The skills of interviewing are also needed because several different people will need to be
interviewed; witnesses, the alleged offender, and any one else the manager believes may
be able to throw light on the events being investigated. Questioning techniques to obtain
information, listening skills to hear the information and analytical skills to make sense of
all the different information obtained in order to achieve a clear picture of what actually
happened. Remember when asking questions of those who were present at the event, that
each individual will see the event through their own eyes and will make their own
individual interpretation of the event. The manager's job is to get behind these
interpretations to see the actual events rather than what each individual thinks happened.
At the end of the investigation the manager needs to decide what to do next. There are
several alternatives open to the manager only one of which is to convene a disciplinary
interview. The manager could choose to do nothing, or set up training processes or
anything else that the manager believes will improve the situation. The choice is in the
hands of the managers. The only requirement is that the manager needs to understand why
the decision was made, how it will improve the situation more than any other alternative
and if necessary be capable of justifying the decision to a higher level manager.
Preparing the Interview
It is the manager's responsibility to organise the interview. First, consider the following
general points:
LOCATION: Where will the interview be held? The location should be free from interruption and should accommodate all of those who will be required to attend.
NOTIFICATION: Everyone who is required to attend must be notified; this includes the individual concerned, their representative (if one is asked for), witnesses and another manager to take an accurate record. REPRESENTATION: Everyone has the right to representation at all levels and stages of discipline. The individual has the right to choose any person at all as their representative and management should accept and allow that choice to participate in the process. EXPECTATIONS: How the individual concerned is expected to respond? What strategies have been planned to deal with unfavourable responses? Remember the individual concerned is hardly likely to be behaving normally; this will be a very stressful occasion. The task of the manager is to reach a useful outcome and to do that the manager needs the individual to behave as naturally as possible. Try to make it as easy as possible for the individual to tell the truth.
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