The best remedy is, interact and establish communication with such type of worker. Try to know the root causes and then help her/him to solve the issues. Counseling may work better than punishing.

Dr. Asmat Ali is absolutely right that miscommunication is the root cause of all negativity. Added to this is the groupism that follows from prolonged bias in communication.

I find that constant encouragement and motivation of every positive act done and rewarding even in small measures regularly can reduce negativity.

I agree with Asmat and Sadagopan that miscommunication is the root cause of all negativity.

Thank you all for your responses, and sorry that I have been late in responding (end of term for me).

There is consensus about miscommunication - but is that miscommunication between management and the negative employee, or between the employee and his/er peers?

Do you think that other variables such as work environment, personality traits, or other disposition toward negativity might have a role to play in worker negativity? What form would communication between the worker and management take (e.g. warning, punishment, etc?).

Thank you for your consideration as it is an actual situation that is occurring at this time.

Negativity is a complex function of :

1. Mistrusting Leadership

2. Miscommunication

3. Events

4.Irritating procedures and processes and

5. Declining profits.

Solution: Remove the irritants and improve communication.

One of the causes of negative behaviour of staff at a work place can be attributed to lack international communication strategy (plan) or poor communication. This is the same as poor organizational management because communication is a vital tool for management. Internal organizational communication involves total respect for staff. It employs a democratic approach, that is, both bottom-up and top-down at the same time. It should be noted bad behaviour of staff in an organization is a feedback using body language. A prudent management or the public relations department or desk of an disorganization would easily detect this and address it in time. An organization should always provide a forum for the staff to express their grievances or support to the system. For example, meetings, assemblies, or suggestion boxes are useful. They are not pretending to be angry with management because they have genuine and practical concerns which need to be addressed meaningfully or respectfully by the management responsible. At the same time, it might be erroneous to describe such tendencies as bad behaviour by the workers. For example, how asking for fair terms and conditions of service be called bad behaviour of staff?

@ Wilson Truman Okaka:

Thank you for your comments. It seems such a logical argument: improve communication, displace/remove negativity. In the situation that I am observing at present a school is trying to establish a new program and has two faculty members who would be responsible for creating the program, plus a part time person who was soon to be made full time. The person heading the start-up program has a Master Degree, and has been with the school for 3 years. The other person responsible for setting up the program is in the final stages of a PhD and has been at the school for 6 months. The part-time person has a Bachelor Degree and cannot teach, but assists in the lab and clinicals. The Master degreed faculty member was highly threatened by the PhD new comer and created all sorts of problems for her, which just this week led to the PhD candidate's resignation. That was immediately followed by the part-timer's resignation - and now there is only the negative Master degreed faculty member left. Just last week the school received accreditation for the new nursing program, but now it is in jeopardy. The PhD candidate had reached out to the administration for help, but nothing was done to address the problem. All (or) most of these posts suggest effective communication as a mean to address negativity in the workplace, which can be extremely costly, as shown in this real life situation. But is there something deeper here, such as poor organizational culture that allows a climate of negativity?

@ Sadagopan Parthasarathy :

I mentally checked off your list as I recounted the irritating/negative situation to Wilson (above). You are exactly right!

Negativity can well be handled by having open communication to concern person, transparent decisions, collective and participative decisions in all activities

@ Shibu

I agree with you, Shibu, that this is affective at the macro/organizational level; however, how would yu deal with it at the micro/individual level when it is one highly productive individual whose negativity is causing others to be less productive and demoralized?

How to Deal with Negativity in the Workplace?

Create a positive, productive work environment by preventing bad attitudes and negative situations from disrupting your team's performance!... This webinar might help.

"Did you know that just one bad attitude can affect an entire organization? Once negativity enters the workplace, it can cost your company plenty — in lowered morale, lost opportunities and decreased productivity. Do you know how to handle negative situations correctly when they arise? Combating negative attitudes before they spread will help you avoid sticky situations and put an end to problem performers and unacceptable behavior..."

http://www.pryor.com/site/webinar-audio/how-to-deal-with-negativity-in-the-workplace?utm_source=prospect&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=831867

Apart from the very interesting views of the colleagues, maybe the negativity of this highly productive worker is a reason to press his boss to terminate him.

A clever boss has to be flexible and estimate the situation based on the advantage of the enterprise and not on personal evaluations.

Honesty and rules for all involved persons, as well as distinct duties and equal opportunities for all workers must characterize the enterprise. If everybody is satisfied with a clear situation, there is no reason to be negative. Otherwise, something else is wrong.

A positive, optimistic approach can brighten any sour day. But all that optimism aside. Sometime people need to see the effects of their negative behavior through the eyes of a strong and respected leader who has the power to demote despite a highly productive worker. These people find working with out the aid of others pretty miserable too.

If you have a highly productive worker (in sales) whose negative behavior is affecting the morale of other workers, what do you do?

Following measures can be considered:

Hey, can you help attachments .

Thank you, Ramezanali - that was a pretty good article :)

I think that the election of workplace and company is very important when it is possible. Thank you, Ruth Maria for your Question.

• Provide appropriate rewards and recognition so people feel their contribution is valued.
• Provide appropriate leadership and a strategic framework, including mission, vision, values, and goals.
• Help people feel like members of the in-crowd.
• Do not create “rules” for all employees, when just a few people are violating the norms.
• Treat people as adults with fairness and consistency.
• Make opportunities available for people to express their opinion about workplace policies and procedures