Delivering
Bad News
The first step in the process of addressing a bad employee
with tact is based upon knowledge. As the department manager I should already
have an extensive knowledge of all the employees and their performance;
especially those who have been under me for longer than a year. The important thing
for me to do is make an informed rational decision that is not based on emotion
but rather on facts and what is best for the company.
The best avenue of approach to making the informed decision is to gather all the facts. Since the employee (who will be referred to as Kevin) is known to be confrontational and create a hostile environment I need to remove him from work while I work through the facts. The first step in the process would be to call Kevin into my office and suggest that he take some mandatory vacation days. This would allow the time and space that I need to maneuver through the office and gather customer feedback, employee feedback, and Kevin’s work history to include evaluations. This would also allow Kevin a relaxation period and also time to ponder upon why the mandatory leave was recommended. Perhaps in the time away from work he may conduct a self evaluation and realize some attributes that he may to build upon to better himself and the work environment.
Over the next week while Kevin is on vacation and the
gather process has begun; this also give me ample time observe the behavior of
the other employees without him around and monitor the natural progression of
each work day. Monitoring how the days start and transition till to the end
will enable me to view Kevin’s roll in the contributing to day to day atmosphere.
A conflict climate is
the physical environment in which the conflict can exist. By sending Kevin on
vacation I have avoided a harmful conflict climate. "Conflict management produces destructive and
negative results when it suffers from a harmful conflict climate,
consisting of the threats of power abuse, competition, distrust, and
defensiveness. Such threats foster avoidance and accommodation
(possibly resulting in avoidance and chilling effect cycles) or competition
(meeting force with force, which may foster a competitive escalation cycle
that eventually becomes violent). (Cahn & Abigail, 2014)"
The last thing as department manager
I want to occur is for a harmful conflict climate to become violent. This then
creates bigger issue and will lead to other employees not only possible
creating problems but also fearing to come to work. This alone is the reason
for Kevin vacation, however; it must be presented to him in a concerning manner
not to arouse suspicions or alarm for the cause. I would do so again by calling
him into the office and asking questions to see if everything is okay in his
personal life. I would tell him I noticed he has been a little off and distant
the last couple weeks and lead into the vacation time from there.
Now the time has come for Kevin to
return back to work. Here is where a very important decision needs to be made.
This decision will ulitmatley lead to how Kevin will behave not only as I address
the issues that have been brought up by coworkers and employees but also how he
will treat other. I would not say anything to Kevin his first week back. I
would simply monitor his behavior and see if anything has changed. If change
for the better has occurred then that allows a teachable moment during the
conversation to be had. However, if he actions have became worse then perhaps
this tell me rather than try to work through the conflict he may need to be let
go. I truly don’t foresee his actions being worse especially after vacation so
this just leave the last possibility of nothing changing.
If nothing changes, after a week I call
Kevin into the office. I explain to him what I have observed and what has been
brought to my attention. I also offer suggestions on ways he can improve his
performance and also professional relationships. I then express to him my
desire to keep him on board but inform him that he will be put on a six month probationary
term. At this point trying to keep Kevin on is the best thing for the company.
Although he has caused issues with customers it will cost more time and money
to train new employees than to correct Kevin’s behavior.
I tell Kevin that during his
probationary period he will receive increased evaluations and monitored. If at
any time during the probation period something for concern arises that he will
be let go. I will have already contacted security and notified them to remain
in the area but be discreet just in case an outburst takes place. One method to
keep the outburst form occurring is sampling asking Kevin what I can do to help
him. This gives him a since of control in the situation and he feels that I have
not taken complete power base for his actions away.
If Kevin’s performance increases after his vacation then the conversation becomes much easier. I would simply pull Kevin into the office and explain that I had noticed his performance had declined and that was the reason for the mandated leave. I would then encourage him by stating I had see the positive change in his actions and ask him what I could do to help him keep maintaining. Again, this allows Kevin to feel as if he is part of the process and encourages him to keep up the actions he already decided to emplace.
If Kevin’s performance increases after his vacation then the conversation becomes much easier. I would simply pull Kevin into the office and explain that I had noticed his performance had declined and that was the reason for the mandated leave. I would then encourage him by stating I had see the positive change in his actions and ask him what I could do to help him keep maintaining. Again, this allows Kevin to feel as if he is part of the process and encourages him to keep up the actions he already decided to emplace.
As the transition for Kevin evolves I would encourage change. I would focus on the entire theme of conflict climate. Managing conflict, increase interpersonal relationships, changing distrust to trust, converting competition to corporation, and defensive to supportive behavior. (Cahn & Abigail, 2014) In handling the situation with a positive outlook; transference should occur and educe Kevin’s behavior to become reflective. Therefore, a positive change in his behavior will occur enabling him to stay on and become a productive member of the team.
References
Cahn, D. D., &
Abigail, R. A. (2014). Managing conflict through communication
(5th ed.). Boston, NJ: Pearson.
I really like your blog, Tommy! It feels very patriotic, I find it easy to read with the colors, and my attention is drawn to read your posts. I also think you have a great picture and your "about me" is excellent. Here are my amateur suggestions:
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If you need any help with my suggestions, I have been playing around with the Blogger features, so feel free to ask me! Or, you may have already found all the available websites available to teach us!
Good luck with your final blog! :)
Tricia
I really like your blog, Tommy! It feels very patriotic, I find it easy to read with the colors, and my attention is drawn to read your posts. I also think you have a great picture and your "about me" is excellent. Here are my amateur suggestions:
ReplyDelete1. I would insert your page breaks earlier than where they are right now.
2. How about adding some pictures or videos to capture the reader's attention?
3. Delete the blank posts since you won't be filling those anymore. Now that we know how to post, there's no reason to make placeholders now.
If you need any help with my suggestions, I have been playing around with the Blogger features, so feel free to ask me! Or, you may have already found all the available websites available to teach us!
Good luck with your final blog! :)
Tricia