Mini Case

Rude and aggressive behavior

Consider the following scenario and what you might do if you were the manager.  Read each
section; think about the possible way forward.

Stage 1

You are appointed to the Head of School.  You have within your school a very high performing
research group.  One of the senior research fellows, by the name of Dr Spark performs very well
and is well respected in his field of expertise within the University as well as nationally and
internationally.  He is however causing you a number of concerns with regard to his behavior
within the group.   He is consistently rude and aggressive (his voice can often be heard down the
corridor he shouts so loudly) to all other group members and the group feel they have to walk on
egg shells within the office and the lab for fear of upsetting him.  The staff turnover in the group
is very high and you hear that other staff within that group are not performing as well as they
might.

What you will do? Justify your point of view by giving reasons.

As a member of the research group and also the Head of the school, I will try to Approach Dr.
Spark in a very polite manner as he is a senior research fellow and also performs very than others
because the staff turnover is very high and other staff members within the group are not
performing as well as they might, so I will

 Try to talk to him about the conditions of his attitude,

 Try to explain about how other members think about him, how they fear that they feel
like they have to walk on egg shells within the office and the lab for fear of upsetting
him.

Reasons:

The reasons of the polite manner are;

1. Not to lose the good performing researcher of the group.

2. As he is the senior member of the research group, to show some respect.
3. Find out the reasons of that type of behavior by having a friendly conversation.
4. Bring him on the same page.
5. Try to understand the reasons behind this kind of behavior in a friendly environment.
Stage 2

Dr Spark on this occasion listens to what you are saying and admits that he struggles to control
his temper due to the enormous amount of work he has and the stress he feels he is under – he
does however say he will try to calm his temper.  After a number of weeks you find there is still
no improvement.

What you will do? Justify your point of view by giving reasons.

This time I will repeat the same approach of polite behavior and talk to min in a friendly
environment. To improve his behavior, I will try some things to calm him down like;

 Share his load of his work,

 Put as less burden as possible on him.
 Try to give him some time to relax.
 Try to put him or give suggestion of taking some therapy.

Give him a little warning this time to control his temper or serious action will be taken next time.

Reasons:

The reasons of the polite manner are;

1. Because the man is already in a lot of stress already and he is accepting that there is an
issue with his current behavior.
2. Adopting an aggressive approach at this point will not be a wise approach.
Stage 3

Dr Spark still refuses to attend the training and there is no improvement in his conduct – a further
incident has occurred where he was extremely rude to another member of staff from the school.

What you will do? Justify your point of view by giving reasons.

Now the situation is getting worse and out of control. Now I will be taking an aggressive
approach of by giving him unpaid leave of 30 days, with a warning to sort his stuff out and if
there is no improvement after this leave serious actions will be taken like by sacking him from
the job because of same rude behavior.

Reasons:
The reasons of the aggressive approach are;

1. Stop him from disturbing the normal working environment.

2. Stop this kind of behavior from becoming a kind of norm in school.
3. Make it an example for other group members or employee of the school that this kind of
behavior will not be appreciated.
4. Try to preserve the good working environment of the school and research group.