Sunday, March 22, 2015

Can Communication help you with Employee Management?




   For this assignment we were asked to be put into a situation where we will need to use skills as a manager. For this assignment I will anticipate the employees response, how I will approach the situation, and analyze the techniques I will use to resolve the situation. The following is the situation that we are told to analyze. “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 first step in the process of dealing with this situation is figuring out how to approach the employee. If you approach the employee with hostility then its most likely the employee will reply with hostility. The best bet to approach the situation is to pull the employee in your office away from the others. Sit them down and calmly start the conversation. I would first ask if there was anything going on with them in their personal or professional life. You cannot automatically judge a person without hearing their side of the story first. “Understanding the perspective of another person does not necessarily mean agreeing. It means only that you make an effort to see the problem as the other defines it, without deciding on the validity of the other person’s perspective.” (Cahn D.D., Abigail R.A. 2014).

  

            Once I have affectively heard the employee’s side of the story, I will then tell them what I have observed. I will make note that the customer service has been lacking lately and there have been complaints against them. Along with poor customer service there has also been a lot of hostile attitude with other employee’s which makes for a stressful work environment. Sometimes people do not realize what they are doing. When someone has been in the same position and doing the same work for so long they can become complacent. Almost taking advantage of the fact that they have a steady job and thinking that they have job security. What an employee must learn is that just because they have been at a job for a long time does not mean that they still do not need to try. They must continue doing the job they were hired to do and make sure that their customers are always happy and taken care of.



            When it comes to other employees unfortunately not everyone will like one another. This employee however needs to understand that this job needs to run with everyone getting along. When people work well in a team atmosphere they can accomplish goals that are set forth. When one unit of the team is not working to their full potential or making a hostile work environment it can affect the whole team.



            Once I have explained the problems that I am seeing with the employee I can anticipate a couple of reactions that they may have. The first reaction will probably be denial. Most likely they will deny that they are having poor customer service and probably say that the other employees are out to get them. The second reaction could possibly occur is a hostile attitude and on the defensive. When someone feels threatened they will put up their walls and immediately try to defend their actions. The third and final reaction that could occur would be the employee being emotional. If they feel that their job is being threatened they may become very emotionally upset. When people become too emotional then they can become irrational.



            The key to dealing with this employee is to be prepared for anything. Be ready for any reaction that they may give to the ultimatum that will be given to them. This situation could potentially be very bad. It’s important to let the employee know that if they change their customer service and attitude their job is safe and secure. There are ways to help the employee overcome the obstacles that they are faced with. One technique that I will use will be collaboration. “Collaboration means using integrative behaviors and developing mutally satisfying agreements to solve the problem once and for all.” (Cahnn D.D., & Abigail R.A. 2014).  If I would use this then the employee understands that we are both going to work together to make sure that they will be on the right path. Collaboration has two essential steps. “First, it consists of integrative behaviors such as cooperation, collective action, and mutual assistance.” “Secondly, collaboration means that the partners have in mind the same goal, which is to strive for a mutually satisfying solution to the conflict.” (Cahnn D.D., & Abigail R.A. 2014).

           

            Through the technique of using collaboration the employee can feel like we are both going to work together to make sure that we can work on their team work and customer service. When dealing with conflict situations with employees, it’s important to be assertive without being harsh. The employee needs to know that they have to change but they are not alone. With work it can be accomplished and they can continue to be an employee.











  References:


Cahn D.D. & Abigail R.A. (2014) Managing Conflict through Communication (5th ed) Boston, MA: Pearson Education, INC

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