Any situation which can potentially turn into a conflict is dangerous for any staff unity. However, even with the best management system, such situations are inevitable due to some basic human instincts. Regarding the case with holiday coverage, trying to find a compromise between all the staff members has a high risk of turning into a disagreement between two or more people, or so-called “interpersonal conflict.” This situation should be controlled by a nurse manager to give a chance for everyone to express his or her concerns on the topic calmly.
Any conflict seems to bring only negative consequences to a staff team. The most solid among them is the reduction of work efficiency and deterioration of interpersonal relationships. However, conflicts in the group do not mean that there is nothing to benefit from. Any hardship during teamwork experience means that after its resolution, there will be a ready-made case study to learn from in order to avoid future misunderstandings.
Nowadays, researchers point out five main strategies of conflict management. Regarding interpersonal conflicts, the most beneficial way to resolve them is the compromising management strategy. According to this method, every staff member should consider the things he or she is ready to sacrifice to get something in return. When deciding on holiday coverage, all the staff team should gather at a team meeting and voice their propositions about the schedule. Then, employees who have some misunderstandings should set their priorities to propose some shifts or help later. If this technique is still non-beneficial, the nurse manager has to create a proper schedule on his own. To sum up, while handling any conflict, the arguments and ways of its solution should be expressed by staff members and taken into consideration for a nurse manager’s further decision.