Introduction
In any team setting where there are people with different temperaments, even if working together, without clearly set objectives and guiding principles for management of their relations in the team, conflicts will arise. The causes of the conflicts may be diverse in nature depending on the management structure of the team. Some of the causes may be lack of understanding, lack of clear objectives, goals and values and lack of group cohesion.
Just like many other sectors, the health sector experiences several problems arising from different causes including cultural diversity, poverty, abdication of roles, organizational role ambiguity, policy and planning inadequacies especially in regards to service provision and in particular, the continuum and chronic emergencies versus policy on relief, intimate partner violence(work relationships),conflict of interest, salaries, Hierarchical multiple regression and assessment of contribution of work role conflict and work role ambiguity. Conflicts of interest, training, age, diseases and risk assessment in conflict prevention.
Discussion
Health care is the preventive measure, treatment and management of health through services offered by medical staff, dental, nursing, physician and other health care professionals. It also involves all the goods and services for promoting health through preventive, curative, palliative, consultation and management interventions against diseases/illness and potential health risks to people on populations. (Debra Gerardi, 2003). Medical personnel are educated, trained and experienced professionals in treatment, curative, preventive, counseling and management of health problems. These personnel include medical doctors, physicians, nurses, pediatrics and other persons trained in the medical sector. (Malin Swartling and Rolf Wolfstrom, 2008)
Conflicts are ever increasing in life in all the sectors of the economy. The health sector as useful for existence of life and prevention of any potential threats to life has several problems arising from different causes. These causes include institutional and management based, medical personnel, external, legal, profession based perceptions causes, ethical versus responsibility causes including poverty and inability to pay for health services versus responsibility to secure life, interest causes, this relates to the investor interest versus the ethical practice conflicts which may lead to sacking. Cultural diversity and perceptions including racial discrimination are other notable causes of conflict. (Manoj Pawar, 2007)
Other causes of conflict in the sector include lack of risk assessment in conflict prevention measures, abdication of roles, organizational role ambiguity, policy and planning inadequacies especially in regards to service provision and in particular, the continuum and chronic emergencies versus policy on relief, intimate partner violence (work relationships), conflict of interest, salaries, (ProQuest, 2008)
Corruption involving, medical practitioners, government and medical institutions and other stake holders are compromising the quality and standards of health care provision. This may as well lead to insufficient health budgets and disgruntled work force. (Anti-corruption resource centre, 2004). Good communication improves relationships at the work place. It also increases intimacy, trust and support besides responsible behavior at the work place. However, breakdown of communication or poor communication can create mistrust and contempt. (Renn, Ortwin, 1998). Good communication will improve health service provision due to its capacity to reduce: Defensiveness, overgeneralizations, blame game, arguments, stonewalling and solitude behavior. (Medical Review, 2007)
There are other major causes of conflict in the team and the culture of blaming one another is one of them. This is manifested in a situation where there is a problem and instead of the team members trying to find out how it could have occurred, they look for who caused it and due to their selfish interests, they absolve themselves of any blame and point fingers to others (Manoj, 2007). This was a result of the naturally existent differences in the way the team members’ internal maps perceive situations thereby causing people to act in self interest. The team members were also not willing to take any risks in their actions thus acted with fear of blame in case of any mistakes.
It was also found that in the team, there was a practice of focusing on people instead of concentrating on the processes of improving communication and performance in the team. The individual team members did not really understand themselves or their colleagues and therefore could not deal effectively with any of the disagreements arising in the team. This was compounded by the fact that there was no specific statement of purpose for the healthcare team and even the team members themselves did not have specified roles and therefore clashes were bound to occur between their duties, personal interests and the responsibilities of the team in general(Manoj, 2007).
Effective communication is equally a way of resolving conflicts since it involves the choice of best communication channel for a specific purpose. Interactive conflict resolution, stake holder involvement initiatives, transparent budgetary and fiscal planning systems, partnership success and responsibility, mass media and conflict resolution attempts are all important in the effectiveness of service provision in the health sector (Ken G.Smith, Judy D, Olian, Henry Sims P.jr, Dougkllas P. O’Bannon, Judith A.Scully, 1994)
Conclusion
In conclusion, it would be recommended that the medical practitioners and the investors in the health care sector due to their unrelenting efforts towards saving lives through myriad and valuable services. However, it is also recommended that a more conflict free environment which should use the legal and ethical frame work bedsides the voluntary responsibility in delivering health care services.
References
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Ken G. Smith ,Judy Dolian,Henry Sims P,Dougkllas P. O’Bannon, Judith A.Scully,1994. Web.
Guttmann, H. 2005, Summer. Partnering to solve team problems Web.
Swartling M. and Wolfstrom R. 2008. Isolated specialist or system integrated physician-different values on sickness certification among orthopedic surgeons: an interview study. Web.
Medical Review, 2007. Conflict resolution Mistakes to avoid. Web.
ProQuest, 2008. Health care. Web.
Pawar, M. 2007. Getting beyond Blame in Your Practice Pawar – Fam Pract Manage. Web.
Renn, Ortwin, 1998. The role of risk communication and public dialogue in improving risk management. Web.