conflict management in healthcare essay

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Managing and mitigating conflict in healthcare teams: an integrative review

2016, Journal of advanced nursing

To review empirical studies examining antecedents (sources, causes, predictors) in the management and mitigation of interpersonal conflict. Providing quality care requires positive, collaborative working relationships among healthcare team members. In today's increasingly stress-laden work environments, such relationships can be threatened by interpersonal conflict. Identifying the underlying causes of conflict and choice of conflict management style will help practitioners, leaders and managers build an organizational culture that fosters collegiality and create the best possible environment to engage in effective conflict management. Integrative literature review. CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Proquest ABI/Inform, Cochrane Library and Joanne Briggs Institute Library were searched for empirical studies published between 2002-May 2014. The review was informed by the approach of Whittemore and Knafl. Findings were extracted, critically examined and grouped into themes. Forty-four pa...

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Ioannis Moisoglou

Background Conflict, as an inherent phenomenon in humans’ life , arises as a daily challenge in healthcare organizations. Objective To investigate major sources of conflict and strate gies that healthcare professionals choose when they confront the particular situation. Methodology Physicians, Nurses and assistant Nurses invited to participate in this cross sectional study. The period during which the study was conducted was June 1 st to July 10 th 2011. The study was conducted in a Greek General Provincial Public Hospital. One hundred six ty three physicians, registered nurses and assistan t nurses participated. Results Avoidance (62%) found the first choice and negotiat ion for mutual benefits with opposite side (38.7%) was the second most frequent choice towards conflic t. The majority (65.6%) of participants answered th at they haven’t any training towards conflict management, while 34.4% stated that they have received such theo retical knowledge during their graduate studies. P...

Background Conflict, as an inherent phenomenon in humans' life, arises as a daily challenge in healthcare organizations. Objective To investigate major sources of conflict and strategies that healthcare professionals choose when they confront the particular situation. Methodology Physicians, Nurses and assistant Nurses invited to participate in this cross sectional study. The period during which the study was conducted was June 1 st to July 10 th 2011. The study was conducted in a Greek General Provincial Public Hospital. One hundred sixty three physicians, registered nurses and assistant nurses participated. Results Avoidance (62%) found the first choice and negotiation for mutual benefits with opposite side (38.7%) was the second most frequent choice towards conflict. The majority (65.6%) of participants answered that they haven't any training towards conflict management, while 34.4% stated that they have received such theoretical knowledge during their graduate studies. P...

Indah Mardiyanthi

Introduction : Conflict is a complex process that cannot be avoided. Demands that health workers can provide comprehensive services influence on increasing interaction between health workers. The purpose of this literature review is to obtain information about conflicts and their management in hospitals. Methods : Article searches were carried out in four database journals namely Google Scholar, ProQuest, Pubmed, and Wiley. The keywords used are "conflict management" OR "conflict management style" AND "nurse" AND "physician. Obtained 1911 articles which were then filtered out to select 11 articles relevant to the purpose. Results : A total of 11 articles were found discussing the causes of conflict such as individual, organizational and interpersonal factors. Avoiding is the main choice in managing conflict followed by collaboration. Demographic variables such as gender, age, level of education, emotional intelligence, personality, length of work a...

Derek Puddester

Critical Care nurses facing many conflicting situations that negatively affect their efficiency in providing patient care. Helping those nurses to handle conflict effectively is important to sustain high quality patient care. So this study aimed to evaluate the effect of utilizing conflict management strategies for ICU nurses on patient care. The study was carried out at intensive cardiac and medical care units at Tanta University Hospital. Subjects: A convenient sample (60) nurses were included from previous setting. Tools: three tools were used Tool I, Experiencing Workplace Conflict Questionnaire. Tool II, Knowledge questionnaire sheet. Tool III: Conflict educational program. Results: around two thirds (78% ,62%75%, 56% and 53%)) of medical and cardiac ICU nurses often accepted workplace conflict, wasted time and resources, experienced decrease productivity and poor work relation as a result of work conflict respectively, but post educational program this percentage decreased to ...

Internet Journal of Healthcare Administration

Cheryl Patton

Direct patient contact health care employees such as physicians, nurses, and technologists work in complex, stressful environments that are prone to conflict. Though some of this conflict may result in positive outcomes, much will have the opposite effect. Dysfunctional conflict has the potential to negatively affect the health care workplace on a variety of levels, including impacting the quality of patient care, employee job satisfaction, and employee wellbeing. Therefore, it would behoove hospital managers to learn to recognize the precursors to conflict in order to prevent any ill effects. The purpose of this literature review is to offer an overview of the antecedents and effects of conflict among health care workers. Both positive and negative effects of conflict are addressed. Also explored in this review are methods in which negative conflict can be adequately managed and resolved.

