Further to Anne-Marie Saunder’s blog on Friday, it is clear that there has been evidence for some time of the cost involved surrounding conflict in the workplace. An interesting read from Holly Hughes published in August 2012, highlighting some research undertaken in the USA about the cost of conflict in a clinical setting: –
http://www.mediate.com/mobile/article.cfm?id=9331
Nurses Addressing Conflict
by Holly Hayes
August 2012
The Nurse Together blog has posted a four-part series on conflict in the healthcare setting. The first part looks at the sources and cost of conflict.
The article states:
Attempts to quantify the financial effects of conflict are also eye-opening. A blog post titled The Hidden Cost of Conflict Among Healthcare Teams quoted several studies that calculate these costs. For example:
One study done by the American Management Association on the cost of conflict showed that a manager will spend between 20% to as much as 50% of his/her time dealing with conflict in the work place.
In one particular healthcare system, the cost of conflict in managers’ time alone calculates out to:
45 Managers x $85K/year x 30% = $1.147 Million
And it’s not just money – human lives may also be at stake. The blog of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety reported on Managing Conflict Within Health Care Organizations as a Patient Safety Imperative, saying, “Whether conflicts openly threaten a major disruption of hospital operations or whether unresolved conflicts lurk beneath the surface of daily interactions, unaddressed conflict can undermine a hospital’s efforts to ensure safe, high-quality patient care.”
Part 2 examines common tactics for addressing conflict including Accommodating, Compromising, Collaborating, Avoiding and Competing.
Part 3 reviews guidelines for conflict resolution. The article recommends a five step interaction process when faced with conflict in the workplace: open, clarify, develop, agree, close.
Part 4 advises countering conflict with positive communication and suggests keeping these tips in mind: listen with empathy, watch your body language, recognize the need for a ‘time out’, avoid making judgments or defensiveness, confront the situation and not the person and finally, find shared goals.
