Managing Conflict
Managing conflict is an important part of the nurse manager’s job. Managers are often involved in conflict management on several different levels. They may be participants in the conflict as individuals, administrators, or representatives of a unit. In fact, they must often initiate conflict by confronting staff, individually or collectively, when a problem develops. They may also serve as mediators or judges to conflicting parties. There could be a conflict within the unit, between parties from different units, or between internal and external parties (for example, a university nursing instructor may have a conflict with staff on a particular unit).
Everyone must be realistic regarding the outcome. Often those inexperienced in conflict ne- gotiation expect unrealistic outcomes. When two or more parties hold mutually exclusive ideas, attitudes, feelings, or goals, it is extremely difficult, without the commitment and willingness of all concerned, to arrive at an agreeable solution that meets the needs of both. Battles between Democrats and Republicans in Congress are an example.