PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS

SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT

PRESENTED BY

PETERFIELD HIGH EVENING STUDENT

In
PARTIAL FULFILMENT IN CERTIFICATION
FOR CARIBBEAN SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE.

Name: Rachael Brown

Candidate Number:
Centre Number:
Centre Name: Peterfield High Evening Institute
Teacher’s Name: Ms. Mckenzie
Year: 2022
Territory: Jamaica

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 Table of Contents

Titles Page

Topic…………………………………………………………………………… 3

Objectives……………………………………………………………………… 4

Background……………………………………………………………………. 5

Methodology…………………………………………………………………… 7

Presentation……………………………………………………………………. 12

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………... 20

Recommendation………………………………………………………………. 21

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….. 22

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 Topic

The topic for this SBA is :

A Study to Determine the Factors that Contribute to Conflicts in Royale

Medical Company and how it Impacts the Business.

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 Objectives

The objectives for this SBA are:

 To discuss how conflicts affects the efficiency of the workers of Royale

Medical company.

 To find out how conflicts impact business at Royale Medical company.

 To determine what factors contributes to conflicts arising at the Royale

Medical company.

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 Background

The purpose of this research is to determine the factors that contribute to conflicts in the Royale
Medical company and how it impacts the business. Conflicts are described as a disagreement or
an argument between one or more persons. According to Clare Fowler (2015) from mediate.com,
conflicts as we know it today, has existed for more than 100 years. In the past, industrial
revolutions and strikes were some ways in which workers would voice their conflicts within the
workplace. In her article, Fowler reiterated that workers were dissatisfied with low wages they
received for risking their lives on complex and tedious tasks and jobs. They were also being
blamed and treated harshly for any mishaps which would occur, which would cause workers to
go on major walk outs and eventually cause managers to terminate them. She not only stated that
the workers were the main victims of conflicts in workplace, but the managers. Managers had
their fair share of conflicts between workers. From workers who would be absent for work to
those giving major problems while being disrespectful at it. Fowler stated, from the 1900-1930s
many production companies began which needed workers to operate and sustain it. Many were
pushed to work overtime and would be treated harshly, but they could not complain, so they
basically, were robots. Eventually. In the 1930-1950s, workers began speaking for themselves,
thanks to the introduction of unions and human relation personnel who advocated for better
working conditions to be enforced. Many people have the idea that conflicts were just between
workers and managers, but workers were involved in conflicts between themselves. Many had
disagreements on how certain things were operated which would cause brawls to occur and
terminations by the superiors.

This topic is very important to the researcher since many persons are being fired or those who
are quitting, dampens the motivation for people who are willing and want to work, therefore
the researcher wants to know the root causes of conflicts and how it impacts both the business
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and workers and what ways can they be prevented. The impact of such topic is devastating upon
our society today. Many workers today participate in strikes, walk outs and go slow due to low
wages and unsuitable working conditions. Without workers, businesses and different
organizations would fail because all trained personnel would not be there to operate it, which
affects consumers that benefit from it and it would put major strain on the government.

This topic is relevant to the researcher as it teaches about how conflicts can cause major
problems to a business and to society at large. This research is not only for school purpose, but it
can educate other persons about conflicts on what causes them and hopefully
on how to prevent them from occurring.

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 Methodology

To obtain data for the research being conducted, the researcher used questionnaire and
interview questions.
A questionnaire is a type of research instrument which consist of series of questions for the
purpose of gathering information from respondents in a survey. The type of questions the
researcher used throughout the questionnaire were open and closed. The researcher decided to
use a questionnaire because they are effective in gathering information from large groups of
people and it also can be gathered easily in a brief period. Questionnaires are very easy to
manipulate and they are also very economical to the researcher. Ten questions were presented on
the questionnaire which was formulated using the site Google Forms. A link to the questionnaire
was dispersed on January 28, 2022, to persons within the company. Each questionnaire given
had a cover page explaining the reasons and purpose of the questions and informing them that
their responses will be anonymous. Twelve persons responded by submitting within the same
day. A challenge the researcher faced was some persons wrote the acronym “N/A” in the open-
ended question slots which made it hard to analyze the data efficiently.

