Rodney, one of your direct reports, has been causing trouble since coming to your department. He starts rumors about other members of the team and tries to isolate certain people, leaving them out of important discussions and team events. You talk to Rodney's former manager and find out he behaved the same way there, despite the manager's repeated efforts over several months to solve the problem. What course of action will youmost likelyhave to take?

• Remind yourself of the importance of delegating as a managerial skill and let the affected employees solve the conflict in their own way.
• While there may be little hope of improving the relationship, resolve to fix the situation, no matter how long it takes.
• Give Rodney a deadline for improving his behavior and dismiss him if he doesn't change.
• Use any reasonable means you can to force Rodney to change the way he behaves.