Shared Goal, Communication and Absence of Damaging Conflicts as Antecedents of Employee Relationship Strength at Institutions of Higher Learning in South Africa

Abstract

Even though there is increasing awareness of organisational shared goals, effective communication, conflict management in organisations and cordial employee relations at workplace, research efforts focused on the investigation of the role of shared goals, communication and absence of damaging conflicts on employee relationship strength in the context of institutions of higher learning have largely remained scant, particularly in developing countries of Southern Africa. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to fill this void. Three research hypotheses are posited and a sample data of 151 collected from the Gauteng Province of South Africa is used to empirically test the hypotheses. The results of this study show that, institutional shared goals, institutional communication and absence of damaging conflict influences employee relationship strength at institutions of higher learning in a significant way. Managerial implications of the findings are discussed and limitations and future research directions are indicated.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n3p137