Once you enter the workforce and become a bread winner your responsibility shifts from personal to professional when it comes to how you behave and deal with people. There are also new rules you have to follow in order to perform within the guidelines of the law, and company policy. A business or company is not excluded from their requirement to function within the guidelines of the laws of the land either so don't ever be intimidated because of the size of a company. Let's focus on rules, company policy, and reprimands for in appropriate behavior. Rules are created so that the day to day relationships between employees and consumers will be healthy and productive, and the rules are often created by using some type of moral standards and business ethics. To make it simple, I would just relate the practice of execution to the Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". No exceptions! That sounds simple enough, but unfortunately it often turns out to be a little more complicated than that. Company policy comes into play when rules and laws are broken and relationships between employees or on the other hand employees and consumers are damaged. Then the question becomes, who is wrong or who is right? For this instance let's not focus on employee-consumer relationships because we all know what rule we follow here. If you are confused, let me clarify! The customer is always always right. That's why we will only focus on relationships between employees. The ideal situation and expectation of most companies is that the employee who has done something to wrong a co-worker will come forward, acknowledge the wrong doing, and accept a consequence. As I said, that's the ideal situation, but what happens when that does not happen?

The proper way to handle a situation when there is a dispute of any kind is to conduct an investigation. The manager usually does so by actually sitting down with both parties to listen to what transpired. Separate conversations among disputing parties might work best. Once both sides are heard, then the manager has to decide the outcome based on the facts. He often uses resources like video cameras or statements from witnesses to determine how he will proceed. This is a crucial stage for everyone involved because people have to actually tell the truth and not lie for their friends. If these employees have bonded and built up some relationships, then someone who is a minority or less successful in the relationship building area will probably not be represented in a good light. If your name is scandalized and slandered, you are still not out in the cold. You have options because of the chain of command. You can take your complaint to a higher level by contacting your managers boss. If the District Manager does not satisfy you, you can take your complaint to the Corporate Level. Once you have exhausted all of the reporting resources and reached the head or the chain, you can go even further. Your options are clear! It's either an organization like EEOC or an attorney to represent you in a lawsuit.

If you value and respect the company you work for, you must give them a chance to weed out corruption, if it exist. That's the only way to ensure that fair, professional, and tactful people are in leadership positions. If you are too hasty to move straight to the EEOC or an attorney, you will not be giving other leaders a chance to do their job, and corruption in the chain of command will remain a factor. The, someone who comes after you will suffer because of your irresponsibility to let things flow systematically. My point is: use company policy when disputes happen and learn from your mistakes.