THE ROLE OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

IN RESOLVING CONFLICT IN CASE OF ETHIO-

TELECOM, ADAMA BRANCH

By: Fentahun Eylachew

and
Dereje Tefera

Advisor: Biniam Fikadu(MBA)

A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO

MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT FOR BA DEGREE IN MANAGEMENT

Adama Science and Technology University

School of Business and Economics
Department of Management

June, 2015
Adama, Ethiopia
DECLARATION

We, the undersigned students, hereby declare that, this senior research project
is our original work, which have not been presented for a degree in
this/elsewhere university. All sources of materials used for this study have
been fully acknowledged.

Name Signature

1,________________________________ ______________________________

Date__________________________

2,____________________________________________________________

Date__________________________

Confirmation

This research project work is conducted under my supervision and fulfills all
requirements of research standard of the program. I hereby approve the
submission of this senior research project for examination.

Advisor name___________________________

Signature_______________________________

Date__________________________________
 Board of Examiners

The role of effective communication in resolving conflict in case of

Ethio-telecommunication Corporation, Adama branch

By: Fentahun Eylachew &

Dereje Tefera

Approved by Board of Examiner

Advisor Signature
____________________________ _________________
Examiner Signature
____________________________ _________________
Examiner Signature
____________________________ _________________
Acknowledgement

First and for most of all, we would like to offer special thanks to God for
nothing possible without him and who assist in our everyday life.

Secondly, we would like to express my great appreciation for our advisor

Biniam Fikadu for his great advising and dedication of his time on this paper
work with ours. My special thanks are extended to the staff members of Ethio-
telecom, Adama branch office specifically human resource and region finance
employees.

Thirdly, we would like to express our gratitude thankfulness to Mr. Aderajew

Shumet that teaches in detail how to develop a proposal& conduct research
and his deep comment when we prepare prepare proposal for the course
research methods in business.

Last but not least, we would like to thank individuals who directly or indirectly
involved in this research including my dormitary friends for their comment and
valuable suggestion for the veracity of this research.

I
Abstract

The main objective of this research is to assess the role of effective

communication in resolving conflict in case of Ethio-telecommunication
Corporation, Adama branch office. Effective communication is a crucial element
in our lives and it is the basis for the achievement of organizational objectives.
Moreover, quality communication has a direct impact on the quality of
relationship and occurrence of conflict, this is why effective communication an
essential. This research is a descriptive cross-sectional type in which non-
probability specifically personal judgment sampling technique was used to
determine the sample size of 22 employees which are 25% of the total population
(88 employees) using rule of thumb. To achieve the objectives of the study data
were collected from both primary and secondary sources through questionnaire
and documentary analysis technique. The primary source of data wasemployees
of the office. The secondary sources of data were different written materials
particularly books and other published and unpublished materials in the area of
effective communication. The data collected are analyzed, presented and
interpreted by using tables, pie-chart and through percentage format. The major
reason of conducting this research at Ethio-telecom is to fill the gap that the office
mostly focuses on electronic communication rather than effective personal
communication that reduce personal relationship between employees. Based
upon the finding of the study conclusions were made and some feasible
recommendations are given the researchers at the end.

II
 TABLE OF CONTENT

Title Page

Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………………….I

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………II

Table of contents…………………………………………………………………………….III

List of tables…………………………………………………………………………………..VI

CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction……………………………………….……………………………………...1

1.1. Back ground of the study…………………………………………………..……….1

1.2 Back ground of the organization…………………...………………….…………..3

1.2.1. Vision………….………….………………………………………………………
3

1.2.2. Mission…………………….…………………………………………………….4

1.3. Statement of the problem……………………………………………………………4

1.4. Objective of the study………..………………………………………………………5

1.4.1. General objective……………………..………………………………..………5

1.4.2. Specific objectives……………………………………………......................5

1.5. Significance of the study……………………..……….…………………..……….5

1.6. Scope /delimitation of the Study ………………………..……………………….6

1.7. Limitation of the study……………………………………………………………...6

III
CHAPTER TWO

2. Review of related Literature ………………………………………………………...7

2.1. Meaning of effective communication..…………………………………...………7

2.2. Meaning of conflict……..………………..…………………………...…………….8

2.3. Sources of conflict…….……………………………………….…….…….……….8

2.4. Functions of effective communication………………….…………….………10

2.5. Relationship between communication and conflict….……….…….……..11

2.6. Barriers to effective communication………….……….……………….……..12

2.7. Overcoming effective communication barriers………….…………….…….13

2.8. Effective communication process………………….…………..…….….…….15

2.9. How effective communication pays off……….….…..……………...……….16

CHAPTER THREE

3. Research methods Methodologies…………………………………….………….17

3.1. Variables of the study……………………….…………………………………….17

3.2. Research design………… ………………………..…………………………………

17

3.3. Sources of data………………………… ………..………………………………….17

3.4. Methods of sampling ………………………....…………………….……….….…18

3.5. Sample size determination………………………………………………...….….18

3.6. Data collection methods…..………….……………………………….……….….18

3.7. Methods of data analysis, presentation and interpretation………..………19

 IV

CHAPTER FOUR

4. Data analysis, presentation and interpretation……………………….….….20

4.1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….…..20

4.2. Background information of the respondents………………………….………..20

4.3. Presence and source of conflict in the office …………………………………..23

4.4. Role of effective communication and its relationship with conflict…….….30

4.5. Effective communication and its role in resolving conflict………….….……32

4.6. Procedures of effective communication in resolving conflict…………….….35

CHAPTR FIVE

5. Conclusion and recommendation…………………………………………..…....37

5.1. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….….…….37

5.2 Recommendations……………………………………………………..………….38

References………………………………………………………………………….……......40

Appendix
 V

List of tables and pie charts

Table1: personal profile of the respondents…………………………………………20

Pie chart 1: presence of conflict in the office………………………………………..23

Table 2: source of conflict in the office……………………………………………….24

Table 3: ways to resolve conflict……………………………………………………….25

Table 4: Level of employee grievance answered by management……………..26

Table 5: The rate of communication as a source for conflict……………………27

Table 6: The rate of personal behavior factor as a source for conflict………..28

Table 7: Rate of structural factor as a source for conflict………………………..29

Table 8: Role of effective communication in resolving conflict…………………30

Table 9: communication role on the specific type of conflict……………………31

Table 10: Relationship between communication and conflict…………………31

Pie chart 2: Discussion regarding conflict resolution…………………………….32

Table 11: Frequency of discussion regarding conflict resolution……………..33

Pie chart 3: Volume of communication in the office……………………………..34

Table 12: Channels of communication in the office……………………………..35

Table 13: Direction of communication in the office………………………………36

VI