Well, there are many ways to fight something.
Directly, sometimes, you can confront and be adversarial, this is the most direct, but often times, the least effective method, since you declare your opinions overtly and your opponent can openly counter and position themselves to work to oppose you, this limits your subsequent options, and forces other people to "declare" sides, either explicitly or implicitly.
Polarizing a work environment like this is not helpful except when you are in highly ordered environment, such as a rigid management structure or perhaps the military.
Indirectly - working carefully behind the scenes to collect evidence of incompetence or abuse is oftentimes very effective. Especially if you work in an environment which is essentially neutral - such as school or public forums.
Businesses and sometimes school peer groups are not always the best place for such methods to work effectively because some managers / coworkers / colleagues whom you may wish to inform, may not be properly informed of that "worst person's" attributes and may not share your opinions on the matter.
Revenge, in and of itself is not useful, or rather it's like the old saying , the best revenge is to live life well. Revenge is also, not your job, that is the job of fate and history.
By virtue of you focusing on what this other person is doing or saying, you are using your energies in ways which are not productive to you, which leads to the third choice in confronting someone.
Neutrality - Choosing to do "nothing" about them, While it might seem - at first glance - that you are choosing to act carefully and quietly against someone else's actions.
MANY times, the flaws of other the person in question are obvious to more than just you. In this respect, along the lines mentioned before, you should focus on your own merits and avoid this other person as much as possible.
In keeping your own house in order you also do something else, you build up credibility with other people, perhaps even without your knowledge, that you can deal with a difficult person and also be productive.
The most effective method is to do whatever you can to avoid that person or work as productively as you can with them. Hold you nose if you have to, go to lunch or home and have a "Tourette's Moment" if you want, but don't be hostile around them.
If they genuinely suffer from these personality defects objectively, they will be obvious and while it is often-times the case that they can succeed in spite of obvious personality defects, they do so at the expense of others - usually.
Retreat - If the person is in a superior position to you, or has a sympathetic forum in management, there is another option.
You can choose to leave the engagement. Always plan your leaving, do not just "leave" a job, plan your escape.
While this strategy is not always available, many times it is, particularly in work and college environments. Don't just up and leave, however, this - again - is counter-productive to your interests.
When I said "plan your escape" I mean that literally, treat this as a cordial invitation to "move onward", read "What Color Is Your Parachute", this is an excellent primer for learning how to successfully change jobs AND find the job you want.
I recently had to make this kind of decision myself, and found that several months after my leaving a position, the company had hired no less than 5 people to do my job, more interesting to me was that, because one of the persons I had trouble with was still a manager, and still belligerent to my successors, 3 of my initial replacements had also left and they were having problems filling the positions.
Upper management was considering "shaking up" the department, last I had heard.
Answered By: Mark T - 5/26/2008 |