Home > News > October 2005 > 06-Oct-2005

98% of workers deal with difficult people says survey

98% of managers come into contact with difficult work colleagues on a regular basis according to a new survey commissioned by PTP Training & Marketing.

Half the sample - which was made up of more than 250 senior professionals - said they encountered difficult people on a daily basis and just under one in ten claimed this was an hourly occurrence. However, only 15% of managers said they confronted the member of staff who was being difficult.

The survey found that the person most likely to be labelled ‘difficult’ was male, aged between 35 and 45 and working at a mid management level. In addition, 55% of respondents said they thought men were more likely to be difficult compared to 45% who believed women were.

36% of the sample believed the 35-45 age group were the worst culprits, 29% said the 45-55 year olds were the most difficult and 26% believed this tag belonged to the 25-35 age group. Only the under 25s and over 55s largely escaped the ‘difficult’ description.

According to the survey, those working at both mid management and mid admin levels were the most likely to present difficult behaviour compared to those working in a senior capacity. A quarter of respondents considered the most difficult people were to be found at mid management level compared to 16% who found managers at a senior level the most difficult.

Similarly 19% thought mid level administrators the most difficult compared to 12% who considered senior level administrators should be labelled most difficult. Junior managers also scored highly in the “difficult” ranks earning 21% of the vote while junior admin workers and non-office/blue collar workers were seen as the least difficult people in a working environment.

While only 15% of senior professionals would confront the difficult people they meet, over half the sample (55%) claimed they would try to help the difficult person by discussing any problems. However, at the other end of the scale 30% said they did nothing constructive and said they resort to “putting up with or ignoring” the difficult people in the office.

When asked why they think people are difficult at work the three most popular explanations were that “they are not team players”, “they are insecure and lack confidence in their own abilities” and “they are stressed and under a lot of pressure”. Other responses included “dissatisfaction with work and status and feeling under-valued”, “no people or communication skills” and “too much self importance”.

PTP managing director Marc Holland said managers must possess the necessary people skills to deal effectively with difficult people who can be a considerable barrier to office harmony, motivation and performance.

He commented: "It is important to be able to identify difficult personality types and be able to respond to them in a constructive way. A well-trained manager should be able to spot which personality types are likely to clash and can use their skills to diffuse situations, which could get out of hand and cause bad feeling and problems among staff.

"Good people skills are a vital management tool and can clearly help managers deal with specific issues associated with difficult people such as anger, upset and unresponsiveness."

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