Knowledge International Journal

ekaterina raykova

Conflict is a consistent and unavoidable issue in the healthcare organization. A hospital is the most complex healthcare setting in which conflict arises as a result of opposing interests, goals, and in other cases of confrontation. It creates a situation that reflects on the behavior and position of all parties involved. Conflict is a dynamic process and can have positive or negative effects on the hospital activity. Unresolved or inadequately managed conflict has numerous negative effects, including stress, ineffective decision making, a negative work environment, patient and medical dissatisfaction. However, effective conflict resolution has been shown to enhance team performance, increase patient safety, and improve patient outcomes. The conflict in healthcare organizations, as a result of intensification the contradictions, requires timely identification, prompt and effective intervention to minimize its adverse consequences. The implementation of effective methods for managing...

Olufemi O Y E B A N J I Oyediran

Lecturer, Department of Nursing Science Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Lecturer, Department of Nursing Science, Osun State University, Osogbo Professor, Faculty of Nursing Science, College of Health Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University Technology, Osogbo Clinical Nurse, Department of Nursing Services, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Senior Lecturer, Department of Nursing Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Lecturer, Department of Nursing Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria Lecturer, Department of Nursing, National Open University of Nigeria, Jabi Abuja Post Graduate Student, Department of Psychology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science (IOSR-JNHS)

Background: Nursing is the profession that based on collaborative relations that concentrate on high-quality care. Interpersonal conflict in the nursing profession is inevitable and can lead to nurses' job dissatisfaction with low-quality patient care. Aim: the study objective was conducted to assess the level of job satisfaction, interpersonal conflict and to ascertain the relationship between nurses' job satisfaction and interpersonal conflict among nurses in intensive care units at Benha University hospital.Methodology: research design used for the study was a cross-sectional correlational design with three months of monitoring. The study conducted in all available nurses working in critical care units at Benha University hospital in Benha city, Egypt which affiliated to the Ministry of health. After seeing the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the study sample was 150 professional nurses (150 out of 216) with a minimum of one year of experience; and willing to participate in the study. The study made use of a three-part researcher-made questionnaire, developed from the literature review. A convenient type of sample was used to collect the data. The researchers designed an interviewing assessment sheet, and the interpersonal conflict questionnaire and Bar-job satisfaction questionnaire are used to collect the data. Results: The findings showed that; the large percentages of the studied sample (78%) have interpersonal conflict. Majority of subjects were dissatisfied with their work (82.7%), and there was a significant negative correlation between interpersonal conflict and job satisfaction among studied nurses. Conclusions: interpersonal conflict negatively correlates with job satisfaction, and there were significant differences among studied nurses regarding their socio-demographic characteristics concerning interpersonal conflict and job satisfaction level except for sex which showed no significant relation.

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Conflict Management in Healthcare, Essay Example

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In my practice, I believe that I tend to avoid conflicts. Conflict avoidance can be both beneficial and harmful, according to Raines (2013, p. 9). The author also explains that people who have had negative experiences when dealing with conflict tend to avoid them. While I do not always avoid conflict, when the problem seems to be insignificant, I tend to sit down and think how can things get managed without having to intervene directly. I also understand that conflict is necessary for negotiation and innovation, therefore, when necessary, I sit down with others and try to find a solution together. I do sometimes refuse to take notice of the problem, and hope that it will solve itself, and this is definitely one of the leadership development areas I need work on.

My secondary conflict management style is collaboration. When I realize there is a problem, I attempt to get all the people in the team together to find a solution together. While I do not always make sacrifices, I often do, but expect the same in return. When I appoint a team member to become responsible for liaising with patient representatives, I offer training and coaching, but also expect them to provide support and report back to me on a regular basis on the issue. I believe that having a positive and encouraging work environment is important for all team members, and that is why I try to work on collaboration. However, I do also understand that collaboration cannot solve all workplace problems (Raines, 2013, p. 14), and in some cases I do need to make decisions and claim my authority. As an example, I recently realized that I could not possibly ask all of the team members which shift they prefer, as it is dictated by the needs of patients, the department’s standards and targets.

Overall, when there is a conflict of interest in the team regarding tasks, and both of them would like to do the same, I use collaboration. However, I am also avoiding the conflict until it is evident that the two nurses cannot solve it themselves. In some cases, too much collaboration makes it hard for me to make important decisions, such as selecting employee training programs, as I listen to team members, instead of trusting myself to make the right decision.

Raines, S. (2013) Conflict management for managers. Resolving workplace, client, and policy disputes . Jossey-Bass.

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Conflict Management in the Healthcare Sector

Change theories, conflict theories, leaders as change agents.

Business leaders have been forced to investigate various change theories that can be incorporated into their companies to ensure smooth adoption of transformational strategies. This paper will address Kurt Lewin, Ronald Lippitt, and Everett Rodgers’ change theories that have been applied extensively in the healthcare industry. In addition, it is crucial to realize that executing changes results in conflicts, especially when some parties feel threatened by the proposed amendments. As such, in addition to presenting the CCEM and the dual-concern framework as two major conflict theories, this paper will examine the extent to which my capacity to deal with disagreements can ruin or facilitate effective leadership in the healthcare sector.

