Conflict and Negotiation in Health and Medicine

Conflict is a common and enduring feature of health and medical organizations, requiring vigilance in its evaluation and management. Healthcare providers must endeavor to resolve conflict efficiently and effectively, carefully handling its functional variants and eradicating its dysfunctional kinds, allowing operations to thrive. This necessitates developing a thorough foundation of knowledge regarding conflict, its various types, common responses to conflict, and its typical sources. It also requires designing and maintaining productive strategic frameworks and protocols for managing stalemates and other forms of contention occurring in the halls of medicine. Knowledge of conflict and conflict management skill sets must be possessed by more than those occupying the upper echelons of health and medical organizations. Such proficiencies must also be held by those lower in organizational hierarchies, as conflict touches the entirety of institutions. By fielding healthcare organizations featuring staff members skilled in addressing conflict, the stage is set for operations to flourish, affording lasting benefits for all. This particular chapter explores the concept of conflict and its management, permitting healthcare providers to understand associated fundamentals and put them into practice to ensure harmony and realize enhanced performance.