The conflict management style of staff nurses and nurse managers

Conflict is recognized as being a common occurrence in both everyday personal and professional nursing life, and it is now generally agreed that conflict can be both problematic and potentially beneficial to both individuals and organizations. There is a large amount of anecdotal and narrative literature about the nature and sources of conflict which fails to reflect upon the complexities and theoretical perspectives that exist. There are also few research studies which examine the nature of nursing conflict and how conflict is managed by nurses in the workplace. This study presents a review of some aspects of conflict and its management and specifically investigates the conflict management style of staff nurses and nurse managers in the hospital setting. The results suggest that avoidance is the most commonly used conflict management strategy, with competition being the least favoured.