An Assessment of Practice of Conflict Management in Ethiopian Higher Institution: The Case of Madda Walabu University

Abstract

The assessment of practice of Conflict Management Practice in Madda Walabu University is the concern of this research article. Conflict is the situation in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party which is in the same group, in another group, in the same organization or in another organization The major problems which initiate this research are: the prevalence of conflict between several parties in the University, problem on perception of conflict and of the conflict management system of the institution. The major objectives of the research are: Assessing the conflict resolution practice of Madda walabu University, assessing the major sources of conflict in the organization, assessing the attitudes that an employees of the organization have towards conflict and forwarding possible solutions for the problems identified from the collected and analyzed data. The major limitations faced in conducting this research are: Some respondents did not give the required full information because of the fear that they have on this area and insufficiency of time that is provided to conduct this research. Both primary and secondary sources of information are used in collecting the data. Questionnaires are distributed to the institution’s academic, non-academic and administrative staff members and the information gathered is analyzed accordingly. According to the analysis made, there is a wide range of conflict in the organization, a problem of conflict perception is also observed but, there is no special training and orientation prepared to change this perception. The conflict management practice of the organization is found to be poor. There is also a tendency to relate the effectiveness in conflict management to gender difference. To avoid the above problems; the organization should prepare several occasions in which the employees can develop the relationship between them, a special training and orientation program should be prepared in order to create better grasping on conflict related issues. Additionally, several points are forwarded as a recommendation to solve the problem observed.

Keywords: Conflict Assessment, Conflict Management, Madda Walabu University

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-5-01

Publication date:March 31^st 2021