How Can HR Resolve Team Conflicts When a Coordinator Shows Favoritism?

Hi,

Recently, I have faced a problem where two employees in the same project team have become upset with each other. This is because the coordinator/team leader did not guide one of the team members appropriately.

We are in the web development business, and the coordinator of the team did not give instructions regarding the guy who works under her. This has happened several times, and now this guy has decided not to work under this coordinator and instead coordinate his own work. As an HR professional, I have inquired with both parties and identified the issue mentioned above.

This situation arose because the coordinator has given more preference to the other guy working under her (only two guys work under this girl).

I have warned the coordinator and asked her to treat everyone in the team similarly. She has promised not to have any issue with this. Unfortunately, the guy affected was not happy and expressed his desire not to continue working with the coordinator. I have asked him to give it another chance, but he did not provide a positive reply.

Please advise on how to handle such issues and why they arise. Also, how can we prevent cases like the one described above?

Regards,
Fiyaz

Dear Fiyaz,
These kind of issues arises because of the favouritism usually. In this kind of a scenario , initially you should sit with all the three individuals separately and listen to their version of the incident. Once this has been done then you would have a better clarity. After that this coordinator should be given an initial warning and her behaviour should be monitored for 3 months, if there is no visible change then she should be strictly made to understand that if she doesn't correct herself then she may land into trouble. A joint meeting between this lady and the guy can also be conducted to sort out their grievance across the table. Needless to add that this meeting should be facilitated by the HR rep

Hi Kunjal,

Yes, I have a joint meeting between this lady and the guy. The guy has presented all the issues he has faced and blamed the coordinator. At that point, the coordinator apologized, and she promised me that in the future she would take care of it. However, this guy is not giving another chance to the coordinator to work with him since he has given chances to the coordinator himself. So, that is the big issue. :(

Fiyaz