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Conflict factors investigation among construction professionals in Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to determine various factors that cause conflict among professionals in the Nigerian construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study made use of quantitative approach. Questionnaires were used as a form of data collection, and it was distributed to construction professionals such as quantity surveyors, architects, builders, civil engineers, project managers and construction managers in Ondo and Lagos state to ascertain various factors that cause conflict among professionals in the Nigerian construction industry. A total number of 150 questionnaires were distributed, but 135 were received from the respondents that represent 90 per cent of response rate. In this study, the descriptive analysis and exploratory factor analysis were used.
Findings
The findings from this study show that the major cause of conflict among the professionals is favouritism. This is followed by role ambiguity that occurs due to improper definition of the role of different construction professionals, and it leads to a misunderstanding culminating into conflict. Also, other major causes of conflict among construction professionals in Nigeria include differences in professionals’ experience, differences in level of education, differences in personalities and differences in professionals’ goal and views.
Originality/value
It should be emphasized that professionals must avoid and desist from any factors that can cause conflict among them. Strict adherence by construction professionals in Nigeria will encourage free flow of ideas and will help them progress. This will actually lead to improvement on professionals tasks.
... Scholars from different subject areas generally explore the topics of conflict types, influencing factors, the impact of the conflict and conflict management from a microscopic perspective (Adeyemi and Aigbavboa, 2020;Al-Sibaie et al., 2014;Behfar, 2011;Brockman, 2014;Chen et al., 2014;Femi, 2014;Mitkus and Mitkus, 2014 (De Dreu and Weingart, 2003;De Dreu and Van Vianen, 2001;Iyiola and Rjoub, 2020;Wu et al., 2017b). ...
... Subsequently, the focus of the study of the elements influencing conflict resolution shifts to "soft factors" such as communication, trust, culture and role definition. According to some researchers, communication obstacles are prone to arise because of variations in each person's background, personality, culture, beliefs and life experience, resulting in conflict (Adeyemi and Aigbavboa, 2020;McCarthy et al., 2010;Randeree and Faramawy, 2011). Scholars discovered that conflict has two sides at this point. ...
... By sorting out and integrating the impact of conflict, we provide a systematic summary framework for researchers. It also provides a reference for scholars to study conflict from the division of "hard factors" such as institutions, environment and contracts and "soft factors" such as culture, trust and communication in two dimensions (Adeyemi and Aigbavboa, 2020;Brockman, 2014;De Dreu and Weingart, 2003;Gomez and Taylor, 2018). ...
Purpose
The issue of conflict has been around for a long time. With the development of economic development and the diversification of industries, conflicts have shown a trend of complex development. By reviewing interorganizational conflict in construction, this study aims to identify the formation, development and evolution of conflict and to assist organizational managers in using scientific conflict management tools to deal with and resolve conflict.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper considers the following questions: “What is the overall research status of the interorganizational conflict in construction projects?” and “What are the trendy issues in interorganizational conflicts in construction projects?” This study uses R software's Biblioshiny program to describe the overall conflict between organizations to answer question 1. This study uses Netminer – a social network analysis (SNA) software and text mining to explore research trends and answer question 2.
Findings
Interorganizational conflict has been one of the most important topics in recent years when it comes to conflict issues. This paper intends to examine interorganizational conflict in construction in an attempt to shed light on four main topics regarding the conflict: the application of conflict theory; factors that induce conflict; the effect of conflict on performance; and methods of conflict management.
Research limitations/implications
Through a comprehensive analysis of interorganizational conflict, this study helps to increase the understanding of scholars in the field of conflict research. This study suggests future research directions and provides references for managers to improve their conflict management, decision-making and performance.
Originality/value
This study combines bibliometrics, SNA and text mining research methods. Multidimensional and multiperspectival assessments are performed based on the status of the research, its evolution and trends. The results of this study can be used to guide the resolution of conflict in other industries. This study also enriches the scientific theory related to the interorganizational conflict.
... Frontrunners in the educational sector, frequently spend excessive time preventing or mitigating conflict (Adeyemi & Aigbavboa, 2020). Most often than not, this fallout result in diminished performance in other domains. ...
... Some researchers (Peter, 2010;Ahmad & Nawaz 2010;Makaye and Ndofirepi, 2012;Park, Lee & Shin, 2015, Wagude, 2015Harmsen, R., Helms-Lorenz, M., Maulana, R., van Veen, K. &van Veldhoven, M., 2019 andAdeyemi &Aigbayboa 2020) contend that unhealthy competition, leadership style, gender differences and tribalism contribute to conflict. This research explores the major forces that cause conflict among the teachers at secondary schools, like poor communication, jealousy, cliques, excessive workload, resistance to policies, and their impacts on the selected secondary schools. ...
