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General Hospital

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Conflict Resolution at General Hospital
Ebony S. Ross
Strayer University
Sheila M. Letica
Leadership and Organizational Behavior
August 17, 2011

Discuss the conflict that is occurring at General Hospital.
“Conflict is a process in which one party perceives that its interest are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.” (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). There are various levels of conflict; the type of conflict that is displayed at General Hospital is intergroup conflict. Intergroup conflict “refers to opposition, disagreement and disputes between groups or teams. (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). The intergroup conflict occurred between Mr. Hammer, the chief executive officer of General hospital, Doctor Williams, the director of medicine, Marge Harding, the chief operating officer, and the physicians. Intergroup conflict can occur across teams, departments, or division and also between different levels of the organization, like between first level employees and top management. (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). Mr. Hammer believes that “physicians were a major factor in the inability of hospitals to regulate cost. (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). The solution to regulating cost for Mr. Hammer and Ms. Harding was to fire Doctor Boyer, the cardiologist that interpreted the EKG readings for General Hospital. Dr. Boyer was replaced with a computerized EKG interpreter. The computerized EKG reader immediately showed signs of trouble. EKG reading was coming back late and some never coming back. The physicians and Doctor Williams were more concerned with correct EKG readings and prompt delivery of those readings. Mr. Hammer reached out to Doctor Williams on several occasions and was blown off. Dr. Williams could have met with Mr. Hammer and potential avoided the firing of Dr. Boyer and reduced cost in other areas.

Discuss the conflict management styles that are evident in the case.
Conflict management styles are “patterns of behavior an individual develops in response to conflict with others such as difference of opinion. (Wikipedia, 2011). According to Hellriegel and Slocum there are five conflicts handling styles: collaborating style, compromising style, forcing style, accommodating style, and avoiding style. Mr. Hammer demonstrated collaborating style, forcing style and avoiding style. Collaborating style which refers to “high levels of cooperation and assertive behavior.” (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011) was displayed when Mr. Hammer had private meeting with Dr. Williams regarding ways to cut cost. Forcing style” refers to assertive and uncooperative behaviors and represents a win-lose approach to interpersonal conflict. (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). This style was displayed when Mr. Hammer and Ms. Harding mad a decision about the conflict without regard to how doctors and physicians felt about the matter. The avoiding style “refers to unassertive and uncooperative behaviors. The avoiding style was used after the computerized EKG system was implemented. Mr. Hammer stated that he was too busy to address the matter, and Ms. Harding avoided the meeting and sent her secretary with a message stating that the computerized EKG system stays. There was no action taking to eliminate conflict or come to a happy median.

Discuss how General hospital could have used teams to address the cost reductions needed to stay competitive.
General Hospital could have used a team of individuals to address the cost reductions. Mr. Hammer and Ms. Harding only concern is cutting cost of the hospital and keeping the hospital in the competitive scene. A team of individuals composed of doctors, nurses, and physicians from every department would have been able to deliver a variety of alternatives to reduce the amount of money spent. A cross functional team would work for General Hospital. A cross functional team is defined as “a team that has members drawn from various work areas whose goal is to identify and solve mutual problems. (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). Cross functional teams are used occasionally to promote improvement within an organization and are centered on answering the needs of the client. (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). If there would have been a cross functional team at General Hospital to address the cost reduction concerns there may have been more research done on the computerized EKG and conflicts may have been avoided in the work place.

Describe how Hammer can used negotiation skills to get buy-in for the cost reductions.
Negotiation is “a process in which two or more interdependent individuals or groups who perceives that they have both common and conflicting goals state and discuss proposals and preferences for specific terms of a possible agreement. (Hellgriel and Slocum, 2011). In the conflict regarding General Hospital Mr. Hammer, Ms. Harding, Dr. Williams, and the head of each department should have had a meeting to see if an agreement could be met, that would work for both sides. Integrative negotiations “are the results that benefit both parties (Hellrigell and Slocum, 2011). Both sides would have had to give on to the others request slightly to come to a happy median.

Recommend a strategy for Hammer to resolve the problem.
Mr. Hammer should develop a group of employees composed of the doctors, physicians and nurses and have a meeting where integrative negotiations can take place. By Mr. Hammer and Ms. Harding implementing a plan that is malfunctioning, is hurting the doctors, patients, as well as the hospitals growth. Both sides should come together and collectively come up with a solution to cut back cost. Mr. Hammer should look over the cost that each department and everyone decide what cuts could be made, and not just focus on the physicians cost. Ms. Harding was more concern with her own personal goals, and didn’t have the best interest of the hospital in mind. The computerized EKG should have been tested and reviewed before a contract was sign. A happy median needs to be met so that the doctors can continue to serve the community to the best of their ability. There needs to be attitudinal structuring which is the “process by which the parties seek to establish feelings and relationships (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011). There has to be a deeper level of hostility from Mr. Hammer and Ms. Harding toward Doctor Williams and the physicians. Change needs to happen for General Hospital to operate competitively with other hospitals and medical centers.

References
Hellriegel, D, & Slocum, J. (Eds.). (2011). Organizational Behavior (13th ed.).Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About

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