Case Study: Hostility at the Workplace

Recently I facilitated a case in an organization where one employee had the habit of instigating unnecessary conflict with other employees. The goal of this employee was to secure his seat in the company. The employee was fairly new to the company and worked as a Director of a specific market within this organization. However, he had created a negative perception about this work ethic and lack of integrity in his previous employment. At his current organization, this employee began to create trouble for some of the older employees. He had a bad habit of lying, making up lies regarding his sales, and reporting false bids, and profits within the internal platform of the company that tracked sales accounts and profits. The organization had a no tolerance rule for unethical behavior. However, with little gossip that he would hear, or would ease drop in conversations, he made it blow up someone's problem into a larger issue, causing further embarrassment for his colleagues. He had already created the perception of a "cheap salesman" at his new employment due to the fluff he was used to talking. He was a talker but not an executor. On the contrary, it was his goal to ensure that if he snitched on his colleagues, he would seem like a favored employee in the company.


Then one day, he really created havoc for an employee who could have easily had him fired due to the lies she had known about this employee's habits. This female employee had welcomed this new director and helped him understand the clients, their needs, etc. Instead of creating an alliance with this employee, this salesman went to HR and her boss to report a lie he had conjured about his colleague. The lie was that the employee was seeking new employment. Although he had no evidence, the female employee was called into the HR office. She had to explain her case was a complete lie. Now the female employee was determined to get the Director in trouble for his lies.


Do you think this is wise? No. Group WhyNot provided communication services to the HR and management teams in this organization to ensure managers would be able to understand the behavior and behavior patterns of an "instigator". At every workplace and organization, there is always an employee who is deemed to be the "instigator". This employee does not deserve the time of the day. HR and management should pay more attention to where the Director's time is wasted vs. focusing on validating his lies. In fact, someone like the Director should be reprimanded for his behavior. The punishment should include 100 hours of training hours in communication, and ethics at the workplace. 

Group Whynot provides conflict resolution services. Visit us at www.groupwhynot.com for more information.

Posted on behalf of Group WhyNot.