... However, plenty of studies have been conducted to investigate intragroup conflicts at different stages within construction projects. Studies by Adeyemi and Aigbavboa (2020) investigated the potential causes of conflicts among professionals employed in the construction industry. Shawa et al. (2018) also highlighted the causes of conflicts specific to project design teams. ...
Purpose
This study aims to identify the nature of intragroup conflicts between direct stakeholder’s teams during the construction stage in Sri Lankan construction projects and how to manage their impact on project deliverables.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a qualitative research approach, adopting a case study-based research strategy. The required empirical data were collected using semi-structured interviews and a document review of four selected construction projects implemented in Sri Lanka. These selected projects are executed using a traditional separated procurement system with remeasurement contracts. A manual content analysis was used for data analysis.
Findings
This study highlighted three main types of intragroup conflicts between direct stakeholder’s teams that can arise during the construction stage of projects in Sri Lanka, as well as the causes and effects of those conflicts on project deliverables. The study also proposed proactive strategies to manage these intragroup conflicts.
Originality/value
The ability to effectively manage intragroup conflicts between direct stakeholder’s teams during construction stage directly impacts the project deliverables. However, how this can be explicitly managed during construction stage has not been adequately investigated in a Sri Lankan context. The existing study aims to bridge this gap. This study is of further originality as it analyzes the nature and extent of the impact of intragroup conflicts within direct stakeholder’s teams toward the end project deliverables at the construction stage and proposes proactive strategies to manage them.
... According to [31], quantitative research outlines the procedures used to gather and further analyse numerical data using mathematical techniques. In a report by [32], it was asserted that the Niger-Delta part of Nigeria has a higher tendency for the occurrence of construction-related conflicts. This study therefore was focused on some selected states in Nigeria with particular emphasis on states in the Niger-Delta region such as Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa states. ...
The difficulty of stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry in ascertaining the appropriate strategy for conflict management in public and private construction projects is the main problem that necessitated this study. Hence, this study objectively seeks to determine the prevalent conflict management strategies for public and private construction projects in the study area. The study hypothesised that: there is no significant difference in the prevalent conflict management approaches between public and private projects. Survey design was used through self-administration of questionnaire in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. Convenient sampling technique was adopted and stakeholders both from the public and private sectors were the study respondents. The duplicates of the survey that were legitimately filled and returned were eighty-nine (89). Descriptive and inferential statistics was done using the mean score and Mann-Whitney U test on the collected data. The study revealed that there is a significant difference in the preferred conflict management approach between public and private construction projects in the study area. Also, Excessive contract variation cluster ranked highest under the public project participants while Poor communication cluster ranked highest among the private project participants. This research is a novel study within the study area's social structure that determined differing conflict management strategies for public and private construction projects in Nigeria. It projects the needed direction for industry stakeholders, on managing construction projects within volatile territories in developing countries.
Differs factors have been identified as the causes of the high rate of Building Project Collapse with little reference to difference types of conflict among building professionals. While some studies have examined possible conflict among professional colleague in building projects, their study was only focused at developing a model to prevent conflicts in general. This study assessed the level of contribution of what is term “Egoistic Conflict” on building project collapse in Lagos state. This study adopted descriptive research design. The population of the study is infinite as it comprises of all stakeholders-home owners, engineers, surveyors, staff of relevant government agencies etc., in the informal Building Projects in Lagos state. Thus, for convenience an online contact of respondents through social medium was used. Using the formula adopted by Sheldon for infinite population, a sample size of 384 was drawn from the population. A random sampling technique was used based on time interval of responses. Data was collected through a self-developed questionnaire. The collected data was analysed using inferential statistics using SPSS (Statistical Package for the social sciences). The findings revealed that, Ego Conflicts explains 45.5% of Building Project Collapse in Lagos State, Nigeria. It was therefore recommended among others that periodic seminars and workshop should be organised for home owners and developers on what is a structural job and the scope of individual discipline in the industry.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the risks of cost overrun in rail construction from the contractor’s perspective. A three-phase approach is proposed (initial, planning and execution) to enhance comprehension of risk management optimization.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collection involved distributing questionnaires to rail construction cost management professionals. The instrument was built by identifying key themes, concepts and findings from literature and pilot surveys. Data analysis consists of integrating the findings into a Probability Impact Matrix (PIM) and bow-tie diagrams based on probability and impact assessments. The diagrams created detailed risk mitigation tables and simplified response planning.
