“Keeping the peace: Conflict management strategies for nurse managers” by Johansen Mary
The specific conflict that the author addresses in this article is the interpersonal conflict. In the previous section, the author was able to describe the conflict as a form of disagreement of which the involved parties perceive a threat to their needs, interests, or concerns. However, those conflicts that occur in healthcare environments tend to be complicated as they normally involve the ongoing complex relationships that bases on emotions. A conflict also entails substantive, procedural and the psychological dimensions of which the participants in the conflict would respond on the basis of their perceptions regarding the particular situation. Therefore, such situations filled with thoughts and emotions guide an individual for finding a solution to the conflict.
The interpersonal conflict thus remains to be the common and problematic type of conflict that many nurses experience in their workplaces. The interpersonal conflict thus occurs in three different dimensions, namely patient and family, nurse manager, and nurse-physician conflict. Those conflicts involving nurses and patients, families or visitors occurs due to the disparity in the perceptions in regards to which patient-care issue that needs to be addressed first, limitation on visitation hours, and restrictions on disclosure of confidential information. The other most form of interpersonal conflict is one that occurs between the direct care nurse and the nurse manager. In most cases, this type of conflict is subject to associate with the lack of organizational support from the team in leadership and lack of adequate communication. Finally, the third interpersonal form of interpersonal conflict is one taking place between other healthcare providers and the direct care nurse. If these conflicts are subject to ignore or not handled appropriately, it may result in the toxic work environment.
There are ways for which one would apply this context of the conflict in the managerial practice. As a manager in a health setting, there are possible ways to manage such conflicts. These strategies entail dominating, obligation, avoidance, compromising and integrating. In areas like acute care environments like the medical-surgical and critical care units, avoidance approach of managing interpersonal conflicts work better. The avoidance approach to conflict management may apply to those situations where the nurse is feeling intimidated by the physician’s power and authority, hence having hesitation in confronting the physician regarding the needs of the patient. In the case of such situations, it may be essential to avoid raising the issue as a possible way of averting conflict that would result from confrontation.
In the area of practice as a manager, one would also apply compromises as an alternative to managing interpersonal conflicts. In some areas of medical practice, errors and negligence often occur and thus confronting all issues would result in more conflicts. Therefore, compromises in some minor cases would be an effective strategy for avoiding more conflicts. The domination approach of conflict management would apply to the aspect of setting clear rules and expectations for each person in a healthcare environment. The aspect of domination works best when there is a hierarchy of leadership and powers, hence leading to form of submissive culture in the working environment.
The obligation way of solving interpersonal conflicts is all about having clear roles for each health professional. Therefore, the process promotes accountability in dedicated areas of practice, hence helpful in avoiding the occurrence of interpersonal conflicts. Finally, the integration is another process that would work at solving interpersonal conflicts. In a healthcare environment, a manager would try to mix those people that have been in a conflict as a possible way of solve conflicts. Bring these conflicting parties together would help in breaking the barrier of communication and avoidance, hence allowing room for each party to raise their burning concerns and hence reconcile with each other.
In conclusion, it is apparent that conflict management in nursing practice remains to be an essential factor in the management of healthcare settings. Therefore, nurse managers need to be both purposeful and thoughtful whenever engaging in matters of conflict resolution because such aspects have a direct link to the safety of patient care. Nursing leaders thus need to engage in direct dialogue, engage in coaching, be proactive in identifying potential conflicts, and provide education and training to all in the healthcare environment on aspects of resolving and avoiding conflicts.
Reference
Johansen, M. L. (2012). Keeping the peace: Conflict management strategies for nurse managers Nursing Management (Springhouse), 43(2), 50-54. http://journals.lww.com/nursingmanagement/Fulltext/2012/02000/Keeping_the_peace___Conflict_management_strategies.13.aspx
