Conflict Management Strategies for Nurse Managers
This paper reviews Mary Johansen's 2012 study on conflict management strategies for nurse managers, published in Nursing Management. The paper examines the most common interpersonal conflicts occurring in nursing units — those involving patients and families, nurse managers, and physicians — and explores their root causes. It evaluates both ineffective and effective approaches to conflict resolution, including dialogue, coaching, early identification of conflict, and staff education and training. The review concludes by considering how nurse managers can apply Johansen's recommendations through professional development to maintain a healthy, productive working environment that supports staff morale, patient safety, and quality of care.
- Introduction: Study premise and significance of conflict management in nursing
- Common Sources of Interpersonal Conflict in Nursing: Three major interpersonal conflict types and their causes
- Conflict Management Styles and Ineffective Approaches: Overview of five conflict styles and ineffective measures
- Recommendations for Effective Conflict Resolution: Four strategies for sustainable conflict resolution
- Application to Nursing Practice: Reflective application of Johansen's findings to practice
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper closely follows the source article's argument structure, moving logically from problem identification to cause analysis to resolution strategies.
- It contextualizes the research clearly, explaining why conflict management matters in nursing before presenting the study's specific findings.
- The concluding section connects academic content to personal professional application, demonstrating reflective engagement with the material.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective article summary and critical annotation — a foundational graduate nursing skill. Rather than simply retelling Johansen's findings, the writer synthesizes the study's logic: how identified conflict types inform the proposed resolution strategies, and why ineffective methods must be understood before effective ones can be adopted.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an overview of the study's premise and significance, then categorizes the three major conflict types identified by Johansen. It proceeds to note the role of conflict management styles and ineffective measures before summarizing the four key recommendations. The final paragraph shifts to first-person reflection, evaluating the article's utility and the writer's intended application of its findings. Five H2 sections map cleanly onto this four-paragraph source structure.
Introduction
Mary Johansen has conducted a study on conflict management strategies that can be used by nurse managers as part of initiatives to maintain peace in their working environments. This study is based on the premise that dealing with conflicts effectively is crucial in nursing, as it contributes to efficient and effective results. Those results are evident in enhanced quality of care, staff morale, patient safety, and reduced work stress for caregivers. For nurse managers to develop effective means of managing conflict, they need to approach the issue cautiously and thoughtfully, since it entails handling working relationships that are vital for the effective functioning of the nursing unit.
The relationships involved in conflict management within a nursing unit include nurses and other members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team, who must collaborate across overlapping roles and responsibilities in the delivery of care. As a result, Johansen (2012) argues that nurse managers need to develop essential skills for handling conflict situations effectively (p. 50).
Common Sources of Interpersonal Conflict in Nursing
In attempting to develop effective conflict resolution strategies, the researcher identifies the most common and problematic kinds of conflicts in the working environment, focusing particularly on interpersonal conflicts. According to the findings of a survey, Johansen identifies three major types of interpersonal conflict that frequently occur in the work environment: conflicts involving patients and families, nurse managers, and physicians.
Conflicts between nurses and patients, families, or visitors tend to arise because of differences in perceptions about which patient care issues should be prioritized, disagreements over hospital visitation hours, and limitations regarding the disclosure of confidential information. Conflicts involving nurse managers and other nurses are mainly attributed to a lack of necessary organizational support from top management as well as poor communication. Conflicts between caregivers and direct care nurses are largely caused by failure to address various issues effectively or by the ignorance of existing problems, both of which contribute to a toxic working environment.
Reference
Johansen, M. L. (2012, February). Keeping the peace: Conflict management strategies for nurse managers. Nursing Management, 43(2), 50–54.
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