NATURE AND SOURCES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT AMONG UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES: A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA STUDENTS AFFAIRS UNIT

Conflict is an inseparable part of people’s lives. It is difficult to define as it occurs in many
different settings. The essence of conflict seems to be disagreement, contradiction, or
incompatibility. Thus, conflict refers to any situation in which there are incompatible goals,
cognitions, or emotions within or between individuals of groups that lead to opposition of
antagonistic interaction. It has its positive sides, although varying views of it may be held. Some
may view conflict as a negative situation which must be avoided at any cost. The major aim of
the current study was to explore the nature and sources of organizational conflict among
employees in the Student’s Affairs Unit at the University of Zambia. Firstly, the study sought todescribe the nature of conflict among the employees in the unit. Secondly, the study investigated
the sources of organizational conflict among employees in the unit. Thirdly, it established the
factors that influenced persistence of conflict in the organization and lastly it sought to highlight
the strategies currently used and those needed by the student’s affairs management to resolve the
persisting conflicts at the institution.
A qualitative design was used and Semi-structured interviews were carried out. Purposive
sampling was used for the institution and convenient sampling was used for the participants.
Two groups of participants involving subordinate employees (n=15) and supervisory employees
(n=5). . Codes were identified and themes were developed through thematic interpretive analysis.
Results on the nature of conflict revealed that conflict was characterised by two main forms.
Vertical conflict and horizontal conflict which were generally non-confrontational. Eight themes
emerged under sources of conflict and these included political interests, tribalism delayed
salaries, overstaying in position of power by managers and lack of dialogue between managers
and subordinate employees. On factors perpetuating the persistence of conflict, the study
revealed absence of proper space for dialogue, insufficient education among employees, jealousy
and intimidation. The study further revealed strategies needed for resolving destructive conflict
at the institution and these included capacity building of the counselling center, frequent open
meetings aLastly, the findings revealed that organisational conflict at the institution was largely influenced
by cultural, psychosocial and political factors. The study therefore recommends the need for
human resource managers in organisations as well as labour policy makers to manage
organisational conflict through enhanced transparency, improved communication and capacity
building of counselling centers at institutions of higher learning.