IMHO by PopopThePatriot: CASE STUDY ~ A DIFFICULT CONVERSATION

Unfortunately there comes a time in the career of every manager where he or she must confront a difficult employee and give that employee an ultimatum to improve on their behavior, including performance, or face dismissal.  This paper will explain how to approach a difficult conversation with a poorly performing customer service employee who has a history of confrontational behavior, which has created a hostile working environment.

The first consideration of the manager is to prepare a plan of action for the meeting with the offending employee, which is designed to mitigate the possibility of heated conflict, as the employee has a history of confrontational behavior.  This action is known as “Issues Management” – or a “proactive and systematic approach to predicting problems, anticipating threats, minimizing surprises, resolving issues, and preventing crises” (Cameron, 2008, p.59).  This approach is often used in the Public Relations field to mitigate conflict or damage to the reputation of companies or public figureheads.