Wayne Rooney also played for England during the World Cup

Earlier this week Sir Alex Ferguson announced that Man United’s prize asset, Wayne Rooney, could be leaving the football team.

Rooney is Man United’s star player, he has scored numerous goals and brought great success to the team but he has also faced a difficult time over recent months including a slant in his football performance, allegations against his private life and there have been rumours about him falling out with the team manager.

Now, Sir Alex Ferguson, a very experienced club manager, faces the dilemma of whether to deal with Rooney or to let him go for the sake of the rest of the team.

Donna Ladkin, professor of leadership and ethics at the Cranfield School of Management, advises, ‘When people start to feel that they are more important that the organisation, it’s really important for the people managing them to take a broader view and think of the best interests of the whole organisation.’

Judi James, who runs workshops for businesses about leadership, said, ‘As a boss about to make a decision about this, you have to spend time planning your strategy first. You need to know what you want them to do, maybe less of this behaviour or more of that behaviour.’

Chartered business psychologist, Ben Williams, advises, ‘Avoid sending e-mails and speak to them in person about any problems. If they have been underperforming and you do not say anything, then you never can.’

He also added that when tackling a difficult situation, such as this, you should follow the ‘good news, good news, bad news’ formula as this gets the employee onside before the negative issue is bought into the open.

Judi James concludes, that if an employee is causing an organisation a lot of problems then it might be better to just get rid of them so that other employees, who are doing well and working hard, do not feel undervalued.

By Lauren King