According to Mitchell (2013), Kurt Lewin is regarded as one of the oldest change theorists whose model has been quoted in many contemporary nursing publications. In addition, Lewin’s unfreezing, moving, refreezing phases have been applied to assess situations that call for change, including the appropriate time to execute transformations or identify the equilibrium level (Mitchell, 2013). This change theorist developed particular forces that he viewed as capable of determining the effectiveness of transformations implemented. He referred to these elements as the force-field analysis.

Ronald Lippitt developed another change theory that has been embraced by healthcare officers in the United Kingdom due to its capacity to help in the assessment of patients’ status, the planning of the necessary prescriptions to facilitate sick people’s healing processes in collaboration with their relatives, and the execution of some agreed-up care plan (Mitchell, 2013). According to the Nursing Agency for Clinical Innovation (2015), Everett Rodgers also developed a change theory that emphasized five stages, which nurses are required to follow when implementing planned transformations. These phases include understanding, persuasion, decision, execution, and authentication (Nursing Agency for Clinical Innovation, 2015).

However, it is crucial to note that the above change theories are interlinked and highly consulted when executing planned changes in healthcare settings. Resistance usually accompanies the process of carrying out amendments in organizations from various individuals or departments, especially those who view the suggested transformation as not serving their interests. Hence, it becomes important for healthcare facilities to be equipped with various conflict management theories, which they can deploy to address any disagreements when implementing changes.

According to Reimers (2016), the comprehensive conflict engagement model (CCEM) is one of the most applied frameworks for addressing situations that are characterized by disagreements in the workplace. According to this theory, people who wish to solve conflicts permanently and comprehensively need to ensure that the proposed long-term realistic strategies take into account the “three bases of social conflict, namely, its internal, relational, and structural roots” (Reimers, 2016, p. 438). According to Elgoibar, Euwema, and Munduate (2017), the dual-concern framework is another conflict resolution tool that specifies two factors, namely, a person’s individual and relational concerns, which determine the extent to which disagreements can be addressed effectively or inefficiently. Based on this theory, people involved in conflicts may choose to avoid the situation, seek a compromising scenario, or accommodate each other’s differences (Elgoibar et al., 2017). Nonetheless, dealing with conflicts or transformations requires the respective leader to act as a change agent who can work collaboratively with people to achieve the desired outcome.

A leader is expected to play a huge role in facilitating the change implementation process. Due to the inevitability of clashes when making organizational amendments, leaders should take mediating positions by appropriately communicating the reason and essence of the change to all interested parties, including workers. This leadership role during change execution processes reduces the level of opposition by some individuals. The study by Elgoibar et al. (2017) refers to a leader as a conflict management instructor who creates an environment that can allow constructive deliberations to help in executing the proposed amendments. According to Galloway and Lesaux (2014), change-agent leaders encounter challenges, especially when executing transformations in a diverse and multicultural business environment that is characterized by significant differences in terms of employees’ perceptions of organizational issues. As a result, one’s capacity to deal with conflicts can obstruct or boost effective leadership in the healthcare industry.

As earlier mentioned, leaders should take an impartial position when dealing with conflicts in their workplaces. As a nurse leader, I was subjected to a situation where violence between some healthcare givers and patients had occurred following medical errors in giving prescriptions. This conflict worsened to involve other practitioners who had varied views regarding individuals to be held responsible. Some of them directed the blame to nurses while others argued that the concerned patient was ignorant of checking prescription details. I solved this conflict by taking a neutral position that involved explaining to both sides the steps to deploy to avoid such instances, including proposing the necessary measure to ensure that the patient was not exposed to the risk of further complications after taking wrong prescriptions. If I had joined the fight to defend one side, chances are high that no solution would have been achieved.

Organizations that operate in the presently transforming technological world cannot ignore the aspect of change. Advancements made since the onset of scientific discoveries have altered the manner of conducting businesses. This situation has been accompanied by significant transformations concerning the manner of handling patients, prescribing medication, advertising products, communicating to clients, employees, and employers, hiring and recruiting, and even giving and receiving feedback from the appropriate organizational stakeholders. This paper has examined in detail various change theories and conflict management strategies in addition to presenting leaders as change agents who are expected to be neutral when dealing with parties in disagreement.

Elgoibar, P., Euwema, M., & Munduate, L. (2017). Conflict management.  

Galloway, E., P., & Lesaux, N. K. (2014). Leader, teacher, diagnostician, colleague, and change agent. Reading Teacher, 67 (7), 517-526.

Mitchell, G. (2013). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Nursing Management, 20 (1), 32-37.

Nursing Agency for Clinical Innovation. (2015). Change management theories and models-Everett Rodgers.  

Reimers, B. C. (2016). Building a bridge across the conflict theory-practice gap: Comprehensive conflict engagement in community contexts. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 33 (4), 437-458.

