Factors Contributing to Organization Conflict:

Abstract

The study was carried out at AIC Njoro District Church Council with aim of understanding factors contributing to organization conflict. The study was guided by the following objectives: To determine effects of democracy, establish the relationship between change adoption and organization conflict, establish the influence of succession plan on organization and determine the effects of leadership transition on organization conflict in AIC Njoro DCC, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive design .The target population was 218 leaders. The cluster sampling method was adopted because it was not possible to get data from all leaders in all AIC Churches in Kenya. A purposive sampling method was applicable in every cluster to identify 10 leaders with prior knowledge of conflict. The sample size or respondents were 44 people. The study used questionnaire and an interview schedule for data collection. A pre-test to check on the validity of the study instrument was done by choosing one congregation, and then administered the questionnaire to test whether the instrument gave the intended results. The instruments were presented to the supervisors and their comments incorporated to ensure reliability. Data collected was analyzed through descriptive statistics analysis with the help of SPSS to identify the relationships that exist between variables of the study. Data was presented by the use of frequency tables and graphs. The study found presence of conflict in the churches. From the study, church leaders usually avoided situations of conflict, as and when they arose. The leading kinds of conflicts were personal, leadership and group conflicts. The study further found that the major effect of church conflict, was member’s turn over, stoppage of church growth and the major cause of conflicts was leadership. The study concluded that an improved democracy, change adoption, succession plan and leadership transition will reduce organization conflict in the churches. It was recommended that the church congregation be trained on change adoption and preparedness, to allow smooth transitions of programs and leadership. Churches should also include a succession plan in the strategic plan or other planning processes, describing the handing over procedures. Penalties should be clearly laid out as stipulated by the law (organizational) pertaining the consequences of resistance and election malpractices. The study finally suggested further research on the effectiveness of organization conflict management skills used in churches.