Introduction
Nowadays, different medical institutions highly focus on leadership to avoid and resolve conflicts at work, as they may have a negative effect on the quality of the provided services and well-being of the patients (Finkelman, 2006). Apart from their sufficient training, they continue to arise. To understand the nature of conflicts, it is vital to describe the conflict that incurred in one of the hospitals in Miami (my workplace). Thus, it is also critical to understand its stages and propose strategies to find a solution to it. In the end, conclusions are drawn to summarize the main findings of the paper.
Description of a Conflict
As it was mentioned earlier, a conflict took place in one of the hospitals in Miami. In this case, it incurred since the tasks were not delegated effectively, as some nurses had to be responsible for more procedures than others. For example, one nurse had to take care of five patients during the day due to the layoff of some medical personnel. During the lunch break, she discovered that other nurses had fewer tasks to complete. The nurse discovered that this delegation of responsibilities was unfair, as she felt that the management of the hospital was using her.
To resolve this problem, she went to have a conversation with the management, and they stated that she was a highly valuable professional and that was the reason for giving her more responsibilities. She did not consider this argument appropriate, and she claimed that the majority of her tasks were not complicated, and other nurses could easily complete them. This statement did not sound convincing to the shift manager, and he stated that they could not modify the whole schedule, as it was already approved by other staff members. The nurse got very angry and explained that she would like to see the top management, as she did not want to work extra hours. Otherwise, she would quit her job, and with these words, she left the office.
When analyzing the conflict, it took place between a nurse and a shift manager. It seemed that the problem existed only between two of them, as other nurses did not have issues with their schedules. Based on these findings, this conflict was interpersonal that took place between the employees from different levels of subordination. Simultaneously, the conflict was unresolved since the needs of the nurse were not satisfied while the shift manager did not propose any suitable solutions or compromises.
In this case, this tension might lead to the negative outcomes including decreased quality of the provided services, lack of motivation and commitment, increased frequency of medical errors, and subsequent conflicts with other nurses, patients, and physicians (Akpabio, John, Akpan, Akpabio, & Uyanah, 2016). Overall, resolving this conflict has to be discovered as a priority, as it cannot only create a negative atmosphere in the hospital but also damage its reputation and decrease patients’ readmissions.
Stages of a Conflict and Delegation Issue
Another critical step is to identify the main stages of the problem, and they are latent, perceived, felt, and manifest conflict. “Latent” phase implies that both parties are unaware of the conflict (Finkelman, 2006). In the context of the presented case, the nurse was unaware of the problem until she had a conversation with her co-workers. Along with that, the shift manager also considered this delegation of tasks as appropriate. The subsequent stage is “perceived”, and it implies that both parties know about the conflict (Finkelman, 2006). In the case situation, the nurse informed the management about the issue by complaining about unfair scheduling.
During the “felt” stage, the levels of anxiety and anger tend to increase (Finkelman, 2006). The nurse expressed her dissatisfaction with the managerial solution by screaming and complaining about unfairness. The management was stressed and tried to provide a rationale for making a particular decision. In turn, the fourth stage is “manifest conflict”, and it majorly focuses on observing the conflict and expressing emotions and expectations (Finkelman, 2006). In this case, the nurse was using aggression as a tool to express her dissatisfaction with the current delegation of responsibilities and patients. As the conflict was not resolved during the previous stages and the aftermath phase was absent, it would continue to develop while both nurses and management would use various tactics to support their positions.
Apart from the importance of these stages, it is vital to determine whether delegation was an issue in this conflict. In this instance, it was one of the central problems and the core of the tensions. Regardless of careful evaluation of the strengths of the nurse and her ability to provide high-quality care to a specific number of patients, the management made a mistake in delegating responsibilities among nurses (Finkelman, 2006). In this case, giving five patients to this nurse only partly complied with her professional competences while her opinion was not considered. Overall, the shift manager was fully responsible for the conflict since he violated the principles of delegation by misallocating human resources and showing disrespect to nurses while negatively affecting patients’ well-being and health.
Strategies to Resolve a Conflict
The previous sections underline the paramount importance of resolving this conflict, and there are diverse conflict management styles that can be employed. In this case, one of the most common ones is collaboration, as it is key to organizational success and its effective functioning (Finkelman, 2006). For example, Dahshan and Keshk (2014) discovered a correlation between different conflict resolution approaches and the desire of employees to contribute to organizational growth and revenues.
With the help of the quantitative methodology, it was revealed that using collaborative strategy increased intentions of nurses to continue working in the organization while it implied finding a win-win long-term resolution (Dahshan & Keshk, 2014). In the context of this situation, the most appropriate solution will be attempting to convince the nurse to continue serving these patients until the end of the shift while decreasing her workloads or giving her days off in the subsequent weeks.
Another strategy may be finding a compromise, but it suggests that both parties have to sacrifice something to reach the most appropriate solution (Finkelman, 2006). With the help of a quantitative questionnaire, Chan, Sit, and Lau (2014) found a vehement connection between different conflict management styles and emotional intelligence while a compromise was highly supported by the theories of personality. In this instance, this approach can be used to make an interim decision, as finding a long-term solution will require some time due to the need to discover the emotionality and interests of both parties. In this instance, the nurse may be required to serve four patients while the shift manager has to reconsider the delegation of responsibilities.
Conclusion
Overall, this conflict showed that sufficient delegation of responsibilities could be regarded as one of the major difficulties of the nursing profession. In this case scenario, the nurse discovered that she had more patients to take care of than her colleagues, and it created a perception that the actions of the shift manager were unfair. She aggressively expressed her dissatisfaction while the manager tried to prove that it was necessary due to layoffs. Thus, he violated some principles of delegation, and this mistake and development of the subsequent conflicts could be viewed as his fault.
In this case, using four phases helped discover the escalation of the conflict while stating that it could have been addressed earlier. Nonetheless, to resolve this conflict, collaboration and compromise were selected while the last one could be used to determine an interim decision for a week, and collaboration with the nursing leader would help find a long-term solution. Based on the analysis of this situation conducted above, to avoid similar conflicts in the future, it would be necessary to resolve them as early as possible while it would be essential to control the work of the employees to minimize their occurrence.
References
Akpabio, I., John, M., Akpan, M., Akpabio, F., & Uyanah, D. (2016). Work-related conflict and nurse’s role performance in a tertiary hospital in South-South Nigeria. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 6(2), 106-115.
Chan, J., Sit, E., & Lau, W. (2014). Conflict management styles, emotional intelligence and implicit theories of personality of nursing students: A cross-sectional study. Nurse Education Today, 34(1), 934-939.
Dahshan, M., & Keshk, L. (2014). Managers’ conflict management styles and its effect of staff nurses’ turnover intentions at Shebin El Kom Hospitals, Menoufiya Governorate. World Journal of Medical Sciences, 11(1), 132-143.
Finkelman, A. (2006). Leadership and management in nursing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.