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Article Contents

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Recognising, understanding and managing high conflict behaviours in healthcare

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James Kelly, Yasir Al-Rawi, Recognising, understanding and managing high conflict behaviours in healthcare, Postgraduate Medical Journal , Volume 97, Issue 1144, February 2021, Pages 123–124, https://doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-139173

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Conflict in healthcare is commonplace, may be increasing, and is hardly surprising given the combination of a high stress environment and multiple stakeholder involvement. 1

The national health service (NHS) identifies three major forms of conflict: task conflict relates to differences in opinions and viewpoints. Typically associated with change and short-lived, it may be functional, involving a healthy challenge of the status quo and driving improvement. Process conflict involves disagreement over the logistics of achieving an outcome or change, which can also be functional. Finally, relationship conflict, where there is a perceived interpersonal incompatibility, either between staff or between staff and a patient or relative. 2 Such conflict is dysfunctional, often relates more to personalities than problems and accounts for the majority of negative and destructive conflict. When severe, multiple adverse outcomes may occur, including decreased job satisfaction and productivity, absenteeism and medical errors 1 2 and occasionally it may be extreme enough to garner media attention. 3 Where unusually difficult or protracted, especially where there is consensus that the conflict is unjustified or disproportionate, a high conflict personality may be the primary issue. 4 5

High conflict persons are characterised by four cardinal criteria 4 5 : preoccupation with blaming, extreme behaviours, unregulated emotions and all or nothing thinking (often ‘splitting’ people into all good or all bad). Cognitive distortions, adversarial thinking dominated by negative emotions, lack of reflection and identifying targets of blame are common. Some become ‘persuasive blamers’ and successfully recruit ‘negative advocates’—influential non-high conflict individuals who may come to support their cause. Insight is generally absent so few ever seek help or are diagnosed 6 and unsurprisingly, formal studies have not been done. However, over the last two decades, there is increasing consensus that many such persons have a type B cluster personality disorder (PD). 4 5 7

Type B cluster PDs are strongly associated with conflict 6 7 and are characterised by emotional dysregulation, impulsivity and lack of empathy. They comprise borderline, narcissistic, histrionic and antisocial variants, 8 and at a combined population prevalence of around 3%, 9 are commoner than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Of these, borderline (characterised by intense mood dysregulation, anger, volatile relationships and absence of a cohesive sense of self) and narcissistic PD (strongly linked with interpersonal exploitativeness, grandiosity, entitlement and a need for admiration) are probably the most common in disputes. 4 5 7 Histrionic PD is characterised by attention seeking, excessive but shallow displays of emotion and suggestibility, while antisocial PD is associated with deceitfulness, disregard for other’s rights, impulsivity and lack of remorse. 8 Interestingly, narcissistic traits appear to be increasingly prevalent in younger persons, 10 likely incubated by the emphasis on expressive individualism over collective values in contemporary culture. While potentially less impairing than the other cluster B PDs, narcissistic PD is strongly associated with adverse effects on well-being in close associates, more so than borderline PD.

Successful strategies exist for dealing with high conflict persons. 4 5 Management emphasises controlling one’s own emotional responses which, unmanaged, may cause escalation, and a feed-forward approach focusing on the future relationship rather than the current issue or past behaviours and events. 4 5 For example, the ‘CARS’ method is designed to reinforce the best potential behaviours of the high conflict personality and redirect their energy constructively as follows 4 5 : C onnect—showing attentiveness and empathy for how the person is feeling, without necessarily assenting to their perspective; A nalyse—after connecting, trying to move them from emotional to logical thinking, jointly reviewing possible solutions to the problem; R espond—not letting misinformation go unchallenged, especially when directed to potential negative advocates; and S et limits—outlining acceptable limits to behaviour but keeping this impersonal, referring instead to external reasons such as trust policies and logical consequences if violated, keeping the focus on future not past behaviour. Bear in mind that individuals with PDs experience internal distress which they see as having external rather than internal causes, 5 7 8 suffer a range of adverse outcomes 6 and that there are significant genetic and neuroimaging associations, suggesting reduced freedom in the expression of some behaviours, hence compassion may be the most appropriate attitude, while taking care not to reinforce negative behaviours.

It is important to stress two things. First, only a minority of inter-personal healthcare disputes involve persons with a high conflict tendency though when present, it is seldom recognised or appropriately managed. Second, if there is a suspicion a high conflict personality underlies a dispute this should remain a private working theory and it is recognition of the pattern that is the primary issue, the underlying cause being of secondary importance.

The combination of increasing competition for scarce resources 1 and a rising prevalence of conflict-prone traits in the population 10 suggests high conflict behaviours within healthcare are here to stay and likely to increase. Learning to recognise, understand and manage high conflict behaviour will likely reduce distress and lead to better outcomes for all parties when cases arise and pay high yields in the future.

JAK conceived this article which was then researched and written in collaboration between JAK & YA-R who contributed equally.

There was no funding source and the authors have no competing interests.

None declared.

Not required.

Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

Patton   C . Conflict in health care: a literature review . Internet J Healthcare Administration   2014 ; 9 : 1 – 11 .

