees’ Productivity in a
Nigerian State Civil Service. Journal of Business and Management Sciences, 2 (4), 90-93.
[38] Uchendu, C. C., Anijaobi-Idem, F. N & Odigwe F.N, 2013: Conflict Management and
Organizational Performance in Secondary Schools in Cross River State: Research Journal
in Organizational Psychology and Educational Studies: Emerging Academy Resources,
2(2), 67-71.