The Importance Of Workplace Conflict

Although many of us go great lengths to avoid it, sometimes it is just inevitable. People in the workplace setting will always have different ideas, values, and attitudes than others around them. A conflict can arouse in any given setting, and the affect it can have on those involved can either be negative or positive. Depending on the approach and strategies utilized during and after a conflict will determine the result of the conflict. Conflict helps people recognize legitimate differences within an organization or profession and serves as a powerful motivator to improve performance and effectiveness, as well as satisfaction (CCN, 2017). This paper will identify and explore a particular recurring conflict in the

Conflict is an unfortunate part of life and it is truly inevitable, however in the field of nursing it can be detrimental. “Conflict is defined as the discord that results when two or more parties have opposing or incompatible ideas, beliefs, or goals.” (Schub & Schub, 2015). Within healthcare settings there are an outstanding number of differences in opinions that could potentially lead to conflict throughout a number of different levels of the employees. Focusing in on one of those areas would be the nurse to nurse, or horizontal/lateral violence.

Obvious communication, listening, and understanding the focus of the dispute are the factors for being effective. Nursing managers may often be involved in a conflict as an individual, an administrator, or a unit representative. A manager is expected to confront staff when a discord develops (Sullivan, 2018). It is also imperative a nurse manager abides by her professional responsibilities and executes practical conflict resolution techniques to diminish low morale and stress among her staff (McKibben, 2017). She must modify her conflict management skills to a likely situation (Saeed et al., 2014). In order for the nurse manager to handle the conflict, it is helpful to understand the people involved. Positive management promotes mutual respect, refines working relationship, and restores staff retention (McKibben,

Everyone has to deal with conflict: both in the workplace and personal lives. Fresh nurses too have to witness this at their new work setting.

Conflict has been an issue for man since the dawn of civilization. In today’s fast paced world conflict, especially in the workplace, is a frequent occurrence. When that workplace is a health care environment where lives are at stake, emotions run high and collaboration with many different disciplines is required conflict often becomes a prevalent part of everyday life. Conflicts in the workplace can lead to reduced morale, lowered productivity resulting in decreased patient care and can cause large scale confrontations (Whitworth 2008). In the field of nursing whether a conflict is with a peer, supervisor, physician, or a patient and their family, conflict management is a necessary skill.

Nurses require effective interpersonal skills to enable them to manage conflict, which can be an inevitable component of busy workplaces with high service demands. Work environments often have a diverse range of staff and patients with potentially conflicting

I was astounded to find that incivility was a “common problem” in today’s workforce (Owens, 2012). I understand that we all have high paced jobs, but that is no excuse to be uncivil towards your coworkers. Nurses especially, should be civil to each other since we are dealing with people’s lives. We depend on one another in times of crisis; and if there are hard feelings, it would be difficult to do our jobs effectively. In turn, that

Nurses are required to interact with multiple individuals on a daily basis. These individuals include the patient, patient’s family members, and other healthcare team members. As the nurse works with these groups of individuals, he or she may experience an interpersonal conflict with any of them. However, it is more likely for the nurse to experience conflicts with other healthcare workers. When the nurse experiences an interpersonal conflict with other members of the healthcare team, tension rises in the workplace, causing stress to all other workers even if they are not directly involved in the conflict. According to Higginbottom, “Employees suffering from high stress levels have lower engagement, are less productive and have higher absenteeism levels than those not working under excessive pressure” (2014, para. 1). In other words, interpersonal conflict at workplace can lower the productivity of the whole healthcare team. I have been licensed as a registered nurse since July of 2013; therefore, my experience regarding interpersonal conflict at workplace is limited. However, I remember one incidence clearly. During my second year of working as a registered nurse, I have experienced an interpersonal conflict with one of the staff at the clinic I worked in, which resulted in dismissal of that staff from the clinic.

The lateral violence from colleagues and hierarchical violence from managers in nursing is deeply rooted. Arguably, it should be reviewed and managed as a matter of urgency. Education and training on the conflict management should continue to support future

Conflict between team members will happen in the workplace because the fact that there will have an environment where decisions are made and personality clashes will occur. This doesn’t mean you have an unproductive workforce, it means you will have to be able to catch the problem early and know what to do with each individual case. People are going to disagree because they have different view points, different backgrounds and a different thought process, maybe even a different agenda for that project. People disagree for a number of reasons (De Bono, 1985). College graduates will be put into positions of uncertainty due to the lack of work history. This will in turn cause conflict, not knowing

Conflict is an unavoidable part of life and health care is not excluded. The manner in which conflict is resolved has a major impact in the workplace, be it favorable or unfavorable. Conflict can arise at many professional levels in health care from the nursing staff to the physician. Conflict also comes in many forms within the health care system. Stress, personal differences, scarce resources and staffing, and also burnout can lead to conflict in health care (Pavlakis, Kaitelidou, Theodorou, Galanis, Sourtzi & Siskou, 2011). Managers must be properly trained to identify the source of conflict at its origin and utilize proper problem solving techniques in order to obtain a positive outcome that every person can benefit from. This literature review examines the abilities of managers to resolve conflict in the workplace after conflict management training.

listened to supported and understood is what I am for a deputy manager. Listening to each other and having patience with each other is very much part of how I run my team. Remembering what our shared values, goals, responsibilities as well as understanding how we as a team can successfully fulfil our roles is crucial. This helps to resolve conflict, and encourages respect for each other’s role and how hard we all work for our client’s satisfaction. “The Solution-Focused approach aims to help individuals, teams and organisations to break out of vicious problem-cycles and develop constructive, customised solutions.” Focus on Solutions (2017).

This paper will show my ability to “identify common communication barriers, describe effective communication strategies within organizational hierarchies, and discuss structured sources of conflict in organizations and methods to manage conflict (Franklin University, 2017).”

Conflict cases between employees are naturally on the most obvious HR problem. People don’t always get along and disagreements can cause the work environment to suffer. It’s important to have an establish channel for clearing employee conflict and create a transparent communication channel for all employees. The more there is discussion between different members of the team, the less conflict you’ll have.

Conflicts in the workplace can lead to serious issues. Many times problems can be resolved with communication and openness of ones feelings about the disagreement at hand. The lack of communication leaves the door open triggering thoughts and feelings to escalate into a dangerous situation. Alexandra is a day shift nurse on a busy medical surgical unit and has a conflict with the night shift nurse Nancy. Alexandra’s feelings towards Nancy are she does not accomplish her nightly responsibilities and those tasks are left for her to complete when she starts her shift. Nancy feels overwhelmed with all her nightly duties and struggles with completing her tasks; her reasoning’s are lack of ancillary staff, and an overwhelming amount of work to accomplish before the day shift arrives to take over. Neither of the two nurses has communicated their feelings and the issue at hand has started to heighten into a lack of respect for each other. Nancy feels that nothing she does is good enough for Alexandra and Alexandra feel that Nancy is not competent in her time management skills. The night shift nurses do not have nursing assistants to help with duties and are assigned extra tasks like stocking and quality checks on batteries. The day shift nurses have ancillary staff and are not assigned tasks similar to the night shift, but are frequently dealing with management and administration.