Journal of Cont emporary Issues in Business Research Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 2016 © Journal of Contemporar y Issues in Business Research ISSN 2305-8277 (Onlin e), 2016, Vol. 5, No. 1, 26-34. Copyright of the Academic Journals JCIBR All rights reser ved. WORKPLACE CONFLICT, GENDER DISCRIMINATION, INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND THEIR IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE * AVINASH ADVANI † Independent Researcher SABA GULZAR Institute of Business Management ABSTRACT Banking sector is growing financial institution in Pakistan especially in the hub of Pakistan, Karachi city. There are certain factors that directly and indirectly highly effect on the employees performance. This study addresses the major subject organizational conflict which is very important for today’s organization and this study aims to determine the Impact of organizational conflict on Employees Performance of Banking Sector in Karachi. Wherever group of people works together and then conflict may arise. This study deeply concerns the different variables of conflict and how to manage the conflict in the organizations? Conflict is unavoidable factor which highly impact on the employees’ performance. Within the scope of this study, three factors effect on Employees performance namely organizational conflict, gender discrimination and communication. Banks are usually is the source of national economy through their good and bad performance it is highly impact on the country’s growth. Therefore, it is more essential that how banks can minimize the conflict and satisfy to their employees. This study is based on the quantitative analysis through survey form. Descriptive statistics is used and hypotheses have been tested. Likert scale has been used for the questionnaire. This is an empirical study and sample size 150 been taken from its population which is collected from baking sector of Karachi. The output has been found that measurement scale significantly impact on the performance of employees; conflict is normal in the organizations. Therefore, this study suggested that it is easiest way to avoid the conflict throughout the management conflicts skills and management should be proactive to handle this issue on their routine basis; management should provide the better opportunity and working environment to each employees. There would be equal opportunity for both male as well female employees; Communication must be comprehensible because it reduces the gap and differences among the employees. Keywords: Conflict; Management Skills; Employees Performance; Gender discrimination; Communication; Banks. * The views or opinions expressed in this manuscript are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position, views or opinions of the editor(s), the editorial board or the publisher. † Corresponding author 26 Journal of Cont emporary Issues in Business Research Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 2016 INTRODUCTION Employees’ Performance is one of the most significant factors whereas an organization wants to produce the high productivity because it is continuous growth of an organization. Throughout the global changes today’s organization highly affected, it is required for changing and employees are the only assets who can achieve the goals of organization by eliminating the conflict within the organization because in most of the organizations, conflict takes many forms, it creates the clash among the peers, workers and management. Obisi (1996) argues that conflict is only factor that cannot be denied within the organization whereas it can be sense with the circumstances and competitions are increases in organizations nowadays. Superior employees always be highlighted within the eye of management and there are several reasons for organizational conflict to vanish adverse outcomes therefore this study attempts to mitigate the factors which negatively impact on the overall performance of employees such as organizational conflict, gender discrimination and Interpersonal Communication . The word “Conflict” is common within the banks whereas employees with different culture may create the hurdle for development of organization. Banks plays the vital role whereas it provides the financial instrument to their customers but according to researcher point of view most of the employees aren’t satisfy with their jobs that’s the only reason for job switching and it is very frequent within the banks and they cannot retain to employee. Conflict may cause deficiency within the bank which is very threat to produce the competence. Probably there can be many differences among the employees and in result it builds the conflict but for the sake of Organizational Performance everyone has to contribute their efforts and eliminate the gap among the employees. (Wang, 2005) state that employees satisfaction and job satisfaction is the same word. (Beer, 1964) conclude that employees who are more concerned and greatly attached with emotions and feelings within the organization it is defined as employee satisfaction. Recent study outlined by Wilson (2006) Considering the reality that conflict is unavoidable within the organization and banks usually it is source of national economy through their good and bad performance it is highly impact on the country growth therefore it is more essential that how banks can diminish the conflict and satisfy to their employees. Based on the evidences from the substantiated literature researchers wants to investigate that what is the impact of Organizational conflict, gender discrimination and Interpersonal Communication on Employees performance? And Organizational Conflict, gender discrimination and Interpersonal Communication has significant impact on the employee performance within the banking sector Karachi. Problem Statement What are the effects of workplace conflict, gender discrimination and interpersonal communication on employees’ performance of Banking Industry in Pakistan? Scope of the Study This study based on the banking sector Pakistan and it is most financial institution in Pakistan therefore the scope of the study is very essential for all aspects of employees such as:  