Case Study for Conflict Resolution

“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.”

If I was the department manager I would approach the employee in private. I would most likely call the employee and ask them to have a private meeting with me. I would sit down and have the employee sit down across from me. I would state that I really enjoy having them working here, but lately it seems like there has been some slacking going on.  I would state that at the time of hire they signed a contract stating what was required to provide outstanding customer service. I would say what is expected as a customer service representative. I would say there has been multiple reports of complaints about them and that we can’t be having that sort of negative attitude in this department. I would ask if there is anything bothering them or if they are having some type of issues going on. I would then state that there are counseling services available for people, but if progress is not made in a timely manner than the employees services will no longer be needed at this company. I would state that I understand that life happens and that sometimes we have a hard time balancing work and our personal life. “A common source of conflicts in organizations concerns work–life conflict, which arises from keeping a balance between one’s personal life and the demands of work”(Cahn,2011). It doesn’t matter what you feel or what is going on when you are dealing with customers we are forced to keep our cool and our head on straights. If this was my first time having this conversation with this person I would be more than willing to give them another chance to prove to me that they can make good choices and provide excellent services.

As a manager I would anticipate that the employee would be slightly defensive and maybe offended.  I am sure they would feel a little victimized in the situation. I am sure that they would feel like their co-workers deceived them and are gossiping. “Deception is generally classified as deliberately altering information to change a person’s perceptions about an issue”(Cahn,2011).I think it is normal to be angry when feeling attacked and that is why I would try to use my words wisely when speaking with them. I would let them know that I do not want to let them go, but I want to see changes made starting today. I think that the employee would probably understand of the situation after we had our meeting and I would hope that they would try harder to succeed.

The conflict resolution techniques that I would use  if the employee was to get too upset over things and before I presented my ultimatum to the employee would be to use the S-TLC system. “The S-TLC system is an acronym for Stop, Think, Listen, and Communicate”(Cahn,2011). As a manager it would be my job to make sure that the employees and the customers are getting their needs met. It would be important for me as a leader to not get upset at the employee even if they were to get upset at me.

I am currently not in this position, but if I was I think that my idea of how to handle the problem would be appropriate and I think most people would be satisfied with the way I approached the situation.

References

Cahn, R. A. A. a. D. Managing Conflict Through Communication VitalSource eBook for Ashford University [VitalSouce bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9780558711184