Abstract

This study examined “The Impact of Conflict Management Styles on Employee Performance in NGO’s in Buea”. Its specific objectives were to examine the impact of dominating style on employee’s performance in NGOs, to determine the impact of avoidance style in conflict management on employee’s performance and to determine the effect of compromising style on employee’s performance in NGOs in Buea.

A descriptive research design was adopted as an appropriate study design were a sample of 80 employees in NGO’s in Buea were selected through simple random sampling technique. It also combined quantitative as well as qualitative research approaches. The quantitative methods of data collection were used in this work were a self-administered questionnaire composed of closed ended, and likert scale questions was used to collect data from the respondents.

Data obtained through a structured questionnaire were analysed using analysed using descriptive statistics and the multiple regression analysis (Ordinary least square Regression technique) with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The findings show that conflict management styles have a significant impact on employee’s performance in NGO’s in Buea.

Dominating style has a negative and significant effect whereas avoidance style and compromising style has a positive and significant effect on employee’s performance in NGO’s in Buea. The study therefore recommends that organisation should embark on training and retraining of its employees in area of conflict management so as to create a conductive working environment for the employees and that there should be efficient and effective communication between and among all categories of the employees the organisation.

This will reduce conflicting situations in the organisation.The study further recommends that, for every policy measure taken by NGO’s to improve conflict management styles, dominating style, avoidance style and compromising style should be taken into consideration because failure to do so will lead to detrimental effect on employee’s performance. Finally, there is a need to continuously educate the workforce on the best way to channel their grievances. This is to ensure that the employees do not take laws into their hands.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

Conflict management is one of the major skills that has a significant influence on the task employees have to perform on a daily basis. Recognizing the existence of conflict and advocating means for the organization on how to manage it is amongst one of the most challenging forms for any leader. Some conflicts can be reversible while others are not hence the risk involved in managing conflicts.

Employee’s performance is important for an organization to achieve its objectives and goals. Employees are an important asset to an organization that may affect it either positively or negatively; due to unavoidable environmental conflicts, organizations today have been challenged to advocate for conflict that influences employee’s performance. Therefore, top management has to ensure that factors that influences employee’s performance are taken into consideration one of them being conflict.

The importance of management in organizations today has increased multifold. Strategic outcomes depend on the ways of management in organizations thus, key management functions that include: planning, organizing, controlling and motivating employees, adapting to conflict and generating innovative ideas are crucial.

Conflict among employees in an organization is not simply inevitable; rather it is the nature of complex organization (Albert, 2011). However, if managed properly it can have a positive impact on employees’ satisfaction and performance (Dana, 2000). Research indicates that management executives are spending twice as much time in settling disputes than they did some decades ago.

Albert (2011) asserted that there are productive and destructive conflicts in workplaces, according to him ”conflict is said to be positive when it is constructively discussed by the parties and amicable terms for settling reached” he emphasized that constructively managed conflict in working place induces a  positive employee performance while poorly  managed conflict lowers employees moral, reduces employees performance, increases their absenteeism, increases the chance of losing skilled personnel, and may lead to an increase in the number of defective products produced due to lack of employees commitment to work.

In the organization’s context, performance is the ability to carry out the job well (Armstrong, 2006). An organization may therefore involve a third-party consultant when key performance indicators such as sales, return on investment, and profit margins have reduced due to poor conflict management (Posthuman, 2011). According to (Brett, 2001), a third party often requires good communication skills to be able to understand and moderate the conflict. Furthermore, when all attempts of negotiation fail, a third party helps to resolve the dispute through negotiation (Hofstede, 2013). Studies have shown that strategies of negotiation, third party intervention and communication have worked in organizations globally and regionally.

The third strategy adopted by organizations to manage conflict is communication. Communication is a process that contains expressing, listening, and understanding (Bangi and Dayal, 2005). Since employees are the key players in conflict situations, while at the same time form the key resources in driving performance, the world at large and the banking sector therefore provides a good basis to ascertain the influence of conflict management on organizations performance. This study sought to determine the effect of conflict management on employee’s performance with respect to the world and the non-governmental organizations.

Most leaders strive to maximize the performance of their subordinates in order to achieve organizational goals, regardless of the size or structure of their respective organizations. Indeed, leadership has been defined in terms of motivating employees to achieve organizational objectives (Rasool et al., 2021).

Conflicts are inevitable part of organizational life since the goals of different stakeholders such as managers and staff are often incompatible (Adomi and Ojo, 2005). Conflict is an unpleasant fact in any organization as longer as people compete for jobs, resources, power, recognition and security. Organizational conflict can be regarded as a dispute that occurs when interests, goals or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible with each other.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

There has been a growing interest in conflict management in recent years. Firstly, research has stimulated interest in strategies and approaches to handling conflict. Secondly, there is increased legalization of the workplace, particularly in the areas of occupational health and safety, discrimination and harassment. Thirdly, there has been heightened interest in the need for organizations to move to high performance work systems.

Most workplace practices and systems with their hierarchical structures, tight divisions of labor, narrowly defined jobs, detailed rules, limit employee involvement, unfair treatment, control and authority are no longer adequate since they foster conflict.

Consequently, it is very important that efforts are made towards finding ways of effectively managing conflict so as to achieve organizational objectives. The problem of poor conflict management in corporate organizations with particular emphasis on NGOs of Africa, NGOs in Buea is the focus of this research.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 The Main research question

What is the impact of conflict management styles on employee’s performance in NGO’s in Buea?

1.3.2 Specific research questions

1. To what extent does conflict dominating style affect employee performance in NGOs Buea?
2. How does conflict avoidance style affect employee performance in NGOs Buea?
3. What is the effect of a conflict-compromising style on employee performance in NGOs Buea?

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