Labour and Management Training in Conflict Management Skills among selected Labour Unions in Lagos State

Abstract

The study examines the training of union leaders and management representatives in conflict management skills as a result of the failure of the statutory mechanism to stem the incidence of industrial disputes. In view of this, there should be training of union leaders and management representatives in negotiating, human relations, motivational and communication skills in order to improve their conflict handling behaviour. The specific objectives of the study are: to investigate the perception of union leaders on the training in conflict management skills, to examine the contents and objectives of training programmes exposed to by the union leaders and to determine the differences between the training received by labour leaders and management representatives. Five union organisations were selected for the study. Using Leslie Kish sample size determination, a semi- structured questionnaire was administered on NUPENG (140), NUBIFIE (130), NUFBITE (120) and MHWU (130).  In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 union officials and nine NECA representatives. Majority of the respondents believed that there should be regular training in conflict management skills. In addition, most of the respondents believed that various training contents received were devoid of conflict management skills. While most management representatives received training outside the country, labour leaders received training in within Nigeria.

KEY WORDS: trade unions, conflict management, training and skills