A520.2.3.RB - Conflict Resolution

I used to be a manager for a manufacturing company comprised of a strong unionized workforce.  I was obviously not part of the union and as a manager I had to be aware of my boundaries to avoid unnecessary conflicts with employees.  However, with any managerial role comes inevitable conflict sooner or later.  I dealt with conflicts such as employees having problems with each other or not wanting to carry out certain tasks I requested and other conflicts typical of a manager role.  These were relatively easy conflicts to resolve and almost always came to an agreement in which all parties were satisfied.  There was one instance in which I had a difficult conflict to resolve, probably one of the most difficult in my supervisory career.

One of my responsibilities as a supervisor was to handle time cards for my employees.  When someone needed to take vacation, was sick, had an appointment, etc…I would ensure their time card accurately reflected their request.  I had to deal with many different personalities and learn the best approach when it came to interacting with my subordinates.  I always treated them with respect and listened to what they had to say with an open mind.  I also expected the same from them in return.  In the following example I played the role of the responder and Tom fulfilled the role of initiator.  There was one employee in particular who found ways to degrade my respect for him and I believe he felt the same towards me.  No matter how I felt about Tom I still tried to be as fair and professional as possible.  However, he always managed to cause me trouble.  He constantly made mistakes, was difficult to deal with, and lacked respect for everyone.  I often had to listen to him brag about being a Navy SEAL and all of his war stories.  I knew everything he said was fabricated because of all the inconsistencies.  And, as most people with a military background know, a SEAL never brags.  Tom was everything a SEAL was not.  But I never called him out on anything because I knew this would jeopardize our working relationship.  And make a difficult relationship more difficult.  

One night during the shift, I needed Tom for a task but he was nowhere to be found.  He was not in his work area and did not respond to the page over the intercom system in the building.  I asked his coworker where Tom was and he responded, “I think he went next door to the other building”.  This happened on a couple more occasions and I approached Tom to try and figure out what was going on.  He insisted he was in the other building every time I looked for him.  I reminded him I needed him to stay in his work area.  It happened once more and I decided to take a deeper look at what he was doing.  I witnessed how he would not physically be at the terminal to clock out at the end of his shift, but the system I had to approve showed otherwise.  Only one other employee used that terminal, so I came to the conclusion Tom’s coworker was punching out Tom’s clock when the shift ended.  I took the situation a bit further to try and find out exactly when Tom was leaving and where he was going.  I remembered he parked his vehicle directly outside of his work area and discovered his vehicle was gone when I could not find him.  I even sat outside a few nights and watched him get in his vehicle and exit the plant.  Finally, one shift I witnessed him enter his vehicle, so I called to the gate guard to tell him to copy the license plate of the vehicle and document the time he vacated the premises.  The guard complied and there was even a video that recorded the event.

I brought all of this information to my boss and Business Leader (BL), the mediator in this case, to discuss our options.  We both knew Tom was wrong and felt he was stealing from the company through his actions.  My BL set up a meeting which consisted of himself, Tom, a union steward, and myself.  My BL was a fair mediator by listening to what Tom and the steward had to say.  However, the amount of evidence against Tom could not be ignored.   The evidence was presented in the meeting and we made it clear we would be seeking his termination of employment.  Tom denied everything despite the evidence and documentation.  In the end, the case went to a higher level and it was somehow determined Tom would not only keep his employment, but also receive no reprimand.  My BL and I were stunned.  To this day, I have never felt so upset with doing what I thought was right and not getting the expected outcome.  Regardless of the outcome, looking back, I could have tried a different approach.  I could have confronted Tom about his timecard and vehicle at the time I discovered them.  More than likely his activities would have stopped.  He might have even thanked me for not trying to get him fired.  And it is possible all the time I invested into the situation would not have been wasted.  If I am ever faced with a similar situation in the future, I will see how approaching the problem immediately and directly turns out.