DEALING WITH CONFLICT AT WORK TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY AND ENSURE HARMONIOUS WORKPLACE. A CASE ON SNV, NETHERLANDS DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION IN ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

Conflict is a normal and natural aspect of life. Conflict becomes a problem in organizations when excessive levels of destructive conflict occur. Problematic levels of workplace conflict occur in approximately 10% of organizations. The study sets out to explore workplace conflict in a development organization operating in Ethiopia called SNV. This is because workplace conflict is like a white elephant everyone know about its problematic outcome globally, but people hesitate to talk about it and there is a shortage of information about how this problem manifests. Despite the effort‟s organizations are making to manage conflict the problem is continuing to get worse. This means that further work needs to occur to discover why the problem is continuing to get worse. This research is an effort to explore workplace conflict in SNV. A partial explanation for this is that there are many problematic areas in the literature reviewed on workplace conflict. It is unrealistic to expect that win-win outcomes can be regularly achieved due to the negotiator‟s dilemma. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 experienced managers to explore their views on workplace conflict. Results were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Open coding identified a significant inconsistency between much of what the conflict literature claimed and what was being experienced by managers and conflict professionals. One practical way to apply the results from this research is identified. This is that the individuals holding the ultimate power in organizations, who are usually the CEOs, should be made personally responsible for the levels of conflict in their organizations. Potential implications of this research are that it has identified a theory that may help reduce problem levels of dealing with workplace conflict both in SNV and in other companies in Ethiopia that are experiencing the same workplace conflict. It has also identified a theory that challenges much of the literature on workplace conflict. The benefits for SNV could include that workplace conflict dynamics are improved. Their participation may reveal information that helps improve workplace harmony. While this is a very difficult goal to achieve there is little doubt that the path towards this goal involves getting reliable information about workplace conflict dynamics.