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Group dynamics - Conflict

In social interactions, especially when it involves more than two people, conflict exists. It is that different people have different ways of processing the same situation, standing and watching the situation from different perspectives, hoping to get to different directions eventually. They may all have good intentions, but still, they are holding completely diverse opinions and solutions. When conflicts emerge, we can list out the core cause all the way to the result, trying to prevent the same or similar conflict from happening again. Solving conflicts and disagreement, after all, can be time-consuming,  which decreases the efficiency and productivity of the entire group.


The fiction situation I picked comes from tv series The Night Shift. It is a series of story depicting a group of night-shift doctors and nurses working at San Antonio Memorial Hospital. Everyone in the doctor group is skillful and professional, whereas they all have different preferences for operating surgeries. Most of the cases during the night shifts are emergent, patients are losing lots of blood because of the unexpected injuries, or they are experiencing severe and acute symptoms. Those doctors are under high pressure, and they have to come up with solutions in seconds. However, there are two most talented doctors who have completely opposite preferences due to their different personalities and experiences. Doctor Callahan is adventurous. He would like to take the most risky way to rescue, to try to save a man’s leg from amputation. The man Rick is Callahan’s friend, he would do anything to maximize Rick’s outcome. But to do it means to prolong the treatment period. The resource and places are limited in ER, meaning other emergency can’t be worked on. However, the other doctor, doctor Clemmens, insists on a different opinion. He thinks Rick must have the amputation surgery as soon as possible. Based on his former working experience, this leg will need this amputation anyway. The nerves and other parts of the leg are already damaged and cannot be repaired. Waiting till the have-to-operate-the-amputation time is unnecessary. It will only be wasting everyone’s time. After the opinions collision, both doctors “agree” (Dr. Clemmens compromises) to wait to see if the leg is capable of not having the amputation, but Dr. Clemmens still think the amputation is going to happen. Eventually, after two days of waiting, Rick’s leg becomes worse and worse as the expectation of Dr. Clemmens and the amputation surgery is completed. 


In my opinion, this conflict can be evitable as long as it does not involve acquaintances. Professionally, Dr. Callahan might agree with Dr. Clemmens on the surgery solution. It is the “friend” element that interferes with his judgments. But every case is different, conflicts like this one may have different results. Dr. Clemmens cannot be right every time. Perhaps for another patient, miracle exists. Although solving conflicts and different opinions takes time, it may bring up the best outcome.

Comments

  1. Professor ArvanNovember 19, 2019 at 2:14 PM

    I know you wrote to me about feeling under the weather, which explains why this post was not timely, but now I can't comment on it.

    ReplyDelete

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