Findings
Initial data analysis showed 36 factors causing cost overruns in 3 phases of rail construction. The responses were analysed by probability and impact, forming a risk matrix, which was then translated into a bow-tie diagram. The information was then incorporated into the PIM that assists in determining appropriate risk responses based on risk levels. The index values ranged from moderate to very high. The execution phase exhibited the highest impact, particularly with risks associated with incompetent work schedule management and overdependence on specialist works, indicating a need for proactive risk mitigation strategies.
Originality/value
This research indicates that the execution phase poses significant risks to rail cost performance, particularly in schedule and sub-contractor management. While contractors bear significant responsibility during this phase, government must be active in mitigating cost-related risks. Additionally, individual experience is crucial as contractors, clients and consultants are recommended to be adequately experienced to ensure a seamless process, minimal errors and effectively address multiple risks in the rail construction.
The litigation process is notorious for being long, costly and deteriorating business relations although the majority of construction contracts resort to litigation in case of any dispute. For this reason, it is very important to settle disputes in construction projects before applying for the litigation process to preserve the sustainable structure of the construction industry. Identification of precautions to reduce the number of disputes leading to litigation is crucial as it can help prevent project failures, minimize legal costs, and improve overall stakeholder satisfaction in the construction industry. Therefore, this study aims to identify solutions to diminish the disputes resulting in the litigation process in the Turkish construction industry. To achieve this goal, semi-structured interviews with 50 lawyers experienced in construction-related cases in Turkey were conducted. The data obtained from the interviewees were analyzed via content analysis to identify the common themes. Later, detected common themes were categorized in a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) by 15 experts selected in accordance with the purpose sampling method. Afterwards, Fuzzy AHP method was conducted with the data gathered from the 15 experts to determine the significance of each theme. This study revealed numerous crucial solutions to diminish the disputes resulting in lawsuits in the Turkish construction industry. Firstly, to prevent disputes and defective products, it is essential to increase the effectiveness of the auditing system and disseminate and legalize alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods as well as oblige the construction firms to have certification. Additionally, careful examination of citizens’ petitions and timely and impartial approach by officials to citizens’ problems can prevent conflicts from escalating. Furthermore, to improve the qualifications of officers, public personnel exams in accordance with the concerning expertise area are to be conducted.
Purpose
The booming social media attracts construction professionals (CPs) to express emotions caused by work pressure (WP) through online behaviors. Previous works focus on the analysis of WP and emotions but do not adequately consider how WP can be reflected through online emotions. Thus, this study aims to attempt to explore the quantitative relationship between online emotional intensity and WP.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed a linguistic-sticker (LS) model to quantitatively evaluate the sentiment intensity of posts published on social media. Moreover, the authors designed two econometric models of ordinary least squares regression and negative binomial regression to test the hypothesis.
Findings
The research found that posts with stronger negative sentiment (or positive sentiment) indicate that CPs face higher (or lower) WP. Besides, there is a negative bias between the sentiment intensity of posts and the comment quantity.
Practical implications
The positive correlation between sentiment intensity of posts and WP has been confirmed, which indicates that construction managers should pay more attention to CPs' behavior on social media, and take a more direct way to analyze work-related online behavior (e.g. posting, commenting). The dynamic monitoring of emotion-related posts also provides a direct basis for the management team to learn about CP's pressure status and propose measures to reduce their negative emotions. Furthermore, the emotional posts published by CPs on social media provide a direct basis for team managers to obtain their psychological state.
Originality/value
The research contributes to incorporating CPs' emotions into the LS model and to providing information systems artifacts and new findings on the analysis of WP and online emotions.
Purpose
Understanding electricity use behaviour is considered one of the strategies to achieve sustained electricity management in buildings. The lack of understanding of occupants’ electricity use behaviour has been found to cause various environmental and ecological issues. This paper aims to investigate the factors influencing occupants’ inefficient use of electricity in buildings becomes a vital area of study to achieve maximum benefit in the area of electricity management.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a quantitative survey and questionnaire as instruments for gathering relevant information from end-users in the study area, and the data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Findings
The major factors influencing the electricity use behaviour of students in the study area were attributed to their level of awareness, personal beliefs and attitude towards electricity, managerial influences and economic factors.
Originality/value
The threats to the environment and ecology necessitate immediate attention to the elements that impact students’ electricity use habits. This research explains the key elements that might impact students’ electricity consumption habits in buildings. Understanding these key characteristics will provide policymakers with vital knowledge of its prevalence.
