Professional Tribalism and Dental Practice



Professional Tribalism and Dental Practice

Tribalism is identification with a particular ethnic group or "tribe." In discussions of dental practice and setting, tribalism usually appears as the sign of pride, devotion to the interests and culture of one's entire country. Modern dentists and nurses seeking to build new ideas sometimes regard tribalism as main source, a path to developing a modern national identity. Another view of tribalism, however, is that it shows pride in one's cultural and social roots and builds unity among health care professionals who share a common heritage. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to examine prfessional tribalism in a dental practice.

Tribalism has a very adaptive effect in human evolution. Humans are social animals, and ill-equipped to live on their own. Tribalism and ethnocentrism help to keep individuals committed to the group, even when personal relations may fray. This keeps individuals from wandering off or joining other groups. It also leads to bullying when a tribal member is unwilling to conform to the politics of the collective.

Socially, divisions between groups fosters specialized interactions with others, based on association: altruism (positive interactions with unrelated members) kin-selectivity (positive interactions with related members), and violence (negative interactions). Thus, groups with a strong sense of unity and identity can benefit from kin selection behavior such as common property and shared resources. The tendency of members to unite against an outside tribe and the ability to act violently and prejudicially against that outside tribe likely boosted the chances of survival in genocidal conflicts.

It is logical to assume that a predisposition to tribalism, and specifically to genocide, aided early humans in their expansion into Europe. Modern examples of tribal genocide rarely reflect the defining characteristics of tribes existing prior to the Neolithic Revolution for example, small population and close-relatedness.

Teamwork is effective cooperation among the members of a work team. Teamwork depends on a team's success in coordinating individual members' specialized roles and expertise (Dennis Gioia and James Thomas, 1996), which in turn depends on key interpersonal and self-management skills needed for teamwork (Stevens & Yarish, 1999). Interpersonal skills that enhance teamwork help members with conflict resolution, collaborative problem solving, and communication. Conflict resolution skills allow the team to understand conflict as a part of developing new ideas and strategies. Conflict resolution strategies call for fostering useful conflict in the form of divergent approaches to the group's work, while avoiding personal conflicts. Team members who have mastered this skill can distinguish the types of conflict and use tactics that help the group move toward win-win solutions (Avolio and Bass, 1995). Skills for collaborative problem solving include inviting and encouraging others' ideas and suggestions, especially about ways of improving the team's work processes. Collaboration can require individuals to serve the interests of the whole group over their own ideas or interests. Unfortunately, collaboration takes more time and energy than more directive approaches. Team members can obtain training in methods of collaborative problem solving, such as consensus decision making (Stevens & ...