The risks of avoiding confrontation of a problem employee
One of the common phenomena at workplaces is conflicts due to the development of problems between employees and their employers or junior staff with senior staff. It is natural for conflicts to occur at nay set up with human interactions due to poor communication, varied ideologies, and varied personalities. However, whenever conflicts occur in an organization, it’s prudent that the right measures be taken by the people involved to bring the situation back to normal for a safe and productive work environment (Folger et al., 2015). This aspect is because work environments with conflicts bar people from working on their goals and objectives, which is detrimental to its success. Many people sit down and talk over the conflict while others ignore the conflict or confront the people involved. Avoidance of confrontation of conflict can be because an individual wants to be likable, chase acceptance, and desire a stable life. Avoiding confronting conflicts, especially with employees, comes with a bag of risks that can jeopardize the organization’s organization and operations. This paper seeks to identify the risks that come with the avoidance of confrontation with problematic employees.
First and foremost, avoiding confrontation with a problematic employee results in diminished respect and authority in an organization. As a manager or employer, you need to command respect and authority from your employees, not through unethical procedures such as those in an autocratic leadership style. It should be democratic. However, great leaders, especially in the business world, have all made it clear that respect and authority by being a role model and not hesitating to correct an issue once it develops. When an individual fails to confront a difficult employee, he naturally reveals an attitude of failure, weakness, and lack of a firm stand (Furlong, 2020). As a result, the employee is likely to take whoever is in management for granted and not make any positive changes. This implication will, without a doubt, affect the quality of work the employee is producing because he or she will be justified to think that they are above the law or, worse still, there are no consequences for the undoing.
The other risk that comes with a lack of confrontation of problem employees is constrained communication. Communication between employers and employees should be free to enable people to voice their feelings and ideas for the organization’s success. When conflicts go unresolved, they fester and develop communication breakdowns between the people involved. The employee and employer may not communicate openly because there is a general feeling of unresolved issues. Without good communication lines, people won’t be capable of sharing ideas and helping the organization.
Another risk that comes with employers not confronting problematic employees is that teamwork diminishes. Teamwork is fundamental in ensuring people work together, develop superior ideas, finish tasks fast, are more efficient, produce high quality of work, have high morale and cohesion. However, when there are unresolved conflicts between people in the organization, people will not be free to communicate due to broken communication lines. As a result, teamwork cannot function, and the organization cannot rip off the benefit that is accrued from effective teamwork.
Apart from that, the other risk of not confronting a problem employee is the increased turnover. Every company wants to keep hold of it bet and experienced employees who produce quality results because with such a team of employees in the organization, the business will blossom. However, when conflicts are not confronted, people will feel alienated, and when the conflict involves many people, then the workplace with be a nightmare to some (Bercovitch, 2019). The people that won’t bear the effects of a poor and uncomfortable working environment are most likely to call it quits and move on to the next organization where the environment is healthier. A high employee turnover is detrimental to an organization that has taken time to train and create a functional culture around such people. Besides, it is sometimes hard to replace such employees, and as a result, the organization suffers.
On top of that, ultimately, there will be a weakness in the brand value and compromised customer experience (Folger et al., 2015). When an organization goes through the above implications of unresolved conflicts, then the products and service being produce will, without a doubt, reduce in quality. As a result, the customer experience diminishes, and the brand is associated with poor products and services, which has negative effects on business. Besides, dissatisfied clients will substitute the firm’s products with superior products from other firms, which means that their sales and profits will reduce. Reduced income always leads to adverse effects like retrenchment and, in worse cases, closure of the business.
In conclusion, it is without a doubt the risks that come with employers or senior staff avoiding the confrontation of conflicts are detrimental to business operations since it reduces respect for authority, breakdown communication, affects teamwork, reduces productivity, and compromised brand value. Therefore, it is prudent that business owners and organizational leaders take time to study a particular conflict and then solve it to avoid facing the risks of avoiding to do so.