Centre for Interprofessional Education - University of Toronto · Web viewName of Activity: Reflecting on our Conflict Styles Description of Activity: Through completion of a conflict

Name of Activity: Reflecting on our Conflict Styles

Description of Activity:

Through completion of a conflict self assessment, team members will reflect on the impact of conflict styles present on their team and develop a team action plan based on engaging conflict as a team in their own setting.

Learning Objectives:

To reflect individually and collectively on the interaction of conflict styles in team conflict and collaboration.

To co-create a team action plan to support optimizing the interaction of conflict styles in team interactions and decision making.

Number of participants:

Ideally 5 - 15 participants.

Amount of time needed:

5-10 minute to complete individual conflict assessment (could be done prior to the meeting), 20-30 minutes for team reflection and action planning.

Space /environment considerations:

Small room with flat table space for completing assessment and having small group dicussions.

Instructions for Activity:

1) Each team member will individually complete a conflict self assessment to understand their primary and secondary conflict style (out of the five conflict styles, competer, avoider, accomodater, compromiser, collaborator).

2) Team members will pair up with a colleague from another profession and debrief based on the reflection questions below.

3) In a small group (or multiple small groups), the team will share their key reflections from the pairs, discuss as a team how conflict styles may affect team collaboration and develop a team action plan based on engaging conflict as a team in their own setting.

Reflection Questions:

In Pairs:

Did anything surprise you with your identified conflict management style or is it accurate?

What would you need to consider if both of you had a professional disagreement with your styles?

In what team scenarios, do you see conflict styles either optimize or deteriorate patient outcomes or team relationships?

In Small Group:

How might your team’s conflict styles impact your team collaboration?

What team strategies could support the team on develop on engaging conflict successfully for better patient outcomes or team relationships?

Additional References and Resources:

Conflict in Interprofessional Life IPE Learning Activity, Centre for Interprofessional Education, 2018

Conflict Styles.ppt

© Centre for Interprofessional EducationUniversity of Toronto, 2018

Conflict Management Self – Assessment

Please complete your self-assessment

450

complete and scoring the Conflict Self-Assessment questionnaire (will have approx 10 min to complete). Please refer to Student Handbook and Appendix A (blue page) of this guide. After 10 minutes to allow students to complete , Activity Leads will begin the next slides.

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Conflict Management Styles

© Centre for Interprofessional Education

University of Toronto, 2018

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500

Consider that having a diversity of conflict styles are important on every team.

The more assertive conflict styles may be critical when advocating for patients/safety or leading a group when they are stuck in group process or reaching a time deadline.

The more relationship conflict styles may help support team culture, value and psychological safety as well as attend to group relationships and idea generation.

Collaborative style is ideal for complex team decisions but takes an investment of time and support of a balance of group process and task.

Ask…”Of these five identified responses to conflict, which one is the most common response to conflict?” – students can shout this out


What is the most common response to conflict? …….

AVOIDANCE!!!!

Ashley Stirling (AS) - I changed the heading to a question. The heading was previously "But the winner is..."

Why Do We Avoid Conflict?

Confrontation is difficult & uncomfortable

Lack of confidence in ability to confront

“It’s not my role”

Won’t do any good

No time

Fear of retaliation

Impact on working relationships

Because we are human !!!!!

Collegial Conflict TM, Knickle, McNaughton, 2007



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Avoidance in Health Care Quotes

“Do we sweep the issues under the rug? Yes, to a large extent we do that. We have to prioritize patients. There are many things that are not OK in the organization, and we just have to live with that. It is too heavy to bring up these issues.”

“There are few opportunities to address conflict. If you want to address something it has to have a pattern or a continuous occurrence over time. That legitimizes bringing it up.”

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Co-operation and conflict in a hospital interprofessional differences in perception and management of conflicts.

JOURNAL OF INTERPROFESSIONAL CARE, VOL. 15, NO.1, 2001

Avoidance is most common in health care too!

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Accommodating Response
(Low Assertiveness/High Cooperativeness)

Give up personal concerns

Low assertiveness

Satisfy the concerns of the other party

High cooperation

© Wagner, S.J., Switzer-McIntyre, S., Pepper, J., Jung, B. & Hagler, P., 2007



Consider Pizza example: You are sharing a pizza with a group, there isn’t enough pizza for everyone and you let everyone else grab a slice, leaving you with none but everyone is happy.

The relationship is more important so you let yourself lose and someone else win. The issue is not a big priority for you so you pick your battles for another time. Problem can be that you may continually allow a loss of your position and may reinforce hierarchy, power dynamics on an interprofessional team, as well as issues may need advocacy.

Forcing Response
(High Assertiveness/Low Cooperativeness)

Win-Lose

Strong concern for self

High assertiveness

Weak concern for others

Low cooperation




Consider Pizza example: You are sharing a pizza with a group, there isn’t enough pizza for everyone and you grab your slice without caring about the relationship for others.

I win, you lose. In patient care or urgent situations, this may be important for advocacy on an interprofessional team– I need to win an argument or we need to take directed action as a team before safety comes first in high priority and the relationship damage if you lose is a lower priority. However, damage may be done for a future time that I may get tension or resistance when I need to collaborate or advocate.

