Conflict Management of Nursing - Essay Example

Year of Study: Semester: In nurses’ daily profession as well as personal lives, conflict is inevitable. Like most people, nurses also do not enjoy a conflict experience yet one only need to have a look at popular culture to be witness to the fact that human beings and nurses for that matter do seem to enjoy seeing other individuals involved in conflict or disputes. Movies such as “The Godfather” as well as “Star Wars” together with “Meet the Fockers” and television series such as E.R are wrought with conflict laden scenarios. The fact that we do not like the experience of conflict does not seem to negate the fact that individuals enjoy watching others dealing with conflict. Conflict prevalence in movies as well as TV shows implies that disputes as well as arguments together with disagreements are both necessary and normal in life. Conflict occurs in good relationships as well as happy families and even healthy workplaces as it occurs in wacky families as well as remote islands, outer space and even in hospitals. Worth observing is the fact that conflict is neither good nor is it bad, it just is. In situations where choices have to be made disagreement is inevitable. Handling such differences in opinion in a proper manner derives richer as well as more effective and creative solutions which also fosters interaction. Worth acknowledging is the reality that every situation that results into differences does not always mean that such differences can be turned into opportunities. When disagreement is dealt with poorly the outcome is always contention. Contention, in the end, creates the basis for nurses’ psychological distance with the management. This psychological distance constitutes feelings of dislike, alienation, competition as well as disregard. With regard to conflict management theory, the employer seems to have assumed that the employee has yielded to wrong doing. While it is true that the manager can readily perceive the undesirable consequences as well as the ugliness of escalating contention, she has not considered how unproductive and detrimental the employees withdrawing or giving in is. If the employee chose to yield to the employer’s accusations and thus her shouting, in some instances it is not only wise of the employee but honourable. However, on overall it would be detrimental for the employee as yielding will result into psychological withdrawal from the situation. The manager also seems to have opted to be aggressive in dealing with the employee. She uses threats as well as intimidation and perhaps she might even have talked about the employee negatively in the process of shouting at them. Such a response is bound to escalate the situation as opposed to serving to resolve the crisis. The manager needs to approach the employee so as to win their support. She will attain this by explaining what went on or what is going on in the organization so as to understand the reasons behind the crisis. The employee might have approached the manager but is likely to have been rebuffed. The manager needs to go to the employee and apologise for her explosive reaction promising to act better and in a professional way in the future. She should tell the employee that she understands their expectations and she will live up to them in the future. The employee can also opt to be assertive in the wake of the manager’s aggression to remind her that threats cannot be accepted as a way of treating employees. If this negotiation attempt does not work, the employee can also suggest a third person which both parties trust to help them discuss the situation and finally work to resolve it. Mediation here is a positive model of conflict resolution which helps the manager and the employee to improve their work relationship. There are various ways that the manager can use to manage and prevent conflict. One way is for the manager to acquire education as well as training in conflict management as well as conflict itself. This education in ways of resolving conflict together with skills and the training that accompanies it should constitute professional health care course programs. Continuing healthcare facilities and education programs should also constitute conflict resolution training. The training should have a general idea of primary conflict principles as well as approaches and practical skills training regarding mediation, negotiation and facilitation. Additionally, the manager can also read the many publications regarding conflict resolution techniques and skills many of which are easily accessible (Tate 1999). So as to manage conflict the manager also needs to improve her communication skills. This implies that she should first seek to understand, then ultimately seek to be understood (Ury 1991). Despite the fact that Stephen Covey’s famous dictum is instinctively logical, a significant majority of managers choose to disregard and/or even forget its sensitive and sensible approach, especially in situations when most managers are in emotional situations that are highly charged (Covey 2004; Sullivan and Decker 2005). Most managers listen with the intention of providing a reply. As such, they are not really listening at all. In fact, if this is the case, the manager is likely to formulate a response to the employee. Very few managers ever practice a high form of listening that is active or empathic listening. In ‘active listening’ the manager is obliged to work actively in the process of a conversation so as to hear and understand what is being said by the other person. The manager must ensure that they attend to the employees fully, whereupon they will reframe or repeat what they think to have been said by the speaker. This way, the manager ensures that she has understood the message conveyed by the person fully prior to the attempt to response. Communication as such is at the core of conflict and conflict resolution (Finkelman 2006). The manager also needs to adopt an AVID approach to the employee (Fisher and Ury, 1991). Nurses are not the sole workers surrounded by stressful environments laden with conflict on a daily basis. Our twenty first century lifestyle is wrought with commitments as well as demanding schedules. As such nurses and all employees at large are always faced with numerous demands as well as requests from employers as well as colleagues, patients, friends and family. As mentioned earlier in this paper, conflict is inevitable in the process of managers’ interaction as well as communication with others. So as to sustain everyday life stress, the following easy way of perceiving others and situations is helpful to managers who intend to stay focused and positive in their interaction with employees. A: Managers ought to presume the positive about employees and their behavior. The managers should think that as opposed to being the cause of pain and grief, on the contrary employees are reasonable. V: Here, if the manager cannot presume the positive about the employee as proposed in the first step, then they must ‘validate’ the situation. What is meant here is that the manager should talk to the employee to find out their predicament. I: In the event the manager is not in a position to assume the positive, moreover, reluctant to validate the situation by engaging the employee in a conversation, it is advisable to ‘ignore’ it and simply let it go. D: If the manager cannot think positively, validate, or ignore, he or she must ‘do’ something as the unresolved situations’ stress builds up which is ultimately detrimental to their health as well as the health of the employee (Covey 2004). References Adair, J 2008, Thomas, The best of John Adair on leadership and management. Thomas, N (ed), New York, Thorogood Publishers. Covey, S 2004, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, (2nd ed), New York, Harper Collins. Finkelman, AW 2006, Leadership and management in nursing, Michigan, Chicago Pearson Prentice Hall, Fisher, R & Ury, W 1991, Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in. NY, Penguin Books. Ury, W 1991, Getting past no: negotiating your way from confrontation to cooperation, NY, Bantam Books. Marshall, P & Robson, R 2003, Using Dispute Resolution to Resolve Health Care Conflicts: An Essential Tool in Hospital Risk Management, Risk Management in Canadian Health Care, Vol.4, Number 7. Tate, WC 1999, Leadership in nursing, London, Elsevier Health Sciences. Sullivan, EJ & Decker, PJ (5th ed), 2005, Effective leadership and management in nursing, New York, Prentice Hall. Read More