Environmental and occupational health (EOH) professionals work in complex environments including (a) hospitals, (b) health departments, (c) research labs, (d) labor organizations, or in (e) global deployed settings in which they deal with diverse people and situations. These settings consist of diverse professional, political, historical, and cultural values among individuals and groups. In such work situations where EOH professionals are on either side of (a) OSHA or sanitation inspections, (b) in offices, labs or clinics, (c) consulting or auditing firms, or (d) with international stakeholders, conflict will always arise. Involvement in public health leadership today comes with the expectation that frequent conflicts and disputes will often exist between (a) workers, (b) inspector and those being inspected, (c) prevention and treatment priorities, and (d) collaborating agencies.Conflict causes decided tension and has an adverse effect on (a)productivity, (b) workplace trust, (c) morale, (d) patient or customer service, (e) operational cost, and (f) overall workplace efficiency, and may even lead to (g) litigation or workplace violence.
Managing conflict in the workplace is a time-consuming but vital task for the EOH leader. Techniques commonly used by conflict mediators can easily be used in EOH settings by leadership to (a) form clear agreements between stakeholders, (b) decrease or prevent destructive conflicts, and (c) create healthy working environments that benefit all parties.
This course introduces EOH professionals to the theory of conflict analysis and resolution. Within the 4-hour class, 2 hours are reserved for lecture and class discussion with particular emphasis on conflict analysis models and the integration of (a) conflict analytical skills, (b) negotiation techniques, and (c) conflict resolution methods into the practice of EOH management. The 2 remaining hours of the course are devoted to simulation exercises in which general concepts and methods are demonstrated and practiced. One hands-on hour is reserved for exercises that demonstrate conflict dissection and one is devoted to mediation and negotiation exercises.
By the end of the course, students will have knowledge of the (a) overt and covert causes of conflict, and be able to apply (b) the concepts for analyzing disputes and (c) the methods for negotiating solutions.
Sounds like a very interesting class. I haven't seen this topic presented at the EH or APHA conferences. I'm currently dealing with s dilemma in the workplace that is inter- and intra-organizational. This would be s class that, I think, would definitely benefit middle managers like myself
ReplyDeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents. The instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
DeleteHave been seeing the conflict negotiation focus in health care settings for some years now. Great idea to take it to the EH community. Is the presenter an EH professional or a conflict professional? Would be great if it came from someone within our community.
ReplyDeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents.
DeleteThe instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
Does this include sanitation in global conflict areas like Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan?
ReplyDeleteThat isn't really the intent...We do offer a uniformed services educational track, which will include a presentation about the military's approach to EH in Afghanistan, though.
DeleteThis is definitely a topic of interest. At a previous place of employment I was witness to several instances of serious conflict with no resolution. Now that I am a manager I would greatly benefit from practical steps to resolving conflicts among people with all of the different backgrounds and beliefs.
ReplyDeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents. The instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
DeleteI've been a PH laboratories for my first 12 years of professional employment and am now for the first time a manager. I took over the EHS department @ the county 2 months ago and am finding the management part a bit challenging because it's a fairly large & diverse department. I'm planning on attending either the APHL conference or the NEHA AEC, and have usually chosen APHL in the past several years. I only have funding to afford one, & if NEHA offers leadership classed like this conflict resolution one, I'm now leaning towards NEHA rather than APHL. There's nothing like this offered at APHL.
ReplyDeleteWe'd love to have you!!!!!
DeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents. The instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
As a middle-management EHS leader, I'm definitely attending this one. What day & time will this lecture be Held?
ReplyDeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents. The instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
DeleteHmmmm....
ReplyDeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents. The instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
DeleteTook over a community health department about a year ago with 28 employees, and there are definitely some conflicts going on in the workplace. I've had some interesting dealing with trying to fix these problems that existed way before I got there, and have had some limited success. Would love to learn more about how to deal with this. I know for certain I'm not the only one dealing with this, but everyone has different methods and recommendations. Grad school did not prepare me for this, and neither did being a food inspector.
ReplyDeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents. The instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
DeleteAs an institutional health and safety professional for the PHS, I deal with a lot of conflict. Some of it has to do with employees not liking each other. Some of it has to do with funding. Some of it has to do with hiring processes. Some of it has to do with American Indian reservation issues. Some has to do with uniformed PHS vs civilian PHS employees. Some has to do with inspector and inspectee. Some has to do with fire marshalls. It's all complicated, and it all interferes with progress here. great topic. Would love to see it.
ReplyDeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents. The instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
DeleteThe healthy discussion here led to this abstract being selected for the 2013 AEC. While the description has changed just slightly with a change in the instructor, it will be a 4 hour pre-conference workshop on Monday, July 8, from 1:00 to 5:00. View the specifics at http://neha2013aec.org/SessionsAndEvents. The instructor is an EH practitioner who can help you apply the techniques he'll teach to resolving internal and external conflict.
ReplyDelete