Article Analysis Essay on Dealing with Annoying Co-Workers

Introduction

Most employees have experienced an annoying worker at some moment in their careers. The overall work performance and mood of a worker can be negatively impacted by the thought of dealing with annoying workers each day. Despite being difficult to change the behaviors or personality of an annoying worker, one can change how they communicate with the worker to reduce the negative effect of the relationship. This essay evaluates the article "How to deal with annoying co-workers" and explains my experience with an annoying co-worker, how I managed the situation and how I might manage a similar instance in the future.

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The article "How to deal with annoying co-workers" was intriguing since it describes the various forms of annoying workmates and gives insight on how to coexist with them by managing relate conflicts (Green, 2011). These types include "the interrupter, the know-it-all, the slacker, the grump, the speakerphone lover and the blabbermouth (Green, 2011)." The article was able to inform that annoying coworkers are a plague in the workplace since they prevent others from doing their tasks efficiently, and thereby costing the organization due to the lost productivity. It can be concluded that annoying co-workers are the biggest distractions in the workplace. Despite this growing challenge, the article gives real strategies that one can employ to deal with annoying co-workers.

In my workplace, I have encountered a slacker. In the situation we worked on projects as a team, he would always be late delivering the assigned tasks. He would be observed spending time on Facebook and was not able to meet the set deadlines and this affected group goals (Kreps, 2011). On seeing that it affected my job and my ability to achieve my goals, I abruptly started talking to him. I mentioned that he could go home if he cannot put his weight. Since I do not like people who are not serious in their work, I was very emotional, and I had to report the case to the supervisor.

The type of communication that was involved in this type of scenario is interpersonal communication since it involved two individual each having their unique meanings and intrapersonal processes (Kreps, 2011). However, communication in this instance was not successful. In this case, I presumed to know the causes of his slacking behavior. Additionally, I chose confrontation instead of conversation. Instead ambushed him instead of approaching the communication process with curiosity and compassion. Having relational communication skills such as active listening is important. I did not take time to listen to what might be the issue, and this led to a breakdown in communication.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if presented with such a situation in the future, I will choose to deal with the situation differently. I will improve my communication skills since it is a fundamental building blocks for the development of effective and cooperative workplaces (Kreps, 2011). I had already concluded that the annoying co-worker was on the wrong. In the future, I will keep an open mind since there is a possibility for unseen reasons for slacking. I will also address the challenge with the co-worker before going to the senior management (O'Hara, 2014). This will be in line with the guidelines for the management of a group conflict which include maintaining an open mind, ensuring fair fighting in the group and encouraging group members to compromise when necessary (McNamara, n.d).

References

Green, A. (2011). How to Deal With Annoying Co-Workers. Retrieved from https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/06/06/how-to-deal-with-annoying-co-workers

Kreps, G. (2011). Communication in organizations. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

McNamara, C. How to Manage Group Conflict. Retrieved from https://managementhelp.org/groups/group-conflict.htm

O'Hara, C. (2014). How to Deal with a Slacker Coworker. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/05/how-to-deal-with-a-slacker-coworker