Friday, November 29, 2013

Conflicts in the team - Steps to deal with resentful peer


Conflict happens in all corners of the workplace. Disputes between employees are common and inevitable. The difficult decision is when to step in, says Joseph F. Byrnes, professor of management at Bentley College’s Graduate School in Waltham, Mass. “Give the warring parties a chance to resolve it on their own,” he says. “The time to take action is when things get out of hand, and the problems are affecting their work or disrupting other people’s work.”

 

Find out if the conflict is work-related and has a structural root, or whether it’s interpersonal and has no relationship to the job, Byrnes advises. An interpersonal conflict can happen on or off the job, whereas structural ones are inevitable in many organizations.

 

A Manager's approach should be in resolving the situation without offending or alienating either group. “Uppermost is not being seduced by the politics of one group over another,” says clinical psychologist William Knaus.

 

When politics get in the way, it’s time to step in cautiously. “You don’t want your boss to think that your division is riddled with divisive disputes,” Knaus says. “Your credibility is on the line if you can’t right the situation.”

 

Easing tensions between warring factions isn’t easy.

 

“A bad move on the manager’s part could create irreparable barriers, decrease productivity, as well as dampen morale,” Knaus says. “The situation must be carefully managed so that you’re not taking sides.”

 

A Manager's goal is to keep everyone focused on solving a problem and not be sidetracked by personal or political issues.

 

 

Following steps will help in resolving workplace conflict

 

  1. One can't begin to solve someone's problem until one understands them completely-  which means, understanding their motivations. Which is why, in fact, good people management can be a lot more like psychoanalysis than you'd think.

  1. Let people tell their story -  When people are deeply upset about something, they need to get their story out. This is a basic principle of mediation and one that’s important to remember. Allowing people to speak their minds can increase the level of conflict with which you must deal. You have to get through the conflict phase to find the solution.
  2. Bring a reality check to the table -  Often in a conflict, the parties are so focused on minutiae that they lose sight of the big picture and its implications. As the mediator, you need to bring people back to reality by wrenching their attention away from the grain of sand and having them focus on the whole beach. Doing so may help resolution arrive at a startling speed.
  3. Identify the true impediment -  In every conflict, ask yourself: What is the true motivating factor here? What is really keeping this person from agreeing to a solution?

  1. Meet with his peers and former managers.

  1. Have a conversation that tries to get to the heart of what his human/emotional problems are. Is he immature? Just generally unintelligent? Unhappy? Depressed? Insecure? Arrogant? Emotionally unintelligent? All of those are different diagnoses for the real cause of the problem and all of them have different prescriptions.

  1. Talk to him personally and privately, at length. Let him do most of the talking. Ask open questions. A good one is "How did that make you feel?" It uncovers a surprising amount of stuff. You would be shocked to learn how much better I got at managing human beings when I learned to ask people "How did that make you feel?"
  2. Form a hypothesis of the root causes of his issues. Pick a course of action based on what you think the core problem is.

  1. It may work. It may not. If it doesn't, that's too bad, but life is too short, and you're not paid to solve his problems, only the company's problems, so follow whatever advice you see elsewhere in this thread to get rid of him.

  1. Be sure to keep impeccable documentation.
  2. Avoid backing down as this boost in losing all credibility and authority with not only the problematic employee, but the rest of the team as well
  3. Don't consider him differently than the other team members. One of the biggest mistake is to consider him differently. This works particularly well with arrogant developers.
  4. When he makes you feel uncomfortable, angry, anxious, excited, remember that every thought you will have at that time will be biased by the emotion. It's better to wait for the emotion to disappear before analyzing and making decisions.

  1. When a conflict arises, try to take him in a face 2 face meeting. Don't do anything in front of the team.

  1. Listen to him actively, by asking many questions. Seek to understand him before trying to be understood.
  2. Ensure that decisions are made by the team with him included. His opinion should be as important as other team members opinion.
  3. When you are wrong, accept it. Sometimes, he will be right, like anybody.

  1. Be genuinely interested by him -This usually unlocks difficult people. He must understand that you are not a threat, but an ally.

 
 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Christmas - Etymology and the fact behind

 

Matthew, an inspired apostle, explicitly states that Bethlehem is in “the land of Judah” (Matthew 2:6; cf. Luke 2:4). Judah is the “land”; Jerusalem is a “city” (cf. Zechariah 8:3; Matthew 5:35); and so is Bethlehem (Luke 2:4). Note the precision of Matthew’s descriptions elsewhere in the same chapter. Twice he refers to the “land of Israel” (2:20-21), and then to the “city of Nazareth” (v. 23).

