Influence Of Organizational Politics On Institutional Productivity In Selected Public Universities In Uganda

Abstract

This study sought to examine the influence of organizational politics on institutional productivity in selected public universities in Uganda. Whereas organizational politics is a key factor in the assurance of institutional productivity in public universities in Uganda, little academic interest and research has been devoted to it to establish its influence on institutional productivity, especially in public universities. Public universities in Uganda have, for long, had declining productivity in their key mandates of teaching, research, and community outreach. This has been attributed generally to dwindling financial and human resources. However, the influence of organizational politics and in particular the inherent stakeholder mission conflicts and contradictions are scantily considered. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the extent to which stakeholder mission conflicts influence institutional productivity; to assess the effect of stakeholder involvement on institutional productivity; and to evaluate the influence of stakeholder conflict management strategies on institutional productivity in selected public universities in Uganda. The arguments in this study were informed by Max Weber’s Theory of bureaucracy and Freeman’s (1984) Stakeholder Theory. This study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design using both quantitative and qualitative research methods to address the research questions and objectives. The target population in focus included the chairperson university governing council, Vice chancellor, Academic registrar, teaching staff, chairpersons for staff associations, guild presidents and LC1 chairpersons totaling to a population size of 1107. This category of respondents was selected because they are key players in the organization politics of the universities. A sample size of 285 respondents was selected using the Krejcie and Morgan table (1970). Data collection was done through simple random sampling, and purposive sampling method. The data collection instruments included interviews guides, observation checklist, and questionnaires. The findings revealed that majority (83%) of the respondents attested organizational politics contributes to variations in institutional productivity in public universities. In particular, the implementation of the different stakeholder missions tends to contradict each other in their implementation leading to conflicts and effects on institutional productivity. Additionally, stakeholder conflict management strategies have a significant effect on institutional productivity. The study concluded that organizational politics are at the center of the operations of public universities. The study recommends that public universities establish structures that preempt conflicts arising from varied interpretations of stakeholder missions and commit adequate resources to the process. Universities should also devise more democratic strategies and approaches to conflict management that facilitate institutional productivity through meaningful stakeholder involvement. Further research should focus on a comparative study of organizational politics in public and private universities.