Abstract
D.Cur. (Nursing)
The phenomenal political changes that have taken place in South
Africa during the past three years have had a ripple effect on the
health services of the country. Trade unionism, although they had
been active in many spheres, entered the hospitals with great
vengeance leaving many services crippled. Problems could not be
solved according to the old, now obsolete rules of the game as these
were no longer acceptable to the health care workers. New and
different approaches had to be found to deal with this upheaval that
was affecting patient care.
The researcher realised that the nursing service manager, especially
in the public sector, was in no way equipped to handle the crisis.
Legal limitations aggravated the situation as there was no third
party intervention that could try and find a solution to the
dissatisfaction of the staff. The result was that the nursing service
manager had to cope with the situation as best as she was able to,
while still trying to manage the nursing care of the patients and the
upheaval in the personnel corps. In addition to this, the nursing
service manager, by enlarge, still had the viewpoint that conflict
was a disturbing element that had to be removed.
Limited studies have been done in the field and there were no
guidelines to enlighten the nursing service manager. It became
evident to the researcher that research into conflict management
of a nursing service was necessary.
Existing models and theories on conflict were reviewed to glean
knowledge for the proposed study.