Foundations of Healthcare Management

Conflict in the Office Case Study

Trisha Olsen has been an assistant director at Liberty Research Hospital for the past seven years. She currently manages eight people in the protocol department, which is responsible for ensuring that all research studies are com-pliant with research regulations and institutional review board requirements. Unfortunately, the protocol department has a reputation for having high turnover rates, and many workers are rumored to leave because of how they have been treated by their boss. However, two of the protocol specialists have been with the department for more than ten years, and these two specialists have been promoted to team leaders in the past year.

Recently, the department changed its approach to quality control, requiring more involvement and oversight of work by different employees.

Workers must now circulate their work and have it reviewed by all coworkers-including team leaders, instead of the former process that required circulation only among the protocol specialists. This new approach has introduced some tension within the department and raised issues about work quality that had not been concerns in the past. Team leaders had become particularly critical of others' work, but they were also unhappy when their own work was returned to them with others' criticisms that had to be addressed.

Yesterday, tension within the department was particularly high. Olsen was out of the office at the time, but apparently, Stephanie, a protocol specialist, and Bella, a team leader, were overheard arguing about whether a comment should be made in a database about a minor change in the research protocol. The argument was heated enough so that coworkers started to pay attention to the altercation, and Olsen heard rumors about the 1ncident after she returned from her meeting. To make matters worse, both Stephanie and Bella then emailed Olsen to describe the s1tuatlon and give their points of view about the disagreement.

Olsen wasn't sure how to handle the situation. She knew that Bella had a history of getting into arguments with coworkers and could hold a grudge for months. The department would certainly suffer if the tension remained, and Olsen could not handle further turnover among protocol specialists.

Questions: Please Answer Them All.

A. What should Olsen consider prior to addressing the conflict?

B. How can she help to resolve the conflict?