Effect of Intra-group Conflict on Employee Performance among Law Courts in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Kenyan courts devote more than a quarter of their time to conflict resolution. According to the JSC 2019 report, the judiciary system was at odds with other branches of government over complaints about massive cuts to the judiciary's budget and the consequences of those cuts, including the pilling of cases. This has made it difficult for the judiciary to carry out its duties. The study specifically sought to investigate the effect of intra-group conflict on employee performance in law courts in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study was anchored on human relations theory, and interpersonal theory. The target population was 239 employees from Nakuru County's three Law Courts. Slovin's formula was used to generate a sample of 150 respondents for the study. The primary data for the study was collected using a closed-ended questionnaire. To collect data, a semi-structured questionnaire with closed-ended questions was used. A pilot study was carried out in Kericho Law Court, with 16 questionnaires distributed to respondents. Data collected in this study was quantitative in nature. To analyze quantitative data Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 was used. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used in this study. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequencies, std and mean were used to describe the characteristics of the target population. From the analysis the study findings revealed that there exists a strong, positive and significant relationship between intra-group conflict and employee performance among Law Courts in Nakuru County. The study recommended that efforts should be made by the law court management to occasionally stimulate constructive task conflict by encouraging divergent views and rewarding staff and department for outstanding performance while relationship conflict should be completely prevented.