"Power Plays and the Abuse of Power in Health Care Organizations"

In health care facilities, power struggles occur due to two major reasons.  First, it occurs when physicians contribute different perspectives or agendas in making health care decisions.  Each party thinks that their opinions are the best in creating a functional organization (Burns et al, 2011).  Secondly, a power struggle occurs when different parties derive their power in different sources. Conflict arises in the different parties as they try to figure out which party should control the decisions or which party to rely upon.  Note that the healthcare facility has multiple powers and the parties place different ideas to solve an issue. Some may have knowledge-based power, others may have high positions, and others may rely on administrative power (Burns et al, 2011).  Power struggle arises in this situation in trying to figure out which group which be allowed to exercise power.

 A healthcare facility could use the following methods to alleviate power imbalances.  The first method is mediation.  Mediation is a process where a hearing officer should listen to the different party's power and give each party a right to self-determination.  The different powers should not affect one's self-determination but rather the hearing officer should empower and protect self-determination (Burns et al, 2011).  A health care facility can also alleviate power imbalance through effective communication with physicians and building relationships.

  Managers should prevent power abuse so that the organization can achieve its goals.  Managers should ensure a balance of power to promote patients' safety and allow the workers to maintain control within the organization Note that abuse of power will result in corporate scandals, which will affect an organization's performance (Burns et al, 2011).  Therefore, it is important to prevent power abuse so that the organization can maintain a good reputation and foster a strong physician-administrator relation, and more importantly, allows the physicians to have greater self-determination.

  Effective negotiation approaches that can be used to change power abuse into a productive power are collaboration and compromise.  Collaboration is the best to approach in that parties involved in power abuse will consider the interest of others, they will be able to manage power, and they will work better to support the organization (Burns et al, 2011).  Workers will not only focus on personal ends but will also consider the organization's needs.  The second negotiation approach is compromising.  This approach will allow the workers to divide value and ensure that each one gets a satisfaction.  Both parties will reach an agreement after considering the party's concern and interest.

 

 

 

 Reference

 Burns L., Bradley E., & Weiner B., (2011). Shortell and Kaluzny's Healthcare Management:

Organization Design and Behavior. Cengage Learning