Conflict is something that arises in any workplace and that is particularly true when speaking about healthcare and the nursing field. Conflict by definition is competitive or opposing action of incompatibles and a mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands. If these conflicts are managed correctly the results can be positive as opposed to negative.
One type of conflict management strategy is called `compromising'. This strategy can be defined as attempting to resolve a conflict by identifying a solution that is partially satisfactory to both parties, but completely satisfactory to neither. This type of management strategy requires the individual to be both partly assertive and partly cooperative in their actions and overall message. One's main goal with this particular strategy is to reach an advantageous solution that satisfies both parties. There are only certain times and situations that call for this particular management strategy. One of them is when you want to achieve a temporary solution. Nursing is a fast-paced field with fast-paced working environments and sometimes the best solution to a problem is to come to a quick solution where both sides are partially happy and come back to the issue at another time when it can be further discussed. Another reason to use compromising as a management strategy is when goals are only moderately important. It may be more beneficial to you and your time if you compromise with someone, especially if the issue is not of utmost importance. There are also certain times when compromising wouldn't be appropriate or may not work all together. Like if the initial demands of a conflict are too great, then another...
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...have (in combination with my own) to reach feasible agreements that are beneficial or at least acceptable to both parties.
Conflict is part of life: it is an inevitable consequence of interacting with other people. In both our professional lives and in our personal lives we are constantly faced with statements, actions, needs, drives, wishes, demands or positions that are incompatible with or opposed to our own. Conflict can create stress, produce anxiety, adversely affect performance, decrease productivity and disrupt the work (or home) environment. It can be difficult to decide how to respond when faced with conflict. We often react emotionally or reflexively, without thought or conscious decision. Learning to deal effectively with conflict requires that we learn to control our response, choosing the most appropriate strategy for the particular situation.
What happens when a conflict occurs within the nursing department (s)? How does resolution occur? It depends on the people involved when it comes to conflict, when it’s between staff then I request that they try to address among themselves first, but if that does not work or if it’s a very sticky situation then I get involved, first I try to get information from both parties separately then from them jointly, normally that well works pretty good since it gives them an opportunity to vent or let the feelings out, I then use that as a teaching moment. When all this is happening the staff have to sign a form stating the issue was discussed and what the outcome is, if unable to resolve then it goes up to the administrator. For the most part conflict has led to tension between people involved and to be honest with our team work suffers, I try to deescalate this issues because it gets too far.
Sportsman, S., & Hamilton, P. (2007). Conflict management styles in the health professions. Journal of Professional Nursing, 23(3), 157-166. doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2007.01.010.
Besides assertive communication, the nurse should take a collaborative approach to conflict management. Both strategies empower individuals to work together and accomplish goals successfully (Cherry & Jacob, 2011). Considering the healthcare community is composed of such a large and diverse population, a nurse must realize that conflicts will arise, but more importantly the nurse must effectively manage those conflicts. Having an understanding of the differences which exists between varied cultures, generations, and disciplines will guide the nurse in resolving conflicts. This foundation allows the nurse to better understand how people perceive and respond to others and the environment during a time which resolution is needed. Establishing trust with ones colleagues is another step toward resolving conflicts. Team members are much more likely to be open and motivated to come to a resolution when they trus...
Nurses are always exposed to situations or often interact with others where their values or belief might contradict with others. Conflict can often lead to distress and increases stress in the workplace environment, however if handled appropriately it can promote growth and understanding amongst the staff.
In several occasions, conflict occurs in the communication of one or two people. Several people have thought of conflict as cases involving pouring of furious anger in a communication process. Nonetheless, conflict is the misinterpretation of an individual’s words or values (Huan & YAzdanifard, 2012). Conflict can also be due to limited resources in an organization (Riaz & Junaid, 2010). Conflict may as well arise due to poor communication or the use of inappropriate communication channel of transmission of information between the involved parties. Management of conflict has various conflict management styles that include avoidance style, forcing style, passive-aggressive style, accommodating style, collaborating style and compromising style. Workplace conflict comes in two different kinds: task involving conflict, which focuses on the approaches used in resolving the problem and blaming conflict that has the aspects of blame and never brings element of resolving problems between the conflicting parties. In the perception of several individuals, relationship conflict is negative.
Vivar, C. G. (2006). Putting conflict management into practice: A nursing case study. Journal of Nursing Management, (14), 201-206.
