The dance of dissent: Managing conflict in healthcare organizations

Abstract

In this paper, I will suggest that healthcare institutions are intolerant of dissent, and use scapegoating as a defence. When dissent involves criticism of the organization, including whistle-blowing activities, the dissenter is likely to be punished and excluded. I will suggest that this process represents a paranoid defence in which the organization acts as an antigroup.

Keywords:

• scapegoating
• dissent
• groupthink
• whistleblowing
• organizational dynamics

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr Gwen Adshead, Consultant Forensic Psychotherapist, for valuable comments on the nature of toxic group dynamics and general style. I would also like to thank an anonymous reviewer who suggested an alternate definition of whistle-blower that I have used almost verbatim in the text.