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Young   C , Habarth   J , Bongar   B , et al.    Disorder in the court: cluster B personality disorders in United States case law . Psychiatry Psychol Law   2018 ; 25 : 706 – 23 . doi: 10.1080/13218719.2018.1474816

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Winsper   C , Bilgin   A , Thompson   A , et al.    The prevalence of personality disorders in the community: a global systematic review and meta-analysis B . J Psych   2020 ; 216 : 69 – 78 . doi: 10.1192/bjp.2019.166

Twenge   J , Miller   J , Campbell   K . The narcissism epidemic: commentary on modernity and narcissistic personality disorder . Personality Disord Theory Res Treat   2014 ; 5 : 227 – 227 . doi: 10.1037/per0000008

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Conflict management.

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• Introduction

Conflict is the disagreement or difference of opinions between or among individuals that can be potentially harmful to any organization. In the workplace setting, it often involves personal agendas, insights, or goals versus the agendas, insights, or goals of the group or team. Conflict management seeks to resolve the disagreement or conflict with positive outcomes that satisfy all individuals involved or is beneficial to the group. However, the perception of conflict is often negative.

Conflict can, in fact, be positive if it is managed properly. Conflict can promote team-building skills, critical thinking, new ideas, and alternative resolutions. Conflict management is a crucial competency that leaders must possess, for the success of the team, group, unit, or employees they lead. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Providing conflict management skills could help raise the emotional intelligence of future managers. Excellent communication skills allow the manager to resolve interpersonal situations and conflicts. Mentoring new leaders is vital in bridging generational gaps and shaping the culture of the organization. Mentoring can assist a new leader in navigating the organizational hierarchy and developing a style of leadership that fits well within the charted course. [5] [6] [7]

Leadership style has a role to play in conflict resolution and overall team dynamics. 

Leadership Styles [8] [9] [10]

To prevent or limit conflict, leadership should seek the proper and impartial implementation of a professional code of conduct, ground rules, and discipline. [11]  Leadership is a process by which one person or a group sets the purpose or direction for others and helps them achieve goals. Leadership styles in healthcare were found to be strongly correlated with quality care and patient outcomes, such as 30-day mortality, safety, injuries, patient satisfaction, and pain. Leadership styles that proved more effective were those that emphasized a collaborative, multifaceted, and dynamic process. [12]

Servant Leader and Lean Leader

A servant-leader is where a person aspires to lead by servitude and ensures the needs of others are a priority. Servant leaders focus on the needs and growth of others, putting their well-being first, rather than their self-interests. This leadership style reflects a sharing of power, enabling others to perform at a higher level for personal growth. Servant leadership may provide the means to develop Lean leaders in the organization. The lean management style focuses on improving processes and eliminating waste. Lean and servant leadership could be combined to achieve high-quality and cost-effective patient-centered care. [13]

Transformational Leader

Transformational leaders assist an individual in the process of transformation where their own beliefs and values support or align with the organizational values. A transformational leader fosters an environment of trust, relationship building to meet common goals, and sharing of innovative ideas or long-term vision for the organization.

Transformative leaders can develop a trusting, relationship with their followers or team members, thus influencing their actions. The effect is a trickle-down outcome of conflict resolution in an environment built on mutual trust and the ability to mold an individual's response to a conflict or stressor for the greater good of the organization and population served. An ability to manage conflict effectively is a quality of a transformative leader. This leadership style has been demonstrated as a positive contributor to safety climate. [14]

Laissez-Faire Leader

Laissez-Faire leaders leave the decision-making to their followers or team members, lacking real authority within their organization, but responsible for group decisions and actions. The leader trusts the individual members of the team to problem solve, create new projects, make and meet goals, and self-monitor. This leadership style requires no real feedback, oversight, direct leadership, discipline, or praise. Thus, productivity may be low amongst some members of the group and lead to a source of conflict. This style was shown to negatively contribute to unit socialization and a culture of blame. [14]  

Authoritarian Leader

Authoritarian leaders lead by dictating and controlling the actions and decision-making capacity of the group. This leadership style reflects choices made based on their ideas, judgments, and personal beliefs, not those of their employees. Authoritarian leaders lead by enforcement and welcome little input from their team members or followers. 

Expecting a job to be done, focused on tasks rather than individuals performing those tasks, and the inability to accept input and give positive feedback yields an environment lacking in trust. Team members are not trusted, nor empowered to resolve conflicts on their own. Thus, the team dynamic may suffer long-term. Turnover in staff directly related to the inability to manage disputes and promote an environment that enriches positive growth and resolves conflicts. Nevertheless, the autocratic style is considered ideal in emergencies when the leader makes all decisions without taking into account the opinion of the staff. [12]

Transactional Leader

A transactional leader primarily focused on workflow. This leadership style may focus on incentives for "getting the job done" in a timely, efficient manner. Rewards for completing work on time or ahead of schedule, or penalties (disciplinary action) if the job delayed are components of this leadership style. These leaders may fail to plan for the future of the organization, focused only on the demands of the present. This leadership style may fail to promote and implement creative and innovative ideas necessary in a rapidly evolving health care industry.

