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Page modified January 29, 2007

Conflict in the Workplace

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Q

I am a nurse on a busy medical-surgical unit caring for very complex clients. Recently, conflict arose among nurses when the unit moved to a total patient care delivery model from a team nursing model. Some nurses are struggling with this adjustment, particularly around individual workload management. Lately, arguments and refusal to help each other have become issues on the unit. There is a feeling of sink-or-swim during peak times as nurses work more and more in isolation. Does the College have any suggestions on how to deal with this escalating situation?

A

When conflict among nurses is left unresolved it can have serious consequences. Collegial relationships based on trust and respect are important to ensuring safe client care. Unresolved conflict — and the lack of communication, support and trust that often ensues — can leave clients and nurses vulnerable to unnecessary risk.

The College expects nurses to establish and maintain professional collegial relationships. The Professional Standards (2002) addresses the issue in the section on nurses’ responsibility to maintain professional relationships. One of the expectations is that nurses will demonstrate effective conflict-resolution skills.

When a colleague is orally aggressive or abusive, you have the right to ask the person to stop. Communication strategies, such as actively listening, attending to non-verbal behaviors and addressing behaviors in a non-judgemental manner, all contribute toward promoting respect and collegiality among team members.

However, this is only the beginning to resolving the conflict. Nurses need to explore and understand the root cause of the conflict and abusive behaviour.

From your description, it appears that the conflict stems from stress caused by changes in the workplace. CNO believes that in quality practice settings, changes are carefully planned and implemented. Input from nurses, especially those who are expected to carry out the changes, should be included in the planning. Support for nurses and assessment and evaluation of the changes are also necessary.

A staff meeting may be a good time to discuss the changes that have occurred and how the team is communicating. Developing a team-wide code of conduct will help everyone understand what is expected.

Nurses may need help and support from management to implement a conflict-resolution process that promotes sharing feedback and outlines consequences for abusive behaviour. In addition, requesting that an evaluation process be incorporated into the unit changes may help to reveal potential problems before a conflict situation escalates into an abusive or unsafe situation.

Nurses may also find the Conflict Prevention and Management guideline helpful. This document explores different types of conflict and strategies to prevent or manage an escalation.

You can find the documents mentioned here on CNO’s website at www.cno.org.

 

References

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