SECTION C: CASE STUDY Time left 1:59:11 Hide READ THE FOLLOWING CASE STUDY AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW S CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE: A CASE STUDY IN A TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING COLLEGE IN MPUMALANGA PROVINCE It is of the utmost importance to know and understand different types of conflict that stakeholders are experiencing in the College in question. Gibson, Ivancevich and Donnelly (1994) assert that conflict in the workplace can have both negative and positive influences on performance, S depending on the type of conflict and how managers deal with it. Significantly, conflict can be either constructive or destructive and both types are experienced within the selected College. Constructive conflict enables institutions to perform successfully, while destructive conflict causes chaos that can threaten the functioning of Fin the institution and hinder group performance. Furthermore, conflict may occur on an intrapersonal conflict and interpersonal conflict. It is important to determine the causes of conflict before attempting to manage and resolve it (Havenga, 2002). The sources of conflict may be internal or external. Conflict emanating from within an institution - for example, friction over opposing interests between employees - has an internal source. In contrast, conflict that comes from outside an institution has an external source. Conflict can also be the result of both structural and personal factors. For example, some of the conflict experienced within the selected TVET College is resultant of employees' insufficient understanding of each other's responsibilities and work specialisations. Demand for limited common resources, differing goals, interdependence, and attitudes toward roles and expectations also cause conflict. Mayer (2000) argues that knowledge and understanding of the cause of the problem provides guidance toward the best means to resolve it. Being aware of the different causes of conflict and how to manage them will enable managers or supervisors to better handle whatever conflict they encounter at any given time. Among the factors that may cause conflict within TVET Colleges is the newly introduced curriculum. Most of the lecturers working in the selected College do not have the vocational skills required to teach this curriculum to students. Because they are only qualified as school educators (DHET, 2013), they are struggling to take on new subjects with complex content. This problem results in high staff turnover and increasing student dropout and failure rates. Lecturers' heavy workload and insufficient resources also interfere with the process of teaching and learning. There is also much administrative work to be done at the College; in addition to teaching, lecturers have to do daily preparations and filing. This large workload is a cause of great frustration among lecturers. National Certificate Vocational (NCV) students have to complete seven subjects - four vocational and three fundamental (DHET, 2018). Vocational subjects are new, complex, and frustrating to them because they are not part of the secondary school syllabus. Online learning is also a challenge to students and lecturers because students may not be able to afford data for internet access. Moreover, there are not enough smart boards, overhead projectors, camera scanners, and other necessary technological equipment to serve the needs of all students and lecturers adequately. It is vital to the effective functioning of any organisation that the various stakeholders - with their differing ideas, opinions, and perspectives - learn to work together. Effective conflict management is required in order for this to take placesupervisors to better handle whatever conflict they encounter at any given time. Among the factors that may cause conflict within TVET Colleges is the newly introduced curriculum. Most of the lecturers working in the selected College do not have the vocational skills required to teach this curriculum to students. Because they are only qualified as school educators (DHET, 2013), they are struggling to take on new subjects with complex content. This problem results in high staff turnover and increasing student dropout and failure rates. Lecturers' heavy workload and insufficient resources also interfere with the process of teaching and learning. There is also much administrative work to be done at the College; in addition to teaching, lecturers have to do daily preparation and filing. This large workload is a cause of great frustration among lecturers. National Certificate Vocational (NCV) students have to complete seven subjects - four vocational and three fundamental (DHET, 2018). Vocational subjects are new, complex, and frustrating to them because they are not part of the secondary school syllabus. Online learning is also a challenge to students and lecturers because students may not be able to afford data for internet access. Moreover, there are not enoug smart boards, overhead projectors, camera scanners, and other necessary technological equipment to serve the needs of all students and lecturers adequately. It is vital to the effective functioning of any organisation that the various stakeholders - with their differing ideas, opinions, and perspectives - learn to work together. Effective conflict management is required in order for this to take place. According to Asa (2015), conflict management benefits an organisation because it promotes healthy relationships between management, junio staff members, and students. Jung and Yoon (2018) add that conflict management increases productivity and decreases aggression, thus minimising the risk of violence and sabotage amongst staff members. When conflict is ignored, everyone in the organisation is affected, as the conflict continues to harm management, lecturers and students alike. Unhappy employees are less productive and absent more frequently and are more likely to resign their posts. Unresolved conflict may even lead frustrated parties to become violent with one another, resulting in an unsafe work environment and further decreases in productivity. It is clear that unmanaged conflict decreases the productivity of management, lecturers and students in TVET Colleges. There are several possible ways to manage conflict in any situation. These include passive aggression, avoiding, compromising, collaborating, forcing and accommodating. When conflict is managed positively, it becomes easy to resolve and manage issues at any organisation, including TVET Colleges. SOURCE: Makamu, 2022 https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/29219/dissertation_makamu_vd.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y