This study will helpful to supervisors, managers, coworkers and employees  This study will supportive to human resource department  This study will useful for policy makers, stake holders before opening the business Objectives of the Study 27 Journal of Cont emporary Issues in Business Research Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 2016 Each and every organization wants to make an output and profitable company, the motive of organization is to meet the strategic plan and goals while there are many employees working in an company therefore when group of people working, it is more chances of conflict, to resolve these organizational conflict, the researcher has conduct this study. The purpose of this study included:  To know the impact of organization conflict on employees performance  To study the effect of gender discrimination on employees performance  To know the status of Interpersonal Communication on employees performance Limitations The data has been gathered from different banks in Karachi, employees were unwilling to submit questionnaire due to shortage of time along-with conveyance and random sampling has been selected for this data therefore data might not be accurate due to Pakistan. LITERATURE REVIEW Organizational Conflict Lewin, Lewicki & Weiss, (1992) Nicotera & Dorsey (2006) stated that since many years there are few studies available on organizational conflict which is highly effect on the organizational development. Putnam, (2006) define that the most of the studies focused on the conflict party which can intervene, integrative negotiation and style of conflict by individual level study. Recent study outlined by Aarts & Leewis (2011) state that it is the network of actors within the organizations that leads to changes due to discourses and representations. The people generally discuss the various thoughts and objectives. Organization is itself as a social learning and goals are shared it helps to achieve the organizational support. Employees have different demands within the organization, afterwards their discrepancy with management take place which highly impact on the performance of employees. Therefore conflict is inevitable thoughts due to different nature of employees working in an organization. It is primary onus to Management and supervisors that they must reduce conflict during the routine at workplace because it highly affected to services of employees towards their customers along-with employees it decrease the productivity of organizations, it is indeed to meeting with employees on daily basis and attempt to reduce the conflict. Conflict occurs within the organization whereas management has to play the vital role to understand the ways and how it can be manage effectively. But at the same time during the normal routine work when conflict arises therefore the role of Executive Director or Managers are discern because there should be policy and procedures and concern department is liable to handle this situation. There are various approaches that take place the conflict within the organization including: Different values and every employees belonging from different culture and their languages are also different. Poor Communication due to lack of it conflict arises it can lead misunderstanding among the employees. Poor performance is also bring the conflict because when there is group of people and one of them an employee- not working competently therefore conflict may emerges. Recently survey conducted by CIPD October 2008, it shows that managing conflict is the most important for today’s organization and organizations are growing with market trends and climate change during the reports it is highly impact of conflict within the organization – that immediately manage the conflict at the workplace according to 44% respondents. Moreover respondents are experienced and facing the conflict within the organization since past seven days according to respondents who are working between 251 and 500 the ratios has been collected 67% .furthermore between 501 and 1000 workers believes that the diversity within the organization are constant according to HR practitioners. 28 Journal of Cont emporary Issues in Business Research Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 2016 It is certainly professionals that belongs from HR background they can handle this tackle with their Skills of management conflict obviously require not only this, but also make sure that train the managers and ensure the awareness step by step as conflict is unavoidable factor within the organization therefore need to acquire the skills. Gender Discrimination Since 1950s the gender discrimination was pinpointed it is differences between male and female within the organizations or workplace later on management has realized that it is major issue during the 1980s and 1990 Hearn & Parkin (1987) stated that male are dominance personality within the organizations and it is main issue for management furthermore it has been described as “Discrimination is treating differently on the basis of sex or race”. Due to differences it is highly impact on the performance of employees in organizations. Gender discrimination is common and there are different aspects of discrimination included salary differences, hiring process “as most of the organization has required the male candidate”, Designations and promotions are major issue for female. Employees are key force and he/she is backbone for any organization. To acquire the organizational objectives there is indeed to empower the workforce. Parodan and Irina (2006) generalize the complete idea regarding the inequality and biasness it is not only for economic side but also political side in all walk of life Romania citizens. Author has conducted the research throughout the conclusion some people believes that female has more dominance and within the Government and state institutions male has more dominance. Teigen (1999) state that between 1985 and 1994 gender inequality rising in the hiring issues. Some people believes that women are unfit for job even during the Pregnancy they have been neglected. It is very important to follow the equal employment opportunity because both male and female are