Visionary Leader

A visionary leader has a vision or long-term goal. These leaders possess insight, imagination, and passion related to an innovative goal or idea. They are always looking out for the best interest of the team, promoting the sharing of ideas, creative goals, and a sense of empowerment to go beyond what is expected to create something unexpected.

A visionary leader fosters a healthy relationship with their team. Promoting entrepreneurial ideas and visions for the future, thus fostering a strong team dynamic capable of managing conflicts through open communication in a positive, nonadversarial manner.

• Issues of Concern

Conflict Management Styles (Thomas-Kilman Conflict Modes)

Conflict management styles take many forms and may reflect a particular style of leadership.

In this style of conflict management, some or all people involved in the conflict simply avoid the situation or ignore its existence. For the individuals involved, this is a losing situation in the long run. The conflict is unresolved. It continues to fester and build, creating more conflict. However, this style may be useful temporarily to de-escalate a very tense, non-emergency situation. 

Accommodative

In this style of conflict management, one party wins and one party loses. One opinion is accepted, and the other opinion is lost. The resolution will benefit one instead of all involved. For the person who manages the conflict, this becomes a sore spot and causes resentment. Although it may resolve the conflict, it may not satisfy all involved individuals. 

Competitive

In this style of conflict management, one party will win, and one party will lose. It will resolve the situation, but will not promote a unified or team approach to solving problems.

In this style of conflict management, neither party will be fully satisfied. The result will harbor resentment between those involved. In the resolution, each party sacrifices a portion of his or her solution. A significant part of the resolution can be left out, and the best outcome may not prevail.

Collaborative

In this style of conflict management, all parties involved are brought together for a resolution. Active listening, respectful communication, and an open mind are incorporated into the solution process for the best outcome. All parties involved have a say, and all parties involved reach a solution. This solution is accepted as the best outcome for all involved.

Steps To Conflict Management

• Before communication begins, set rules for respectful communication.
• Ask all involved to set aside preconceived opinions about each other.
• Ask all parties to engage in active listening without interruption.
• Ask all parties to write down the problem. Then restate the problem out loud. This provides understanding and agreement about the problem causing the conflict.
• Ask each party to come up with a solution. 
• Discuss each solution and the positive and negative aspects of each proposed solution.
• Clinical Significance

Resolution of conflicting views is of paramount importance in assuring that patients receive the best care possible. As such, it is important for healthcare providers to work together to achieve conflict resolution.

• Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes

Respectful communication among all health care staff is the anchor to preventing conflicts. An interprofessional team must never lose sight of the collective overarching goal of excellent patient care. When conflicts arise, team cohesion is enhanced by a collaborative and timely resolution of conflicts.

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Disclosure: Yasmyne Ronquillo declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Vickie Ellis declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Tammy Toney-Butler declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits others to distribute the work, provided that the article is not altered or used commercially. You are not required to obtain permission to distribute this article, provided that you credit the author and journal.

• Cite this Page Ronquillo Y, Ellis VL, Toney-Butler TJ. Conflict Management. [Updated 2023 Jul 3]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-.

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Crisis Communication and Conflict Management in Health Care Environment Essay (Article)

Crisis communication, conflict management, risk management, experience and training.

American health care organizations face unique challenges presented by crises and conflicts that pose risk to the attainment of the organization’s goals (Borkowski, 2011). Conflicts arise out of stressful and emotional encounters and form a natural part of relationships. Conflicts are necessary for organizational growth depending on their management.

In hospitals, the unexpected is always arising and personnel are always dealing with life-and-death issues that require most immediate actions and there are no provisions second trials. Health care organizations are social systems that involve people interacting with each other to preserve the health and personal integrity of patients.

Damaging crises may befall hospitals at any time. Disasters like staff-related disgrace immediately put the specific hospital on the limelight. Crisis communication determines the impact of the crisis on a health care organization.

Crisis communication and response have a large significance in restoring the organization’s status and their effectiveness depends on skills of the crisis communicators and their understanding of crisis management (Braun, Wlneman, Finn, Barbera, Schmaltz, & Loeb, 2006). The healthcare system is of particular concern when it comes to the concept of crisis communication because the lives of people are at stake.

In every case, crisis in health care organizations affects the physical, emotional or privacy aspects of an individual’s life. This paper offers an in depth exploration of crisis communication and conflict management in health care organizations and adds a risk management aspect to the discussion.

No single professional group is consistently responsible for the hospital’s preparedness to handle crises. It becomes problematic for community groups to define the suitable hospital contact. Crisis communication protocols deliver reliable communications and thwart concerned persons’ efforts of seeking care unnecessarily (Braun, Wlneman, Finn, Barbera, Schmaltz, & Loeb, 2006).

Halbesleben, Cox and Hall (2011) report that open communications in hospital settings show up inform of personnel speaking up and alerting others through sharing of pertinent issues usually referred to as red flags. When raised, red flags create alertness for every personnel on possible delays or other implication caused by the red flag.

