Causes of Conflict and Resolution
A new director decides to reorganize the department you work in. This reorganization comes about without input from the employees and many of the nurses that you oversee are feeling resentful of the change. As a nurse leader, identify factors that may lead to conflict and ways you can manage them.
The nursing profession necessitated people to work closely with others whose background and culture are different. People can hold different values potentially affecting these relationships, which may result in conflict. Sound communication or conflict resolution skills can decrease the risk of conflict. Cultural diversity, combined with the stress of providing quality care, often results in conflict (Pettrey, 2003). According to the New York State Nurses Association (2005), unresolved conflict leads to barriers for employees, teams, organizational growth, and productivity, which results in a cultural breakdown within the organization. Conflict is a natural phenomenon (Kelly, 2006), and an inevitable aspect of life (Kemp-Longmore, 2000). It is a disagreement between individuals who perceive a threat to their needs, interests, and or concerns (Kelly, 2006). Over time individuals learn how to respond to conflict, making it an unconscious process. Improperly managed conflict can result in the nurses’ inability to provide quality care, and can escalate into violence or abuse (CNO, 2006). The Thomas-kill man Instrument (TKI) is a tool that has been developed to manage conflict. It identifies five styles of managing conflicts as follows: accommodating, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and competing. Each of the five styles comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages (The Sentinel Watch, 2015).
• Accommodating – refers to ironing things over. The objective with this approach is to relinquish– to maintain harmony and relationships at all costs (although sometimes this means ignoring the issue at hand, which can be detrimental to a long-term solution).
• Compromising - refers to a bargaining process that frequently ends in a less-than-ideal solution as concessions are made (one party may be willing to give up something on this issue to gain leverage for another). Still, this approach may be useful in arriving at a temporary settlement on a difficult issue, or a quick fix when time is of the essence. It’s best used for issues of mild to moderate importance – you wouldn’t want to compromise on an issue of patient safety, for example. And it may work well when both parties have equal power in the hierarchy and are equally committed to their position.
• Collaborating is true problem solving. The goal is to find a common solution when both sets of interests are too important to be negotiated – for example, when an issue of patient safety is at odds with the need to use limited resources strategically. The process of collaborating includes high amounts of both confidence and teamwork, as parties with different viewpoints attempt to merge their insights and work through the conflict. This is generally considered the most effective style of managing conflict, yet it also has pitfalls – use it for everything and you’ll find yourself spending exorbitant amounts of time sorting out trivial issues.
• Avoiding conflict is not generally advised. Yet even this tactic can be used strategically, for example to create a delay that allows people to cool down or gather more information. Experts recommend using avoidance only when the issue is of small importance, when you know you can’t prevail against a more powerful opponent, or when the potential damage of a confrontation outweighs the benefits. Nurses who avoid conflict at all costs are at odds with the profession’s goal to advance the standard of care delivery – they are not leaders.
• Competing is generally a negative way to manage conflict. The goal is to “win” at all costs and the style is characterized by great confidence and low cooperation – for example when a person uses her rank to force an issue to resolution. Yet it might be a useful approach in an emergency when quick, decisive action is vital, or where an unpopular course of action must be implemented. A manager who uses this approach too often, however, will likely end up with a team of nurses who are not empowered, indecisive, slow to act, and prone to withhold feedback.
Reference
Conflict Resolution. (April 30, 2015). Retrieved from http://rnjournal.com/journal-of-nursing/conflict-resolution
Kelly, J. (2006). An overview of conflict. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 25(1), 22-28.

Kemp-Longmore, C. (2000). Conflict resolution in the workplace. The Black Collegian, 131-3.
Pettrey, L. (2003). Who let the dogs out? Managing conflict with courage and skill. Critical Care Nurse, 21-4.
The Five Styles of Managing Conflict Resolution for Nursing. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.americansentinel.edu/blog/2011/07/27/nursing-strategies-common-tactics-for-managing-conflict/