An evaluation of employee-management relations in Zenith Bank Plc.: Lagos, Nigeria.

Abstract

The relationship between management and employees involves an important management process that requires more attention than it has normally received. The internal relationship between the employer and employees can impact and determine the future of the organisation (Anyim, Ikemefuna, & Mbah, 2011). The factors or variables identified for this study were communication; motivation; managerial style and grievance handling. The purpose of this research work was to examine the relationship between the management and employees in the Zenith Bank Plc. in Lagos, Nigeria. The research objectives of the study were to determine whether communication impacted on the effectiveness of the relationship between the management and employees at Zenith Bank Plc., to examine the role of motivation on the relationship between management and employees, to explore the impact of the managerial style on the employees’ motivation, and to examine whether the employees of Zenith Bank Plc. were satisfied with the way grievances were handled. A quantitative approach was used in this research. The type of research design that was used in this study was a descriptive design. This category of research design has the major function of describing accurately the characteristics of a phenomenon or relationship. Simple random sampling, which is a type of probability sampling, was used for this study and a total of 50 respondents were chosen for this study. The result of the hypotheses testing showed that communication had a significant effect on employee-management relations; motivation had a significant effect on employee-management relations; managerial style had no important effect on employees’ motivation, and grievance-handling had no notable effect on employee-management relations. It was concluded that effective communication impacted positively on employee-management relations, and motivation affected the employee-management relationship. Management should invest in sending staff for training on how to communicate effectively with each other at all levels, to guide against impolite conversion, misunderstanding and grievances. Future research can focus on innovation, the job environment and employee wellness as a mediator or moderator variable.