equal therefore incentives should be fair system. Communication The role of communication is very essential especially in organizations there is important to reduce the communication gap among the employees because lack of communication causes the conflict. Communication leads the effective role at workplace. Organizational Conflict may resolve and employees are mostly negotiating by better communication styles. Communication has the biggest role to create the better human relations but without communication it’s not possible to have the good relationship with managers/supervisors/ employees. An effective communication may achieve organizational goals and objectives Furthermore author believes that for the short term conflict can be useful factor that make the accurate decisions, during the team work everyone has their own views and points but when team members discuss, their objectives must be same to achieve the organizational goals and Supervisor is liable to diminish conflict by better communication styles. It is the transfer of knowledge and information from sender to receiver, but main focus is to understand the message. Drenth et al. (1998) and Richmond et al. (2005) stated that communication is the process to share the information and it is key element for organization prospective whereas individual convey their messages verbally or non-verbally. Employee Performance Locke (1976) suggested that employee Performance is not only dependent over the individual desire but also they require certain principles or needs such as culture, promotion, salary packages. It might be significant impact and employee will retain within the 29 Journal of Cont emporary Issues in Business Research Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 2016 organization for the long time at the end it is impact on employees’ satisfaction. Therefore, organizations should play the vital role for retaining the employees by giving them incentives. Ivancevich et al. (1997) state that the feeling and thoughts of employees about their work and company it is shown by Employee satisfactions. (Hanif and Kamal, 2009) Customers usually prefer those employees who are satisfied with their job and welcoming and caring the customers. Unsatisfied workers with their job may cause customers sadness; there are various researches available on the employees’ satisfaction. The term satisfaction gives the extraordinary value to attract customers with the performance of employees. Recent study outlined by Schermerhorn et al., 2005 state that there are various approach to Increase the performance of employees included salary, promotion and the most important factor is relationship with staffs and employees. It is significant impact of employees performance increases when they are satisfy with their co-workers without any conflict at the workplace. Moreover Norton & Kaplan (1992); Euske & Lebans (2006) define that employees’ performance is not only dependent on financial but it also dependent on nonfinancial that assure level of organizational goals and objectives. It is necessary to recognize needs of an individual. After reviewing the recent studies “Performance” word is more general and common in research because each organization wants to make the profitable but it is more important to retain the employees within the organization after that organization can enhance their performance throughout motivating to employees and resolve their issues within the time. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FIGURE 1 Theoretical Framework Hypothesis (1) Ho: Managing conflict as a whole by the organization cannot increase the performance of employees. Ha: Managing conflict as a whole by the organization can increase the performance of employees. Hypothesis (2) Ho: There is insignificant role of Gender discrimination on employees’ performance Ha: There is significant role of Gender discrimination on employees’ performance Hypothesis (3) 30 Journal of Cont emporary Issues in Business Research Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 2016 Ho: Communication doesn’t lead to better employees’ performance Ha: Communication does lead to better employees’ performance RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This study is based on quantitative method, primary and secondary data has been collected along-with it is empirical study by using the deductive method and there are four variables and each variables has 4 closed-ended questions and likert scale has been used for this study. The research tried to emphasize and approach the employees of 5 banks in Karachi by using random sample survey and conveyance sample. Due to lack of resources and employees don’t have time to fill the questionnaire researcher used the likert scale 1 from strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree and sample size is 150 afterward SPSS 20 Software has used to test the hypotheses and obtain the results. Reliability Cronbach's Alpha .939 R .951a TABLE 1 R Square .905 Adjusted R Square .903 Start test from here. The cronbach’s Apha shows the 93% it indicated that reliability of research paper which is very effective and useful. R shows the 95% which is square root of R-Squared and is the correlation between organizational Conflict, Gender Discrimination, Interpersonal Communication and dependent Variable Employees Performance. R Square which is 90% it concluded that this is the part of variance in the dependent variable included Employees Performance which is explained by the Organizational Conflict, Gender Discrimination and Interpersonal Communication furthermore it is completely shows strong relationship among variables. Adjusted R Square Shows the 90% it is useful which provides the coefficient of determination. (Constant) Organizational Conflict Gender Discrimination Employee Communication TABLE 2 Coefficients Unstandardized Coefficients B Std. Error -.062 .136 .282 .035 .302 .043 .438 .052 Standardized Coefficients Beta .298 .325 .420 t Sig. -.458 8.022 7.014 8.365 .648 .000 .000 .000 Note. Dependent Variable: Employees Performance Coefficients Beta shows the strong relationship of Interpersonal Communication associate with Employees Performance, it estimating the regression and variance with 42%. Along-with T and Significant predicted at organizational conflict, Gender Discrimination and Interpersonal Communication is highly significant impact on the employees performance because tt is significantly different from 0 because its p-value is 0.000, which is smaller than 0.05. 