Introduction to Leadership (Concepts and practice)

NU-605 Nursing Leadership

Manuel Rivero

Regis College

September 28th , 2019

Conflict management in nursing refers to the process used to limit the negative aspects of conflicts. Conflict management is crucial in the nursing profession as it allows an increase in positive outcomes and promotes enhancements of learning and group results (Sherman, 2012). Leadership skills are crucial for conflict management in the nursing profession.

Conflict Incident in a Mental Health Facility.

I work in a mental health facility as a Psych charge nurse. Recently, the company expanded its services and opened a mental health outpatient clinic across the main building. It was a busy Monday morning and there were several patients who had come for an appointment. They were black Americans and whites. The conflict took place in the outpatient clinic involving the nurse in charge of ushering patients into the physician's room. Since cleaning was taking place, the waiting line got dismantled. The person in charge of the line requested all whites to line up and be served first. This created a commotion as one black person felt injustice had been used. He confronted the employee’s action and termed it as racial discrimination. Therefore, he raised the alarm by complaining loudly such that activities in the mental health facility came to a standstill.

Factors Contributing to this Conflict.

Racial discrimination and conflicts of interest contributed to this conflict. As the situation was analyzed, it was realized that the employee discriminated against the black people due to their color and gave whites the first priority to book in and visit their physician. Racial discrimination has been a threat to harmony in the United States for a long time.

Lack of time and staff shortage might have also contributed to the conflict. The employee may have felt the pressure of rearranging the line and had not time to do so.

The response of the Nursing Leader

The response of the nursing leader resulted in an effective resolution of the conflict. First of all, the nursing leader demonstrated excellent listening skills (Raines, 2019). He listened to complains from the person as well as explanations from the employee. He also demonstrated effective communication (Bach & Ellis, 2015) with all the parties involved. For example, he treated the patient and the employee fairly despite the existence of a conflict. He interacted with both clients and found out the black client had arrived extremely early as shown by the CCTV footage. The nursing leader also discussed the issue with the people involved and took the blame for the mistake on behalf of the nursing facility.

Despite the conflict, the nursing leader did not criticize the parties involved. He only made them understand their mistakes (Cardillo, 2011) for causing trouble in the facility. He did not support the employee to safeguard the image of the facility. He also demonstrated a positive attitude (Stanley, 2016) by reassuring the client that such an action will not occur again. He suggested that no one is perfect but requested for equal treatment of all clients by employees of the facility. An apology was directed to the client by the leader. As a result, the conflict was managed successfully.

References

Bach, S. (Shirley A. ., & Ellis, P. (2015). Leadership, management & a team working in nursing (2nd edition.). AGE/Learning Matters.

Cardillo, D. (2011). 7 strategies to manage nursing conflict. Nurse.Com. Retrieved from https://www.nurse.com/blog/2011/11/28/seven-strategies-for-managing-conflict/

Raines, S. (2019). Conflict management for managers : resolving workplace, client, and policy disputes (Second edition.).

Sherman, R. O. (2012). Charge Nurse Series Part 4 - How to Manage Conflict. Emerging RN Leader. Retrieved from https://www.emergingrnleader.com/charge-nurse-series-part-4-how-to-manage-conflict/

Stanley, D. (2016). Clinical Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare. (Second edition.). Wiley.