The Effect of Conflicts among Executives of Identifiable Students Groups on the Performance of Executives and Achievement of Goals: A Case Study of Koforidua Polytechnic – Ghana

Abstract

Conflict is an ever-present situation in an organization and needs to be handled with care before it escalates into something that will bring down the image of an organization or a team. The objectives of this research is to assess the causes of conflict among identifiable student groups in Koforidua Polytechnic, determine how these conflicts are addressed  to improve the performance of the groups towards the achievement of their goals. During the research questionnaires were administered to the respondents and others were interviewed. The research revealed that most ladies do not go for positions in the institution. It was found out that the roles of all the executive groups were well spelt out. The common causes of conflict included mismanagement of funds, disloyalty of some members, undermining each other as well as usurping each other’s role. It was also found out that task and relationship conflicts were negatively affecting decision making of the executive groups. Also, most of the conflicts were unresolved because the executives have no knowledge or training of conflict resolution as such they are unaware of the causes and symptoms of conflict so these conflicts were ignored consciously or unconsciously for the fear that they will assume responsibility for the resolution. The study also showed that conflicts could be minimized if the various executives were given training on the symptoms, causes and prevention of conflict before they assume their positions.

Key Words: Conflict, Performance, Personality clash, Undefined roles and Usurping role.