Conflict is an essential and unavoidable human phenomenon because where there is human interaction; there is a likelihood of personal likes and dislikes. These agreements and disagreements among individuals and groups lead them to conflicts. Conflicts are neither constructive nor disruptive but the ways these are handled make them either positive or negative. Schools, like other human organizations, are prone to one or other type of conflict. Various conflict management strategies are adopted for handling conflict; the most important among these are, mediation, negotiation, avoidance, collaborating etc. Main thrust of this paper is on the exploration of the nature of conflicts in schools, its causes and techniques adopted for its management and redressal. Introduction:
An appropriate Human Resource management strategy is an essential ingredient for the growth of any organization. It is even more important when an organization is beset with conflicts in the management of its Human Resource. This paper therefore identifies the basic causes of conflicts in organizations such as poor communication, maltreatment of employees, inadequate in the reward system of the organization, favoritism and nepotism. Other causes of conflicts are lack of adequate resources to share equally, the presence of stress and sexual harassment. The paper also delves into the positive and negative implication of conflicts to organizations such as decline in productivity and absence of employee retention capacity among others. The paper concludes that the adverse effects of conflicts could be averted through improved working condition, the ability to properly disseminate information etc.
Conflicts occur on construction projects and may degenerate into unpleasant situations such as claims, lawsuits and project abandonment. This research investigated the frequency and correlates of conflicts in identified conflict centers on projects procured with either the traditional method or integrated methods. Conflicts were measured in terms of their frequencies of occurrence. Five internal conflict centers on construction projects were identified and used. Questionnaires were administered through purposive and snowballing techniques on 274 projects located in twelve states and Abuja in Nigeria. 96 usable responses were obtained. The collected data were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. The most critical area of conflict was around resources for project execution on projects executed with the integrated procurement method, while the most critical area of conflicts on projects executed with the traditional method was conflict arising from administrative procedures. There were significant correlations between overall satisfaction with project procurement and the frequency of conflicts. However, the results of the analyses do not suggest that any significant correlations exist between the method used for the procurement of the projects and the frequency of conflicts on the projects. The study recommends that the central place of the person, the psychological make-up and personality of team members, instead of structure, may be variables to watch out for with respect to frequency of conflicts, handling of conflicts and overall satisfaction with project procurement. It is recommended that similar analyses can be done on the basis of intensity or seriousness of conflicts.
This paper finds the mostly occurring reasons for conflicts in projects and mostly used techniques to resolve the conflicts. Proposed a model of conflict management for projects. Total 105 reasons for conflicts in projects are identified from secondary research. From that top-10 reasons for conflicts in projects are founds based on number of references in the literature. They include Shared/Common Resources, Differences in Project Goal/Objective, Cultural Differences, Values Differences, Personality Issues, Differences in Technical Opinions/Approaches, Schedules, Costs, Administrative procedures, and Different Perceptions in the order of preference. Total 40 conflict resolution techniques in projects are identified based on through literature review. The most frequently used top -5 conflict resolution techniques in projects in the order of preference are Avoiding/Withdrawal, Compromising, Confronting/Problem Solving, Accommodating and Smoothing.
The construction process is a complex one and is associated with various changes. These changes usually lead to issuance of change orders. Change orders are usually issued to cover variations in scope of work, material quantities, design errors, and unit rate changes. Change Orders in construction often have a serious impact on the quality, time, and cost of projects. Hence, Change Orders require proper analysis and action to measure the causes and effects of change orders. It is difficult and risky to manage them, but it is required to manage change order in construction projects. However, past research has been done on Change order are mostly qualitative and there is a lack of quantitative research. Due to this lack of quantitative research, there is no good-developed framework for causes and effects of Change order in the construction industry. This paper deals with identification of causes and effects of change order and developing a framework for assessing the causes of Change Order. In the end, a framework has been developed which can be used for the future research in this area.
The purpose of this study was to find out the level of high school principals decision making in the management of sponsored schools. Objective of the article was to determine the effectiveness of principals' decision making in the management of church sponsored secondary schools in Kisumu District, Kenya. The research question was; how does the principals' decision making affect the management of private secondary schools Kisumu District, Kenya? The study design was survey. The study population included all the principals, in the 21 private high schools. Purposive sampling was employed in the study. Data was collected by use of interview schedule and questionnaires. Four of the schools were used in pilot study to act as pre-test to the instruments of data collection to ensure their reliability. Face validity of the instruments was determined by three experts in the department of Educational Management and Policy Studies of Moi University. Quantitative data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics in form of frequency counts, percentages. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 18) software was used for data analysis. Findings revealed that principals were involved in decision making but most of their contributions were controlled by the sponsors. It was recommended that the principals should be more empowered in decision making so as to assist the BOG and sponsors effectively. It was also recommended that the sponsors, PTA and BOG should be trained in areas of high schools financial management, budgeting, procurement and security so enable them effectively take part in the smooth running and control of the schools.