Avoiding Response
(Low Assertiveness/Low Cooperativeness)

Does not address personal concerns

Low assertiveness

Does not address concerns of other party

Low cooperation




Consider Pizza example: You are sharing a pizza with a group, there isn’t enough pizza for everyone and you simply leave the room to avoid the problem.

Problem: We all lose… the decision making is never really addressed and the problem will come up again on a healthcare team. However sometimes necessary if an interprofessional team member doesn’t have the information and needs to walk away and find it… or there is a heightened emotional or physical escalation when an interprofessional team member needs to exit the situation to avoid for another time when things are calmed.

Compromising Response
(Moderate Assertiveness/Moderate Cooperativeness)

Obtain partial satisfaction for both parties

Moderate assertiveness and cooperation




Consider Pizza example: You are sharing a pizza with a group, there isn’t enough pizza for everyone and you resplit the pizza into complete separate pieces for everyone. Everyone loses partially and everyone wins partially. A common solution in interprofessional teams but the problem is: is it the best solution for the patient? Also requires all information to be at hand to fairly split a solution so everyone is partially equally happy and concerns are equally considered (with partial outcomes).

Collaborating Response
(High Assertiveness/High Cooperativeness)

Working together to develop solutions to fully address concerns of both parties

High assertiveness & cooperation

© Wagner, S.J., Switzer-McIntyre, S., Pepper, J., Jung, B. & Hagler, P. 2007

Consider Pizza example: You are sharing a pizza with a group, there isn’t enough pizza for everyone and you come up with a new innovative solution, working together (ie maybe order an extra pizza collecting money).

Everyone wins, win-win but this requires more investment of time and a commitment to shared problem solving. The ideal solution on a health care team to find the best solution and patient outcome but it requires shared time and commitment. However this is an investment that produces best results in complexity – especially with our complex patients.


Reflect on your conflict management style with a peer from another profession

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Did anything surprise you with your identified conflict management style or is it accurate?

What would you need to consider if both of you had a professional disagreement with your styles?

In what interprofessional scenarios do you see particular conflict styles be utilized to best optimize patient outcomes and/or team process?

Around 505-510pm

– 5 min pair, 5 min share with small group

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(Importance of the Relationship)

Assertive

FORCING

ACCOMMODATING

COMPROMISING

AVOIDING

COLLABORATING

Unassertive

Uncooperative

Cooperative

(Importance of the Issue)

ASSERTIVENESS

COOPERATIVENESS

SOURCE: Developing Management Skills (Whetton & Cameron).

Conflict Self

Assessment.pdf

This diagnostic tool has been reprinted with the permission of Harper Collins. All rights reserved. It is included in the book entitled Developing Management Skills, written by David A. Whetten and Kim S. Cameron, and published by Harper Collins. Version 1.1. 2014.02.19 ©Centre for Interprofessional Education, University of Toronto

Conflict Self-Assessment Strategies for Handling Conflict

Instructions: Indicate how often you use each of the following skills by circling the appropriate number.

ACTIONS RARELY ALWAYS

1. I tenaciously argue my position 1 2 3 4 5

2. I try to put the needs of others above mine 1 2 3 4 5

3. I try to arrive at a compromise both parties can accept 1 2 3 4 5

4. I try not to get involved in conflicts 1 2 3 4 5

5. I strive to thoroughly, jointly investigate issues 1 2 3 4 5

6. I try to find fault in the other person’s position 1 2 3 4 5

7. I strive to foster harmony 1 2 3 4 5

8. I negotiate to get a portion of what I propose 1 2 3 4 5

9. I avoid open discussions of controversial subjects 1 2 3 4 5

10. I openly share information with others in resolving disagreements 1 2 3 4 5

11. I enjoy winning an argument 1 2 3 4 5

12. I go along with the suggestions of others 1 2 3 4 5

13. I look for a middle ground to resolve disagreements 1 2 3 4 5

14. I keep my true feelings to myself to avoid hard feelings 1 2 3 4 5

15. I encourage the open sharing of concerns and issues 1 2 3 4 5

16. I am reluctant to admit I am wrong 1 2 3 4 5

17. I try to help others avoid “losing face” in a disagreement 1 2 3 4 5

18. I stress the advantages of “give and take” 1 2 3 4 5

19. I encourage others to take the lead in resolving controversy 1 2 3 4 5

20. I state my position as only one point of view 1 2 3 4 5

Version 1.0 2015.03.13 ©Centre for Interprofessional Education, University of Toronto

Pag

e2

Scoring Key

F O R C I N G A V O I D I N G

Q Score Q Score

1 4

6 9

11 14

16 19

Total Total

A C C O M M O D A T I N G C O L L A B O R A T I N G

Q Score Q Score

2 5

7 10

12 15

17 20

Total Total

C O M P R O M I S I N G

Q Score PRIMARY CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

3 Strategy:

8 (highest score)

13 SECONDARY CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

18 Strategy:

Total (next highest score)

Documents

Centre for Interprofessional Education - University of Toronto · Web viewName of Activity: Reflecting on our Conflict Styles Description of Activity: Through completion of a conflict