Conflicts in healthcare Settings

Conflicts in healthcare Settings

Name:

Institution:

Date:

Final Written ProjectIn 2014, business and management professionals are concerned with the conflict that takes place in their organizations and its destructive potential – even though conflict can be positive and useful in some situations. There are numerous conflict issues in today’s global workplace, especially with the current international economic situation. As a new business and/or HR Director, you have decided to start a new professional development and learning program for employees. You will be presenting different topics during noon lectures on issues that are relevant to your company or organization.

For the first lecture, you should select one of these topics and prepare a written report that will be distributed to everyone (25%).

Select any one of these topics for your Current Issues Report (CIR):

Conflict management system design (also known as resolution system design) – approaches to the design of complaint-handling (grievance) systems that emphasize interest-based over rights-based dispute resolution.

Managing conflict in healthcare organizations – the impact and forms of conflict in hospitals and other health care institutions.

Conflict and disability management – management of conflicts that arise from employee disabilities and reasonable accommodation disputes.

Conflict and its resolution in the construction industry – the impact of conflict and the role of mediation and other forms of dispute resolution among owners, contractors, subcontractors, architects, suppliers, lenders, insurance carriers, and bonding companies.

Conflict and its resolution in the religious organizations – conflict within congregations and within church hierarchy.

Conflict and its resolution in the real estate industry – the impact of conflict and methods of resolution of disputes among buyers, sellers, and agents.

Conflict and its resolution in government organizations – the forms of conflict and methods of resolution in government organizations. Government organizations include DOD, military, and federal and state government.

Conflict and its resolution in the financial industry – the forms of conflict and methods of resolution in financial organizations – the impact of conflict and methods of resolution of disputes among all parties.

Other Conflict Issues – could be as applied to a particular situation, concern, or issue. (Ask permissions first)

Conflict and its resolution in “my” particular company/industry – the forms and impact of conflict between managers and employees and among employees. Think about an organization with which you are currently associated. This company or organization can be the place where you work or any other organization such as a team, club, volunteer organization, etc. It must be an organization in which your involvement is significant enough to enable you to address the issues.

A conflict may occur in a situation when two or more perspectives, opinions, and values are contradictory to one another and have not been agreed upon or aligned (Dinkin, Filner & Maxwell, 2013). Conflicts are always common among individuals and groups. It is always an inevitable condition through which change may be enhanced. Conflicts are always experienced in all kinds of work environments due to the fact that there are disagreements regarding attitudes, beliefs, ideas, goals, values, opinions, perceptions, feelings, and actions concerning issues of importance. In nursing settings, conflicts are inevitable and there are four types of conflicts that may be experienced. These include intrapersonal conflicts, interpersonal conflicts, intragroup conflicts, and intergroup conflicts.

The first type of conflict is intrapersonal conflict. This type of conflict normally takes place within an individual. An example is a situation where a certain healthcare employee has a sick person at home and he/she is the only one who is responsible for taking care of the sick person. In such a situation, the healthcare employee has an intrapersonal conflict, which involves the need of taking care of the sick relative at home versus the need of being at the healthcare workplace. The other good example that illustrates intrapersonal conflict involves a situation when a healthcare employee intends to advance her/his career, but the given employee does not have the time nor the resources to attend school.

The second type of conflict is interpersonal conflict. This type of conflict is normally experienced in a situation where two or more individuals are not in agreement on the best ways that can be applied to best manage a certain problem. An example of an interpersonal conflict is a situation when a patient does not comply with the orders of the physician, regarding his/her treatment prescriptions. Another example is when a staff member does not like his/her assignments. Another situation involves a case where an individual who has been floated feels that he/she has been given a heavier assignment. All the above examples cause interpersonal conflicts in a healthcare setting (Dinkin, Filner & Maxwell, 2013).

The third type of conflict is intragroup conflict. This type of conflict normally occurs between persons that are in a certain specific group (Wolf, 2011). Intragroup conflicts are normally rooted in objective differences and elevated by controlling or antagonistic attitudes and behaviors. The main factors that cause this type of conflict include the struggle for power, economic incentives, position, and value differences.

The fourth type of conflict that may be encountered in a healthcare setting is intergroup conflict. This type of healthcare setting, conflict arises due to the incompatibility in the beliefs, goals, behaviors or attitudes between groups (Wolf, 2011). It normally arises between two competing or distinct groups. Conflicts are thus a result of the mutual dependence of the activities of various groups within the healthcare setting.

The type of conflict that I have experienced in a healthcare setting is an interpersonal conflict involving the program manager, Susy Miller, and Dr. Kincaid. The conflict arose from the way in which the Batriatric program manager scheduled surgeries in a way that the involved surgeons felt that it could not enable them to perform their activities, which are complicated, in an effective manner. The manager’s schedules, according to the providers, will lead to poor patient outcomes (Marcus, Dorn & McNulty, 2011).

This conflicting situation has effects on both the organization and the Bariatric program. The first effect is the negative outcomes of the program. This arises from the fact that the providers of the program feel that they are not given enough time for preparation for the surgeries and also the scheduling, which they believe that won’t allow them to perform the surgeries in an efficient manner. The second effect is that the program will lead to cases of discrimination. This results from the provider’s allegations that the program managers favors some of the providers in the program. The third effect majorly concerns the organization. The organization will have to make some program changes to ensure that the program is favorable to all the providers, without any forms of favoritism (Williams, Dickinson & Robinson, 2012).

There are several solutions that can be applied in the above case scenario. The first one is the introduction of a new Bariatric program manager to avoid any form of favoritism on the providers. The second solution is the restructuring of the Bariatric program to schedules that favors better results from the providers and also that gives the providers enough time to prepare for their surgeries. Considering all the aspects presented in the scenario, the best option would be the restructuring of the Bariatric program to encourage better results from the providers and also to allow the providers enough time to prepare for surgeries before they perform them (Marcus, Dorn & McNulty, 2011).

I believe that both Ms Miller and Dr. Kincaid will be in support of the solution to the conflict. The only person who will have a difficulty will be the program manager, since he will lose some of his powers if the changes are made.

Reference

Dinkin, S., Filner, B., & Maxwell, L. (2013). The exchange strategy for managing conflict in health care: How to defuse emotions and create solutions when the stakes are high. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Marcus, L. J., Dorn, B. C., & McNulty, E. J. (2011). Renegotiating health care: Resolving conflict to build collaboration. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Williams, I., Dickinson, H., & Robinson, S. (2012). Rationing in health care: The theory and practice of priority setting. Bristol: Policy Press.

Wolf, J. A. (2011). Organization development in healthcare: Conversations on research and strategies. Bingley: Emerald Group.