A Review of Conflict Management in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions 1. Introduction Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa with a projected population of 182 million people (Bello, 2016), is a complex, heterogeneous nation. Ghaji Bello, the Director-General of National Population Commission, stated that half of the estimated population is less than thirty years of age. With a teeming population in diverse ethnic, socio-cultural and religious affiliations, multifarious economic and social problems are bound to arise, leading to numerous societal conflicts. The existence of conflicts in Nigerian tertiary institutions is thus a mere reflection of the outer societal phenomena, where the struggle for a fair share of the common good by individuals and groups is the order of the day. Conflict has been variously defined by practitioners, academicians and researchers. Desivilya (1998) views conflict as a state of disharmony that could be brought about by differences of impulses, desires or tendencies, while Ibukun (1997) sees it as a form of disagreement between two or more parties. Adeyemi and Ademilua (2012) define conflict as all forms of opposition, disagreement and friction between two or more parties, which manifest in the form of arguments, protests, demonstration, aggression and other forms of destructive behaviour. At organizational level, Hicks and Gullett (1981) assert that conflict occurs when organizational units are interdependent, share resources and perceive their goals as incompatible. Mitchell (1991) agrees that conflict is a situation in which two or more parties have incompatible objectives and in which their perceptions and behaviour are commensurate with that incompatibility. Aina, Awolusi and Odunlami (2015) articulate the dimensions of Mitchell (1991) definition of conflict to include conflict situation, which is the basic incompatibility, conflict attitudes (range of psychological factors) and conflict behaviour manifested as a set of related behaviour. These dimensions are similar to Hicks and Gullett (1981) three levels of conflict, identified as perception, feeling of conflict and behaviour. At the first level of perception, there is a realization that conflict exists because goals of the parties are incompatible and opportunity for interference is present. At the second level, the conflict is felt, generating a feeling of anger or mistrust between the groups, which may, in reaction to the first two levels, lead to behaviour at the third level. Adejuwon and Okewale (2009) view conflict as a result of human interaction and an unavoidable concomitant of choices and decisions, in the context of incompatible ends. Shur (2007) conceptualizes conflict as expression of incompatibility of subject positions, a struggle or contest between people with opposing needs, ideas, beliefs, values or goals. From the various viewpoints, it can be summarily stated that conflict is a manifestation of disagreement between individuals and groups arising from differing and mutually incompatible interests.
