Counterproductive behavior is also popularly known as high-school-like behavior and includes bullying, backstabbing, shouting, acting out, showing favoritism, forming cliques, rumor spreading, complaining, or not getting along with others.  As a manager, who has time for this nonsense?  However, like it or not, watching for this behavior and being able to quickly intervene can take far too much of a manager’s time. 

Counterproductive behavior may hurt the productivity of the whole work group.  When people observe bad behavior, they are wishing and hoping that someone will intervene. 

The manager’s role in managing counterproductive behavior is to notice the behavior, provide immediate feedback, and set appropriate limits, in order to extinguish the behavior as soon as possible.  Once the bad behavior is extinguished, there still might be work to do in order to address the impact of the behavior on the work group. 

Whether an issue is just brewing or has been allowed to continue for some time, the moment to act is now.  Ask the EAP for some suggestions about how to confront an employee and document the results.  Then, let HR know about your plan to confront a difficult situation.