An interview is a structured conversation in which one participant ask questions and the other
provides answers. It is a one-on-one conversation between someone called the Interviewer
and the Interviewee. Interviews are very easy to conduct since it is just a conversation between
two persons. The questions were mostly open-ended to get the different responses from the
interviewees. The interview was economical to the researcher since it did not cost any money
to formulate the questions. The researcher did face-to-face interviews with 4 persons from the
company. This was done to get different persons opinions and perspective on the different
questions. A total of 5 questions were asked to each person on January 30, 2022, in which they
responded accordingly. Using an interview helped the researcher to visualize each person’s
attitude towards the topic. One challenge faced was an interview is supposed to be something

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conversed ,but most were busy with work and were often interrupted by varied factors. The
data obtained will be analyzed by using pie charts, column charts, tables and tally tables.

Questionnaire

Instruction: Select the box which suits your answer and answer with fairness. There are no right
or wrong answers.

1. How often does conflict arise at work?

Very often
Occasionally
Seldomly

2. Do you believe that conflicts are being dealt with properly?

Yes
No

3. What form of conflict resolution do you see occurring?

Workshops

Higher wages

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 Time off/ Suspension

4. Do conflicts affect you personally?

v Yes

v Kind of

v No

5. Do conflicts affect your working efficiency?

v Yes

v No

6. Do you believe conflicts impacts the business negatively?

v Yes

v No

7. What factor(s) contribute to conflicts arising in the workplace.

8. Have you ever contributed/ participated in any form of industrial action?

Yes

No

9. What form does most industrial actions occur in the company? ( If selected yes)

Go- slow

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 Walkouts

Absent / Unauthorized Leaves

Boycotting

Strike

10. In your opinion, what ways do you think conflicts can be resolved?

Interview Questions

1. What are your views on conflicts within the company?

2. In your own words, explain the ways in which conflict affects your working efficiency?

3. In your opinion, state how conflicts affects/ impacts the company/ business at large?

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4. Do you believe the government can help resolve conflicts within the business?

Yes No

5. Do you believe that conflict resolutions are dealt with properly by supervisors and
manager?

Yes No

If no, state the reason :

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 Presentation & Analysis of Data

Question 1: How often does conflicts arise at work?

Pie Chart Showing Respondents Opinion on how Of -

ten Conflicts Arise at Work

33%

50%

17%

Seldomly Very Often Occasionaly

Figure 1: Based on the pie chart above it shows that 50% of the respondents believe that conflicts
arise occasionally at the work, while 33% believe that conflicts occur seldomly and 17% believe
they occur very often.

Question 2: Do you believe that conflicts are being dealt with properly?

Table Showing How Many Respondents Believe Conflicts are Being Dealt with Properly.

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 Yes No

5 7

Table 1: Based on the table above, it shows that five (5) of the respondents believe that conflicts
are being dealt properly, while seven (7) believe that conflicts are not being dealt with properly
in the company.

Question 3: What form of conflict resolution do you see occurring?

Bar Graph Showing The Forms of Conflict Resolution

Taken by The Royale Medical Centre.

Time off/Suspensions
30%

Higher Wages
50%

Workshops
20%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Figure 2: Based on the bar graph above, it is believed that 50% of the respondents replied saying
that Higher wages as a conflict resolution used at the company. 30% of the respondents replied
saying that Suspensions as a conflict resolution used at the company. 20% of the
respondents replied to Workshops as a conflict resolution used at the company.

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Question 4: Do conflicts affect you personally?

Pie Chart Showing if Conflicts Affects the Re-

spondents Personally

17%

21%
62%

No Kind Of Yes

Figure 3: Based on the pie chart above, 17% of the respondents replied that conflict in the
workplace affects them personally, 21% of the respondents replied that conflicts kind of affect
them and 62% of the respondents replied that conflicts do not affect them.

Question 5: Do conflicts affect your working efficiency?

Tally Table below Showing the Respondents Answers if Conflicts Affects Their Working
Efficiency

Responses Tally Total

Yes III 3

No IIII II 7

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Table 2: Based on the tally table above, seven (7) of the respondents replied that conflicts do not
affect their working efficiency, while three (3) of the respondents replied that conflicts affect
their working efficiency.

Question 6: Do you believe conflicts impacts the business negatively?

Bar Graph Showing if Conflicts Affects The Business Neg-

atively
80%

70% 67%

60%

50%
Percentage

40%
33%
30%

20%

10%

0%
Yes No
Responses

Figure 4: Based on the bar graph above, 67% of the respondents believe that conflicts affect the
business in a negative way and 33% of the respondents believe that conflicts do not affect the
business in a negative way.

