Delegation in Nursing Practice: Impact on Conflicts and Strategies for Conflict Resolution

Running head: BUILDING PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY
Leading and Learning
-Building Professional Capacity
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUILDING PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY
Introduction:
Conflict resolution refers to the strategies that are used to mitigate and manage
conflicts in a group or organization, and reduce the chances of conflict escalation (Butler et
al., 2015). Conflicts can reduce the productivity of the team and affect communication and
team work. Cohesion on the other hand is a quality of a team that instills and supports the
value of team bonding and team work and prevents conflicts in the team (Salas et al., 2015).
The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of delegation on conflicts in nursing practice
and strategies that can be used to avoid conflicts due to this issue.
Choice of Issue and Justification:
The issue chosen for this study is delegation of tasks in registered nursing practice. In
nursing profession, delegation is a practice, in which certain tasks of a registered nurse are
delegated to another nurse (usually to an assistant, unlicensed, non professional or a beginner
nurse). This practice provides the new nurses with hands on learning experiences through
engagement in the task, and is usually supervised by an experienced registered nurse
(Edwards et al., 2018). However, even though the responsibility of the task can be delegated
to a different nurse, the accountability of the task is still on the person who is delegating the
task, and thus the task delegator is responsible of the outcomes of the activity performed by
nurse delegated with the task. Such situations can lead to confusions and conflict, especially
when the task is not delegated properly or to the correct person or if the person taking up the
responsibility of the nurse is not able to perform the task successfully, making the delegator
of the task liable for any errors in the execution of the task (Roche et al., 2016). Therefore it
is necessary, that conflicts arising from delegation of tasks be analyzed and strategies
identified to prevent or mitigate such conflicts in order to maintain team cohesion
(Kristiansen et al., 2016).

2BUILDING PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY
Explanation of impact if the issue is left unresolved:
If the conflicts (due to improper task delegation) are left unresolved, the performance
of the team as well as individuals can get adversely affected due to the following reasons:
Stress and Anxiety:
Conflicts can increase the feelings of stress and anxiety among individuals. For the
delegator, the source of stress and anxiety can be related to the ability of nurse delegated with
the task to get the work done properly and the accountability of the delegator for any errors in
the work. For the delegate, the source of stress and anxiety can be due to their lack of
expertise or experience in the task. The stress and anxiety can also be caused to a sense of
liability towards the effective execution of the task (Khamisa et al., 2015).
Clinical Errors:
Improper delegation of task can increase the risks of clinical errors, when the
delegator has incorrectly chosen the delegate or when the delegate is unable to understand the
responsibility of the task, resulting in a clinical error. The clinical errors can adversely affect
the health of the patients and also the reputation of the organization (Oh & Gastmans, 2015).
Effect on Communication:
Conflicts caused due to improper delegation or execution of the task can reduce
communication in the team as the delegator and delegate might stop communicating with
each other, thereby leading to a communication breakdown within the team. The
communication can also be adversely affected by a lack of trust within the team caused due to
such errors (Yoo & Park, 2015).
Employee Satisfaction: