Conflict Management

            Conflict is a disagreement that occurs between individuals, oneself, or differences that are likely to cause harm. Unfortunately, it is inevitable, and it can happen in any profession, including healthcare. It can also be defined as a situation with conflicting emotions, goals, or cognition between or within groups or individuals that result in opposition and antagonistic interaction. Since it cannot be avoided, measures to resolve it needs to be put in place though, in some cases, conflict cannot result in an adverse effect rather a constructive problem-solving.

Characteristics of Conflict

• It is a process that involves misunderstanding and differences of viewpoint, values, and interest.
• It is inevitable; this may be because individuals are different.
• It usually occurs because people, organizations, and groups have different needs, but the resources are limited.
• The parties involved must have a different perception for it to exist.
• It is not unidimensional, and everyone is inflicted.

Causes

            Conflict in an organization may arise from various factors such presence of weak leadership which results from people leading more qualified staff, seeking of power by different individuals, stress from external sources, and lack of teamwork. Others include incompatibility between an individual’s values, skills, perceptions, or goals and forcing workers to perform activities out of their interest (Ellis & Toney-Butler, 2019). Besides, changes that are constant in the competitive environment, having employees with great diversity and lack of adequate resources

 

Types of conflicts

            From the definition, conflict can be divided into three basic types; goal conflict where the preferred outcome of a situation becomes incompatible; cognitive which represents a situation where the ideas or thoughts are not consistent, and finally, effective conflict which occurs in cases where emotions or feelings are incompatible (Healthnet Organization, 2019). Conflicts can result in different forms which can be different from those that are caused by completions and therefore, it is the work of the manager to understand them so that they can be in the better position during the resolution process.

Levels of conflict

Intrapersonal Conflict

            It occurs within an individual, and either cognitive or goal conflict mostly causes it, and therefore, it places an individual in two or more situation to choose from. For example, when individual behavior has mutually exclusive outcomes when selecting from situations all or both with positive results when an individual has to choose one from two cases both with a negative outcome (Healthnet Organization, 2019). Lastly, when deciding between a situation with both positive and negative result.

Interpersonal Conflicts

            It involves two or more persons, for example, two members of a team. Some of the causes include personal differences, perceptions (due to differences in experiences, education, and training), clashes in interest and values, status and power variations and scarcity of resources (Healthnet Organization, 2019). Some of the causes, for example, in the case of limited resources, it is almost automatic, and it is widespread in many organizations.

 

 

Intragroup Conflict

            This happens within a group, and many eventually reach consensus, but some may result in serious disagreements. Intragroup conflicts can either fall under substantive (based on the nature of the content or task) or effective categories (based on the group’s interpersonal relationships) (Healthnet Organization, 2019). Substantive conflict is commonly related to intellectual misunderstandings, and on the other hand, effective conflict is associated with emotional feelings which can be seen through interpersonal battles.

Inter-group Conflict

            Since an organization is made up of different individuals and groups, situations may arise that may force them to form groups. With certainty, there is a need for them to have harmonious relations to foster the growth of the organization. However, inter-group conflicts in an organization are inevitable.

Intra-organizational Conflict

            This occurs within an organization and involves horizontal, vertical, line-staff, and role conflicts. The vertical disputes happen between levels of an organization, for example, between a subordinate and superior employee (Healthnet Organization, 2019). On the other hand, horizontal conflict occurs between workers or departments of a similar hierarchical level. Role conflicts due to different expectations other individuals have concerning activities that are done by people of certain positions.

Managing Conflict

            Some of the conflicts that occur in healthcare can be competitive and constructive; this, it can be encouraged. Conversely, others are destructive, and therefore, it must be prevented or resolved as soon as possible to minimize damage (Healthnet Organization, 2019) though the primary goal is the prevention of their occurrences.

Prevention of conflicts

            Various ways can be employed to curb conflicts in an organization. According to Schein, some of the measures that can be taken include;

• Reward system: The system for compensation of individual or group should be created such that it does not develop a sense of competition or conflict within the unit. It must also be directly proportional to the effort of the individual or the group involved with significant consideration of the interdependence of the parties.
• Goal structure: The primary objective of the organization must be indicated with each unit having their duties and contribution toward it. Besides, all individuals in the unit should be well conversant with their mandate and roles towards the achievement of the goal.
• Trust and communication: members of the unit need to be encouraged to have open communication because of its ability to boost trust among them. It also promotes understanding of individual problems and the establishment of a solution to help address them.
• Co-ordination: It is one of the critical steps together with communication. Activities that are well coordinated have a lower risk for the development of conflicts. Thus, a special liaison office needs to be set up to solve issues concerning co-ordination.