The article analyses the causes of conflicts arising between client and contractors in the construction industry. An analysis of articles on this topic has revealed that most of contemporary authors refer to externally visible signs of conflicts as to the causes thereof. The authors of the present article look at the conflict in construction in a different light – from the aspect of communication. A construction contract agreement which regulates the relationships between the client and the contractor is also viewed as a product of communication. The authors hypothesize that the main cause of conflicts in the construction industry is unsuccessful communication between the client and the contractor. The hypothesis has been confirmed by the conducted research studies. In addition, unfair behavior of the parties to a construction contract agreement and psychological defense mechanisms have been also identified as likely causes of conflicts in the construction industry.
This paper examines the causes, effects and remedies of organizational conflict. What are the things that lead to conflicts in organizations? The study found out that like other terms, conflict generates considerable ambivalence and leaves many scholars and administrators quite uncertain about (1) its meaning and relevance; and (2) how best to cope with it. Conflicts are inevitable in human life. It is also inevitable in organizations or even between nations. Conflict is an inseparable aspect of people's as well as organizations' life. The study also discovered that conflicts occur in organizations as a result of competition for supremacy, leadership style, scarcity of common resources, etc. If a conflict is not well and timely managed, it can lead to low productivity or service delivery. The study also discovered that conflict can sometimes produce positive result, if well managed. Thus, not all conflict situations are bad. Efforts should always be made to ensure that the causes of conflicts are addressed as soon as they are noticed. The paper concludes that early recognition and paying attention to the conflicting parties and negotiation between parties involved in the conflict should be adopted in resolving conflicts while force or intimidation should never be used to resolve conflicting parties. Force and intimidation can only be counter productive.
Psychologists and researchers of management sciences are of great interest in subject of stress and the major reason for this is its impact on psychological well-being and organizational consequences. They also recommend that preventing stress called destructive stress results from factors such as role ambiguity, role uncertainty, and organizational policies, and decreases both the individual and organizational performance. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of role conflict and role ambiguity on employees' job stress by explaining the role of work-family conflict. The statistical population of this study is comprised of 530 employees of Iran's central insurance. Using stratified random sampling and Cochran's formula, a sample of 118 employees was selected. We used a researcher-made questionnaire for data gathering. The Cronbach's alpha for this questionnaire was .88 and split-half reliability was .80, which represents for a reliable questionnaire. Furthermore, we used content validity and confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the validity of questionnaire. Data analysis was accomplished by structural equation modeling using the LISREL software v 8.7. Research results indicate that the effect of role ambiguity on work-family conflict is statistically significant (p-value = 62.40). Furthermore, the effect of role ambiguity on job stress was confirmed with significance of 1.83. On the other hand, the effect of role conflict on work-family conflict was not confirmed, because its significance value was negative. However, it was found that the job stress is influenced by role conflict (p-value = 2.35). And finally, the effect of work-family conflict on job stress was confirmed with the number of .93 for its significance value.
Conflict seems to be very synonym with construction projects and giving the impressions of problems includes in increasing project cost, project delays, reduce productivity, lost of profit or damage in business relationships. The main goal of this paper is to overview the factors of conflict in construction industry. The study highlighted three (3) types of conflict factors which are conflict factors due to behavioral problems, contractual problems and technical problems. Factors of conflict due to behavioral factors includes reluctant to check for constructability, clarity and completeness and poor communication among project team. Meanwhile the factors of conflict which is due to contractual problems are such as late giving of possession, delay interim payment from client and unclear of contractual terms. Whereas, contractor fails to proceed in a competent manner and late instructions from architect or engineer are the factors of conflict which arise due to technical problems. This paper was hoped to be guidance for conflict management in future construction projects. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Universiti Teknologi Mara Perak and Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (ISM).
Conflict may occur in any organization (and hence school) and, for schools, conflict management style is a joint activity and the degree of its effectiveness determines the type of impact of conflict on school performance. This empirical study investigates the potential sources of conflict in Greek primary schools, determine appropriate approaches for the handling of conflicts and offers recommendations, based on the findings, for a more creative conflict management style in order to enhance school performance. Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to primary school educators in two Greek regions, one of which was the metropolitan area of Athens, resulting in a sample of 414 completed questionnaires. The results showed that school conflicts often arise in the school and that when school conflicts did occur they were mainly attributed to both interpersonal and organizational reasons. Moreover, the results showed that there is a greater likelihood for these conflicts to arise in urban schools than in other regions. This study supports the view that integration, collaboration and coherence are the key factors for cultivating a constructive conflict management strategy and enhancing better school performance.
