Healthy Conflict Resolution
The dynamics of bringing together a workgroup where the diversity of the team is exhibited both in the level of education and experience is complex, making the creation of a functional and cohesive team a challenge. This challenge is most evident in the creation of an integrated health care team due to the nature of health care itself and the effective management of conflict with the healthcare environment is imperative to providing quality health care. The effects of negative conflict can be so disruptive to patient care and safety that as early as 2008, a Sentinel Event Alert was released by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) recognizing that workplace conflict has direct
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Teams, however, are made up of individuals with varying levels of skill, education, and vast differences in personality and life experiences that make them individuals within the team environment. Therefore, “conflict in groups is nearly unavoidable when individuals with their own unique perspectives, work styles, and skills team up to create products or services. When conflict occurs and individuals are personally invested in the outcome of a project, conflict may elicit emotional reactions” (Griffith, Connelly, & Thiel, 2014, pg. 148). Therefore, intragroup conflicts are the result of unclear relationships, unclear tasks, and/or undefined processes, which provide the opportunity for team members to make their own interpretations about the desired …show more content…
When opinions on how the task should be completed differ and emotions become strong, once again, members of the group may align against one another to show support for what they perceive to be the best point of view of the issue at hand.
Process
The actual tasks involved in completing a project may also become an area of conflict as members of the group disagree on the mechanics of completing the process such as who will be responsible for specific tasks.
Conflict Resolution – Case 14-6
In the case study, a conflict exists between a senior physician and one of the unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). The source of the conflict may or may not be a legitimate business need, however, the perception of the UAP is that the physician is not behaving properly towards his patient care responsibilities. The UAP took the correct steps in first voicing concern to the physician (albeit poorly), and then when there was no resolution, the UAP took the concern to the next level of