Abuse Of Power In Healthcare Organizations

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1. Power can be used in various settings within different situations in health care (Burns, Bradley, Weiner, & Shortell, 2012). Often times, with power comes conflict. Effective conflict management appreciates the sources of power from the parties involved and then guides in a way to determine when and how the particular power should be used for benefit. Negotiation is one management tool that can help resolve conflicts. When managed effectively a strong leader can turn a conflict into an opportunity to build a greater level of trust and stronger relationships through communication and collaboration that will benefit the organization (Shah, 2017). Negotiation is more effective than avoidance, especially if the parties involved wish to …show more content…
Power in health care is often built, maintained, and transferred through political processes (Spma, 2018). Power can be abused by either an advancement of personal ends or organizational ends (Burns, Bradley, Weiner, & Shortell, 2012). Regardless of how power is abused, it will likely create a negative fallout for the organization and loss of trust with stakeholders and customers and the employees and managers. To limit the potential abuse of power in health care organizations managers and leaders have to create a sense of transparency within the organization. This can be achieved by strong, structured communication networks, especially with decision-making, implementation and evaluation, and holding management accountable with advisory groups. Transparency can be created with open lines of communications, which in turn, can help prevent the spread of rumors and other negative connotations around the organization. Most importantly, there must be accessibility between employees and management where communication can be open and honest. One transparency measure that can prevent top leaders from pursuing self- interested goals in suspect ways would be a strong code of ethics and building an organizational culture that limits power abuse. When the organization's work environment and culture does not tolerate this abuse of power, there is less of the likelihood it will occur (Pope, 2015). Organizations should always be evaluating ways to strengthen their code of …show more content…
However, employees can be hesitant to take these risk for fear of mistakes happening (Sipma, 2018). Organizations can promote learning and innovation by building a culture that learns from mistakes instead of punishment. Leaders manage how their teams learn, and there must be a climate of trust and support (Burns, Bradley, Weiner, & Shortell, 2012). If employees do not feel supported, or they fear punishment if they fail, they will not challenge themselves. This can hold the entire organization back. However, if there is a sense of support, they are likely to take the bigger risk. If there is a focus on shared vision, there will be a more willingness to learn and take the risk. Collaboration is a great way to create a safe environment where you can be challenged to come up with new ideas in a safe learning environment (Kivimaa & Kern 2016). However, if leaders create an environment that does not foster innovation, rarely will any employees push themselves for the organization. So, mistakes will likely happen, but if they can be learned from to push the organization forward, management should encourage their employees to take the risk, and most importantly, provide the support and create an environment of trust and