Introduction
Conflicts can occur in various settings, but in the workplace, their impact can extend to one’s performance and relationship with clients. In hospitals, disputes between members of the personnel can also affect patients, whose level of satisfaction significantly depends on the quality of care (Moreland & Apker, 2016). Therefore, it is essential for nurses and other medical professionals to understand the process of conflict progression and know how to resolve different conflicts in the most efficient way. This paper investigates an example of an intergroup conflict based on nurses’ experience and attitude towards new employees, describes four main stages that can be a part of any conflict and offers a number of potential resolutions to the presented conflict.
Unresolved Conflict: Details
The issue of discrimination and unfair treatment can occur between workers with different levels of professional experience (Barsky, 2014). In this example, a group of nurses including a nursing team leader treats new nurses unfairly by delegating responsibilities between the members of the old team and leaving new workers without dealing with important tasks. Furthermore, some recently recruited nurses become targets for verbal bullying and unfair criticism based on their assumed lack of practical experience.
The central conflict occurred in one of the units when a group of nurses was offered help from a newly recruited nurse with experience in the same field. As the unit was in need of another worker, management hired a nurse who recently graduated from the university and had less practical experience than other workers. Although she worked in a similar hospital setting for some years, her length of service was significantly shorter. After being hired, this nurse appeared to be enthusiastic about assuming a new position and dealing with complex situations. However, the nursing manager of this unit was skeptical of her experience and skills and did not allow her to show her abilities by engaging with the team. Moreover, she often attempted to humiliate the younger worker for expressing new ideas and encouraging change. Older team members told the new nurse that she does not “know anything” and that “everything [she] thinks is right is not.” The use of such language followed by a dismissive attitude pressured the new hire, affecting her mental health.
In this case, the new nurse experienced pressure from multiple members of the staff, which also impacted her performance. While she was able to work with some patients, bullying and mental stress put a strain on her psychological well-being, which in turn led to her making various mistakes during work. Nurse’s performance directly affects patient satisfaction, meaning that this conflict impacted patient care as well as nurse’s health and ability to participate in work processes (Moreland & Apker, 2016). Moreover, this conflict remains unresolved as the nurse along with multiple new hires often encounters discrimination and bullying from their more experienced peers and team leaders.
Four Stages of Conflict
There are four major stages of the conflict that precede its outcome. They are: latent conflict, perceived conflict, felt conflict, and manifested conflict (Folger, Poole, & Stutman, 2017). According to the first stage, the conflict is latent if involved individuals do not recognize the existing problem. The conflict may exist in the workplace or come close to becoming apparent in this step. In the described example, this stage might have been present when the new nurse joined the team and started working under the guidance of the team leader. While she could not specify any particular instances where she felt uncomfortable or ignored, the conflict was existent due to the attitude of the nurse leader.
In the next stage, parties of the conflict become aware of its existence (Folger et al., 2017). When one or more sides of the conflict perceive its formation, they enter this conflict phase. It is possible that the nurse leader and members of the team did not go through the latent stage as they most likely understood their behavior towards the younger employee. Thus, only the new nurse went through the first step and transferred into the second one upon realizing the discriminatory practices that targeted her. However, she continued working and did not express any emotions about the conflict.
The third step, the felt conflict, is characterized by involved persons experiencing emotions connected to the conflict’s progression (Folger et al., 2017). For example, the new nurse’s attitude towards the team leader changed as she stopped seeing her as a good leadership figure and lost interest in her job. Furthermore, she also expressed such emotions as mistrust, fear, anxiety, and hostility towards the team as a response to their undermining and aggressive behavior. Her anxiety affected her performance and her fear of being lectured led to more mistakes and higher levels of stress. Team members’ attitudes might have also been heavily reliant on emotions as they probably felt competitive and superior to the new nurse because of their experience.
Finally, the last stage is the manifested conflict, during which one or more parties engage in active negative behavior targeted at the other party (Folger et al., 2017). As the older team members continued to bully the new nurse and removed any opportunity for her to participate in decision-making, she became increasingly frustrated and started an argument with some of the older workers. Here, the delegation issue was present as nurses unfairly distributed their responsibilities and based their workload not on patient care but on their prejudice. The team leader also engaged in the conflict by accusing the young employee of being disrespectful towards authority and more experienced peers. Although the new nurse continued to work in these settings, her attitude towards work was significantly affected by these events. Both parties of the conflict engaged in conversations with adverse outcomes and provocations.
Strategies for Conflict Resolution
The described situation is rather serious as it surpasses the problems of various interpersonal conflicts and severely affects the working process of the hospital. Thus, such strategic approaches as a conversation between conflicting parties without outside help may be ineffective. The interference of a third party is also necessary because of the inequality in positions of involved individuals. An employee cannot be expected to feel comfortable discussing the conflict with her manager who is also the initiator of the dispute.
Therefore, the issue of discrimination and vertical and horizontal bullying requires the help of a nursing leader of a higher position who has the authority to impose specific rules and guidelines. This person should interfere with the conflict and remind the team leader of her primary duties to help and guide other nurses (Fiset, Luciani, Hurtubise, & Grant, 2017). If the manager cannot succeed at being a responsible and fair leader, her behavior may lead to the loss of credibility and reliability as a professional. Moreover, team members should also be instructed not to emphasize the competitive side of their work but the collaborative one.
With the interference of the authoritative figure, new approaches to conflict resolution become accessible. For instance, the style of collaboration is the most preferable in this situation because the team and its leader should be reminded of how to work with new members (Barsky, 2014). It is possible to search for reasons behind the team’s behavior and address their concerns or misunderstandings. Other approaches such as avoidance of the problem and competition will not bring positive results to the situation because the conflict is not minor or urgent. The issue of some employees abusing their power should be resolved with long-term approaches and a focus on teamwork. Thus, it is possible to advise a nursing leader to discuss collaborating options for the unit and outline leadership qualities for more experienced nurses. Highlighting the significance of teamwork may also prevent the occurrence of similar conflicts in the future.
Summary and Future Considerations
The issue of vertical and horizontal bullying and unfair delegation in nursing is a serious intergroup conflict that may divide the hospital staff and interfere with their work. Such conflicts require help from a nursing leader who can use his or her leadership skills in order to influence the conflicting parties and encourage them to consider a better outcome. The style of collaboration should be used in this situation as it is necessary to improve the relationship of the unit in the long term. This experience shows that conflict resolution is an essential skill of every nurse because conflicts in the workplace may significantly impact employees and patients and negatively affect patient care.
References
Barsky, A. (2014). Conflict resolution for the helping professions (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Fiset, V., Luciani, T., Hurtubise, A., & Grant, T. L. (2017). Clinical nursing leadership education in long-term care: Intervention design and evaluation. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 43(4), 49-56.
Folger, J., Poole, M. S., & Stutman, R. K. (2017). Working through conflict: Strategies for relationships, groups, and organizations (8th ed.).New York, NY: Routledge.
Moreland, J. J., & Apker, J. (2016). Conflict and stress in hospital nursing: Improving communicative responses to enduring professional challenges. Health Communication, 31(7), 815-823.