There are various kinds of issues that a manager must face with his/her team members. One of the most serious kinds is that of employee negativity. A negative employee is a person, who would foresee the worst consequences of any initiative, would be dissatisfied with his job, would not be happy with his team members, and would be resistant to any change or new proposals. Such an employee will not take all his leaves and stay home or go on a vacation even if the manager wishes that he would. This person would come one time and stay late at work if the need arises. But his presence will do nothing to help the project.

In a study conducted by Employee Benefit News, it was found that there are five main causes for employee negativity:

· Overload of work
· Anxiety about the ability of the management to steer course the right way in the future
· Anxiety about personal security
· Absence of challenge at work
· Lack of recognition and incentives at work

There are a few measures that a manager can take when confronted with such negative employees. The first step is to carefully observe the employee’s behaviour. Any employee cannot be termed negative based on one instance. But repetition of such behaviour would require that the manager speak to the employee with reference to those instances. The next step would be to get the support of the organization. The manager can discuss similar cases with other managers so that they may reach a consensus. When the manager sits down to discuss negative behaviour he must make sure that organizational objectives and values are emphasized. This will help the employee place his behaviour in perspective. Once the behaviour and the core beliefs of the organization are spoken of, the manager must offer to help the employee. Negativity can be combated only by a positive approach and not by apportioning blame. The manager can provide the employee with ample opportunities to take control of their work. The employee can also be placed in charge of small projects to start with and then move on to larger projects as he proves himself. It would be a good idea to involve the employee in strategic decisions. The employee might surprise himself by coming up with very creative ideas. Dr. Eduard Spranger says that there are six core values in the modern day workplace: conceptual, aesthetic, economic, power and authority, social and doctrine. A judicious combination of all these values contributes a positive and vibrant work culture.