Conflict in Hospital Setting: Managers’ and Staffs’ Viewpoints

Conflict is a continuous challenge in hospitals. Due to the nature of the treatment team, identifying conflicts in hospitals is one of the managers’ primary and essential tasks.

The current study examined the level and causes of conflicts between hospital employees and managers.

The current descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2018 - 2019 on a random sample of 320 hospital staff and managers. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, t test, and ANOVA were used in SPSS version 15 for data analysis.

The mean conflict scores showed that perceived conflict between staff and managers was the highest for nursing staff (4.17 ± 0.94), which was statistically significant. In contrast, paraclinical staff reported the least conflict with managers (2.94 ± 0.88). Nursing staff noted that the most critical cause of conflicts between employees and managers was “the unfair distribution of human resources”. In contrast, from managers’ perspective, “non-compliance with process/standards/regulations of the hospital” was the most important source of conflict. There were meaningful associations between marital status, job experience, and age, and conflict levels (P < 0.05).

Various reasons can cause conflicts in different parts of the hospital. The findings provide a clear vision for managers about the causes of conflicts, which must be addressed successfully.