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What would you do in the following situation?

Hi, I work as a project team leader and my manager is really sick and tired of this girl on my team that doesn't seem to do anything he asks of her. She's basically useless or just playing dumb, we're not sure. So, he told me today that he's gave up on her and her work is inefficient. The problem is that my manager is kind-hearted and it's hard for him to fire anyone but now his upper manager is tired of her too. So any ideas how to get rid of her or even force her to quit?

Asked By: what goes around comes around - 9/6/2009
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
These are issues that managers have to deal with as part of their job. The success or otherwise of the company is at stake. Good managers know how to get the best out of their personnel. Just firing someone without talking to them or getting to the reasons behind the behaviour I don't believe is good management practice.

Your manager needs to do an appraisal interview with her, if this is not something that is already routine in your company. If annual Appraisals are already part of your company policy, I do not know how the situation has got to this stage.

At the 'one-on-one' he needs to tell her that she does not seem to be a team player and try to find out why - eg she lacks training, she doesn't understand what is required of her, she has issues with other team members, just lazy... or whatever.

Once he knows the cause of her lack of initiative, he can then formulate an action plan (obviously with her) on how to solve the issue. He can also at this time put her on report and give her a reasonable amount of time to either turn the situation around or be terminated.
Answered By: FPB - 9/6/2009
Additional Answers ()
Marginalize (sideline) her. Just like in any sports team, when a player fails to produce or lost interest, he/she is benched and eventually waived. Give her only very low priority jobs that have no relevance to the project, like getting coffee or something of that nature. Do not involve her in any planning either.
Answered By: Refined - 9/7/2009
About all you can do is give chapter and verse about her deficiencies to your own manager. Don't jump the hierarchy to complain to his upper manager yourself.

I wouldn't assign her "easy" tasks. That would just mask the problem and postpone the necessary action to dismiss her. Just keep her away from any mission-critical parts of the project.

Firing someone is one of the more difficult parts of a management job, but sometimes it just has to be done. Her manager will need to go through the drill of calling her in to discuss how she needs to improve. Whatever the protocol is, he should follow it.

I once worked in an office where one of the women fell after a party and suffered a severe head injury that made it impossible for her to do her former job. There was some issue with the Americans With Disabilities Act, so that she had to be given tasks within her capabilities, and couldn't be fired. She did some dumb jobs around the office, was reduced to part-time when there were too few low-level things for her to do, and eventually was let go for that reason.

Soon enough, his own upper manager will tell your manager in words of one syllable to get the unsatisfactory worker fired once and for all. That will solve your problem.
Answered By: marys.momma - 9/7/2009
What an awful person/manager this is.....trying to pit all of you against another... Consider that if you gang up on this girl, all that happens is that you wind up doing the few things she IS getting done....and won't get one more dime in salary.

Additionally, your co-workers will most certainly NOTICE how you eagerly joined into this back-stabbing fest....and it will occur to them that one day, you might very well join in if asked to back-stab THEM.

If your manager can't find anything wrong enough with your co-workers performance to have a performance review and cite issues serious enough to fire one over, then the fact is that they made a hiring mistake and they are the ones who are going to have to deal with it...

They are too scuddy to simply let her go...saying that they made a hiring mistake....and give her severance and follow the correct procedures when this does happen....and it DOES happen. I am the HR person where I work.....and see this all the time... They are simply trying to get out of solving their own hiring mistake....as they don't want her to be able to collect unemployment benefits.

Be aware that if all of you gang up on her, and they can't cite any "firable" reasons for getting rid of her/forcing her to quit....the unemployment people will review it...and she will get her benefits anyway. Companies are trying everywhere to do this....and the agencies are seeing this a thousand times a day..

It is unfair to the rest of you to ask you to gang up and make some person so miserable that they feel as though they need to quit....how would you like it if the same thing got done to you..???

Know this isn't what you want to hear, but sometimes we just have to stop and think about what is REALLY going on....and ask ourselves if we want to be the sort of person who will deliberately be cruel to someone else.

Consider also that you have the sort of managers who will turn on any of you at any given time.....if you go along with this....even though YOU feel your co-worker deserves it, then you encourage this....

Sounds like an awful situation to be in.....as they are trying to enlist your help to avoid simply laying this person off....and too scummy and low-down simply to acknowledge that they made a hiring error and deal with it in a classy fashion...

You might well be next.... I would be looking around for another job....these people sound like wolves to me...
Answered By: Ms. Minerva - 9/7/2009
It's his job to either fire her or give her an incentive to improve her work. How can he expect her to do her job if he can't do his?
Answered By: Dustin - 9/6/2009
Umm..why not just tell her your unhappy with her work?
Answered By: Sky - 9/6/2009
Situations like these tend to work themselves out. Since there is only two options, the easiest way to resolve this is by having her fired.

Obviously she is neglecting her work, insubordinate, and over all of no value to your line of work.

Let your bosses know that all it takes is the two magic words "You're Fired" and they never have to deal with her again no matter how kind hearted they are.
Answered By: Luthekar - 9/6/2009
Tell her to up her game start working. or they will cut her pay.

to make her quit:
ignore her
deny everything she asks for herself
spread rumors
continuously insult her
give her way to much useless things to do to stress her out
Answered By: Jessie - 9/6/2009
Part of being a manager is doing the unpleasant things that need to be done.
If he can't manage his people he has no business being in that job.
Answered By: CAB - 9/6/2009
Your boss just needs to do what has to be done. Upper management should do the task if your boss can't handle it.
Answered By: Ash - 9/6/2009
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