Conflict Management Strategies Adopted by Commercial Banks in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to establish conflict management strategies adopted by commercial banks in Kenya and to determine the challenges of conflict management faced by commercial banks in Kenya. The manager must be able to understand why and when conflict arises and in what situations conflict frequently occurs. The managers must also know the different tactics and strategies used to manage conflict and the challenges they face in managing the conflict. Descriptive research design was used in the study. The study targeted 43 banks in Kenya. Questionnaires were used as main data collection instrument in the study. Questionnaires were deemed appropriate as they ensured confidentiality of the respondents. The data collected from the field was analysed using descriptive statistical techniques such as percentages and frequencies. The findings of the study suggest that commercial banks use the strategies of accommodating, compromising, competing, collaborating and avoiding. The strategies that were most popularly used was avoiding and collaborating. The findings of the study also suggest that commercial banks face the challenge of personal differences, challenge of different faith and culture, challenge of changing environment (globalization and technology), different ways of conflict management, challenge of critical skills associated with handling difficult people and situations, challenge of competition over scarce resources, the challenge of creating structural for consensus processes, challenge of cooperative discourse and the challenge of change. The challenge that was most popularly faced was competition over scarce resources. All the banks faced all the challenges