Conflict Between Coworkers

When it comes to managing healthcare facilities such hospitals, or long term care facilities, I feel as though it can be common for coworkers to disagree. As an employee of a hospital and a dementia unit, I have experienced conflict with coworkers. But, from a perspective of an administrator, how does one help to fix issues between coworkers and mend conflict?

As a twenty year old college student, I've never managed anything but a group project. Most of the time, everyone is in agreement with the plan of attack, and usually when there is a potential issue, it immediately gets fixed by one person in the group deciding to take control to correct the issue. But, how does an administrator take control of an issue? What is the best method of attack when it comes to mending conflict? Is there a secret to avoiding conflict, or is it inevitable when working in large healthcare organizations?  

I read an article online about resolving conflict situations between coworkers, and a few key things stuck out to me as I read. First, I found that being able to communicate between coworkers and administration is key in managing conflict. According to the article, allowing for open communication is the first step in managing conflict situations in order for employees to speak freely and openly about their issues related to the workplace (Resolving Conflict Situations). 

Second, I found that allowing both parties of the conflict to place their needs before a solution is key in resolving conflict. Along with this, I learned it is important that both parties find "common areas of agreement", which could even include agreeing on the problem (Resolving Conflict Situations). 

Then, I focused on the important process that should be followed when dealing with conflict issues. Of course this process may be different depending on the organization, but I found it helpful to understand. First, the article says to "acknowledge that a difficult situation exists" (Resolving Conflict Situations). When coworkers come to administration with an issue, I feel as though the immediate solution would be to skip this step and focus on finding a solution quickly, instead of clearly communicating that there is an underlying issue that must be resolved first.

After acknowledging the situation, and then letting coworkers speak about their feelings, an administrator should define the problem and hand, and then "determine underlying need" (Resolving Conflict Situations). This step includes finding the end goal, or the solution to the problem, by looking at the needs of the individuals as opposed to finding a quick solution that may do more harm than good (Resolving Conflict Situations). 

The article made it a point to focus on needs, rather than solutions, and by doing so it is more likely that the situation becomes a "win/win" option rather than one party of the conflict feeling as though they were "wrong", while the other party feels as though they were "right" (Resolving Conflict Situations). 

Although I do not witness much conflict on a day to day basis, I do understand it occurs more often than not. This article was able to give me insight in to how an administrator would handle conflict, and the tools and processes in order to handle things in a mature, efficient, and effective way.