Assignment:
Task:
You are a consultant in conflict management and have been hired by a family court. How would you use the concept of media richness to argue in favor of using closed-circuit television for cases with the court? What do you think are the disadvantages of using email mediation?
Managing Difficult Employees-Like Alex Rodriguez?
At work, we can be challenged by the task of dealing with difficult people-including, sometimes, our own employees. Managing difficult employees becomes an issue particularly when employment and incentive contracts become a subject of controversy.
Take the case of the New York Yankees. This season, their superstar Alex Rodriguez rejoined the team after his yearlong suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. Rodriguez made an unexpectedly strong comeback. As of June 14, he had met a number of key baseball milestones, most notably passing Willie Mays on the career home-run list after hitting his 666th.
This turn of events helped the Yankees on the field, but created a certain degree of consternation in the back office
Back in 2007, well before A-Rod's reputation was tarnished by steroids revelations, he signed a $30 million "milestone home run" marketing agreement with the Yankees that included a $6 million bonus for tying Mays's record, the first in a series of escalating milestones.
The bonus options were "dreamed up in what feels like a different lifetime," writes David Waldstein in the New York Times. 2007 was a stellar season for Rodriguez, and some believed he could become baseball's new career home-run king.
Because the sport does not allow performance bonuses, A-Rod's were framed as a marketing deal. The Yankees had expected to market the milestone homers as historic events by selling T-shirts, videos, and other paraphernalia.
Those plans collapsed in 2009 when Rodriguez admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.
These days, "A-Rod is pretty unmarketable" as a result of the scandal, sports marketing expert Bob Dorfman told the Times.
Consequently, this January, the Yankees began putting together a legal case to block Rodriguez from collecting any of the bonuses due to the likely negative financial repercussions of the doping scandal, according to Andrew Marchand of ESPN.com. In February, the Yankees alerted Rodriguez and his lawyer of their intention to withhold the funds. The two sides had a strong motivation to negotiate a settlement in order to avoid an arbitration hearing that could become an embarrassment, as Rodriguez's contentious 2013 hearing to appeal his suspension had been.
In May, Wallace Matthews reported for ESPN.com that Rodriguez, having no stomach for another public battle, planned to ask the Major League Baseball Players Association to file an appeal on his behalf against the Yankees for failing to pay the bonuses. The case seemed likely to wind up in arbitration, a process that could take months to unfold.
In the workplace, we often find ourselves dealing with difficult people-not just those with difficult personalities, but those whose actions and statements cause us significant trouble. When you are dealing with difficult coworkers and handling difficult employees, the Rodriguez story may offer some useful insights.
In particular, if you are wondering how to manage difficult employees, the Yankees' A-Rod dilemma reminds us of the importance of ensuring that employees don't have a reason to become disgruntled-and difficult-in the first place.