Handling employee conflict situations especially when there’s misconduct involved can be very tricky. Whenever you deal with employees, at some stage you’re likely to have a disagreement of some sort, which could end up in a conflict situation.
Here’s a classic example:
You, as the manager, ask an employee of yours to do a task, for example: responding to an urgent query from a customer. But the employee says he can’t do it right now, or he just doesn’t do it. He gives some lame excuse like he’s too busy with something else. However, you know that this customer is extremely important to your business…and the query needs to be resolved NOW. Unfortunately, there’s been a bit of tension for a while between you and this particular employee over another similar issue.
The question is how then do you handle it?
You could walk away (fuming) and get some else to do the task. You may raise your voice and just order the employee to do it now. But neither of these is going to resolve the conflict. In fact it could just get worse next time.
On the other hand, you could walk up to the employee and address the issue calmly and say something like this: “Look, I know you’re busy and I know we had an issue in the past. We can talk about that, but I really need you to please deal with this query as a matter of urgency, right now.” Then tell the employee why it’s important and arrange a time a little later, to talk to the employee about the issue that’s causing the conflict.
It’s all about how you approach the situation.
Dealing with Employee Conflict
There’s a very interesting article written some time ago by Mike Myatt in the Forbes magazine. In the article he explains the 2 main causes of employee conflict and five key tips in dealing with it.
Two Major Causes of Conflict:
- Lack of, or poor communications.
- Letting your emotions drive decisions.
The following tips will help you to handle conflicts in the workplace more effectively:
- Define what’s acceptable behaviour to you and your business and make sure everyone understands it.
- Handle conflict situations head on as soon as they arise. Use ‘prevention is better than cure’.
- Understand what the other person is trying to say or achieve. This means talking and listening.
- Work out how important the conflict situation is…if it’s petty, ignore it.
- Look at conflict as an opportunity for learning something from the situation.
…you can read the article here:
Conflict and Misconduct
When an employee does something wrong (called misconduct), then conflict often ‘rears its ugly head.’
You as the business owner or manager are going to have to address this misconduct at some stage. If you don’t, the situation will just get worse. So, the sooner the better!
Using Mike Myatt’s tips and a set of misconduct procedures these guidelines below will help you address the situation. These can be very effective when you’re faced with an employee misconduct problem that’s developed into a conflict.
Procedures
Step 1 is to understand WHY! This is where you need to communicate calmly.
When you first hear about the problem (and only once you’ve calmed down), speak to everyone concerned. Find out exactly what happened. Do a proper investigation and find out what was the real cause of the problem. And who was involved. Get to the bottom of the situation WITHOUT BLAMING ANYONE at this stage. And without getting into any arguments!!
Step 2 happens once you’ve identified what happened and who’s to blame (or most likely to blame).
Step 2 is to decide on whether the reason or excuse for the problem/misconduct is valid or not.
If it’s a valid excuse, then accept it and move on.
If not, then address it.
Step 3: You must decide how serious the misconduct is. Based on how serious it is, you can then take the necessary action. Use your Disciplinary Code as a guideline to determine the seriousness of the misconduct. If you don’t have one then see what damage the misconduct has done to the business. Usually if the damage has been the loss of a client or income to the business or some reputational damage, or disruption to productivity, then it is regarded as very serious. Less serious misconduct includes things like arriving a little late for work, minor negligence, cell phone abuse, abuse of sick leave etc.
Step 4: Whatever you decide, you’re going to have to speak to the employee(s) concerned. You’re going to have to tell them that their actions were unacceptable and what disciplinary action you have decided to take.
Always remember to have a third party (witness) present when doing your investigation and also when you’re speaking to your employees about the action you’re going to take. Then you’ll never have a situation where you get into an argument about the things that were or were not said.
Step 5 is taking the appropriate action. You may have to issue a verbal or written warning only. Or if it’s a bit more serious, a final written warning. If it’s very serious, it may warrant a disciplinary hearing, where the employee may be dismissed.
Let me know if you need help with any employee issues, especially when it comes to dealing with employee misconduct or conflict issues. Just reply HERE.
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