Background Information: “You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support service. You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service.”
Dilemma: 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 co-workers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment.
Action: You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.
Requirements: Explain how you would approach this employee. Anticipate the employee’s response.
Analyze which conflict resolution techniques you would use.
Introduction: ”An ethical dilemma can be defined as an undesirable or unpleasant choice relating to a moral principle or practice”(Maxwell,J. 2003).
Conflict of any type in the workplace leads to costing the company both financially and reputation. Conflict can also be used positively to enhance relationships and build trust with co-workers. There is a balance that needs to be a combination of support and following of company rules.
By using conflict resolution techniques such as balance this can be achieved. Conflict resolution techniques need to be employed to increase understanding, group cohesion and self-knowledge(Atlanta Premiere Research).
The Approach: In dealing with this situation, personally I would take the employee somewhere private and out of “earshot” of the others. Calmly begin by asking if, there is a reason for the sudden change in how the employee is acting. Trying not to get too personal ask about the home environment, job environment in order to find out why the change. Listen to the employee and talk to them, not down to him or her. Once, done offer advice on how to solve the conflict so,as not to affect the “relationship” between the employee and self. Discuss how the current behavior has impacted not just him/her but, those around who are working to make their goal of high levels of technical expertise and excellent customer service. Explaining how the confrontational behavior and complaints are not acceptable nor the low quality of work being done.
Employee’s Response: As the Atlanta Premiere Research explains it there are three possible ways that he/she could respond. He/she might respond positively, negatively or passively. The response all depends on the approach of the meeting and how it is handled (Atlanta Premiere Research.com). For instance, the employee could become irate and storm out of the meeting, and storm out giving no notice of leaving the job.(negative response) A positive response would be to talk to the employee would be to talking privately with the employee offering support in getting behavioral help. A passive /neutral response would be to put the employee on notice and agree that a break is needed to figure out where things will go and discuss possible outcomes.
The Preferred Conflict Resolution Technique(s): The logical resolution technique for this conflict would be to have the employee comeback to the way they were as a hard worker with a positive attitude. Therefore, a collaboration would be best. As the department manager the collaboration should represent “a cooperation with the other party to understand their concerns and expressing my own concerns in an effort to find a mutually and completely satisfactory solution (win-win)”(Williams,2003). Offer positive reinforcement for improvement of the attitude and elimination of the customer complaints and confrontational behavior.
By doing this it will allow both parties to express their concerns and be ready for new ones that may arise. It provides an open communication process and silently allows for possibly other forms of conflict resolution techniques to be used.
Conclusion: To conclude by collaborating with the employee it shows that while the employee has displayed negative behavior that as a department manager, I am willing to establish an open line of communication to help in solving the conflict through the use of private conversation, the positive reinforcement for the discontinuation of the negative behavior in the workplace, as well as the offering of morale support in seeking behavioral help should the change be more than just due to the workplace.
References
https://atlantapremieresearch.wordpress.com/
Maxwell, J.C. (2003). Ethics 101: What Every Leader needs to Know. Hachette Book Group USA
New York, NY
Williams, Dr. S. (2003). Conflict Management: Style and Strategy. Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio. Retrieved March 6, 2015
http://www.wright.edu/~scott.williams/LeaderLetter/conflict.html
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