Once Upon A TYPE…

 

Every workplace has them ‘ass toxic’ people who make life miserable for their colleagues. Every single person’s experiencing it all over the world. Here’s how to handle them. This one’s a good read; it may take time, though! 

“You didn’t reach secondary-school level!” the supervisor at the Manila manufacturing company yelled. Camelia Santos* was intimidated by her supervisor’s anger. Even more serious was that without her help, she couldn’t get her job done. The supervisor gave

Santos instructions for labelling products, but sometimes they weren’t clear. When she asked for clarification, the supervisor would ignore her. If

Santos ended up making mistakes, through no fault of her own, the supervisor would shout at her in front of everyone.

Santos agonised for months. Finally, she approached the company’s human resources department for help. Both she and the supervisor were called into a private meeting to work things out.

Santos said she was willing to learn but she had to have clear instructions. She also needed to know that she wasn’t going to be humiliated in front of her colleagues if there were problems. The supervisor agreed to

Santos’s requests and from that day, they worked together without problems.Another subordinate at the same company used a different strategy: avoiding the supervisor. She confided, “I would just keep quiet and tolerate it, and as far as possible avoid and ignore her shouting.”Difficult bosses, co-workers or employees exist everywhere. “Encountering difficult people in the workplace is inevitable and dealing with them is no easy task,” says Dr Mahfooz A. Ansari, a professor at the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s

School of

Management in

Penang and author of Managing People At Work.Difficult people can be just plain annoying or worse - bullies.“Workers in Western countries exercise their rights to protect themselves from victimisation more than we Asians. Victims are often fearful of losing face and family respect, so they suffer in silence,” says James Y. Lin, president of QLQ International, an organisational management consultancy in

Singapore.Even without legal protection, there are strategies you can use to cope - everything from confrontation to avoidance.  

Form a united front Employees in the human resources department of aManila company were becoming increasingly frustrated because their manager never responded to their comments or suggestions. What was worse, the manager was barely doing his job - instead, he would spend his office hours playing computer games or working on his thesis. As a result, work in the department ground to a halt. The employees decided to approach their general manager.Because the employees had banded together, the general manager could not dismiss their concerns as a personal conflict. The company looked into the matter further. They discovered that the manager had lied about his credentials, saying that he was a university graduate when he wasn’t, and that he was having an affair with an employee in another department, which was prohibited by the company. The manager was asked to resign.“You can get a lot of support by sticking together and sharing ideas on how to deal with the person,” says Josa D Puno-Landayan, the Philippines representative of the UK-based Human Resource and Organisational Development Consultancy.

Show them up

James Lin of Singapore recalls helping one company that was having problems with a manager who regularly cursed his subordinates. Lin organised a drama in which employees reenacted the manager’s behaviour, so he could see what all the fuss was about. “The manager watched the person who played him cursing in the office. When he saw his own behaviour played out - and realised what other people were seeing - he accepted that he had an unconscious habit of cursing and agreed to change his ways,” says Lin.

Use humour

“Although we are becoming more willing to confront issues, Asians are normally non-confrontational and aren’t prepared to take their concerns to management out of fear that they might be criticised for not being a team player,” says Dr Ricardo A. Lim, a professor at the Graduate School of Business at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, who has done research on conflict within teams.Lim says humour is a great tool in situations like this. “I once had a colleague who was famous for being tough with her staff. She would change arrangements at the last minute and get angry with her team when things did not work out. After several heart bypass operations, she remarked during lunch one day that she effectively had only half a heart. I said, ‘That is not true. Your staff knows that you have no heart.’ She laughed, but she got the message. From then on, she changed her behaviour.” 

Be subtle

 James Lin recalls the case of a Singapore insurance company where a female employee spoke loudly on the phone. Other people in the office found it very distracting.Finally, one of her colleagues casually mentioned that she was concerned about the family problems she had overheard the woman discussing on the phone. “The female employee was very surprised and embarrassed that people could hear her talking. Since then she has toned down her voice on the phone,” says Lin Be vigilant

Ricardo Lim says that as soon as employees see a potential problem, they should talk to the person involved and ask them to stop. If that doesn’t work, they should report it to their employer. “Prevention always, always works - it is the best medicine,” he says.Dr Sununta Siengthai, associate professor of human resources management and industrial relations at the Asian Institute of Technology’s School of Management in

Bangkok, agrees: “If the workplace has fewer power plays - whether they are betweenco-workers or between bosses and subordinates - and more collective responsibility, it will make the work environment much nicer.”

How to React to Difficult Co-Workers

According to consultant Gerry Smith and Shaun Belding, author of three books on dealing with difficult people at the office, how you handle the people described below can improve the quality of the work environment for everyone. 

 1. People who blame others, including you. Call them on it by saying, “Why is it always someone else’s fault?” Chances are they’ll laugh your comment off or become upset. Either reaction is evidence your point may have been taken. 2. People who take credit for your work or ideas. This can be difficult to prove, so put your name on any document you develop. If someone swipes your idea at a meeting, point it out straight away - using humour if possible. Later follow it up privately with the offender to tell him or her, “Don’t do that again.”3. People who constantly interrupt. Don’t put up with it. Say coolly but firmly, “Please wait while I finish.”

4. People who embarrass you publicly. Put them on the hot seat by saying later, “I’m sure you didn’t intend to embarrass me, but you did.”

5. People who don’t follow through. A co-worker cannot hold another employee accountable, but you could try telling them their behaviour is frustrating and that you’ll inform the boss if they don’t start pulling their weight.Then do it.

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