Conflict in Hospital Setting: Managers’ and Staffs’ Viewpoints

Abstract

Background: Conflict is a continuous challenge in hospitals. Due to the nature of the treatment team, identifying conflicts in hospitals is one of the managers’ primary and essential tasks. Objectives: The current study examined the level and causes of conflicts between hospital employees and managers. Methods: The current descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2018 - 2019 on a random sample of 320 hospital staff and managers. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, t test, and ANOVA were used in SPSS version 15 for data analysis. Results: The mean conflict scores showed that perceived conflict between staff and managers was the highest for nursing staff (4.17 ± 0.94), which was statistically significant. In contrast, paraclinical staff reported the least conflict with managers (2.94 ± 0.88). Nursing staff noted that the most critical cause of conflicts between employees and managers was “the unfair distribution of human resources”. In contrast, from managers’ perspective, “non-compliance with process/standards/regulations of the hospital” was the most important source of conflict. There were meaningful associations between marital status, job experience, and age, and conflict levels (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Various reasons can cause conflicts in different parts of the hospital. The findings provide a clear vision for managers about the causes of conflicts, which must be addressed successfully.