Large scale of operations of a business entity brought with it the difficulty of dealing with huge mix of employees coming from all walks of life. With the number of employees showing an increase day-by-day, it becomes difficult to provide individual attention to the employees. This situation added to an increased number of formidable people who can be capable of making the environment a tough place to work for.

Handling difficult employees must be done with great care and caution to prevent the situation from becoming contagious. The management must be always on the look out for employees who are capable of creating a situation difficult to work with. On identifying such employees, the reasons for the same must be identified and evaluated without any room for prejudice. The next step is to approach the employee for a personal meeting to evaluate the situation. An amicable environment must be created initially to prevent the situation from becoming complex to manage. The atmosphere can be made fine by starting on a common ground for discussion and once the latter is comfortable, trying to shift to the main point of discussion. The employee may refuse to agree to being a trouble maker. The supervisor should expect such a situation before hand and must have necessary proof to prove the matter. The employee must be given the chance to express his opinions which must be listened without prejudice. The supervisor’s attitude should be open to receive the explanations given by the employee. He should not let the rumours cloud his judgement of the individual.

The employee must be asked to come up with solutions to resolve the problem. But if he is upset or angry with the situation, the matter should be pursued during another occasion. This will give the employee to ponder over the situation and analyse its impact on him and on others. The employee should be approached after a short duration and his reasoning must be listened to and scrutinised carefully. If the situation can be improved the supervisor should pay personal attention to remedy the situation. If continuous attempts fails to have the desired impact on the employee, drastic measures must be taken to prevent the spread of negativity within the working environment.

The supervisor has to ensure that the discussions are always held in private. He should never lose his grip over the situation and should not let emotions have a play while giving out his opinion. Evidences related to the problematic behaviour should be kept handy in order to prevent the situation from worsening. The supervisor has to be assertive when the situation demands for it. The latter should not be permitted to rule the show.

If the difficult employee is a peer, the behaviour should be ignored to a great extent. If it goes beyond the limit, the matter should be laid before the supervisor to prevent it from spreading within the organisation.

Dealing with a difficult employee, be it a subordinate or a supervisor requires careful handling as a wrong move can impact the behaviour of other employees.