Situational Leadership Style in Managing Conflicts in an Organization: A Case of Nigerian Eagle Flour Mill.

Abstract

Conflict is endemic to all social life. It is an inevitable part of living because it is related to division of functions, power relations and role-differentiation. Conflicts cannot be avoided, but it is possible to manage it by using situational leadership approach. The underpinning of the situational leadership approach is that there is no single best style of leadership. This approach asserts that there is no one style of leadership that should be used in a given workplace. This study proposes that if conflicts in an organization are to be managed effectively there is the need to implore the use of situational leadership approach. The way conflicts are managed may determine the following: productivity, efficiency, performance, job contentment, turnover etc. Thus, the overall aim of this study is to examine the contributions of situational leadership approach in the management of conflicts. This paper relies on primary data through a survey questionnaire that was distributed in Nigerian Eagle Flour Mill to a sample size of 82 respondent’s selected using convenience sampling technique. Data collected were analyzed using mean and regression analysis. Findings from the study shows that situational leadership is relevant as a style of leadership to be adopted by leaders in organizations and that situational leadership contributes significantly to managing organizational conflict. This paper therefore concludes that the usage of situational leadership approach in the management of conflicts in an organization should be imbibed by leaders as conflict in an organization will be managed in the most appropriate way.