Workplace Conflict: A Scenario

MANAGING CONFLICT

              

This is the scenario:

“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services.  You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service.  One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers.  In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment.  You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

As the department manager, is your job to handle the situation the best possible way. First, I would step back and make a couple evaluations. Has the employee been like this for the last two years consistently? Is this subpar work and customer service a norm for this character? If so, has this been documented and has the employee been counseled? The next would be to evaluate the situation. Is there a missing link as to why the employee might be acting out like this? Family issues? Personal issues? Then it would be in the best interest of the company to approach this issue with tact.

Sit down with the employee. Talk to them, one-on-one. Look at their performance reports with them and prior to the meeting with the employee. If they seem to be a solid employee except for the last few months, get down to why their actions are affecting their work. Is it something work-related? If so, can it be fixed? If in the scenario, the employee has always been subpar and their has always been a lack of integrity or excellence, ensure there is proper documentation to back up your argument and simply terminate. However, if this is the first you have noticed the employee acting like this and it’s a completely new behavior, counsel. Offer assistance. Offer advice. Do not be the company that lets a great employee fall through the cracks because of office politics or because you just simply cannot handle the difficulty with that employee. At some point in our careers, we probably have all needed a manager that saw us for US and not the mess-up we might be labeled as.

            As Cahn states in the textbook, Managing Conflict Through Communication, “Critical to our success in conflict situations is the use of communicative behavior that is supportive and nonthreatening. Conflicting parties should try to establish a nurturing conflict climate by being supportive and not being defensive. The most significant steps toward creating a supportive climate are found in communication that describes behavior rather than judges it, that is oriented toward solving problems rather than assigning blame, that focuses on description and problem solution rather than a “you-orientation,” that manifests an attitude of empathy rather than an attitude that is neutral and unconcerned, and that conveys a sense of equality with the other rather than a position of superiority. Finally, a supportive climate is created spontaneously rather than through behavior perceived as strategic and through talk that suggests that the conversation is still in process rather than certain and final.” (Cahn, 2014)

References

Cahn, R. A. A. a. D. Managing Conflict Through Communication VitalSource eBook for Ashford University, 4th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9780558711184/outline/20