With the spectacular rise of the Chinese and Indian economies the accompanying growth in these two countries' construction sectors justifies more understanding. There is, however, a lot of unknowns about the two countries' construction sectors from a comparative perspective. This study attempted to identify and compare the comparative/competitive advantages of the two fast-growing economies in construction in pursuit of policy and management implications, which can benefit not only the two countries but also other developing countries. In this regard, a comparative advantage framework and Porter's Diamond Framework were applied to analyze the relative advantages of the Chinese and Indian construction sectors. The comparative analyses showed that China appears better endowed in labor with high productivity. Government intervention was identified as benefiting Chinese firms with support for the development of human resources. China also benefits from superior access to a wide range of inputs, including equipment, construction materials, and technology. The existence of large corporate champions provides scale of economy and contributes to the advantage of the construction sector of China. In contrast, India benefits from the increased competitive rivalry thanks to its more hands-off government policies that focus primarily on providing a good business environment with a favorable tax system, market entry policies, laws and regulations, and code/standard systems. The differences identified provide policy implications to the decision makers of the two countries in further developing their construction sectors.
The inevitable and omnipresent workplace conflict remains a major theme of occupational psychology and organizational behavior. The proponents of its badness are many but from Dutsch (1969 & 1973) a group of researchers starts their voyage of finding empirical evidences for its beneficial existence. The academic debate is still on. This review analyze the pros and cons of the arguments of both sides and it was concluded that neither all types of conflict are bad nor it can be concluded as final verdict that positive outcomes of conflict are circumstantial and exceptions not the rules. It needs pre-post, longitudinal, multi-variable and more comprehensive studies to analyze conflict thoroughly. Directions for future research are also discussed.
In a longitudinal study, we found that higher group performance was associated with a particular pattern of conflict. Teams performing well were characterized by low but increasing levels of process conflict, low levels of relationship conflict, with a rise near project deadlines, and moderate levels of task conflict at the midpoint of group interaction. The members of teams with this ideal conflict profile had similar pre-established value systems, high levels of trust and respect, and open discussion norms around conflict during the middle stages of their interaction.
Past conflict research and theory has provided insight into the types of conflict and styles of conflict resolution in organizations and groups. A second generation of conflict research is now needed that recognizes that the type of conflict present in a group relative to the other types present (proportional conflict composition) and the amount of conflict perceived relative to the amount perceived by other members (perceptual conflict composition) may be critical to group functioning. Therefore, we propose two types of conflict composition in teams and investigate the links between proportional and perceptual conflict composition conflict, and team effectiveness (i.e., individual and team performance, commitment, cohesiveness, and member satisfaction) in two organizational samples. We find group conflict compositions consisting of high levels of task-related conflict compared to relationship and process conflict (proportional task conflict) are high performing, satisfied teams. In addition, when team members disagree about amounts of conflict present (high perceptual conflict), we find evidence of negative group outcomes. Implications for managers and group members are discussed.
Purpose
– This paper attempts to connect the literature on conflict and that of emotions. The argument presented is that emotions have until recently been understudied in conflict literature and vice versa. On the basis of the review of literature on both conflict and emotions, the paper points to new areas of exploration for researchers in both domains.
Design/methodology/approach
– A literature review of two separate sub‐fields of study, namely conflict and emotions is provided with the intent of pointing towards gaps in connecting the two streams of research and towards a more holistic understanding of the role of emotions in conflict.
Findings
– It is observed that the link between emotions and conflict has received little attention both in the literature on conflict and that of emotions. Insights into the role of emotions at the time of conflict and towards its subsequent resolution are provided. Future directions for study and potential linkages between the two streams are offered.
Originality/value
– Connects two different streams of research and offers potential areas of exploration.
This paper examines the management of conflicts in the administration of secondary schools in Osun State, Nigeria. It also identifies, discusses and analyses the causes as well as the various ways conflicts manifested in the administration of secondary schools in the state. The effects of conflicts on school administration are equally examined. Quantitative and qualitative data were generated from both primary and secondary sources. The paper shows that administration of secondary schools in the state was hampered by high rate of conflicts. Several types of conflicts were identified in the schools among which were conflicts between management and staff, between staff and students, between the communities and schools, and inter-personal conflicts, to mention a few. The causes of conflicts in schools in the state included inadequate welfare package for workers, forceful and compulsory retirement/retrenchment of workers, administrative incompetence, personality clashes, role conflicts, and non-involvement of students in school administration. The fact that most of the school administrators were not knowledgeable in conflict management, coupled with the absence of laid down procedures for conflict management in most schools contributed to the high rate of conflicts and industrial actions in the schools. The paper concludes that the issue of conflict management in school administration has reached a point where effective use of relevant strategies can no longer be ignored.
