EFFECT OF STRIKE ON SERVICE EFFICIENCY IN PUBLIC ORGANIZATION

Abstract

Employee dissatisfaction arises due to issues affecting employees which are not properly addressed by management, or unfavorable management practices within an organization. When employees are dissatisfied they either leave their jobs for better opportunities, or may choose to stay and adopt certain measures to rectify their dissatisfaction. Employees with low job satisfaction can negatively affect the performance of an organization, because they clearly lack motivation, perform poorly, and pose negative attitudes. Management is usually required to find out and understand the reasons for employee dissatisfaction, and promptly find the right solutions to address them. The ripple effect on the health sector is very serious since it can lead to loss of life.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Title page

Approval page

Dedication

Acknowledgment

Abstract

Table of content

CHAPETR ONE

1.0   INTRODUCTION 

1.1        Background of the study

1.2        Statement of problem

1.3        Objective of the study

1.4        Research Hypotheses

1.5        Significance of the study

1.6        Scope and limitation of the study

1.7       Definition of terms

1.8       Organization of the study

CHAPETR TWO

2.0   LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPETR THREE

3.0        Research methodology

3.1    sources of data collection

3.3        Population of the study

3.4        Sampling and sampling distribution

3.5        Validation of research instrument

3.6        Method of data analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Introductions

4.2 Data analysis

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Summary

5.3 Conclusion

5.4 Recommendation

Appendix

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

Conflicts are inevitable part of organizational life since the goals of different stakeholders such as managers and staffs are often incompatible. Conflict is an unpleasant fact in any organization as longer as people compete for jobs, resources, power, recognition and security. Organizational conflict can be regarded as a dispute that occurs when interests, goals or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible with each other. This results into a situation whereby they frustrate each other in an attempt to achieve their objectives. Conflict arises in groups because of the scarcity of freedom, position, and resources. People who value independence tend to resist the need for interdependence and, to some extent, conformity within a group. People who seek power therefore struggle with others for position or status within the group. Conflict is a part of organizational life and may occur between individuals, between the individual and the group, and between groups. While conflict is generally perceived as dysfunctional, it can also be beneficial because it may cause an issue to be presented in different perspectives. Conflict has both positive and negative effects. It can be positive when it encourages creativity, new looks at old conditions, the clarification of points of view, and the development of human capabilities to handle interpersonal differences. Conflict can be negative when it creates resistance to change, establishes turmoil in organization or interpersonal relations, fosters distrust, builds a feeling of defeat, or widens the chasm of misunderstanding. Unfortunately, the term “conflict” has only the connotation of “bad” for many people; so much so that they think principally in terms of suppression, giving little or no attention to its more positive side. Rico emphasizes this by stating that it seems entirely likely that many, if not most, organizations need more conflict, not less. Pondy also stated that the absence of conflict may indicate autocracy, uniformity, stagnation, and mental fixity; the presence of conflict may be indicative of democracy, diversity, growth, and self-actualization. Tjosvold complements this statement arguing that conflict is not the opposite of cooperation but a mechanism that allows perceiving benefits of cooperative work. Furthermore, conflict is considered psychologically and socially healthy. It is psychologically healthy because it provides a breather for frustrations and enables a feeling of participation and even of joy. And it is sociable healthy because it encourages opposition to the status quo and provides conditions for social chances and democracy stemming from pluralism and respect to diversity. Therefore, according to, conflict is ubiquitous, not necessarily dysfunctional and can be required to defy people to perform and stimulate progress. This research studied the effect of conflict management on organizational performance by using managers of hotels, airlines, road transport and insurance companies in Lagos. It investigates the personal characteristics of the respondents, their views about conflict in the service industry, categories of staff they have experienced conflicts with, types of conflicts experienced. The nature of workplace in any organization both at the microeconomic level and macroeconomic platform is very crucial in determining the level at which productive activities are carried out in an economy. This is because work activities do not take place in a vacuum but within a given workcontext. Therefore, a sound and harmonious industrial relations in an enterprise is essential not only to employers and workers but also to the society because efficient production of goods and services depends on it. The existence of harmonious industrial relations will reflect efficiency and quality which depends on the level of workers’ motivation. Hence, interactive processes are always involved. The two parties involved in the interaction are the workers on one hand and the employer(s) on the other (Borjas)1 . The employer primarily engages the workers with the belief that such an engagement will help in realizing the organizational goals. On the other hand, the workers chose to work (against pleasure) because they expect that such employment will help in fulfilling their aspirations. Thus, if any of these beliefs are not met there is reduction in expectation. A harmonious workplace that ensures that the workers’ aspirations are considerably satisfied and the employer’s expectations are relatively met is very paramount for high productivity. This is because both of them will work in ensuring that the vision of the organization is pursued with utmost dexterity (a kind of partners in progress). In other words, as workers are motivated, their morale and sense of value will be boosted which will increase their productivity, which will lead to improvement in the organizational output that will translate to the level of profitability. multiplier’s effects the output of the economy will increase given that the total output of an economy involves the agglomeration of the various firms across the sectors. Thus, meeting the workers’ aspirations and employers’ expectations, are essential conditions for industrial peace, otherwise industrial crisis will set in. Industrial crisis includes any form of work dissatisfaction that can manifest in several ways such as absenteeism, strike, high labour turnover, among others. It affects the immediate parties involved, which normally trickles down to the entire society especially when it occurs at a national level (Yesufu). Some of the causes that have being attributed to the spate of persistent industrial crisis in Nigeria include, inter alia, poor infrastructural base in the workplace, low level of motivation, insecurity of jobs, policy inconsistencies and variance in management styles, breach of collective agreement (Dauda). The health sector is enormous and the success of some hospitals cannot be doubted. Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital(KATH) has grown rapidly since the year 1982 and currently has about 3,600 employees (source: KATH HR unit, 2014). With the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme which caters for the medical bills of the sick, patients visit the hospital regularly to seek medical treatment when sick and KATH as a government hospital is not an exception. There has been a rapid increase in the number of patients attending the hospital daily from 800 to 1200 patients(source: KATH Records Office, 2014 ). Although KATH plays a vital role in contributing to Ghana’s economy, human capital problems have consistently occurred in this hospital but have often been neglected by researchers. As the hospital has more than 3,600 employees, recruitment and retention of employees are among the most important challenges it faces. Therefore an understanding of employees and the possible causes why they become dissatisfied is of paramount importance. The causes of labour strike have not, to date, been substantially documented for the hospital. Employees are seen as the backbone of every organization. Certainly, they play a vital role in ensuring the continuity, development, and survival of an organization. Also they help to put an organization ahead of its competitors. Without employees, most organizations would have ended up not functioning at any rate.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

