Discuss effective strategies for resolving workplace conflict and preventing violence.  NRS 415 Explain what factors lead to conflict in professional practice

 

 Fadi Smiley (2018) shares different leadership qualities and values in their article, leadership guide to conflict and conflict management, one being rationalistic fallacy which is basically the expectation that leaders automatically know how to resolve conflict. This is not true. Conflict management is a skill to be learned. There are many kinds of conflict, as discussed by Fadi Smiley (2018), including: interpersonal conflict, intrapersonal conflict, and inter/intragroup conflict. “Conflict management may be defined as the process of reducing negative outcomes of conflict while increasing the positive.” (Smiley, 2018). Different strategies that leaders can employ while resolving conflict include using various conflict-resolution models, remaining objective, listening to understand, remaining receptive, and assigning accountability.

Lencioni, P. (2002). Make your values mean something. Harvard business review. Make Your Values Mean Something (hbr.org)

Murphy, J. (2020). Transitions to professional nursing practice, chapter 3: Inter-professional collaboration. Suny Delhi. Interprofessional Collaboration | Transitions to Professional Nursing Practice (lumenlearning.com)

Smiley, F. (2018). Leadership guide to conflict and conflict management. PB pressbooks. Leadership Guide to Conflict and Conflict Management – Leadership in Healthcare and Public Health (pressbooks.pub)

Sample Answer 3 for

Conflicts are an inevitable part of any organizational, especially professional practice like nursing. Conflicts occur due to several factors that include ineffective communication or miscommunication, differences in values and beliefs among employees, scarcity of resources and their allocation, and role ambiguity where members do not understand their roles and responsibilities. Personality clashes happen due to differences in personalities and cause conflicts among employees (DeLaune et al., 2023). Limited resource allocation leads to competition while values and beliefs clash among different people leading to organizational conflicts.

Organizational values and culture are essential in shaping the conduct of employees, including conflict resolution approaches. Values provide guiding principles that shape behavior and actions within an organization. For instance, values like communication and teamwork reduce conflicts as the members understand one another and their roles. Harmony creates a better workplace environment to reduce conflicts. Organizational culture entails shared assumptions, values and beliefs that guide the conduct and behavior of people in a company (Stanley et al., 2022). A culture based on teamwork and collaboration promotes conflict resolutions as opposed to one that promotes competition and individual success. Therefore, organizational value and culture are essential in solving conflicts and ensuring the entity works through collaboration and teamwork while being ready to solve conflicts.

Organizations and their members can resolve workplace conflicts and prevent violence when they implement evidence-based strategies like open and honest communication, mediation and collaboration, and get training on conflict resolution. Having clear responsibilities and roles ensures that no ambiguity exists in the work while promotion of a positive work environment fosters a culture of respect and understanding to avoid conflicts (Van Belle et al., 2020). The implication is that organizational values and culture are essential in resolving workplace conflicts. Imperatively, managers and leaders should identify effective strategies to resolve conflicts when they happen.

References

DeLaune, S. C., Ladner, P. K., McTier, L., & Tollefson, J. (2023). Fundamentals of nursing.

Cengage AU.

Stanley, D., Bennett, C. L., & James, A. H. (Eds.). (2022). Clinical leadership in nursing and

            healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.

Van Belle, E., Giesen, J., Conroy, T., van Mierlo, M., Vermeulen, H., Huisman‐de Waal, G., &

Heinen, M. (2020). Exploring person‐centred fundamental nursing care in hospital wards: A multi‐site ethnography. Journal of clinical nursing, 29(11-12), 1933-1944. DOI: 10.1111/jocn.15024.