Conflict of Management

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN SURGERY: THE IMPACT OF THIRD PARTY CONSULTATION

R. Wayne Boss Professor Graduate School of Business Administration University of Colorado Boulder Campus and Mark L. McConkie Professor Graduate School of Public Affairs University of Colorado Colorado Springs Campus

Abstract

This one-year study describes the impact of a third party consultation intervention in an operating room of a major medical center. The results show statistically significant levels of improvement on all six subscales of the Group Behavior Inventory, as well as improvements in group effectiveness, honest communication, comfort discussing organizational problems, and interpersonal trust. Additional results include an increase in the availability of surgical supplies and equipment, a 95% decline in physician abuse of scheduling privileges, a decrease of verbal abuse of nurses by physicians, the reconvening of the OR Standards Committee, and a decrease of nursing turnover from 30% the previous year to zero.

Public Administration & Management: An Interactive Journal 5, 1, 2000, pp. 44-66

Conflict Management in Surgery:

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Conflict Management in Surgery: The Impact of Third Party Consultation

Conflict is inherent in all relationships and can arise from a variety of sources (Walton, 1987). For example, it can result from such substantive issues as task orientation, pay rates, work methods, conditions of employment, and competition over scarce resources. Conflict can also develop from interpersonal issues, such as personality differences, misunderstandings among group members, a lack of interpersonal skills, and the emotional baggage people bring to relationships. Third party interventions focus on conflicts that arise between two or more people in the same organization and are designed to address and resolve conflicts that disrupt effective task accomplishment and work flow (Golembiewski & Rauschenberg, 2000). In an exhaustive study of conflict, negotiation and...