Walden PUBH6031 Week 6 Discussion Latest 2021 June

PUBH6031 Public Health Administration and Leadership

Week 6 Discussion

Conflict Resolution, Negotiation, and Mediation Role Play

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

—William Ellery Channing (1838)

Public health organizations want to focus on what they do best: Providing excellent health care to individuals in communities the world over. Among fields, perhaps none other is made up of more altruistic, dedicated professionals. But like every other field, public health organizations have their share of employee conflicts, whether they occur between peers or subordinates and supervisors or stakeholder groups. Conflict, negotiation, and mediation are a natural part of human interaction and often has nothing to do with ill will. In fact, in the field of public health, individuals often conflict because both are so well-intentioned that they believe they have a moral or societal imperative to fight for their cause. In addition, as noted by Paul B. Hofmann (2012, p. 58), in the health professions, “Competing appeals for limited resources, such as money, space, and even time, make it impossible to approve every request,” which sometimes leads to competition and conflicts between those needing health services and programs.

Despite conflicts being so common and natural, most people, including public health leaders, would prefer to avoid conflict, negotiation and mediation when possible. Hofmann suggests that fear of conflict can be costly: Waiting too long to address it indicates tolerance for inappropriate behavior, and addressing conflict too soon might hinder employees from learning how to air their differences constructively.

The ability to resolve conflicts and foster conflict resolution and negotiation skills is a critical leadership task in public health. This week, you evaluate conflict management, negotiation and mediation strategies in an exercise in which you role play with a partner to see which conflict resolution strategies are the most effective.

For this week’s Discussion, reflect on the conflict resolution strategies suggested in the media titled Resolving Conflict. Then, consider the scenarios provided. Each of the scenarios listed in the Role-Play Scenarios document is described from the perspective of the employee (“Role A”) as well as from the leader/manager (“Role B”). After determining with your partner (selected in Week 5) which role each of you will take, read the role-play scenarios for your selected roles only before posting in the Discussion.

Following the instructions in the Role-Play Scenarios handout, arrange to engage in role play with your partner via e-mail, text, or telephone, and provide feedback to each other afterward about how the conversation went. Then address the questions below.

By Day 3

Post your response to the following items below. Your response must include the following points, and provide a rationale for your answers. Be specific and provide examples.

Write a summary of what you learned from this role-play activity and how you might use this information as a public health leader.

Describe the conflict resolution, negotiation, and mediation strategies you employed effectively, and explain why they were effective.

Analyze what did not work so well and explain some ways you and your partner might improve your conflict resolution, negotiation, and mediation strategies as leaders/managers in resolving conflict.

By Day 5

Remember to begin interaction with your colleagues in the Discussion no later than Day 5 and continue engaging through Day 7 by expanding on their insights on employing effective conflict management strategies. For example, provide a suggestion for how another colleague’s strategy might be effective or another strategy that might improve conflict resolution, negotiation and mediation strategies in the colleague’s example. Explain your rationale in your responses. In addition to your initial comprehensive post, you should post at least two substantial responses to other classmates.

Support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources as appropriate. Refer to the American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th. ed.). Washington, DC, to ensure that your in-text citations and reference list are correct.