An employee who has no interest in his or her job due to issues of dissatisfaction may initially put forth his or her best effort. However, the employee may eventually become upset due to the lack of intrinsic motivation, resulting from the dissatisfaction and other pressing factors. Some of the issues that may lead to employee dissatisfaction include: the underpayment of employees, limited career growth and advancement of employees, lack of interest, poor management practices, or as indicated bad communication between employees and employers. Subsequently the resultant measure to resolving employee dissatisfaction by employees is the likely use of strike. A strike causes disruptions in the operations of an organization, and may significantly affect its revenue if it is frequent.

• OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study was to examine the effect of strike on service efficiency in public organization, but to aid the completion of the study; the researcher intends to achieve the following specific objective;

1. To examine the effect of strike on service efficiency in public organization
2. To examine the relationship between service efficiency and organizational conflict

• To ascertain the causes of industrial conflict in public organization

1. To ascertain relationship between industrial conflict and organizational profitability
   • RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

To aid the completion of the study, the researcher formulates the following research hypotheses;

H₀: there is no significant relationship between industrial conflict and organizational profitability

H₁: there is a significant relationship between industrial conflict and organizational profitability

H₀: there is no significant relationship between service efficiency and organizational conflict

H₂: there is significant relationship between service efficiency and organizational conflict

• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Giving the ongoing nationwide discussion on the employee strike actions rate in the health sector, the research will give readers and especially stakeholder’s insight on the factors that contribute to employee strike action in the health sector. Observing Nigerian health sector and its critical problems with regard to employee strike action thus led the researcher to develop this specific study. There exist typical statements when dealing with employee strike action problem in the health sector. Despite the growth in the health sector in many countries, studies on health workers dissatisfactions are often neglected. The study will serve as a springboard for further research on the health industry as it will uncover problems and issues found in other sectors of the industry that may need immediate attention. It will be useful to the government since the study will bring to bare problems faced by health workers and their views at the health sector which will help the government in formulating policies and regulations that will bring about efficiency at the workplace, help improve the working conditions of employees found in the health sector.

• SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study is to examine the effect of strike on service efficiency in public organization. But in the cause of the study, there were factors that limited the scope of the study;

Availability research materials: materials that the researcher require for the research work was unavailable for the research work.

Time factor: time was not on the researchers to consult various sectors of the economy to review employees or given out questionnaire to various institutions on the effect of government revenue policies. As we all know, time is never our friend. The time scheduled for the completion of this research thesis was too short. As a result, generating information/data was strenuous as it coincides with final year examination period, which needed attention.

Finance: this is another barrier that limited the researcher’s work.

• OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Strike

Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines

Service

Service is an aggregation of a service engagement with one or more service acts between two or more service systems creating service outcomes.

Organizational conflict

Organizational conflict, or workplace conflict, is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests between people working together. Conflict takes many forms in organizations

1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows

Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), statement of problem, objectives of the study, research question, significance or the study, research methodology, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlight the theoretical framework on which the study its based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study.

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