Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

“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 have 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.  You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

I would use a direct approach when dealing with employee conflict; because this approach would allow me to quickly understand the purpose of the conflict.  My goal is to establish a positive tone and environment for both parties.  I would not begin the meeting by judging or criticizing the employee, but instead present my stance with a more indirect approach.  I would like my employee to feel open to my ideas and willing to process the resolution presented.  According to Roebuck in Improving Business Communication Skills, this approach softens your audience’s resistance, arouses their interest, and increases their tendency to see you as fair minded (2006).  I would adapt the assertive management style of behavior when dealing with employee conflict.

The employee’s confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment, leads me to believe that this employee’s response style is one of an attacker. According to www.fao.org, attackers: cannot keep their feelings to themselves, they are angry for one or another reason, even though it may not be anyone’s fault, they express their feelings by attacking whatever they can, even though that may not be the cause of their distress, and attackers can be up-front or behind-the-back.  My consensus is that this particular employee is a behind-the-back attacker. “Behind-the-back attackers are difficult to handle because the target person is not sure of the source of any criticism, nor even always sure that there is criticism.”

The S-TLC approach to managing conflict would be the best conflict technique for this situation.  S symbolizes Stop, T symbolizes think, L symbolizes listening, and C symbolizes communicate.  The first process is to stop.   This is an important concept because when dealing with conflict, it is important to have awareness of the situation; awareness is achieved by first stopping.  The next step is to listen.  Personnel in management must have excellent listening skills.  Listening is the key to problem solving because it aids in the realization of the manifestation of the conflict itself.  Thinking is necessary in the S-TLC approach to managing conflict because thinking helps us analyze the problem and discern the underlying causes of the conflict. The final step in the S-TLC approach is to communicate.  As department manager, it is my duty to meet with this employee to deliver an ultimatum regarding his need for improvement or dismissal.  If the employee improves his attitude and behavior, it will be a win-win situation.

References:

Roebuck, D.B (2006). Improving Business Communication Skills (4^th ed.) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall

http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7504e07.html