Conflict Resolution at the St. Clare Hospital

The St. Clare Hospital was founded in 1988. In the past few years, the revenues have dropped steadily to a point where CEO James Edwards is considering cost control to improve the organization's bottom line. Mr. Edwards understands physicians play a critical role in controlling cost, but they do not have a great interest in cooperating with him to sustain the viability of the hospital. Mr. Edwards decides to hire Wendy Jones as the chief operating officer and empower her to cut costs for the hospital. The first measure taken by Ms. Jones is to outsource the interpretation of imaging readings and fire the radiologist Dr. Harris. By doing so, the hospital would save $160,000 per year. However, after two weeks, the hospital sees 18% inaccuracy rates in outsourced reading reports. The hospital might face legal liabilities from inaccurate readings. Mr. Edwards and Ms. Jones want to stay with the plan to control costs, but the physicians are furious. The medical director, Dr. Wiseman, gathers all staff physicians to a call for action.

Write a four-to six-page double-spaced paper (excluding title and reference pages), addressing the following:

• Describe types of conflict identified in this case.
• Explain conflict management styles evidenced in this case.
• Propose a conflict resolution strategy to be used.  
• Recommend strategies to reduce cost and legal liabilities.