Leadership Style for Conflict Resolution in Health Care, Essay Example

Like any other profession, the healthcare field can be a site for conflict among the members of a healthcare team at, for example, a clinic or a hospital. While conflict can be difficult for any organization to manage, the real human costs associated with poorly delivered healthcare due to internal conflict make conflict resolution in healthcare all the more important. This paper explores which leadership style might be best suited for conflict resolution in the healthcare setting and what strategies can be used to promote this resolution.

The Collaborative Leadership Style for Conflict Resolution

Thomas Kilmann group leadership styles for conflict resolution into five different groups: competing, compromising, avoiding, accommodating, and collaborative (Leery, 2011, p.2). I personally believe that the collaborative style of leadership to help resolve conflicts in a most healthcare situations is best.  The reason I believe this is because healthcare is an immensely complicated profession field, and in a clinic or hospital or other such setting, there can be multiple points of view on, for instance, a particular point of patient care, which can all be legitimate even if they conflict.  The collaborative style would, ideally, be able to take all these points of view into account.  Vivar, in her Journal of Nursing Management article on this subject, agrees: “Many of the situations that nurses face when dealing with a conflict need a collaborative style and open communication. This style takes time but is a win-win for everybody….conflict resolution should be a priority…because conflict resolution has an influence on patients” (Vivar, 2006, p. 203).   Now we will look at strategies that can be used when promoting a collaborative method of conflict resolution.

Strategies for Conflict Resolution

There are several strategies that collaborative leaders can used to help with conflict resolution in a healthcare setting.  Ann Leary, in her article on this subject, encourages leaders, first of all, to avoid “hot buttons”, that is, to stay unemotional when brokering talks amongst members of a group in conflict.  She also recommends focusing on facts that everyone in the group can agree on and asking questions for clarification to gain a deeper understanding of the problems that have arisen.  What she is promoting is a sort of round-table discussion, where all members of the group have a chance to speak out and be heard; during this discussion, she says that active listening on the part of the leader to try to understand the situation from the different points of view that are being expressed.  Finally, she says that a time of reflection is needed for the leader to mull over the situation before trying to implement a plan of action which will help to meet the needs of everyone involved.  (Leary, 2011, p. 23).

Conclusion

Healthcare is complex and multi-disciplinary and conflicts can easily arise in the high-stress situations that arise in this professional field.  A collaborative approach in leadership, with a leader who respects the differing and legitimate viewpoints and who encourages open discussion, will be one who could more easily help resolve the conflicts that can inevitably arise in healthcare settings.

References

Leary, A. (2011).  The Implementation of Conflict Management Training into the Post Anesthesia Care Setting for Staff Nurses during Yearly Competency Day.  University of Massachusetts.

Vivar, C. (2006). Putting Conflict Management into Practice: A Nursing Case Study. Journal of Nursing Management.  14(1) 201-206