INFLUENCE OF EMPLOYEE SILENCE ON INDUSTRIAL CONFLICT IN THE SELECTED UNIONIZED ORGANIZATIONS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study focused on the influence of employee silence on the industrial conflict in a selected unionized organization in the manufacturing industry within Lagos Metropolis. The study identified five factors that were responsible for employee silence to include job security, unemployment situation, recruitment practices, institutional structures, and agenda settings and their consequences on the industrial conflict. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument for data collection which was administered to 267 respondents and findings from the data analysis revealed that there was strong relationship between employee silence and industrial conflict where r = 0.713 and R2 = 0.508 and job security (β = 0.445, p = 0.000) was found to contribute more to employee silence in the workplace and a highly institutional structure suppresses employee silence (r = -0.233, p < 0.05) It was concluded that industrial conflict will manifest at a minimal level when the degree of freedom and institutional structures are balanced to an equilibrium state.