The term conflict is derived from a Latin word configure which means to clash or to strike together. The best description of conflict is a fight or disagreement between an individual with contradicting ideas, goals, values or beliefs. Conflict is unavoidable in the workplace, especially in a hospital setting. Conflict can arise between doctors, nurses, physician, and other healthcare workers. Expression of conflict behaviour begging’s with disagreements after that verbal abuse and interference. Clinical leadership and conflict go hand in hand. Good leadership skills are required for the management of conflict in the workplace to keep a positive work environment (Abualrub & Alghamdimg, 2013). The issues addressed in this essay include clinical leadership and its importance, causes of conflict, measures applied to manage conflict, leadership styles employed to manage stress, the changes that take place to manage stress and last but not least recommendation for improving the outcome and preventing similar situations.
The hospital remains to be a complex organisation because of its vital nature of work. Patients care, and wellness remains to be the major reason for the existence of the hospital and health care workers. Every staff member has his or her importance for the effective functioning of any hospital (Brown, Lewis, & Sterwart, 2013). Conflicts may arise not only for workers but also for patients and their families. Conflict may have benefits which you might not expect, such as improving self-knowledge, increased understanding and better group cohesion. Conflict can also be damaging if not taken care. The events leading to conflict situation include the following;
Work scales causes a lot of conflict in the hospital. The scale is a managerial instrument employed by nurses to coordinate the working process, which requires an agreement between the nurses to determine a consensus in the staff, hence reducing conflicts (Xu & Daviddhizar, 2012). So if one of the staff does not come to work, and doesn’t inform prior, it may cause conflict because the workload will have increased, and the scale will have to be divided again. The argument may arise during this process which will lead to fights. This will affect patient care and safety, leading to the death of the client.
The unwillingness to collaborate with coworkers causes too many conflicts. For example, sometimes you need assistance to carry a patient from one bed to another because you can’t do it all by yourself, you request for help from your coworker, she says she can’t help you. Lack of cooperation can also be caused by poor communication between individuals (Buchbinder & Buchbinder, 2014). For example, the manager reassigns a task from employee X to employee Y, but employee X does not inform employee Y on the task changes. Poor communication in the workplace will decrease employee morale and work productivity.
Nurses usually work around the clock as they care for their clients. One nurse may be in charge for patients care overnight, while another may be in charge for the same patient during the day. It’s impossible for two nurses to work the same way. For example, if the daytime nurse is dissatisfied with work done by the nurse who was on night duty, it could lead to serious disagreements and conflict, possibly because the daytime nurse believes that the night time nurse works in a disorganised manner leaving the workplace chaotic and confusing. The daytime nurse could also be upset because he or she thinks that daytime duties are more demanding than those of the night shift (Garden, 2012).
The difference in personality among coworkers is the major cause of workplace conflict. Employees come from different cultures and experiences; this plays an important role in forming their personalities. When employees don’t accept the differences in each other’s personalities, trouble may arise in the workplace. For example, a nurse may have a straightforward answer that leads to him speaking whatever is in his mind, even if it’s insulting. Straightforward personality may offend a coworker who does not possess the same type of personality (Jex & Adams, 2012). Diverging opinions and actions to perform work may cause conflict. There may be differences in opinions. Sometimes a nurse may promise you that she will help you to perform the procedure, but when the time comes to do it, she rejects the opinion about it.
I work as a clinical nurse manager where my main roles are to provide oversight for the nursing staff and accomplish administrative work to assure that the hospital facility is running smoothly. Not only do I supervise nurses working in the ward but also I hire nurses, give training and ensure patient care is running smoothly.
The role of a registered nurse come with a lot of responsibilities. Clinical leadership skills are required to solve the conflict ethically and fairly. A good leader should be tactful when dealing with situations of conflict, and he tries not to expose the individual involved, solves the issue without causing a bigger conflict and lastly, he avoids disagreements in front patients or employees (Spagnol & Santiago, 2012). The following measures were applied to solve disagreements in the hospital.
It’s crucial when nurses understand each other’s concerns, interests and needs. During the process of solving disagreements, I try not to blame anybody. I request for information for each person’s viewpoint. Team members are also asked to attempt to understand one another’s goals and judge how those may affect their action. Active listening skills are also encouraged to avoid conflict example allowing your coworker to finish before talking, listening carefully, nodding and lastly maintain eye contact with the speaker (Amason, 2013). By adhering to this guidelines, everybody will be able to understand each other’s position. Concentration as a coworker talks will make it impossible for the conversation to get heated up and cause unnecessary drama.
Believing that all nurses have different personalities and emotional stability, stress management is beneficial to enhance a good relationship between the employees. Stress can be brought by the increased workload, shortage of nurses, stubborn patients and lastly lazy coworkers (Rowold & Wolff, 2014). The first action employed is to ensure that nurses are paid according to the workload and the number of hours they work in a day. Second I will organise a free training where a nurse will be educated on how to manage stress, for example, applying simple stress busters such as exercising, talking it out, listening to relaxing music during the procedure and last but not least taking your mind off the problem by either reading a magazine or taking a walk.