Interpersonal conflict is very common with many relationships. It occurs when two people can not meet in the middle or agree on a discussion. Cooperation is key to maintaining a healthy debate. More frequently; when dealing with members of your own family, issues arise that include conflict and resolution. During this process our true conflict management style appears “out of thin air”. (Steve A. Beebe, 2008, p. 191).
Before understanding how to deal with conflict, one must understand what conflict is. Conflict can be defined as, “any situation in which incompatible goals, cognitions, or emotions within or between individuals or groups lead to opposition or antagonistic interaction” (Learning Team Toolkit, 2004, pp 242-243). Does the idea of conflict always have to carry a negative connotation? The growth and development of society would be a great deal slower if people never challenged each other’s ideas. The Learning Team Toolkit discusses three different views of conflict: traditiona...
Many people enjoy working or participating in a group or team, but when a group of people work together chances are that conflicts will occur. Hazleton describes conflict as the discrepancy between what is the perceived reality and what is seen as ideal (2007). “We enter into conflicts reluctantly, cautiously, angrily, nervously, confidently- and emerge from them battered, exhausted, sad, satisfied, triumphant. And still many of us underestimate or overlook the merits of conflict- the opportunity conflict offers every time it occurs” (Schilling, nd.). Conflict does not have to lead to a hostile environment or to broken relationships. Conflict if resolved effectively can lead to a positive experience for everyone involved. First, there must be an understanding of the reasons why conflicts occur. The conflict must be approached with an open mind. Using specific strategies can lead to a successful resolution for all parties involved. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument states “there are five general approaches to dealing with conflict. The five approaches are avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration. Conflict resolution is situational and no one approach provides the best or right approach for all circumstances” (Thomas, 2000).
Rahim (2002) differentiated person’s perception towards handling a conflict into two: “concern for self and concern for others” (p. 216). Further, the study explored two types of conflicts and observed that most conflicts arise during the decision-making process. Dysfunctional conflict, which hinders team performance and interpersonal relations due to individual’s self-interest in implementing particular decision. Functional conflict serves organization purpose with employees involved in the conflict regarding which proposal to implement (Rahim, 2011).
Conflict exists in every organization as a result of incompatible needs, goals, and objectives of two people while aligning to the overall business requirements. Though disagreement is linked with negative impact, the approach has healthy considerations (Leung, 2008). For instance, some conflicts create an avenue for the exchange of ideas and creativity to meet the set organizational purposes. However, damaging disagreement in organizations results in employee dissatisfaction, turnover, and poor services and reduced productivity. The paper establishes different types of interpersonal conflict and key resolution strategies used to address the problem. Human resource managers need to have the capacity to identify different levels of conflicts and the best methods to negate them.
Conflict can occur anywhere and at any place, and recently there has been an ongoing conflict that has been manifesting at work, between a supervisor and an employee, and I am stuck in the middle of their conflict. For the past few months, a coworker has been moved from seat to seat, all over the call center. At first, the conflict was very difficult to see, however, between the supervisor and the employee, atmosphere of tension was felt when interaction was made. The employee, Ana Maria, began showing acts of defiance against her supervisor’s instructions, and additionally began spreading her discontent with fellow employees. As a result from her discontent being spread with to the other employees, work productivity began to fall, which caused
This elasticity in your approach to choosing which conflict style is best for the current situation is a key to managing conflict. No one style of conflict resolution will work all the time when addressing issues. You must remain flexible to other people’s wants, needs, direction, criticism, schedules, moods, temperament, and a myriad of other things in life. If there is one thing in life that will never change it is the fact that everything is going to change! There is nothing you can do to stop it, so the quicker you learn how to adapt to the changes the better off you will be. The ability to change your approach to dealing with conflict better prepares you to face the interpersonal challenges that will eventually come your way. I believe it is important to also remember that you cannot win every battle with every person you encounter. Knowing that you cannot fix or solve every problem with everyone is very helpful in reducing stress and managing difficult situations with others. My father dislikes when I use this cliché but sometimes, it is what it
that may result in a struggle for power or position. Conflict management, therefore, can be
In order of being able to analyze the sources of conflicts regarding the clothing manufacturer, I will present the Conflict Process Model according to McShane and Von Glinow. Therefore, I will first define what conflicts are, and second present the different sources of conflicts and carve out which conflicts are involved regarding to the given case. The third step is to explain two different strategies to minimize these conflicts in future. Finally, I will provide a recommendation and conclusion.