Role of Leader Managing Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Role of Leader Managing Conflict - Essay Example Thus, leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group of people towards the achievement of organizational goals (Robins, Odendaal and Roodt, 2001). This study therefore seeks to critically discuss the role of leader in managing conflict using real examples and case studies from a clinical area. An example is drawn from Riyadh Military Hospital which had encountered certain conflicts when it embarked on a drive to implement some changes in its operations to improve efficiency. The hospital has been experiencing inefficiency of qualified nurses related to high rate of turnover between expertise, because of increased work load, increased duties and responsibilities of bedside nurses and lack of support and motivation. There was also a need to improve the performance of new nurses. The leader nursing staff including sister in charge, head nurse and admin tasked to take the lead in finding lasting solutions to this problem which meant that some changes were to be put in place. C hange was normally met with resistance because of different factors like lack of budget and military role. This essay seeks to critically analyze the different types of conflicts as well as the approaches that can be implemented in order to resolve conflicts in a clinical set up. Analysis of scenario: In the scenario under consideration, there is great likelihood of conflict among the sister in charge, head nurse and the admin that have jointly resolved to take such measures that would improve the competence of new nurses in their work and reduce the employee turn over rate. The fundamental point of consideration in this paper is the different types of conflicts that can occur between the three staff members that have taken the charge. The sister in charge, head nurse and the administrator have their individualistic consents and opinions that find their origin in their respective roles in the organization structure. The head nurse has the most direct interaction with the nurses that are practically facing the problem of lack of training and education. In order to reduce the employee turnover, the head nurse has to pay due consideration to the collective opinion of the nurses that practically work in the hospital. Therefore, the head nurse has little choice but to favor the mutual consent of all working nurses in order to retain the workforce and develop team work. The sister in charge, on the other hand, is sandwiched between the head nurse and administrator. Therefore, the sister in charge has to pay due respect to the concerns of both head nurse and the administrator and is also supposed to introduce and get acknowledged her individualistic opinion. The administrator is loaded with the responsibility of managing the resources of the hospital and allocating the funds to right activities that would benefit the staff as a whole. The administrator can not blindly approve the request raised by the head nurse or the sister in charge. He assumes the responsibility to explain to the owners any action that he takes and justify the allocation of funds to individual activities. Owing to the difference of roles and responsibilities of the three staff members that have taken the charge to resolve the matter of increased employee turnover and lack of competence in the nurses, they have their indivi