Workplace Conflict Management and Organizational Sustainability in Selected Manufacturing Organizations in Nigeria

Abstract

Due to frequent conflict in the workplace, organizational sustenance is becoming a critical concern for most stakeholders in the organization. This therefore requires management to adopt appropriate workplace conflict management strategies that would ensure that the organization did not just survive but thrive. Thus, the aim of this study was primarily to examine conflict management strategies’ influence on organizational sustainability in manufacturing companies located in Kwara State, Nigeria. Fifty line managers were randomly chosen from five purposely selected manufacturing companies domiciled in Kwara State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was employed as the instrument of collecting primary data. The hypotheses that were formulated in accordance with the research questions were tested using multiple regression analysis, with the aid of SPSS. Results revealed that while the communication and negotiation conflict management strategies significantly and positively influence organizational sustainability, third party intervention conflict management strategy negatively influenced it. The study concludes that manufacturing companies that effectively adopt appropriate conflict management strategy would outperform and outlived those that do not.