Bermudian managers build harmony in the workplace.

Management Consultant Jack Harris is giving a series of seminars on basic management techniques aimed at making the office a better place to work in the Chamber of Commerce.

Among subjects to be tackled at the morning seminars is dealing with bursts of anger at work, managing difficult staff and different disciplinary and training procedures open to the manager.

"The traditional answer to lack of harmony in the workplace is often dismissal,'' said Mr. Harris. "Important research has recently been revealed concerning the replacement of a trained employee.

"The cost of a bad hire ranges from a low of 1.4 percent of the person's annual salary, according to American Management Association, to ten times the annual salary as quoted in the California Strategic Human Resources Partnership.

Harmony in the workplace "Dismissal is now the most expensive option to deal with difficult employees.

It should be the very last option. The Building Harmony in the Workplace seminars will give the manager or potential manger numerous options to improve the performance of such employees.'' Robin Trimingham, the chamber's international services coordinator, has been working with Mr. Harris for several months now on the joint teaching project.

She said: "Anger is a reaction to a problem they do not know how to manage.'' She believes that managers can learn to handle difficult situations at the workplace, and believes the hands-on interactive seminars are a great way to do it. "Jack and I met last year when I attended one of his lunch sessions.

It was obvious he was very adept in the fields of development and training. So we got talking and got together to offer the course. At the chamber we are trying to raise the standard of existing and potential managers, and these kinds of courses help do exactly that.'' The seminars for "Building Harmony in the Workplace'' will be divided into four morning sections, with the first starting tomorrow.

"We are trying to raise the standard of potential and existing management,'' said Ms Trimingham.

Mr. Harris said: "With problems like temper there has to be a diagnosis for why the person is angry. People react in anger for one of these three reasons -- frustration, fear or hurt.

"The employee could be frustrated because I should have made a decision, or they could be fearful because they think they are going to fail, or hurt because I have said something that has hurt their feelings.

"Once you have diagnosed which of these things it is, then you can do something about it.'' But he warns the worst thing to do is to try to talk someone out of their anger right away.

"If I came along and hit you with a hammer on the knee, and you were angry, there would be no point in trying to talk you out of it. If on the other hand I said `I bet that hurts' you would react in a different way.

"So saying `I understand you are angry' can be a better way ahead.'' And, according to Mr. Harris, once you find out what is the matter, a solution can be found.

His main solutions are progressive discipline, in which the employee is given a time-frame in which to turn things around and performance improvement in which some kind of training is used to improve performance.

The groups of seminars costs $520 for members of the chamber and $600 for non members.