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attitude

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blueronart

Technical User
Apr 27, 2005
1
US
does anyone have some advice on dealing with peoples bad attitudes when working on a project in a team setting.
 
Attitude is a symptom/reaction to another factor - generally. The reason for the attitude could be any of:

Poorly run project, poor compensation, insufficient oversight, too much oversight, incomplete requirements, too much work, lack of skills, overly skilled for the job, redundant work requests, conflicting priorities, bad weather....

You cannot legislate a good attitude. You can talk with the affected players, understand their concerns as best you can and attempt to take corrective action. If you find that their feedback is non-constructive you can indicate that your interest is to improve the overall team morale and that anyone who cannot contribute at a sufficient level of performance will likely be viewed for replacement on the team.

Perhaps all they need is a kick in the ass....

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting
 
There is a one day course I once attended called "How to work with Difficult People". My boss sent me to it because I had to work with another PM who was, uh, difficult. It was pretty cheap, under $100.

Then, several years later when I was a Director with a staff of 8 and had a Software Engineer who was a pain, I sent her to the course thinking it might work in reverse. It helped a little. She came back and told me, "we studied your type in class, you're a type C" or whatever.

When dealing with a bad attitude, the best solution is "Root Cause Analysis" - determine what's causing the attitude and then, if determine if you can influence the cause.

You can't let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch. If you can't solve the problem, either remove that person from the team or request that they be reassigned and be prepared to back up your decision or request with your analysis.

-------------------------
The trouble with doing something right the first time is that noboby appreciates how difficult it was.
- Steven Wright
 
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