THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY STUDIES

NAME : MADALITSO PHIRI

COMPUTER NUMBER : 2017005445

COURSE CODE : EAP 3010

COURSE COORDINATOR :

TASK : CLASS WORK 2

DUE DATE : 6 MARCH 2020

QUESTION:

Briefly describe stakeholder relationship. Citing any entity of your choice, name four of its
stakeholders and explain how each affects the named entity. Additionally, give a brief account what
stakeholder conflict is, its cause, importance of its amicable resolution and potential dangers it
possess if not properly managed.
Conflict is everywhere in human relationships because it naturally results from diversity in goals,
needs and ways of Thinking, and competition. This paper seeks to briefly describe stakeholder
relationship, explain the effects of any named four stakeholders to an entry of the writer’s choice
and finally explain what stakeholder conflict is, its causes and the importance of resolving it
amicably.
As defined by Armstrong (2009), stakeholders in a firm are individuals and constituencies that
contribute, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to its wealth-creating capacity and activities, and
who are therefore its potential beneficiaries and/or risk bearers. Conflict on the other hand is a
process that begins whenever an individual or a group feels negatively affected by another
individual or group.

Stakeholder relationship refers to ties and connections a company has with people, organizations
and other companies who are either affected by the company or the company is affected by the
actions resulting from the involvement of the two. Ford (1980) suggests that companies pursue
relationships with other companies to obtain the benefits associated with reducing their costs or
increasing their revenues. By entering into relationships, organizations hope to gain stakeholder
satisfaction and loyalty while stakeholders look for quality. Stakeholder relationship are also
advanced on moral view which suggests that those impacted by an organization’s operations
have a right to be informed and to demand certain standards of performance.

To exemplify, say the electoral commission of Zambia is picked as an entity of choice, and the
Zambia police, political parties, the donors and the media as its stakeholders. The constitution of
Zambia (2016) provides for electoral commission’s duty to conduct elections and ensure that
electoral rules as well as regulations are adhered to. The police as a stakeholder help provide
security to voters, elections staff and materials .The political parties are the key stakeholders who
seek political office by participating in the elections conducted by the commission. The donor
community is role as stakeholders is to help fund the election, they also take keen interest to
ensure free and fair elections are held. The role played by the media is to help the commission
disseminate information by publicizing electoral activities such as notices and campaign
messages.
Stakeholders may find themselves in conflict just like any other normal interaction. Stakeholder
conflict is when people or companies differ in opinion, face inequalities in allocating resources
or unfair treatment. Groton (1997) found that conflicts between people in stakeholders arise as a
result of poor interpersonal skills, inefficient communication, lack of responsiveness and
unethical or opportunist behavior. Conflicts of this nature may remain within the individual
sphere of people involved or build up to the organizations they work for if not adequately
handled.

Stakeholder conflict are caused by many factors. Difference in objectives and interests can lead
to conflict, this can be as a result of inability to sharing benefits, rejecting negative consequences
of something, financing external costs or allocating disposable resources. Conflict cause may
also be Normative, resulting from divergences about values, behaviors and norms that should
prevail in socially adequate conducts. Root causes for these conflicts are ethical and moral
principles that are not negotiable. Furthermore, Rijsberman (1999) points out that personality or
behavior of stakeholders’ representatives may ignite conflicts among stakeholders.

All in all stakeholder conflict does more harm than good. As such it is very vital that conflict
must not be allowed to escalate. If it’s allowed to, it can lead to deterioration of relationship, loss
of revenue, loss of reputations, sanctions both from state government or regulatory bodies and in
more extreme cases it may result in loss of business, property and or even life.

Because of the aforementioned outcomes, conflict should be better managed and resolved.
Olander (2003) suggest a number of ways to do so. Negotiation is possibly the most common and
inexpensive form of conflict resolution, whereby the control of the dispute process remains
within the parties involved. In order to achieve a good negotiated settlement for a conflict, four
characteristics should be met: fairness, efficiency, wisdom and stability. Mediation may be
viewed as a negotiation process between disputing parties carried out with the help of a neutral
and independent third party. The importance of resolving conflict in an amicable manner is to
ensure that relationship are strengthened, to help maximize productivity, to create a conducive
working atmosphere as well as to avoid loss of revenue and slowing down of a company’s
mandate.
 REFERENCES

Armstrong. M. (2009). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice (11 th

ed.). London: Kogan Page

Ford, D. (1980). The development of buyer-seller relationships in industrial markets. European

Journal of Marketing, 14, 339-353.

Groton, J.P. (1997) Alternative dispute resolution in the construction industry. Dispute
Resolution Journal, 52(3):49–57.

Olander, S. (2003) External Stakeholder Management in the Construction Process.

Rijsberman, F. (ed.) (1999) Conflict management and consensus building for integrated coastal
management in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The constitution of Zambia (amendment) 2016.

Wall Jr., J. and Callister, R.R. (1995) Conflicts and its management. Journal of Management,
21(3):515–558.