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Introduction
Conflict is inevitable and ubiquitous (Rahim, 2011; Runde, 2013). Though lacking a standard definition, it can be defined as a disagreement or difference in viewpoints regarding values, interests or practices that is accompanied by negative emotions or interference. Disparate opinions themselves do not equate conflict. The term conflict is typically used when interference or negative emotions accompany the disagreement (Barki and Hartwick, 2004). Workplace conflict can potentially result in positive effects such as innovation, creativity and learning (De Dreu, 2011). However, prolonged workplace conflict leads to issues such as decreased performance, job dissatisfaction, chronic workplace stress and dysfunction (Patton, 2014). In health-care workplaces, it can even lead to patient harm as a result of decreased communication and collaboration (Johnson, 2009; Patton, 2014). Hence, its effective management and mitigation is required.
Unfortunately, conflict is not only rising in workplaces but also becoming more dangerous (Institute of Finance and Management, 2013). Incivility has been found to be both an antecedent to and a consequence of conflict (Kerns, 2016; Reio and Trudel, 2013). In the USA, instances of incivility are increasing. Three-quarters of Americans believe incivility has reached crisis levels (Weber Shandwick, 2013). Porath and Pearson’s (2013) study revealed that one-half of the respondents were treated rudely at work at least once per week, that percentage is up from only one-fourth in the researchers’ 1998 study. Workplace incivility is not confined to the USA. Incivility and its consequences negatively impact employees worldwide (Schilpzand et al., 2016).
Hospitals were one of the organizations named by the US Institute of Finance and Management (2013) where workplace conflict was noted to be increasing in severity. Thus, the context of a large, complex hospital workplace, a tertiary care center, was chosen for the study. Song et al. (2006) revealed the need for future research that examines conflict in rarely studied contexts. Because health-care workplace conflict is predominantly quantitatively studied within the nursing and medical field, the allied health field of medical imaging technology further honed the context of this qualitative research. The 5 million US allied health professionals constitute approximately 60 per cent of the nation’s health profession population (Allied Health Professions Overview, 2019). Medical imaging technologists are the third largest population of health-care professionals, after nursing and medical...