Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively By J Albee

The situation is “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 have 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.” (Ashford University online, Assignment, week three (2010)

I will assume that since this employee has been with the company for two years, this is a relatively new situation. The employee would not have been kept employed had he had low level of technical expertise or have has behavioral issues. I will also assume the company has employee evaluations on a yearly basis as many companies do. Given these assumptions I will create a meeting running dialogue and I will name this employee John Smith and discuss my actions for this assignment at the end in a summary.

The first this I would do is pull the job description, performance expectations company policies, and makes two copies of each. I would have his employee file and copies of evaluations, as well as current and past performance levels. I would also print the complaints received by customers and co workers; I would black out the names for privacy. I would also contact any employee who has filed a complaint and or customer if I need more specific information or details. I would also create a contract for the employee to sign at the end of the meeting. This contract would spell out the performance levels required, the professional manner expected as well as the behavior levels expected by John Smith. I would also include the fact that should John not meet the conditions described in this contract his employment would be terminated immediately. This contract would be signed by both John and I as a legal ethical contract of expectations. These would be prepared in advance of the meeting.