As a manager, my work in any conflict situation is to take control of the situation before it worsens and also keep a good relationship between the health care providers. I ensure that everybody understands that situational conflict is a mutual problem and that it can be solved ethically and fairly through negotiation and respectful communication rather than aggressiveness (Bothman, Toit, & Rothman, 2013). For example a conflict between coworker X and coworker Y, I will organise a face to face meeting with them to remind them of the benefits of a good relationship and establish the main problem. I ensure that both parties know that I respect their point of view and desire to solve the problem. I can also organise free training for the nurses. The best move towards reducing interdisciplinary conflict is for nurses to train together. Burnout is cut down when nurses solve their conflicts through collaboration. This training helps both sides change from the adversarial mindset (Bishop, 2014). Through training, they get to understand their roles better which in turn improves job satisfaction and patient care.
Leadership styles for nurse managers play an important function in the nurse’s job satisfaction. There are several styles of leadership that nurse managers have used to lead the employees, these styles include the following;
In this kind of leadership, the team leaders engage himself in what the employees do in the wards. The nurse leaders are always on the move. As a result, they develop a leader’s style known as management by walking around. Servant leadership gives an opportunity to observe nurses as they interact with patients and families and evaluate the quality of their work (Antokanis & Avolio, 2013).
Democratic leadership gives more control to the subordinates than autocratic leadership. There is participation from the employees during decision making. Even though the team leader makes the final say, he or she collects data, ideas, and feedback from every nurse before making a decision that will affect them and cause disagreements (Closkey & Cain, 2012).
Coercive leadership is mostly used in times of crisis and when democracy has failed. This kind of leadership usually calls for abidance. It’s used to control stubborn employees by giving them specific orders and watchful supervision. Also, this leadership style is best for the successful completion of a task (Barki & Harhatwick, 2012).
Visionary style of leadership motivates employees to engage in a common vision by providing guidance and step to step direction on how to get there. This leadership style pushes nurses to action by motivating them to strike towards their goals and avoid conflicts which will push them backwards (Huber, 2014).
Transactional leadership involves routine rewards and punishment when tasks are successfully finished or not completed. Transactional leaders can also be an authoritative leader who may increase pay for compliant staff or punish with progressive discipline patients with bad misconduct that bring conflict in the hospital (Kleinman, 2012).
Transformation leadership has been linked to a decrease in medical errors and contributed to a safer climate for nurses; servant leadership has lowered patient’s death rate and increased socialisation by nurses and last, but not least transformation leadership has been connected to an increased patient satisfaction and lowered lower staff turnover. Nurses are also motivated by visionary leadership (Wang & Chontawan, 2012).
Provide communication skills training
Communication skills training facilitates good communication between nurses who have different personalities. This training will help nurses avoid conflict during duty thus increasing work productivity (Piero & Tordera, 2015).
Team building activities promote a positive work relationship. This kind of activities gives a chance to employees to know each other. Individual learn their personality difference as they solve team problems(Kunaviktikul, Nuntasupawat, & Booth, 2013).
Conclusion
From the discussion, it’s quite evident that conflict in the workplace is inevitable and can be caused by irresponsibility and lack of commitment at work, lack of cooperation among staff, shift woes and lastly difference in personality. Measures that have been applied by the managers include listening to different interests, education on management of stress, and ensuring the good relationship is a priority. Leadership styles that have been employed in the management of stress include servant leadership, democratic leadership, autocratic leadership, visionary leadership and lastly transactional leadership (Lever & Berendensen, 2012). This leadership styles have decreased medical errors, increased socialisation and increased patient satisfaction — changes that have been applied to eliminate prevention of similar event from occurring include providing communication skills and team building activities.
As from the findings and conclusion of this study, the following the following are herewith recommended to improve the outcome and prevent similar occasions from occurring:
References
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Amason, A. (2013). Distinguishing the Effects of Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict on Strategies Decision-making: Resolving a Paradox for Top Management Groups. Academy of Management Journal, 23(3), 34-36.
Antokanis, J., & Avolio, B. (2013). Context and leadership: an examination of the nine-factor full-range leadership theory using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The Leadership Quarterly, 34, 56-58.
Barki, S., & Harhatwick, J. (2012). Conflict Management: A Communication Skills Approach. Working through Conflict, 45, 6-8.
Bothman, S., Toit, H., & Rothman, S. (2013). Leadership empowerment behavior, employee engagement and intention to leave in a petrochemical laboratory. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(1), 1-7.
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Buchbinder, S., & Buchbinder, D. (2014). Relation of burnout with lack of time for being with significant others, role conflict, cohesion, and self-confidence among Norwegian Olympic athletes. Percept Mot Skills, 94, 795-804
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