Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e
Chapter 12
Question 1
Type: MCMA
The nurse manager is facilitating the work of a collaborative team whose mission is to negotiate employment
contracts with physicians. The nurse manager does not want to compromise the nurses’ concerns in favor of the
doctors’ concerns. Which strategies would facilitate this outcome?
Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected.
Standard Text: Select all that apply.
1. Accommodating
2. Compromising
3. Smoothing
4. Collaborating
5. Competing
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
Copyright 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Learning Outcome: 12-5: Explain how to manage conflict.
Question 2
Type: MCSA
The nurse manager asks the staff nurse to work a double shift because the census is high. Although the nurse
realizes the staffing for the night shift is low, the nurse has already made a family commitment for the same night.
This is an example of which concept?
1. Intrapersonal conflict
2. Interpersonal conflict
3. Intragroup conflict
4. Intergroup conflict
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 12-1: Describe why conflict can be positive or negative.
Question 3
Type: MCSA
The nurse manager presents an issue to the nursing staff for a decision. The group assesses the problem, and a
decision is made meeting the needs of both the nurse manager and the nursing staff. This is an example of which
conflict management strategy?
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
1. Integrative decision making
2. Win-lose strategy
3. Accommodation
4. Consensus
Rationale 2: In any situation, the nurse manager should use the nursing process to intervene. The final step of the
nursing process is evaluation, which is reflected in the statement, “I will evaluate the outcomes….”
Rationale 3: Creating a time line for the implementation of strategies is an intervention, which is one of the
middle steps of conflict management.
Rationale 4: Understanding each other’s perceptions is part of assessment, which is the first step of conflict
management.
Global Rationale:
Cognitive Level: Analyzing
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 12-4: Identify different approaches that can be used to manage conflict.
Question 5
Type: MCSA
The staff nurses and nursing administration are attempting to construct a method of scheduling that meets the
needs of both the clients and the nursing personnel. Because nurses and nursing administration have experienced
conflict about the issue, their intent is to arrive at an agreeable solution between both parties. Which option does
this process best exemplify?
1. Negotiation
2. Accommodation
3. Forcing
4. Consensus
Global Rationale:
Cognitive Level: Applying
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 12-4: Identify different approaches that can be used to manage conflict.
Question 6
Type: MCSA
A staff nurse has experienced disagreements with one of the medical residents about several issues. The resident
reacts to this conflict by belittling the nurse in front of colleagues. This behavior is most characteristic of which
type of conflict?
1. Competitive
2. Role
3. Perceived
4. Disruptive
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 12-3: Describe the components of conflict.
Question 7
Type: MCSA
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
The day shift nurses and night shift nurses are in clear opposition regarding the responsibilities that each shift
should be assigned. This opposition has created a “we-they” distinction on the unit. This is an example of which
phenomenon?
1. Distancing
2. Suppression
3. Group withdrawal
4. Unification
Rationale 4: Forcing provides an immediate end to the conflict but fails to resolve the cause of the conflict. An
example of forcing would be the nurse manager making a decision on the client care and telling nurses that is how
it is to be done.
Global Rationale:
Cognitive Level: Applying
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 12-4: Identify different approaches that can be used to manage conflict.
Question 10
Type: MCSA
The nurse manager assesses that there is conflict between two of the charge nurses. The decision is made to
postpone an intervention and allow the conflict to escalate. Why might the nurse manager make this decision?
1. Allow sufficient time for the problem to spontaneously resolve.
2. Motivate the participants to seek resolution.
3. Give the nurse manager time to identify problem-solving strategies.
4. Relieve the nurse manager of the time commitment necessary to intervene.
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
Copyright 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Learning Outcome: 12-4: Identify different approaches that can be used to manage conflict.
Question 11
Type: MCSA
The nurse manager assesses that two staff nurses are engaged in a conflict that is having a negative impact on
client care. The manager meets with the nurses involved and identifies the conflict. An attempt is made to resolve
the conflict through knowledge and reason. What strategy is this manager using?
1. Confrontation
2. Resolution
3. Negotiation
4. Forcing
Client Need: Safe Effective Care Environment
Client Need Sub: Management of Care
Nursing/Integrated Concepts: Nursing Process: Implementation
Learning Outcome: 12-5: Explain how to manage conflict.
Question 12
Type: MCSA
A nurse manager states, “I cannot stand all these conflicts in my department. Nothing good can come out of it.”
Which indicates the best reason the manager’s statement is untrue?
1. Conflict can stimulate more people to become involved in a situation, thus creating more innovative solutions
to the issue.
Sullivan, Effective Leadership and Management, 8/e Test Bank
2. When people are in conflict, they tend to work harder just to avoid the conflicting situation.
3. Groups in conflict spur competition, which is always beneficial to the units from which the groups emerged.
4. When there is conflict in an organization, people are more open to discussion, thus conflict can open the lines
of communication.