Discuss the conflict that is occurring at General Hospital. Introduction
This document presents the conflict that occurred at General Hospital and recommendations on how it could have been resolved. It discusses the different management styles that were used to address the issues and it was communicated throughout the organization. The information provided was based off readings supported by (Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J.W., Jr. 2011).
The Conflict that Occurred at General Hospital in my opinion the conflict that is occurring in the General Hospital is the physicians are interested in obtaining personal benefits from representatives of pharmaceutical companies that distributes to the hospital. To stay competitive within the community, General Hospital’s CEO, Mike Hammer had to determine a way to reduce expenses and advance their technological medical services to increase revenues. Mike Hammer knew long term that the hospital’s would lose their accreditation and funding if they didn’t increase their revenue and advance their services. One of the hospital’s biggest expenses was physician-driven cost. Mr. Hammer felt the organization could reduce expenses if the physicians changed some of their medical ways of practices. He communicated his concerns to the director of medicine, Dr. Williams. However, Dr. Williams felt their current practices were the best way to operate the hospital and was opposed to any of Mr. Hammer’s ideas.
When meeting with the director of medicine to discuss cost reduction failed, Mr. Hammer hired a new administrator to execute his plan. Marge Harding was put in charge to reduce cost and increase efficiency by any means necessary. Ms. Harding decided her first reduction expense would be to fire Dr. Boyer who interpreted the EKG machine and purchase computerized EKG interpretations. This plan would save the hospital several thousands of dollars per year.
Mike Hammer recognized the need for cost control. However, the physicians and hospital board believed that the value of their quality service and medical treatment exceeded their operational and physician’s costs and therefore did not see a need for change. In most organization this is considered a conflict of interest. The physician’s focus is not on their patients but on obtaining personal benefits. The Hospital pays each physician and clinician that is employed a very high salary and the pharmaceutical companies are aware that the physicians are interested in favors if they use products at the hospital. This problem has caused representatives of the pharmaceutical companies to easily get their products in the General Hospital, which can sometimes be a difficult task for many pharmaceutical companies. Since the physicians have started this practice it has become a serious problem for the hospital. The ways to control the cost incurred in availing the desirable pharmaceutical resources in the Hospital are also facing some difficulties. Some pharmaceutical companies increased the prices of their products in order to provide some share to the physicians that support their company. Some professionals at the General Hospital have positive thoughts of the decision and others are and this has cause a conflict at General Hospital.

Discuss the conflict management styles that are evident in the case

The conflicts of interest at the Hospital are related to all business practices in the Hospital for example (1) the pharmaceutical companies are handled by the organization in an efficient way. The decisions that are being made are not in accordance with the primary interest but the secondary as well and I think it should be reversed with the primary and not with the secondary. The Hospital can implement duties on many business projects with the people such as pharmaceutical consultants. The conflict management styles that are evident in the case are the Forcing and Avoidance Styles. The forcing style “refers to assertive and uncooperative behaviors and represents a win-lose approach to interpersonal conflict. In intergroup conflict, goal incompatibility is major source because some or all the goals of each party are at odds. In the case Hammer’s and Harding’s goal was to save the hospital money by firing Doctor Boyer, who was the cardiologist who did all the EKG readings for General Hospital, whereas the physicians’ and Doctor Williams goal was to making sure that the EKG readings were accurate and given on time. Another reason intergroup conflict occurred at General Hospital was how each group perceived differentiation. Hammer and Harding knew they had the expertise of saving the hospital money and as a result this stimulated them to make a decision of firing Doctor Boyer. Unfortunately, these differences create conflict and distrust within groups. Hammer believed that Doctor Williams and his staff were not appreciating his expertise in the financial arena. Hammer on several occasions tried to talk with Doctor Williams about how to fix the situations but was completely ignored or pushed off to the side.