Question 7: What factor(s) contribute to conflicts arising in the workplace.

Tally Table Below shows Factors Which Contribute to Conflicts Arising in the Workplace.

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 Factors Tally Total

Bad working attitude IIII 5

Low wages IIII 5

Poor communication skills II 2

Table 3: Based on the tally table above, five (5) of the respondents believe that having a bad
working attitude is a factor to conflicts arising in the workplace, five (5) of the respondents
believe that low wages cause conflicts to arise in the workplace and two (2) of the respondents
believe that poor communication skills are a factor in causing conflicts arising in the workplace.

Question 8: Have you ever contributed/ participated in any form of industrial action?

Pie Chart Below Show If Any Respondents Participated in

any Industrial Action

10%

90%

No Yes

Figure 5: The pie chart above shows that 90% of the respondents stated that they have not

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participated/ contributed in or to any industrial action within the company, while 10% of the
respondents stated that they have participated/ contributed in or to any industrial action within
the company.

Question 9: What form does most industrial actions occur in the company? ( If selected yes)

Pie Chart Showing Different Ways Respondents Partcicipate

in Industrial Action.

33%

67%

Absent Go-slow Walkout Boycotting Strike

Figure 6: Based on the pie chart above show 33% of the respondents participated in go-slow,
while 67% of the respondents participated in absent / unauthorized leaves. 0% participated in
walkout, boycotting and strike.

Question 10: In your opinion, what ways do you think conflicts can be resolved?
Tally Table Showing How Conflicts Can Be Resolved

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 Responses Tally Total

Going on retreats more IIII IIII 10

often

More disciplinary actions II 2

Table 4: The tally table above shows that ten (10) respondents believe going on retreats more
often is a way conflicts can be resolved, while two (2) of the respondents believe that more
disciplinary actions can help resolve conflicts.

Findings

The researcher found out from the data collected those conflicts at the Royale
Medical Centre arises occasionally and Figure 1. shows that 50% of the respondents’ correlate
to that statement. Conflicts that do occur within the company, Table 1. shows that 5 persons
believe that conflicts are dealt with properly, while 7 persons believe that they are not .When
asked if conflicts which occur within the company affect the livelihood or their efficiency,
most responded with the response saying no. The workers do believe that conflicts impact the
business in a negative way due to factors like poor communication skills with colleagues, bad
working attitude and low wages. When questioned about strategies that the business takes to
diminish conflicts, Figure 2. shows that the conflict resolutions strategies taken by the company
are some workshops to build morale, time off/ suspensions for insubordinate workers and higher
wages being paid. When asked if anyone participated in any form of industrial actions, Figure. 5
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shows that 90% of the respondents haven’t and the 10% has. Those that did participated in go-
slow or unauthorized leaves/ absents. Many believe that going on the retreats as a company may
help to boost morale and dismay conflicts from happening and enforcing more disciplinary
actions for problematic workers may alleviate conflicts throughout Royale Medical Centre.

Conclusion

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The researcher was fully aware of the information collected and analyzed throughout this
research. The researcher found out that conflicts occur occasionally within the Royale
Medical Company. The researcher discovered as quoted by the workers within the
company, conflicts do not affect their working efficiency. The researcher also found out
that conflicts that occur within the company impacts it in a negative way. The researcher
uncovered the factors that caused conflicts in the company. Some were poor
communication skills between the workers, low wages and a bad working attitude. The
workers gave suggestion like more disciplinary action to be taken, but also encourages
the superiors to find more solutions to counteract conflict in the company.

Recommendations

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The findings in this research gathered is that conflicts occur in the Royale Medical Company.

 As said before, the superiors should find more creative and controllable ways that would
help control the conflicts within the company.

 Encourage workers to attend meetings and seminar on conflicts to educate themselves on

ways conflicts can be resolved without the need of superiors.

 Implement fringe benefits within the company to help motivate workers and to also
garner new employees.

 Increase the performance rate of workers’ salaries. This will help with motivating the
workers.

 Motivate workers. Most workers want to be well paid, have interesting and enjoyable
jobs. Create opportunities for employees to develop themselves in a work context.

Bibliography

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 Fowler, Clare “Workplace Conflicts,” 2015
https://www.mediate.com/CFowler5184339/docs/clareworkplace.pdf

 Dransfield, Robert et.al “Principles of Business for CSEC” 2019

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