Struggles, disagreements, and conflicts occur in the workplace primarily due to the differences in personalities and job responsibilities of the various individuals employed. The major contributors of conflicts in the workplace will be discussed along with some effective ways to handle and resolve them. Conflict should not always be thought of in negative terms, but as a healthy problem to be managed early to avoid escalations (Clark, 2015, p. 15). There are solutions and steps to follow for conflict resolution and pitfalls to be aware of when doing so.
Many conflicts can be avoided when parties are able to contain their emotions, listen, and communicate to each other their thoughts and feelings. One such occurrence happened recently on the hospital floor that I work on. There was a conflict between the nurses that the patient care technicians (PCTS) were not performing the tasks and responsibilities associated with what their job description entailed. Much of the discussions concerning this conflict happened amongst each individual group and not between them. Conflicts cannot be handled this way and will only escalate the negative behaviors, feelings, and working relationships each group has towards the other. This is exactly what occurred in
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She listened to the complaints of the various individuals whom were most involved with this conflict and quickly developed an action plan to prevent this situation from worsening. The Thomas-Kilman Conflict Model presented in Lamberton and Minor (2014) illustrates five management styles, avoider, competitor, collaborator, compromiser, and accommodator and the effectiveness that each has on conflict resolution. My unit director used her skills as a collaborator to achieve a win-win solution for both parties so that the team oriented approach of patient care would continue to