Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

   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.”

    In response to this employee, I would initiate a one-on-one conversation immediately.   According to Cahn & Abigail, interpersonal conflict will most commonly arise with the following four main characteristics; “ (1) the conflicting parties are interdependent, (2) they have the perception that they seek incompatible goals or outcomes or they favor incompatible means to the same ends, (3) the perceived incompatibility has the potential to adversely affect the relationship leaving emotional residues if not addressed, and (4) there is a sense of urgency about the need to resolve the difference” (Cahn & Abigail, 2007, p.4).  In this situation, all four characteristics are present as; he is an employee dependent upon me for income and I am dependent on him to provide high level services to our clients; we both want him to complete his work however his methods are causing unrest with clients and other employees; hostile work environments harm people emotionally and the issues must be resolved quickly so as not to cause further harm.  Since the situation has already gotten to the point of creating a hostile work environment and negative impact on our clients, I should have spoken with this employee much earlier to diffuse the situation and there is no more time to procrastinate in handling the situation.



    I see value in having this conversation one-on-one so as not to publicly embarrass the employee in front of his co-workers and to allow room for a dialogue based on the working relationship we have established over the past two years of his employment.  I would approach the conversation with questions for the employee about how he is doing, how he feels about his job, and any concerns or complaints he may have.  I would then share some of the concerns brought to my attention by other employees and staff, asking for his insight or feedback into the matter.

    Since this employee has demonstrated hostile behavior in the past, I would anticipate a similar response in this situation.  Knowing this is likely to occur, I would approach the conversation gently but firmly, and demonstrate to the employee that I am invested in rectifying the situation.   To help diffuse the situation I would use “I” statements as much as possible, such as “I feel” or “I have found” rather than statements that would sound accusatory.  Typically confrontational behavior occurs when someone feels attacked, or if they are trying to mask pain or fear with a “strong face” of confrontation.  With this understanding I would also seek to gain perspective from the employee about what may be causing these issues.  Perhaps he is unhappy at work, or is struggling with some things in his personal life and it unaware of how much it is impacting his professionalism.

    To conclude the conversation, we would draft an “issue resolution report” together,  in which the employee would write out the concerns brought to his attention, what steps he will take to resolve the issues and avoid them in the future, and sign acknowledgement of the consequences should his actions remain the same (i.e. termination).



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