Thesis:

Influence of conflict management practices on employee performance in public hospitals in Meru county, Kenya

The management of conflicts in hospitals will become crucial to ensure that employee performance is not compromised. The study focused on conflict management practices and employee performance in public hospitals in Meru County, including Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital (MeTRH), Githongo, Nyambene, Kanyakine, and Muthaara, Level Four hospitals. This was due to the alarming rate of industrial actions being observed. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of conflict management practices on employee performance in these public hospitals. Specifically, the study aimed to determine the impact of various practices on employee performance: the compromising practice, the dominating practice, the avoiding practice, and the accommodating practice in public hospitals. The theories that guided this study included the expectancy theory, human relations theory, and the Thomas Kilmann conflict model instrument. A descriptive research design was utilized in the study. The target population comprised 555 individuals from the five public hospitals in Meru County, targeting doctors, nurses, and clinical officers. Stratified random sampling was the sampling design of choice. The sample size was 167 respondents, which was 30% of the target population. The validity and reliability of the research instrument were rigorously tested. The data collection instrument was a semistructured questionnaire, designed based on the objectives of the study. The collected data were primary data. Analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, correlation statistics, and inferential statistics, utilizing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. The analyzed data were presented in tabular form. The study found a strong positive and significant relationship between compromising practices and employees' performance (β=0.707, p=.000), dominating practices and employees' performance (β =0.621, p=.001), and accommodating practices and employees' performance ( β =0.736, p=.000). Conversely, avoiding as a conflict management practice had a negative and significant relationship with employees' performance in the public hospital in Meru County, Kenya (β =-0.469, p=.027). The study concluded that compromising, dominating, and accommodating practices positively influenced employees' performance, while avoiding practices negatively impacted it. It was recommended that public hospital management should regularly evaluate how work disputes affect employees' performance. This would help guide management decisions on the most effective conflict management practices to resolve workplace conflicts.