Therefore, conflicts that may arise out of the misunderstanding that may ensue are limited. Miscommunication in hospital settings like theatre wards result to silo-effect working behavior for team members. In such cases, staffs fail to pass critical patient information to other staff by choosing to stay mum.

Overall, miscommunication leads to a higher probability of patient mishandling and contributes to patient crisis reports. Silo-effect mainly arises out of a lack of trust and communication among team members in the hospital or health facility (Halbesleben, Cox, & Hall, 2011).

In crisis communication approach, the communicators of the risk are supposed to use every device to move their audiences to take appropriate action (Lundgren & McMakin, 2009). In the case of a flood, messages from the communicators should cause the audience to vacate to higher ground and refrain from becoming obstacles to the work of rescue groups.

Crisis communication must be limited to the relevant information causing action and anything else is extraneous. Hospitals and health care institutions know what is best for their patients therefore; their crisis communicators should affirm the impression in their audience.

People are likely to respond when they only know the ‘why’ reason of moving rather than the ‘how’ and ‘what’ reasons of moving (Lundgren & McMakin, 2009).

For an effective crisis communication, health care institutions adapt the following steps for developing messages involving infectious diseases crisis or other public health issues (Lundgren & McMakin, 2009): a description of the audiences reachable, which encompasses their relationship with to the crisis, as based on risk communication principles.

Secondly, the purpose of the message is articulated and finally the message delivery mechanism is noted, it include either the media or internet among others (Lundgren & McMakin, 2009).

When including the media in the crisis message delivery, a thematic explanation of the crisis comes out strongly than an episodic one. News media favors positioning the organization as the center of a crisis in causing it or acting on it. The media scrutinizes the organization’s systems, policies and environments in relation to the cause of the crisis and its management.

Focus on individuals usually forms an insignificant part for news media such as focusing on an employee or other individuals like the CEO. Therefore, crisis communication managers of relevant health care organizations involved in the crisis take a special notice on how the media is likely to frame the issue (An, Gower, & Cho, 2011).

For crisis occurring inside health care organizations such as patient mishandling accusations, the media assigns blame for individual employees to the whole organization’s responsibility unless, it is the top management who are responsible for the crisis. Crisis communicators need to factor in the media interpretation of their messages to benefit from a proper relaying by the news media (An, Gower, & Cho, 2011).

During crisis communication of a preventable crisis, health care organizations are likely to apportion blame on individuals to distract public attention from the root of the problem such as the organizational systems (An, Gower, & Cho, 2011). People assume a high level of controllability and intentionality for preventable crises and think that organizations should control or prevent them.

Therefore, despite a scapegoat approach by organizations to allocate blame to individuals, overall public opinion is for the organization to demonstrate a high degree of ethics and responsible behavior (An, Gower, & Cho, 2011).

Health care organization executives need to have a grasp of the structures and procedures that are present in their organization for managing crisis communication. They should be conversant with all crisis teams, internal and external crisis communication protocols and the compilation of emergency plans (Faustenhammer & Gossler, 2011).

During a crisis management, it is fundamental to ensure safety and survival of victims. In this stage, communication should be about explaining events in logical manners to shocked victims or employees immediately after the incident as it can yield negative results (Faustenhammer & Gossler, 2011).

Conflicts arise out of stressful and emotional encounters and form a natural part of relationships. Conflicts are necessary for personal growth and organizational growth. In health care environments, individuals satisfied with the status quo who are opposed to new ideas and other people start conflicts (Harris & Roussel, 2010).

Effects of unresolved conflicts include, reduced productivity rates, increase in health care costs, lowering of staffs and patient morale and self-esteem, apathy increase, inappropriate responses and violence in extreme cases. Failure to manage conflict arises from passive behaviors, ineffective communication skills, apathy and pretending that the conflict is nonexistent or not worth solving. (Harris & Roussel, 2010)

Conflict needs proper management to protect health care safety and quality, Leadership group conflict in health care organization arises in accountabilities, policies, practices and procedures (Joint Commision Resources, 2009).

To manage conflicts individuals require skills necessary for organizational implementation of conflict management. Management of conflicts is possible without resolve of the conflicts. Conflict management aims at reducing the adverse effect of patient care and safety caused by conflict in the health care organization (Joint Commision Resources, 2009).

Executives of health care organizations face high levels of organizational conflict (Taylor & Taylor, 1994). Their management of conflict determines the realization of beneficial or destructive effects of conflicts on the organization and the people involved.

The organization structure of healthcare makes it difficult to measure organizational effectiveness by outcomes and this presents plenty of room for arguing on the right thing to do and how to do it (Taylor & Taylor, 1994).

In hospitals, the unexpected is always arising and personnel are always dealing with life-and-death issues that require most immediate actions and there are no second trials. These factors combine and intensify to create a built-in sense of rage or a constant management of crisis (Taylor & Taylor, 1994).

An effective conflict management begins with a diagnosis to determine if the conflict manifestation is real. Diagnosis determines the level of operation and the type of conflict. There are three types of health organization conflicts. First, there is goal conflict occurring when the desired states and outcomes for different parties are incompatible.