The objective of the paper, except determining the dominant conflict handling style in Croatian organizational setting, was to explore individual characteristics affecting the choice of conflict resolution style of Croatian employees. Therefore, the variables of gender, age, level of education achieved, field of work, hierarchical level, marital status and parenthood were included in the study. Compromising conflict handling style was found to be the most frequently used style among Croatian employees overall, as well as the dominant style in all 22 subgroups of respondents. Three out of seven individual characteristics surveyed were found to relate to the conflict handling style used by Croatian employees. Precisely, gender, marital status and parenthood were found to relate significantly with the respondents’ usage of accommodating, gender and parenthood were found to relate significantly with the respondents’ usage of compromising, and parenthood was found to relate significantly with the respondents’ usage of avoiding conflict handling style. Age, education, field of work and hierarchical level were not found to relate with Croatian employees’ usage of diverse conflict handling styles.
It has been 25years since the publication of a comprehensive review of the full spectrum of sales-performance drivers. This
study takes stock of the contemporary field and synthesizes empirical evidence from the period 1982–2008. The authors revise
the classification scheme for sales performance determinants devised by Walker et al. (1977) and estimate both the predictive validity of its sub-categories and the impact of a range of moderators on determinant-sales
performance relationships. Based on multivariate causal model analysis, the results make two major observations: (1) Five
sub-categories demonstrate significant relationships with sales performance: selling-related knowledge (β = .28), degree of adaptiveness (β = .27), role ambiguity (β = −.25), cognitive aptitude (β = .23) and work engagement (β = .23). (2) These sub-categories are moderated by measurement method, research context, and sales-type variables. The
authors identify managerial implications of the results and offer suggestions for further research, including the conjecture
that as the world is moving toward a knowledge-intensive economy, salespeople could be functioning as knowledge-brokers. The
results seem to back this supposition and indicate how it might inspire future research in the field of personal selling.
KeywordsSales performance–Salespeople–Meta-analysis–Knowledge-economy–Knowledge-brokering
Researchers from a wide range of management areas agree that conflicts are an important part of organizational life and that their study is important. Yet, interpersonal conflict is a neglected topic in information system development (ISD). Based on definitional properties of interpersonal conflict identified in the management and organizational behavior literatures, this paper tests a model of how individuals participating in ISD projects perceive interpersonal conflict and examines the relationships between interpersonal conflict, management of the conflict, and ISD outcomes. Questionnaire data was obtained from 265 IS staff and 272 users working on 162 ISD projects. Results indicated that the construct of interpersonal conflict was reflected by three key dimensions: disagreement, interference, and negative emotion. While conflict management was found to have positive effects on ISD outcomes, it did not substantially mitigate the negative effects of interpersonal conflict on these outcomes. In other words, the impact of interpersonal conflict was perceived to be negative, regardless of how it was managed or resolved.
The toll in death, suffering, and displacement caused by conflicts engaging groups defined by ethnicity, nationality, religion, or other social identities has reached staggering proportions over the past decade. With expertise in research and intervention, psychologists have critical contributions to make to more fully understanding and more effectively confronting this distressing global phenomenon. The authors focus on the parallels between the core beliefs of individuals and the collective worldviews of groups that may operate to trigger or constrain violent struggles. On the basis of a review of relevant literatures, 5 belief domains--superiority, injustice, vulnerability, distrust, and helplessness--are identified as particularly important for further study.
This study aimed at studying conflict management styles influencing employees’ organizational commitment at Kenya Seed Company, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to investigate whether accommodating, avoiding, collaborating, compromising and competing styles influence organizational commitment. This study was anchored on the Dual Concern Model for determining the conflict management styles of disputants in conflict situations. The organizational commitment was studied as it has been discovered that institutions benefit most from this paradigm because it mainly improves productivity, organizational climate and enhance team cohesiveness. Case study research design was used and the target population comprised of 82 Seed companies registered in Kenya. Organizational Conflict Inventory–II (ROCI–II) was applied to assess the conflict handling styles, and adopted Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), developed by Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979) to measure employees’ commitment. Data was analyzed using descriptive techniques. The findings were presented in frequency distribution tables and bar graphs. The results of the study reveal that integrating, compromising and accommodating styles enhance commitment towards the organization. On the other hand, employees perceived dominating and avoiding styles as lowering the sense of employee organizational commitment. The study recommends the need to institutionalize conflict management policies in employment contracts that guide employee participation.
