Employee Evaluations and Conflict Resolution

Having set expectations in the workplace can help everyone succeed. By having clear policies and procedures, each person can contribute their skills and know how they will be evaluated. In the situation we are given, I am assuming the employee has been told previously that they needed to improve their work since we are asked to present an ultimatum.

I would begin with the written policies regarding employee behavior including expertise and work-place interactions. Being able to clearly explain the expectations and ask the employee to evaluate their own performance can help clarify the areas of improvement that are needed. If they are unable to identify their need for improvement, I would then provide examples of areas where complaints have been received and try to illustrate how situations could have gone with the right expertise. For this section I would present the conflict through the collaborative method where the employee could offer their own solutions to needing more expertise and I could offer options that would be available through the company.

After that part was handled, I would move on to the personal relationships piece. During this phase I would try to use the problem solving method so we could first identify the problem in the office that caused the hostile environment. Once the actual problem was identified we could move into finding a solution to the problem that suited the working environment and the employee, if possible. J

Since these two problems are separate problems I would attempt to handle them in separate parts of the conversation. Each would have their own solution, which we would put in writing, and the employee would agree to the repercussions of not following our agreed upon plan of action. In this scenario the plan of action would lead to dismissal if not followed. The plan would include a time frame and set evaluation criteria.

I suspect that the employee would have opinions on the reason there is a hostile environment that may shed light on other team dynamics. For this reason, I would make sure we started with their perception of the office and their actions before moving onto remedies. I also suspect that the employee would be able to self-identify their need for improvement, if given the chance. If they are unable to do so, previous evaluations or conversations could come up in order to find a potential solution. There are a few other considerations for this situation: the meeting would be held privately and in the presence of an human resources team member, the meeting would be recorded for addition to the employee file, and a written document of the agreed upon outcome would be added to the file as well. This document would be the basis for dismissal, if needed, so there would be no question. This also helps if there is a claim for unemployment insurance after the employee leaves.

My hope with this plan would be to empower the employee to self improvement in a way that suited them while also maintaining standards. It would be clear that this was the last attempt at retaining the employee and it would be clear what expectat