Dr. Jones, has made it a practice of canceling and rescheduling patient appointments with little advance notice.

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Dr. Jones, has made it a practice of canceling and rescheduling patient appointments with little advance notice. Cindy is responsible for scheduling and rescheduling patient appoints, however, she suspects that Dr. Jones is asking to have his patients rescheduled so he can engage in non-work-related activities (e.g., sailing or golf). He has even suggested that she provide the patients with a false excuse for the rescheduling of their appointment, which adds to Cindy's stress levels. Cindy has decided that she has had enough of Dr. Jone's behavior. Clearly upset, she brought this concern to the attention of her manager. The manager promised to bring this issue to the attention of the chief of the department, which was done. While the manager was bringing this to the chief's attention, Cindy decided to lodge a formal complaint, which brought this matter to the attention of the director of human resources, chief medical officer, executive director of the clinic, and a union representative. Since Cindy didn't share her concerns directly with Dr. Jone's, he was caught off guard when this matter was discussed with him in a meeting with the chief medical officer and director of human resources. Needless to say, Dr. Jones wasn't happy when he learned that Cindy has filed her complaint weeks before this matter was eventually brought to his attention and that during that time Cindy had continued to work with him as though nothing were wrong and that she had been keeping a record of the times his clinic was canceled, clinic was started late, or when he left early. Dr. Jones went from astonished to angry and, as you can imagine, that ended their working relationship. Dr. Jones was labeled a disruptive physician and other physicians were fearful that Cindy would target them if she worked in their department. Cindy eventually resigned her position.

This case clearly illustrates workplace conflict, personnel stress, and decision-making. This is not a far-fetched scenario. In fact, employees are hesitant to express work-related stress; problems that can be addressed at the departmental level can quickly expand beyond the department; work-related stress and conflict can adversely affect workplace relationships if not properly and timely addressed; and stress and conflict can adversely affect attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors resulting in lowered productivity.