Case Study- General Hospital
Running head: ANALYSIS OF: “CONFLICT RESOLUTION AT GENERAL HOSPITAL”
Analysis of: “Conflict Resolution at General Hospital”
August 22, 2010
Abstract
This is paper will address the conflict at General Hospital and discuss the conflict management styles that are evident in the case. Next, there will be a discussion of how General Hospital could have used teams to address the cost reductions needed to stay competitive. A description of how Hammer can use negotiation skills to get buy in for the cost reductions will also be included. Finally, a strategy for Hammer to resolve the problem will be recommended.
Cost control and management/physician agreement are the main conflicts at General Hospital. In order for cost to be reduced General Hospital’s CEO, Mike Hammer, will need to gain the support of the physicians on staff. So far Hammer has been unsuccessful in his past two attempts to control physician-driven cost: First when, “he had tried to convince Director of Medicine Dr. Mark Williams to get the staff physicians to become cost sensitive in their decision making. Even when Hammer spotted a wasteful practice, physicians defended their actions as the practice of good medicine.” (Hellriegel & Slocum, pp. 546)
Hammers second attempt was when he hired a consultant that made recommendations for a “formal comprehensive cost containment program” which was not supported by the hospital board of trustee’s because the director of medicine opposed it. (Hellriegel & Slocum, pp. 546)
Somehow, Hammer and the physicians at General Hospital will have to work together as one to reach their cost reduction goals so that they may expand and remain competitive in the industry. 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. Those
Analysis of: “Conflict Resolution at General Hospital”
August 22, 2010
Abstract
This is paper will address the conflict at General Hospital and discuss the conflict management styles that are evident in the case. Next, there will be a discussion of how General Hospital could have used teams to address the cost reductions needed to stay competitive. A description of how Hammer can use negotiation skills to get buy in for the cost reductions will also be included. Finally, a strategy for Hammer to resolve the problem will be recommended.
Cost control and management/physician agreement are the main conflicts at General Hospital. In order for cost to be reduced General Hospital’s CEO, Mike Hammer, will need to gain the support of the physicians on staff. So far Hammer has been unsuccessful in his past two attempts to control physician-driven cost: First when, “he had tried to convince Director of Medicine Dr. Mark Williams to get the staff physicians to become cost sensitive in their decision making. Even when Hammer spotted a wasteful practice, physicians defended their actions as the practice of good medicine.” (Hellriegel & Slocum, pp. 546)
Hammers second attempt was when he hired a consultant that made recommendations for a “formal comprehensive cost containment program” which was not supported by the hospital board of trustee’s because the director of medicine opposed it. (Hellriegel & Slocum, pp. 546)
Somehow, Hammer and the physicians at General Hospital will have to work together as one to reach their cost reduction goals so that they may expand and remain competitive in the industry. 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. Those
References: Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W., Jr. (2011). Organizational behavior: 2011 custom edition (13th Ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.