31 Journal of Cont emporary Issues in Business Research Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 2016 TABLE 3 Correlations Organizational Conflict Organizational Conflict Gender Discrimination Employee Communication Employees Performance Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N 1 Gender Discrimination .657** Employee Communication .718** Employees Performance .813** 150 .657** .000 150 1 .000 150 .831** .000 150 .870** .000 150 .718** 150 .831** .000 150 1 .000 150 .904** .000 150 .813** .000 150 .870** 150 .904** .000 150 1 .000 150 .000 150 .000 150 150 Note. **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). This table shows the correlation of Organization conflict, Gender Discrimination, Interpersonal Communication and Employees Performance whereas Interpersonal Communication is highly correlated with employees’ performance with 90%. Organization Conflict and Gender Discrimination has less relationship with 65%. Model 1 Regression Residual Total 2 Regression Residual Total 3 Regression Residual Total TABLE 4 ANOVA Sum of Squares df 5.029 1 2.579 148 7.609 149 6.539 2 1.070 147 7.609 149 6.886 3 .723 146 7.609 149 Mean Square 5.029 .017 F 288.583 Sig. .000b 3.269 .007 449.248 .000c 2.295 .005 463.335 .000d Note. a. Dependent Variable: Employees Performance. b. Predictors: (Constant), Organizational Conflict. c. Predictors: (Constant), Organizational Conflict, Gender Discrimination. d. Predictors: (Constant), Organizational Conflict, Gender Discrimination, Interpersonal Communication H1: The Null hypothesis has failed to reject and the Alternative hypothesis has been accepted H2: The Null hypothesis has failed to reject and the Alternative hypothesis has been accepted H3: The Null hypothesis has failed to reject and the Alternative hypothesis has been accepted 32 Journal of Cont emporary Issues in Business Research Volume 5, Issue No. 1, 2016 These are the variables and highly significant impact of Organizational Conflict, Gender Discrimination and Interpersonal Communication with Employees Performance. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS The researcher has collected this study without any biasness because there are certain problems within the organizations that may create the conflict, as considering the results and analysis it shows the strong relationship and impact of organizational conflict which is unavoidable within the banks. There are certain tools were used for predict the values and figures and questionnaire has been distributed in the several banks of Pakistan, whereas there are many employees are on job therefore the output shows the organizational conflict, Gender Discrimination and Interpersonal Communication is highly impact on the performance of employees in banks of Pakistan. Regression model has been used to get the correct data and it provides the effective results and analysis of variance is very important. According to analysis Interpersonal Communication is very important approach that resolves the issues and cope the conflict within the organizations. The role of conflict, it may be uncontrollable and destructive which create the ineffective groups of people within the organizations as Interpersonal Communication is highly impact and in certain organizations it reduces the exchange of ideas, information and breakdown communication, later on it impact on the conflict. Gender Discrimination is very common nowadays because women or any ethnic group is being discriminated on the basis of promotion or hiring because recent advertisements of different companies clearly shows that we are hiring for HR Officer and “Male Candidate is required” therefore it is undoubtedly discrimination created by some organizations .Several factors are uncovered that contribute to organize the conflict and its impact on the employees performance. Organization must implement the policy and documents of employees’ handbook that must contained the staff dispute resolution form. There should be managing committee to resolve conflict among the employees within the organizations because it is also diminish the deficiencies and fill the gap. Collaboration is very significant because it creates the mutual benefits – though it is indeed that employees must competing that makes the win-win situation. Promotion and accommodation of employees by job enlargement ensures the competencies afterwards employees fulfill the task and responsibilities. Meetings should be organizing and listen the employees are very proper structure whereas they share the ideas and goals with their management. Empower the employees by assigning the different tasks at the end adapt open door policy for everyone that provides the equal employment opportunity whereas Male and Female easily get the opportunity without any discrimination and policy must be abide for both groups. REFERENCES Leeuwis, C. & Aarts, N. (2011). Rethinking communication in innovation processes: Creating space for change in complex systems. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 17(1), 21–36. Obisi, C. (1996). Industrial Relations. Ibadan: Freeman Productions. Beer, M. (1964). Organization size and job satisfaction. The Academy of Management Journal, l 7(1). 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East Sussex, Psychology Press Ltd. Richmond, V. P., McCroskey J. C., McCroskey L. L. (2005). Organizational Communication for Survival: Making Work, Work, Allyn and Bacon, Needham Heights MA Hanif, M. F. & Kamal, Y. (2009). Pay and job satisfaction: a comparative analysis of different Pakistani commercial banks. 9th National Research Conference at SZABIST, Islamabad, Munich Personal RePEc Archive, Islamabad. Kaplan, R. S., Norton, D. P. (1993). Putting the balanced scorecard to work. Harvard Business Review, September-October, 134-147 Conflict Management, from: http://hr.ou.edu/Employees/Career-Development/ResolvingConflicts-at-Work 34