This study investigated the impact of workplace conflict management on organizational performance in a Nigerian manufacturing firm. Participants comprised 250 employees selected through the use of stratified random sampling technique. Data were generated through the use of validated structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze data collected from the respondents. Employing Spearman correlation analysis, the results of the empirical tests showed a significantly positive relationship between conflict management strategies (collective bargaining, compromise, and accommodation) and organizational performance. Non-integrative conflict management strategies (competition, domination and avoidance) had a negative statistically determinate effect on organizational performance. Also, the result of the regression analysis indicated that collective bargaining strategy displayed the highest significant positive correlation with organizational performance. In addition, study findings revealed that conflicts arose over multiple factors of organizational experiences based on economic and goal incompatibility orientations in the workplace. Union-management conflict was discovered as the most prevalent type of industrial conflict in the organization. The study concluded that conflict was an unavoidable phenomenon in organizational life and it could contribute to or detract from organizational performance depending on the conflict management methods adopted in the workplace.
This study examined the direct and interactive relationships of interdependence (task and reward) and preference for group work on the satisfaction and performance of group members. Hypotheses were tested among a sample of task-performing group members over a four-month period (N’s = 328–432). Consistent with a “community of fate” perspective, hierarchical regressions revealed that interdependence (task and reward) and preference for group work were positively related to group-member satisfaction. Consistent with “supplies-values fit” framework, the interaction of task interdependence and preference for group work was significantly related to group-member performance. Implications for the design of group tasks, the effects of group-member preferences, and the prediction of individual satisfaction and performance in group contexts are discussed.
This article presents a discussion of mixed methods (MM) sampling techniques. MM sampling involves combining well-established qualitative and quantitative techniques in creative ways to answer research questions posed by MM research designs. Several issues germane to MM sampling are presented including the differences between probability and purposive sampling and the probability-mixed-purposive sampling continuum. Four MM sampling prototypes are introduced: basic MM sampling strategies, sequential MM sampling, concurrent MM sampling, and multilevel MM sampling. Examples of each of these techniques are given as illustrations of how researchers actually generate MM samples. Finally, eight guidelines for MM sampling are presented.
This study examined the direct and interactive relationships of interdependence (task and reward) and preference for group work on the satisfaction and performance of group members. Hypotheses were tested among a sample of task-performing group members over a four-month period (N’s = 328–432). Consistent with a “community of fate” perspective, hierarchical regressions revealed that interdependence (task and reward) and preference for group work were positively related to group-member satisfaction. Consistent with “supplies-values fit” framework, the interaction of task interdependence and preference for group work was significantly related to group-member performance. Implications for the design of group tasks, the effects of group-member preferences, and the prediction of individual satisfaction and performance in group contexts are discussed.
The competence model of conflict communication suggests that individuals who use various conflict styles will be perceived differently in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness. A simulated organizational decision-making task involving 100 randomly-paired dyads consisting of business students suggested that an integrative conflict style is generally perceived as the most appropriate (in terms of being both a polite, prosocial strategy and an adaptive, situationally appropriate strategy) and most effective style. The dominating style tended to be perceived as inappropriate when used by others, but some participants judged themselves as more effective when they used dominating tactics along with integrating tactics. The obliging style was generally perceived as neutral, although some participants perceived themselves to be less effective and relationally appropriate when they employed obliging tactics. The avoiding style was generally perceived as ineffective and inappropriate. Finally, compromising was perceived as a relatively neutral style, although some participants judged their partners to be more effective and relationally appropriate if they compromised. Overall, these results and others provide general support for the competence model's predictions, while also suggesting some modifications and directions for future research.
Past research has revealed that team effectiveness and satisfaction suffer when teams experience relationship conflict -conflict related to interpersonal issues, political norms and values, and per-sonal taste. This study examined how teams should respond to these conflicts. Three types of conflict responses were studied: collaborating responses, contending responses, and avoiding responses. A field study involving a heterogeneous sample of teams performing complex, non-routine task showed that collaborating and contending responses to relationship conflict negatively relate to team functioning (i.e., voice, compliance, helping behavior) and overall team effectiveness, while avoiding responses were associated with high team functioning and effec-tiveness. It is suggested that collaborating and contending responses to relationship conflict dis-tract team members from their tasks, while avoiding responses appear more functional in that they allow team members to pursue task perfonnance.
This chapter describes six different types of injustice. It then considers the relationship between conflict and injustice.
Next it considers the implications of the preceding discussion for education and training.
KeywordsInjustice-Conflict-Empathy-Forgiveness-Reconciliation
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