Management Training and Resulting Conflict Management Effectiveness in Hospitals - Dissertation Example

One of such environment is hospital therefore conflict management in healthcare settings is a must. This study explores the effectiveness of conflict management in healthcare settings and presents conflict resolution maps for healthcare practitioners to ensure conflict management practices matches healthcare organisations standards. The study specifically discusses conflict resolution in the light of conflict situations unique to healthcare settings and uses secondary data on conflict resolution training programs suggested and carried out at NHS to make recommendations for healthcare management.

Table of Contents ABSTRACT 2 1. INTRODUCTION 5 1.1 Background and Context 6 1.2 Research Question and Objectives 7 1.3 Rationale of the Study 8 1.4 Structure of the Study 9 2.LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 What is Conflict and Conflict Management? 10 2.2 Different Views on Conflict 11 2.3 Types of Conflict 13 2.3.1 Interpersonal Conflict 14 2.4 Conflict Management Process 15 2.5 Conflict Handling Strategies 16 2.6 Conflict Situations in Healthcare Settings 18 2.7 Research Studies on Conflict Management in Healthcare Settings 19 2.

8 Research Gap and Conceptual Framework 21 3.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23 3.1 Role of the Researcher 23 3.2 Research Design 23 3.3 Data Collection and Analysis 24 3.4 Research Validity and Triangulation 25 3.5 Summary 26 4.FINDINGS 27 4.1 The Patient-Staff Conflict 28 4.2 The Doctor-Doctor Conflict 30 4.3 Conflict among Nurses 30 4.4 The Doctor-Nurse Conflict 31 4.5 Summary 32 5.DISCUSSION 34 6.CONCLUSION 37 6.1 Recommendations 38 References 40 1. INTRODUCTION Conflict is an inevitable part of social life and communication, flexibility and willingness to change are a few ways to handle conflict effectively (Guffey & Almonte, 2009).

However, not everyone is good at conflict management and hence without one knowing these strategies it becomes difficult to handle conflict effectively. In organisational context, chances of conflict increases where pressure is high and duties are complex. One of such environment is hospital. Healthcare personnel work under immense pressure and they are performing several responsibilities simultaneously; in addition to this, their duties are linked to a person’s life which even complicates the situation and increases the pressure.

Besides tough working conditions there are many other reasons of conflict within organisations. These reasons include differences in goals and values of employee and employer, power differentials, lack of understanding of organisational structure and functions, scarcity of resources, or refutation of one’s self-image. To ensure an organisation remains stable and consistent, conflicts should be handled effectively whenever they arise. Nonetheless, everyone is not good at conflict management and this fact makes it necessary to ensure personnel in organisations know well how to handle conflict and maintain harmony in the workplace.

Conflict management has become a major subfield of management and organisational behaviour. Conflict among groups in organisations is now an important area for researchers. Though the research shows that there are positive effects of conflict on group identity and development (Jones, 1993; De Dreu, 1997) however negative and destructive conflict can lead to disaster. Due to the negative consequences conflicts can bring to an organisation, it is important to ensure that employees understand conflict management strategies.

Including hospitals, the ability to manage internal conflict