The Conflict
The current conflict involves two individuals, Kimberly and Jade. Kimberly is a nurse and Jade is a nurse manager. The conflict is based on individual matters and involves the problem of role assignment within the professional medical setting. The conflict originated two weeks ago and developed at a fast pace. Therefore, I believe that several crucial steps should be taken to mitigate the effects of this conflict and adverse outcomes characteristic of the role conflict. This paper dwells on the details of the conflict between Kimberly and Jade and describes the stages of the conflict. I review several conflict resolution strategies that can be used in this situation and pick the best one based on the available evidence. In the end, I reach the verdict concerning the overall complexity and impact of the conflict in the nursing environment.
Details of the Conflict
The background of the conflict involves several situations where Kimberly allegedly took on the role of the nurse manager without Jade knowing it. Overall, the relations between the two were not perfect, and Kimberly’s behavior and choice of words had a substantial impact on the situation. Jade did not know that Kimberly played the role of the nurse manager at the facility in her absence and did not expect that anyone would behave so unprofessionally. Kimberly made some questionable decisions and talked to other employees at the hospital rudely. She said inappropriate things to her colleagues and even several patients. It is also important to mention Jade’s attitude as she decided to resolve the conflict in a peaceful manner even though she was very unpleased with how things were going.
Stages of the Conflict
If we divide the conflict into stages, there will be six key stages that Kimberly and Jade’s conflict will go through. First, it is the transition from the latent conflict to the conflict emergence (which has already happened). Second, the nurse and the nurse manager went through the escalation of the conflict due to the misunderstanding between the two and Kimberly’s inappropriate behavior. The third stage is called the stalemate. Jade was hurt by Kimberly’s individual and professional decisions which resulted in the climax of the conflict. The fourth stage of the conflict is the period of negotiation. Despite everything, Jade chose to resolve the issue and go on. The two last stages are dispute settlement and peacebuilding which happens after the conflict is over. I believe that the current conflict between the nurse and the nurse manager will end peacefully, but most probably a disciplinary action will be taken against Kimberly.
Conflict Resolution Strategies
The first strategy is the accommodation. I would recommend it because it generally helps to decrease the pressure on the parties that are involved in the conflict (Halperin, Cohen-Chen, & Goldenberg, 2014). The key objective of this strategy is to help Kimberly and Jade understand that harmony in the workplace and their personal/ professional relationships are more important than the conflict. It is important to be reasonable and help the parties involved in the conflict to build goodwill (Halperin et al., 2014). Nonetheless, if the conflict situation repeats itself, this conflict resolution strategy will be seen as ineffective.
The second conflict resolution strategy is generally related to the process of finding a compromise (Halperin et al., 2014). This strategy may be used in the current situation because the solution to the problem does not have to be perfect. This means that one of the parties will give up something for the other party to leverage. This strategy can be used in Jade and Kimberly’s case because their conflict is not complex (Halperin et al., 2014). Nevertheless, it is crucial to take into consideration the long-term goals of the organization as this strategy is commonly providing an opportunity to find a compromise but not to resolve the conflict.
The third conflict resolution strategy is collaboration. It has been chosen by the parties involved in the conflict previously described in the paper. Jade and Kimberly are working on a resolution that will satisfy their needs and interests. They both understand that their core objective is to guarantee patient safety and allocate resources efficiently (Chan, Sit, & Lau, 2014). I suppose that this strategy can be considered one of the most effective strategies. Still, I would not recommend applying it to every conflict situation as it would lead to spending time on the conflicts that are not so important and rather trivial instead of paying attention to the substantial issues.
There is also a strategy that I would not recommend to apply to the current situation. This strategy presupposes that the conflict will be ignored and the team will continue functioning as if nothing happened (Nelsey & Brownie, 2012). One of the possible options would be to let Jade and Kimberly calm down and realize the significance of mitigating the conflict. I believe that the issues that involve role conflicts cannot be solved by avoiding the issues that caused the confrontation. The potential damage of avoiding the current conflict cannot be predicted (Nelsey & Brownie, 2012). Therefore, this strategy should not be taken into account within the framework of the current conflict.
The last conflict resolution strategy is to engage in a sort of competition. On a bigger scale, this strategy presupposes that one of the parties should win and the other should lose. In a nursing environment, it is unacceptable because Jade and Kimberly will not cooperate further due to the misunderstanding and unwillingness to accept the other party’s point of view (Iglesias & Vallejo, 2012). Even though this strategy can be used as a short-term solution, I would not make it my primary pick for the current conflict. Implementing this strategy too often will result in an indecisive team that does not provide any relevant feedback and acts slowly.
Conclusion
The paper dwells on a conflict that transpired between a nurse and a nurse manager. I reviewed the background of the conflict and provided numerous important details concerning the case. The conflict was divided into stages, and each stage of the conflict was described briefly. Several conflict resolution strategies were studied and theoretically applied to the role conflict described in the paper. I believe that there are no conflicts in the workplace that cannot be solved and Jade and Kimberly’s conflict is a perfect representation of my point of view. The core responsibility of any nursing professional is to be flexible and proceed by the circumstances. Nonetheless, the choice of words and behavior should also be taken into consideration as no conflict could be resolved without the application of an appropriate strategy.
References
Chan, J. C., Sit, E. N., & Lau, W. (2014). Conflict management styles, emotional intelligence and implicit theories of personality of nursing students: A cross-sectional study. Nurse Education Today, 34(6), 934-939.
Halperin, E., Cohen-Chen, S., & Goldenberg, A. (2014). Indirect emotion regulation in intractable conflicts: A new approach to conflict resolution. European Review of Social Psychology, 25(1), 1-31.
Iglesias, M., & Vallejo, R. (2012). Conflict resolution styles in the nursing profession. Contemporary Nurse, 4(12), 2768-2782.
Nelsey, L., & Brownie, S. (2012). Effective leadership, teamwork and mentoring – Essential elements in promoting generational cohesion in the nursing workforce and retaining nurses. Collegian, 19(4), 197-202.