Conflict Resolution at General Hospital

“Conflict Resolution at General Hospital”

Assignment # 4

Aisha Wrighter

Instructor: Michael Padgett

Bus 520

May 29, 2011

Conflict occurs anyplace from the school playground, home and business. In fact every organization is faced with conflict at some point or another. It is not uncommon. There are various types of conflict a company may experience. No matter which type of conflict an organization faces, management should have conflict resolution strategies in place to help resolve them and other issues that may arise. David Lipsky and Ariel Avgar conduct a study on conflict management in the workplace. Although practitioners and scholars define “conflict management” in various ways, in the workplace setting the term usually refers to the adoption of a proactive approach to handling conflict by managers, supervisors and union representatives (Lipsky & Avgar, 2010). In organizations that adopt a conflict management approach, members do not simply wait for workplace disputes to occur and then decide, case by case, what technique or dispute resolution method to use to resolve it. Instead these organizations develop policies and procedures designed to assist in addressing conflict in a manner that is consistent with their broader goals and objectives (Lipsky & Avgar, 2010). General Hospital has a major conflict that is pressing because the hospital is not doing well economically. The policies & procedures set in place were not effective in this case.

1. Discuss the conflict that is occurring at General Hospital

First General Hospital is facing a decline in occupancy because a nearby medical center underwent renovations and obtained more advanced equipment (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 545). Having to eliminate services in areas in which it could not compete hurt their revenue along with the increase in Medicare and Medicaid patients at the same time. General Hospital is faced with a lot of conflict that ultimately led the facility into a disaster...