Confronting a Hostile Employee

Case Study: “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.”

“The only way to appropriately handle conflict is to actually deal with it” (Goldsmith, 2008). It sometimes seems easier to just “let it go” and continue a dangerous cycle of conflict avoidance. Sometimes you wish to engage in a much needed conflict but just don’t have the nerve to confront the other person. At some point though, you just need to jump in the pool. But just in case you are still timid, there are smart and proper ways to initiate confrontation that will give the conflict a good chance of being successful.

In terms of initiating, Cahn and Abigail (2007) have identified two important steps: preparation and tell the person “we need to talk.” Preparation falls right in line with the stop/think portion of the S-TLC. At this point you need to think about the conflict and where it should go. Two ways to prepare include self-talk and imagined interaction. Think of this as talking through the issues with you imagining possible ways the confrontation may go. In this case you may expect the employee to act defiantly or hostile. When the time comes to initiate, tell the person “we need to talk.” As cliqued as it sounds, “we need to talk” is a universal way of calmly making a statement that a conflict must be confronted. Think of it as your go-to method to ease your way in to the pool.

When it comes time to talk, it is time to be serious. According to Stockwell (1997), you should state you message assertively, do not get off topic with small talk, and directly state your purpose clearly without any ambiguity. After that it is time to listen. “Expect that your message will surprise your listeners. It will take them time to ‘process’ your remarks” (Stockwell, 1997). There is a good chance this employee will not take the news very well. It is important to listen to him have his say. Another notion to think about during the communication phase is the use of I-statements. I-statements help to reverse the heat from the other party. In the midst of battle, we tend to repeat ourselves and try to express what is wrong with the other person. I-statements replace you-statements. For example a sentence starts with “I feel…” instead of “you make me feel…” (Cahn & Abigail, 2007). What this does is express to the other party the feelings you are experiencing instead of attacking them and making them more defensive. Anyway to ease the tension can open up communication lines for a more honest discussion.

Eventually you must give the employee the ultimatum to either shape up or ship out. Honestly, if the employee is that expendable this should not be such a hard thing. If he takes the confrontation poorly it is probably clear that he should move on. If the employee takes the criticism well and acknowledges that he needs to work on being a better employee then give him the chance to. No matter what, it is necessary to confront an employee that is not only not working up to standard but also disrupting the workplace.
 
References
Cahn, D.D., and Abigail, R.A. (2007). Managing conflict through communication (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Goldsmith, B. (2008). Difficult Conversations. Cost Engineering, 50(9), 20. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from ProQuest Database

Stockwell, R.G. (1997, April). Effective communication in managing conflict. CMA, 71(3), 6. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from ProQuest Database