First, Bethlehem and Jerusalem are never confused in the Bible, as if the former were a mere “suburb” of the latter. The fact is, both “Bethlehem” and “Jerusalem” are mentioned in the same text (Matthew 2:1), with not the slightest hint that the two, in reality, were the same.
The birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ is the most important event in history, next to the day of His resurrection.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was the ‘firstborn of the new creation’ (Luke 1:35; Col 1:15) and ‘firstborn of the dead’ (Col 1:18; Rev 1:5). Likewise, we are born of the flesh, then born of the Spirit (John 3:6-7; 2 Cor 5:17), and will be raised from the dead (Rom 8:11). This is the miraculous gospel of salvation

Christmas is not the day on which Yeshua (Jesus) was born.

There is a difference of 400 years between the Old and New Testament times, which is referred as dark or Macbeth’s period. No prophet/ priest raised in these years.

It's theorized that, given the tumultuous religious/political climate during this time, historical record keeping dropped off altogether; this is what accounts for the credibility of the new-testament as the sole account of what went on.
Because of other phenomena, like the loss of the great library in Alexandria, what many people don't realize is that this "lost period," between what we call BC and AD (or, as contemporary historians like to say, BCE and CE) actually extends longer than the purported life of Christ. Non-biblical record keeping drops off at about 420BC and picks back up again around 69AD.

Arch angel Gabriel told Virgin Mary on December 24, 0005 BC eve that she will beget a son, whom she must name as Immanuel. She immediately obeyed and responded to him saying "Be it unto me according your word."
A baby takes around 40 weeks to develop and to come into the world.

 A calculation from December 24, 0005 BC to the Yeshua's (Jesus) birth reveals that his birthdate falls in the month of September, during the days of Rosh Hashanah festival.  For reference, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah

Many years later descended a king (Herod perhaps) born on 24-Dec eve made an order that his birthday fell on the same day (years differ) Gabriel prophesized virgin Mary about the birth of Christ as mentioned above, to be celebrated as Christmas.
This order was later followed officially by the Romans who did this to honour the man of God whom they crucified.

While multitudes around the world celebrate “Christmas”, whether they focus on Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) and/or the birth of Jesus Christ, all Christians know Jesus was not born on December 25th. This date was established by the Roman Catholic Church in approximately 360 AD, when they held a special mass to honour
Christ, while the pagan world celebrated Saturnalia, a feast honouring the birth of their sun god. This eventually became known as "Christ-Mass". Why would we willingly celebrate Christmas on December 25th, knowing its pagan origins? Does it attract those of the world to the true God when they confuse the birth of YHWH with the birth of the Roman sun god? Why not celebrate the birth of Christ on His true birthday? Is He pleased? That is the question.

You may be shocked to find out that 'Mass' actually means DEATH ~ quite the opposite of BIRTH! Christ-Mass is interpreted DEATH of CHRIST.

Proofs that Jesus was not born on 25-Dec:
Bethlehem is located well much above the sea level and the temperature is much colder in the month of December, unlike Mumbai. For reference, Please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem







 The scripture says that two kinds of people were awake when Jesus was born.

  1. Shepherds 
  2. Soldiers

Believe me; Shepherds were taking care of their sheep/ rams in open when Jesus was born and this cannot happen during December.

According to theologists, Jesus was born on September 29, 0004 BC during the days of Rosh Hashanah festival.  For reference, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah

He obeyed his parents, took well care of the family (not married of-course!) and worked as a carpenter till the age of 30 as per the scripture.

He was baptized by John the Baptist on Saturday, August 31 0026 AD, when his time begun.

He then roamed around doing good deeds, preaching the word of God, healing the sick, serving the needy, saving souls for the kingdom of God and performed other good deeds for about three and half-years.

Jesus was crucified on Thursday April, 6 0029 AD. He offered himself as a pleasing sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. 

Summary:

  • December 24, 5 BC – Arch-angel Gabriel told Virgin Mary that she will beget a son, whom she must name as Immanuel.
  • September 29, 4 BC during the festival days of Rosh Hashanah
  • Saturday, August 31 0026 AD – baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist
  • 1035 days - He roamed around doing good deeds.
  • Thursday, April 6 0029 AD – crucified for us on the cross at Mt. Golgotha.
  • Total days Jesus lived in the earth - 12294 days (~33 and 1/2 years)

Tuesday, July 02, 2013