Resolving behavioral conflicts

            A significant number of researchers have developed five primary strategies that can be used to address and lower the consequences of behavioral conflict. Although the use of different terminologies has been used, the content is similar. Healthnet Organization (2019), outlines Blake and Mouton five styles of resolving disputes include;

• Ignoring the conflict: This involves complete avoidance of the situation. The manager, in this case, pretends like nothing is happening, and it is best where the manager’s involvement may result in more controversy.
• Smoothing: This refers to covering up of the conflict by bringing in the need for unity rather than looking for ways to solve the situation. It acts as a temporary solution since the problem is not addressed and thus may explode.
• Forcing: This style involves the elimination of one opponent/party and keeping the other. In this case, the trouble-maker is fired, which automatically makes the other party win.
• Compromising: This is where both members of the conflicting parties agree to give up something to gain another. It involves balancing the parties’ demands and bargaining to give to take until an agreement is reached.
• Problem-solving: This style suggests confrontation of the conflict with a primary goal of seeking the best solution for it. The approach considers the existence of differences, and thus, issues are addressed through conducting discussions and having respect for other people’s viewpoints.

Factors affecting Conflict Styles

• Manager’s communication skills
• Past experiences concerning conflicts
• Position in the organization
• The expectation of others on resolving the conflict
• Self-concept

Importance of conflict management in workplaces

            Conflicts in an organization can result in several negative consequences, especially those considered destructive. Hence, management of conflicts through prevention and sufficient resolution are crucial. Firstly, it helps in the establishment of good working relationships among workers (Jacobson & Jacobson, 2017). Through proper discussion of individual differences and setting up goals that help in resolving issues can cause the development of positive changes. It can also promote understanding and accepting the uniqueness of each person which can then develop a better working environment.

            Also, managing conflict promotes the achievement of both individual and organizational goals. This is because when individuals work in resolving conflict, they move to a better position of understanding situations and attainment of their purposes (Jacobson & Jacobson, 2017). An excellent working relationship brings the spirit of togetherness which can then facilitate the productivity of workers and finally, the achievement of the institutional goals.

            Furthermore, it can address cases of demotivation that occurs among workers. Employees with no motivation have reduced productivity rates, and it may derail the organization's ability to attain its goal. Therefore, proper conflict management is a critical element to facilitate and promote innovation, invention, delivery of quality health services, and rise in productivity (Jacobson & Jacobson, 2017). It will also create a sense of belonging and love, which might improve service provision.

            In addition, proper conflict management can also reduce absenteeism among employees that results from a negative working environment. Due to this, the possibility of employees seeking jobs from other organizations will also decrease (Jacobson & Jacobson, 2017). Hence, it will be possible to retain more qualified, experienced and skilled employees

Consequences of Dysfunctional Conflict Management

            Conflict management is an essential factor in an organization, but the presence of a dysfunctional system might result in decreased productivity in health delivery from the workers. This might result from unresolved workplace relationships which then reduces morale, increases stress, and creates distrust among employees (Holt, n.d.). When the conflicts go on without exploring proper resolving strategies, performance, and productivity go down. Therefore, it can result in poor health outcomes among individuals seeking care services.

            Poor conflict resolution can also result in a division of healthcare workers. This will result in the development of two or more opponents which can then cause massive differences in meetings, cause passive aggression, create favoritism, and generally poor working environment (Holt, n.d.). With the divisions, it will be challenging to address critical issues such as projects, creating positivity or even communicating adequately to the members

Application of Conflict Management in Nursing

            Conflicts are inevitable, and therefore, they are faced by nurses in the healthcare set up at one point in time. According to Higazee (2015), some of the most common conflicts that nurses experience are intragroup and physician disruptions conflicts and thus there is need to come with the necessary solutions to promote quality delivery of health care services. Just like other workplaces, conflict management in a healthcare organization can be managed through both prevention and resolving behavioral issues using the five styles.

Conclusion

Conclusively, conflicts in and organization can occur at any time and cannot be avoided altogether. However, presences of elaborate prevention and resolving strategies can be able to reduce the cases of significant types and levels of conflicts. This will help in fostering the success of the organization and promoting services delivery which could have caused significant negative consequences when left unexplored. Therefore, conflict management is a crucial factor that must be prioritized in all organization, including the healthcare sector, to facilitate care delivery and growth of the industry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Ellis, V. L., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2019). Conflict Management. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. Retrieved 13 September 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30739920

Healthnet Organization. (2019). Conflict management. Retrieved 13 September 2019, from https://healthnet.org.np/downloads/manual/Conflict_management.pdf

Holt, Mitchell. (n.d.). Risks of Not Confronting Conflict in the Workplace. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/risks-not-confronting-conflict-workplace-1205.html

Higazee, M. (2015). Types and Levels of Conflicts Experienced by Nurses in the Hospital Settings. Health Science Journal, 9(6). Retrieved from http://www.hsj.gr/medicine/types-and-levels-of-conflicts-experienced-by-nurses-in-the-hospital-settings.php?aid=7838

Jacobson, S., & Jacobson, S. (2017). The Benefits of Conflict Resolution | The Conover Company. The Conover Company. Retrieved 13 September 2019, from https://www.conovercompany.com/the-benefits-of-conflict-resolution/