Conflict Management : Effective Communication

Wherever choices exist, there is potential for disagreement. No matter what we major in, no matter where our career path takes us, inevitably, we all encounter conflict in some form. In today's highly competitive society, for an organization to be truly successful, it is imperative that the organization's leadership understands conflict and deals with it in the best way possible. Management's ability to recognize and accept divergence and their ability to employ various methods to resolve conflicts to produce positive results can make or break an organization. The more management understands and accepts this fact and manages conflict to benefit the company as a whole, the greater the chance of the

In this paper I will discuss the conflict that is occurring at General Hospital, the conflict management styles that are evident in the case, and how General Hospital could have used teams to address the cost reductions needed to stay competitive. I will also describe how the CEO of General Hospital, Mike Hammer can us negotiation skills to get buy-in for the cost reductions and finally I will recommend a strategy for Hammer to resolve the problem.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) “Code of Ethics for Nurses” (ANA, 2001) states: “The nurse promotes, advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient”. This reflects that advocating for the patient directly correlates with the safety and well-being of the patient. The key part to patient advocacy is effective communication. In recent times, there has been a focus on the connection of effective communication between healthcare workers and patient safety. A number of Institute of Medicine reports has brought focus to the severe matter. The reports have emphasized the concern of the lack of communication in the healthcare setting and the resulting negative patient outcomes. (Hanks, 2012a). This goes back to the notion that while many healthcare professionals consider themselves as a working member of a team, we have the natural tendency to work autonomously. Therefore, it is the nurse’s duty to collaborate patient centered care by practicing good communication skills with the entire healthcare team, the patient, and the patient’s family if consent is given to assure patient safety.

Organizational behavior plays a vital role in the success of an institution. It is essential for a leader to be knowledgeable on organizational behavior and how to manage conflict. Often times, conflict arises from the absence of or poor communication. Social media has become one of the leading means of communication.

Combining both assertive communication and collaborative conflict management are strategies that each professional nurse should strive to foster in one another.

Conflicts through communication key concepts that I will outline are common ground and adjudication. Common ground is consists of attitudes, values, behaviors, expectations and goals the parties share and can serve as a basis for an agreement (Cahn & Abigail, 2014, p. 258), and adjudication; which is a neutral judge and jury in the legal system hear attorneys who prosecute of defend people and decide a case, which either party may later appeal. (Cahn & Abigail, 2014, p. 249). Though I did not have to experience these two concepts, however, my father had to experience this during his divorce process from his second marriage. The year was 1989 and I was a senior in high school ready for that final bell, so I could get ready for our final football practice before Friday’s game. Over the class loudspeaker was the principal excused himself to

L. (2006) reported that nurses are embedded in a complex network of clinical relationships, the most important being nurse-patient, nurse-nurse, and nurse-physician. Communication is the core of these relationships and is dependent on the nurse's ability to listen, assimilate, interpret, discriminate, gather, and share information in constantly changing systems made up of many disciplines and hierarchies. Communication is a complex phenomenon and includes skill, cognition, emotion, and value. Furthermore, citing that some of the most critical patient-related communications include formulation and implementation of daily plans of care, transitions of this care ("hand-offs"), and emergent situations. Such activities require shared responsibility for timely, relevant, clear, and concise exchange of patient information with a cadre of disciplines often in hectic, chaotic environments. Manning (2016) went on to recommend the use and creation of multiple methods of ongoing communication measures as a way to ensure understanding.

As humans being we should constantly be trying to improve ourselves each and every day. It is not easy to try and assess ourselves but it is a necessary task. We have strengths and weaknesses that make us unique and it is important that we accept our flaws but at the same time try to improve them. Hence, we should refer to our vulnerabilities as opportunities for improvement in order to better ourselves. This has been a constant struggle for me because I find it hard to assess myself. I am glad that I was able to utilize the RNAO Leadership Self-Assessment tool to assess my leadership skills as well as have someone else assess me with it. It allowed me to compare how I rate myself to how they rated me. Based on the assessment tool some of my strengths included empowering my peers, being helpful towards them and communicating effectively. My shortcomings included ineffectively resolving conflicts, and creating a sense of presence and accessibility. Even though we differed on various scores per category we both rated me a one out of five for managing conflicts adequately. This news was not surprising to me as I know I am not the best at resolving conflicts because I would rather just give in than express how I feel or confront an individual at all. To be an exceptional well rounded leader it is imperative that one has a good grasp of conflict resolution strategies because they will inevitably come your way. The purpose of

Conflict is a fact of life - for individuals, organizations, and societies. The costs of conflict are well-documented - high turnover, grievances and lawsuits, absenteeism, divorce, dysfunctional families, prejudice, fear. What many people don't realize is that well-managed conflict can actually be a force for positive change.

Good communication with patients is likely to reduce the risk of conflict and violence. As nurses, how we communicate with our patients can have an impact on how difficult situations develop. We need to think about what we say and how we say it. We should rely on our strong communication skills to determine with our patients what they can expect from the services we provide.

This paper explores how addressing vulnerability is one of the key factors in conflict resolution. I conducted my research by using three books: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown, The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice by Morton Deutsch, Peter T. Coleman and Eric C. Marcus and Difficult Conversations: How To Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. Each book differs in how they approach the topic of accepting vulnerability; however, they get the point across the same way. This paper pushes readers to readjust their lifestyles to fit a healthier, more conflict-resolved lifestyle.

Conflict is inevitable in the workplace. Where there are people, there will be conflict. Nurses work in highly stressful and demanding environments which is why it is important that student nurses learn to adopt techniques and skills that will assist them in managing conflict. Assertive communication and constructive feedback are strategies that can assist in managing conflict. It is important that student nurses be taught strategies on how to cope with conflict as poorly managed conflict can result in verbal abuse, medical errors and poor patient outcomes. In this scenario, a student nurse is incorrectly applying a dressing to the patient when she is approached by the frustrated buddy nurse. The buddy registered nurse does not act

Attempting to create a new layout of how our schedule is made, I received hesitation from my co-workers and direct boss. “I don’t see how this can work and we have tried something like this in the past.” I asked them, “What did not work in the past?” After hearing the outcomes from the previous schedule, I was able to adjust my ideas and thereafter create a layout that was accepted and established.

The third form of Conflict management is Accommodation. When the task at hand is more important than the conflict that has arisen and when relationships may be damaged putting the entire project in jeopardy. With this method a team member may minimize the conflict in order to protect the relationship and ultimately the project. Some of the negative aspects in using this

In trying to resolve the conflict between Reece and Patel, Edwards used an avoidance strategy. Instead of speaking directly about the root causes, or sources, of the conflict, Edwards focused on the behaviors and treated Reece and Patel like children. Edwards scolded them, and sent them off without bothering to find out what was bothering the two. Of course, this type of conflict resolution is ineffective because it fails to address the underlying issues. As Anderson (n.d.) points out, addressing the problem is key to conflict resolution. "When a conflict does happen, a manager needs to focus the conflicting parties on the issue and have them leave out any personal problems they may be having," (Anderson, n.d.).