As a department manager I would have set customer service performance guidelines for my team, both individually and as a team. Based on these guidelines I would have established a plan and part of our plan would include weekly team meetings to review team performance and quarterly meetings to review our metrics individually. I would have explained that these meetings are in place to help guide our performance levels, identify individual employee performance; what they are doing well and if there are any needed improvements. I would also emphasize that employee feedback is valued and valuable; I want employees to be communicate thoughts, ideas and issues, give feedback on the work environment, as well as the morale of the team.
By managing individual attitudes overall team continuity and morale can be achieved. During this individuals employment I tried different avenues to find a reasonable way to resolve the issues while trying to educate the employee. I wanted to give this employee options to succeed and by being open minded to his lack of performance and he seemed to become more intense I applied this idea that: “Effective conflict management occurs when our communication behavior produces desirable results for all the parties concerned” (Chan & Abigail, 2007, pg. 9). I did not want to make any decision without providing opportunities to turn this situation around.
To turn this situation around and because I had known the employee to be confrontational, I decided not to get caught up in his emotional responses; so I stayed calm and listened to his issues. By actively listening, I repeated back to him what I heard and this seemed to help the employee understand that I was trying to get to the problem and understand it from his point of view, but that did not deter him from being confrontational. Based on my studies of conflict I wanted to apply the technique of: “collaborating, which involves working with each other to find mutually acceptable outcomes” (Cahn & Abigail, 2007, pg. 240). This technique would show the employee that input was valued. I asked him what he thought would resolve his performance and asked him to make suggestions for improvement; he lashed out at me and said that was my job. Continuing with my collaboration efforts I presented guidelines to him that I have seen help, but he did not like either. I asserted that once he calmed down and reviewed the suggestions I would be open to any input he had to offer; he had one day to think it over.
The following day he came back to me with a few suggestions and we negotiated and came up with a plan of improvement along with a timelines. An article called “Conflict Resolution Skills” talks about the recognition of the problem and suggests: “When you can recognize the legitimacy of conflicting needs and become willing to examine them in an environment of compassionate understanding, it opens pathways to creative problem solving, team building, and improved relationships” (Segal, 2013). We worked the plan and it improved the relationship, but his performance only slightly improved and his overall behavior was not improving. We sat down again and we reviewed his performance; this time I suggested additional training explaining that it could enhance his communication skills, he reluctantly agreed. More time passed and it was becoming evident even with taking corrective measures, creating a plan for improvement and training, the employee was unable to meet the objectives of the position and he continued to be reluctant to admit his behavioral issues.
Unfortunately due to the lack of improvement I had to make the decision to terminate his employment. I pulled the information together called Human Resources to review. Based on his confrontational behavior and the possibility that it could escalate I had Human Resources remain on the phone and called the employee into my office; I explained that Human Resources would be on the phone during our meeting. I pulled out our file and reviewed the metrics of his performance reviews and stated that even with the efforts made to improve his performance, creating a plan and additional training it was not meeting the objectives for this position. I sat forward to show sincere concern and empathy and looked at the employee to discuss again we have had the same and consistent issue of his behavior. I have continued to receive numerous customer complaints that I cannot ignore and that his attitude towards co-workers is affecting the morale in the office. I let him know that we would need to terminate his employment. The employee got up, left the room and slammed the door behind him.
References:
Cahn, D.D., & Abigail, R.A. (2007). Managing conflict through communication (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-205-68556-1
Segal, J. Ph.D., Greg Boose and Melinda Smith, M.A. (2013). Conflicts Arise from Differing Needs. Conflict Resolution Skills. Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/eq8_conflict_resolution.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment