Introduction
Homecare is a type of supportive healthcare where a professional caregiver renders services to a patient in their home instead of group accommodation care commonly found in nursing homes or clinics. Homecare is also referred to as social care or in-home care, or domiciliary care. Activities performed in homecare include nurse paramedical aid and daily assistance living for the sick, elderly or disabled. Home care has advantages such as lower cost for patients for equal or better services and greater satisfaction than other arrangements. Homecare has become more popular among the elderly. Services offered in-home care can range from temporary to long-term. In the Allied Health Community scenario, Louis is in a crisis because 8 of 27 managers in his organization have refused to adopt new standards because of personal beliefs that they are not better than the old ones. The organization’s management is conflicted because they have spent $750000 on the new system but at the same time do not want to dismiss the suggestions of the veteran managers. Being the quality manager, Louis must decide how to solve the crisis with the best solution for patient safety.
The Types of Conflict That Were Present Among the Employees of Allied Health Community
There are four types of organizational conflicts; intra-personal conflict occurs when an individual’s vision differs from the organization’s overall goal. On the other hand, interpersonal conflict arises from two colleagues having differences between themselves (Borkowski & Meese, 2020). The other type of conflict is intra-group conflict, where an individual cannot fit into the dynamics of a group. The other type of conflict is the inter-group conflict that involves warring factions within the organization.
In the Allied Health Community, a group of 8 managers has refused to accept a new system of doing things. In contrast, the other group of newer managers are flexible and have accepted the new standard. The eight managers have claimed that the new system is cumbersome, maybe error-prone, and obfuscates data. Intergroup conflict can be a huge impediment to a group implementing its goals (Borkowski & Meese, 2020). In this case, the health community is trying to offer the best services to its patients, but different groups are fighting to compromise the quality of healthcare.
Best Decision-making models for the Case Study
Healthcare managers are supposed to take the utmost precaution when making decisions that affect patient health outcomes. Pat experience and knowledge could come in handy in making such decisions. The directive, analytical, behavioral, and conceptual models are the four types of approaches that can be used in deciding this type of predicament depending on the manager’s preferences (Azeska et al., 2017). Managers must pay attention to the change in circumstances in the healthcare environment to effectively apply the best-fitting model. Typically, different circumstances call for a different response from management, and sometimes, more than one approach might need to be implemented. In this situation, the directive model would best fit the problem (Azeska et al., 2017). In this case, the two factions feel that their approach is the best to manage patient risk and safety management.
Louis should therefore embark on a fact-finding mission to establish which side is right based on merits and direct that the approach be implemented. As mentioned, Louis is an astute manager who values process, standardization, uniform adherence and is attentive to detail. The best course of action needs to be reinforced so that members of staff can adhere to it; this is best implemented through a directive. Moreover, there already has been money invested in a new process that cannot be undone. Louis is the head of quality and should clarify that the organization’s mission is not compromised by equivocation or ambiguity.
How to Use Negotiation Models in the Conflict
Besides issuing a directive, the Allied Health Community problem can also be solved through negotiation. This method is one of the most effective ways of solving a conflict as it seeks to bring the conflicting parties to a middle ground (Wang & Wu, 2020). The generic model of conflict negotiation can apply to this situation since it meets all the criteria of a generic intergroup conflict. Negotiation is needed when the conflicting parties have more or less equal power since each of the two groups has something the other needs (Wang & Wu, 2020). The eight managers have a stronger legacy in the current stalemate and have a greater appeal based on experience. On the other hand, the remaining 19 managers are more in number and demonstrate confidence in an initiative that the management has invested resources on. It would make sense to bring them to the negotiation table and explain the merits of each side of the divide.
The first step for Louis would be to identify the problem which he has and clarify what the conflict is about. This involves getting to the heart of the disagreement. The next step is to discuss ways of meeting the common goal (Wang & Wu, 2020). The two ways are for the veterans to be flexible to change or for the entire organization to ditch their new system. The next step is to identify barriers to the common objective; in this case, the barrier could be as simple as ego; Louis would need to use his skills to avoid hurting the older managers’ ego while also protecting the executives who authorized the new system. After that, the parties should agree on how to solve the disagreement by coming up with a conclusive resolution (Wang & Wu, 2020). Finally, each party would need to be informed of their role in implementing the agreed-upon solution.
Conclusion
This paper has looked at a situation at Allied Health Community. Louis, the quality control manager, is in a crisis because it has implemented a new standard operating procedure that has split management into two. One faction of 8 veteran managers has refused to adopt the new program claiming that it is not better than the previous. The other coalition is of the rest of the managers who have adopted the new standard. This has created a conflict with the destructive potential to the operations of the hospital. Moreover, the organization has already invested almost a million dollars in the new standard and made a 2-year service arrangement. Louis has to choose the various conflict resolution solutions available. The paper has looked at issuing a directive after weighing on the merits of either side. The other solution would be to bring the warring sides to the table and negotiate a middle ground.
References
Azeska, A., Starc, J., & Kevereski, L. (2017). Styles of decision making and management and dimensions of personality of school principals. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education, 5(2), 47–56. Web.
Borkowski, N., & Meese, K. (2020). Organizational behavior in health care (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Wang, N., & Wu, G. (2020). A systematic approach to effective conflict management for program. SAGE Open, 10(1), 215824401989905. Web.