Secondly, there is cognitive conflict occurring when ideas or opinions are not compatible due to misunderstandings. For example, nurses thinking pharmacist are slow at providing prescriptions while the pharmacist seeing nurses as mistaken in their recommendations.

Lastly, affective conflict happens when feelings and emotions do not match up. These conflicts while appearing to be between persons are indeed real organizational conflicts because the individuals represent units and levels in contest over resources (Taylor & Taylor, 1994).

Dealing with conflicts requires that identification happen on the two dimensions: concern for self and concern for others. Concern for self depends on the assertiveness of the person in pursuing personal goals; on the other hand, concern for others depends on the person cooperativeness. Avoidance is an unassertive and uncooperative behavior used to stay out of conflicts or ignore disagreements by remaining neutral.

This conflict resolve method is incomplete and leaves a residue of feelings that are sure to impact future conflicts. Another conflict resolve method is forcing, which is an assertive and uncooperative reflection of win-lose attitude. This method assists individuals to achieve their goals but regular use breeds fear and hatred.

Thirdly, accommodating is a cooperative but unassertive method often referred to as lose-win strategy. Collaborating is a highly cooperative and assertive win-win method. Collaborating managers see conflicts as natural and leading creative solutions, when handled properly. Compromising is an intermediate cooperative and assertive method with a give and take approach (Taylor & Taylor, 1994).

Health care organizations seek ways to identify and reduce risks threatening their existence (Caroll, 2009). Health care risk management began to emerge after the malpractice crisis of mid-1970s as hospitals and related entities faced a crisis characterized by a speedy rise in claims cost, insurance premiums and saw an exit of several medical professional liability insurers.

As a result, the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) came into existence in 1980 (Caroll, 2009). Risk management on health care organization considers an unnumbered complex legal, regulatory, politics, business and financial risks facing the organizations.

Now risk management is moving to embrace more strategic orientations and professional risk managers are morphing into chief risk officers. Their new roles now demand a detail examination of their career factors such as higher education, business, financial and technical skills as risk management returns to the realm of patient safety (Caroll, 2009).

Risk management strategies are a mix of techniques aimed at preventing or reducing potential losses and preservation of the organization’s assets. They encompass a set of written policies and procedures that promise uniformity and consistency of the program with greatly boosts communication between the affected parties and the program (Caroll, 2009).

Risk management professionals have to be very visible in the organization because they rely on feedback and cooperation from fellow organization members.to remain visible, they communicate, educate and raise consciousness to nurture an awareness of risk management (Caroll, 2009).

Risk professionals have to be insiders who get information of impeding crises and organizational conflicts early in the due diligence process, so that they effectively advice senior management on risk implications of new business arrangements. Risk implications are of high priority but executives who are not in agreement with risk management matters and specific indemnity requirements overlooked them (Caroll, 2009).

For health care organizations effectiveness in goal achievement, personnel ought to share a vision of what they are striving to achieve. There also needs to be ways to recognize and resolve conflicts before they escalate. Members of any organization need to have ways of keeping conflict to a minimum. Solving problems caused by conflict prevent major obstacles from affecting a health care organization.

Hospital preparedness to handle crisis, is not dependent on a sole discipline group. Hospitals need to a crisis communication protocol to manage effectively concerns and anxiety from crisis-affected persons.

An, S., Gower, K. K., and Cho, S. H. (2011). The level of responsibility and crisis response strategies of the media. Journal of Communication Management, 15 (1), 70-83.

Borkowski, N. (2011). Organizational Behavior in Health Care (2nd ed.). Sadbury: Jones and Barlett Publishers.

Braun, B. I., Wlneman, N. V., Finn, N. L., Barbera, J. A., Schmaltz, S. P., and Loeb, J. M. (2006). Integrating Hospitals into Community Emergency Preparedness Planning. Annals of Internal Medicine, 144 , 799-811.

Caroll, R. (Ed.). (2009). Risk Management Handbook for Health Care Organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Faustenhammer, A., and Gossler, M. (2011). Preparing for the next crisis: what can organizations do to prepare managers for uncertain future? Business Strategy Series, 12 (2), 51-55.

Halbesleben, J. R., Cox, K., and Hall, L. (2011). transfer of crew resource management training, a qualitative study of comminication and decision making in two intensive care units. Leadership in Health Services, 24 (1), 19-28.

Harris, J. L., and Roussel, L. (2010). Initiating and sustaining the clinical nurse leader role: a practical guide. Sadbury MA: jones and Barlett Publishers.

Joint Commision Resources. (2009). Portable Accreditation Manual for Critical Access Hospitals 2009: Camcah. Oakbrook Terrace: Joint Commision Resources.

Lundgren, R. E., and McMakin, A. H. (2009). Risk communication: a handbook for communicating environmental, safety, and health risks (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Taylor, R. J., and Taylor, S. B. (1994). The AUPHA manual of health services management. Gaithersburg: Aspen Publishers, Inc.

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