Consider the following questions:
1. How can managers best use the principles of effective negotiation and conflict management to resolve power struggles within health care settings? What types of power struggles in health care settings do you believe are most amenable to using negotiation and conflict management techniques?
2. What are specific ways to limit the potential for power abuse in health care organizations? What specific human resource strategies and transparency mechanisms could be created within hospitals or physician practices. for example. that would help prevent any stakeholder, particularly the top leaders of an organization, from pursuing self-interested goals in suspect ways?
3. What would be situations in which a collaborative or a competitive strategy might be most beneficial when managing conflict in health care organizations? What issues unique to health care organizations would be particularly difficult to negotiate using each of these strategic approaches?
4. In thinking about the power relationships unique to health care organizations (e.g., physician-patient), what might be some of the challenges to effective negotiation? Think about these challenges in the context of the common mistakes made when thinking about conflict and when managing relationships.