Introduction
Interprofessional conflicts in healthcare teams are not a new phenomenon. In the U.S., 20% of residents have had serious conflicts with other healthcare professionals and 43% of surgeons have had conflicts with other team members about postoperative goals of care (Cullati et al., 2019). These conflicts are usually caused by poorly defined roles, hierarchical differences, overlapping competencies, competition, leadership discrepancies, and difference in goals among the members of the healthcare team. This paper will describe the conflict in the case study, explain how it is impacted by organizational culture, provide a conflict resolution plan, negotiation strategies used for conflict resolution, and how the culture can be improved in the organization.
Conflict description
The conflict in the case study involved a nurse, occupational therapist, physical therapist, athletic trainer, and health administrator. The nurse was delivering a massage on the patient’s request, which is contraindicated at this stage of soft tissue healing. The physical and occupational therapists want to determine the course of treatment. The athletic trainer has received orders from the surgeon to perform a scar tissue massage therapy. Each of these professionals believe this is in their scope of treatment.
Impact of organisational culture on the conflict
This organization lacks a culture of interprofessional collaboration. There are several factors that might have contributed to this organizational culture. One of them is lack of appreciation of the roles of other health professionals. A healthcare professional might feel that their education and training makes them more important than their colleagues. They do not acknowledge or respect the roles of healthcare professionals with lesser educational attainment or fewer years of experience. The other factor that could have influenced this organizational culture is lack of communication. If the organization has poor communication, effective interprofessional collaboration cannot be achieved (Folkman, Tveit & Sverdrup, 2019). Professionals do what they think they are supposed to do without consulting other team members. This leads to conflicts which draw their attention from their primary objective, putting the patient first.
This organization has a “every man for himself” mentality. Each professional wants to be the one who gets the job done so they can get the reimbursement. They are not willing to share responsibility for patient care. This mentality is a major barrier to interprofessional collaboration as it encourages unhealthy competition among professionals. Again, the culture of collaboration in this organization could be hindered by lack of training in interprofessional collaboration. If the leadership does not support or recognize the importance of interprofessional collaboration, it is not likely to train its employees on collaboration (Wei et al., 2020). When a new professional joins the organization where collaboration culture is non-existent, he will adopt to its ways and in the long run, you will have an organization full of employees who cannot collaborate with each other.
Conflict resolution plan
This conflict can be resolved through collaboration. As a leader, I would get all the involved professionals together for an honest conversation and give everyone time to explain themselves. During this time, I will listen carefully while maintaining a nonthreatening environment to ensure they all feel comfortable talking about their concerns. This will help them feel understood. Also, listening to everyone’s concerns will help diffuse hostility. Afterwards, I will work to find a solution that that factors in everyone’s feedback. I will then bring all parties together and present my solution and give reasons as to why I have come up with that particular solution. I will point out what each of them stands to gain from the resolution and why it is fair. Collaboration is the best strategy in this situation as it ends in a win-win. It merges perspectives and allows for an integrative solution that helps increase commitment and improves relationship between the involved parties (Shelley Andre, 2018).
Basic negotiation strategies and tactics used to resolve the conflict
The first strategy I used is engaging in active listening. This included reaffirming statements, repeating back critical information, and maintaining eye contact with each party. Active listening helped me gain a deeper understanding of the issue at hand and the needs of each party. My other tactic was addressing the conflict rather than the person. I recognized the importance of directing attention to the conflict itself and not the people involved. This allowed me to listen to everyone with an open mind. I also looked for shared interests. In this case, everyone admitted that they want what was best for the patient. Finding a common ground helped me develop a solution where everyone achieved a win, no matter how small. Lastly, I ensured that all communication was respectful. I informed everyone that lewd remarks about the other party were not allowed. I was also careful with my own remarks throughout our communication.
How to improve organizational culture
A culture of collaboration can be incredibly rewarding for a healthcare organization. It helps reduce medical errors, improves patient outcomes, reduces patient wait-time, reduces inefficiencies, and improves patient satisfaction. This organization can create a culture of collaboration by establishing a clear vision. The leadership should clearly communicate the organization’s desired outcome. The vision should include details on what interprofessional collaboration will look like, how it will benefit all stakeholders, and what steps will be taken to help develop team member’s ability to collaborate. The leader and other members of the healthcare team will then develop a commitment to the common goal of collaboration. When team mates align themselves around a common goal, they will be more effective in their collaboration (Manspeaker et al., 2019).
A culture of collaboration will only be fostered if all healthcare professionals embrace differences. The organization’s leaders should encourage staff to embrace differences as part of the collaborative culture. Employees need to be reminded that differences in opinions can always occur but they need not impede their ability to work together in the best interests of the patients. Additionally, organization’s leadership should offer incentives and reward teamwork to promote a culture of collaboration. If teams that work together effectively are rewarded and recognized by the leaders, others will be motivated to take the initiative more seriously (Ali & Anwar, 2021). Leaders can use rewards and incentives such as bonuses, time off, paid vacations, and so forth.
Leaders should introduce training programs on interprofessional collaboration. It is important that everyone in the organization knows the benefits of collaboration and the consequences of lack of collaboration. In some occasions, professionals do not collaborate because they do not see the need (Wei et al., 2022). This ignorance can be stamped out through education and training. Leaders can use research evidence to show its employees how other organizations have gained by having a culture of interprofessional collaboration. This could help them develop a sense of trust in the collaborative process.
Feedback systems are also critical for an organization that wants to build a culture of collaboration. These systems will help the leaders to monitor the ability of employees to collaborate effectively. If the leader identifies any gaps in the collaborative process, he can initiate an appropriate action to address the gap. Furthermore, feedback systems will help employees feel more comfortable when communicating about the processes and any barriers they are facing while collaborating with team members (Auschra, 2018). Lastly, leaders need to utilize technology to improve communication. This will give employees advantage when communicating thus encourage them to work together.
Conclusion
Conflict is unavoidable when two or more people are working together. Lack of a collaboration culture is one of the main causes of interprofessional conflict in healthcare organizations. Organizations can create a collaboration culture by establishing a clear vision, encouraging staff to embrace differences, using rewards and incentives, training staff on interprofessional collaboration, and creating feedback systems. Effective conflict management strengthens relationships and encourages collaboration.
References
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Wei, H., Horns, P., Sears, S. F., Huang, K., Smith, C. M., & Wei, T. L. (2022). A systematic meta-review of systematic reviews about interprofessional collaboration: facilitators, barriers, and outcomes. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 1-15.
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