Health Care Issues

Role Conflict and Ambiguity in Healthcare Organizations
As Almost, Wolff, Stewar-Pyne et al. (2016) point out, providing quality care to patients depends upon nurses operating in an environment that is positive and where there are “collaborative working relationships among healthcare team members” (p. 1490). When stressors negatively impact the workplace, communication can breakdown, conflict can arise and role ambiguity can become a problem. Managers can play an effective part in addressing the issues of role conflict and ambiguity in order to keep the workplace environment stress-free so that nurses and healthcare team members can cooperate, collaborate and communicate effectively. The best way to do this, according to Almost et al. (2016) is to develop an organizational culture in which roles are clearly and precisely defined and delineated so that workers know their places, their duties, and the methods by which they are expected to achieve organizational objectives.
Olivares-Faundez, Gil-Monte, Mena et al. (2014) show that when managers fail to help cultivate a positive workplace environment by clearly delineating roles and duties of healthcare team members, the end result can be nurse burnout which leads to nurse absenteeism, which leads to a loss of financial revenue for the healthcare facility, as more nurses must be hired to replace those lost through high turnover rates; more training must be provided, and it can be a drain on resources. Thus, addressing the issue of role conflict and role ambiguity is important from a financial standpoint as well, since nurses have been shown to be psychologically and socially impacted by a workplace culture in which roles are not clearly defined and expectations are conflicting.
The best way to address role conflict and role ambiguity is for managers to communicate effectively and openly with healthcare team members about role expectations. Team members should be required to know their roles and should be able communicate those duties upon command. The manager’s role in overseeing the healthcare team is to ensure that everyone is working together in a positive atmosphere so that stressors are eliminated and nurses are free to perform their tasks with as few obstacles in the way as possible. Role conflict and ambiguity should also be an issue that managers take care to address so that all members know if there is any confusion to seek assistance from the manager. The problem that arises most frequently is when conflict and ambiguity issues go unaddressed, which leads to resentment, a loss of collaboration, and feelings of negativity in the workplace (Almost et al., 2016). In order to prevent this from happening, managers should promote communication even in times of conflict and uncertainty and make it a point never to give the impression that any one nurse is being attacked or second-guessed. Every interaction should be positive and supportive with the overall goal being for nurses to feel more comfortable communicating directly and collaborating with all team members.
In conclusion, tensions among healthcare workers caused by role conflict and role ambiguity can lead to nurses feeling burned out, which in turn can lead to absenteeism and high turnover. Not only do conflict and ambiguity result in stress in the workplace, they also have a financial toll on the facility. For these reasons, managers should make it a priority to have in place a policy that clearly defines and describes the roles of all team members so that there is no confusion. Team members should be held accountable for fulfilling their roles, but they should never be negatively addressed because the aim of the manager should be to promote positivity, support, communication and collaboration in the workplace culture.
References
Almost, J., Wolff, A. C., Stewart?Pyne, A., McCormick, L. G., Strachan, D., & D'souza,
C. (2016). Managing and mitigating conflict in healthcare teams: an integrative review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(7), 1490-1505.
Olivares-Faúndez, V. E., Gil-Monte, P. R., Mena, L., Jélvez-Wilke, C., & Figueiredo-
Ferraz, H. (2014). Relationships between burnout and role ambiguity, role conflict and employee absenteeism among health workers. Terapia PsicolÓgica, 32(2).