When making work related decisions in their workplace, civil servants are often required to
find balance between public and private interests. On daily basis, they are exposed to
dealing with dissatisfied customers whose demands they reject in favour of public interest.
In management and decision-making, officials are more and more frequently witnessing
inappropriate behaviour of the customers and are vulnerable to pressure, intimidation and
threats.
This Master's thesis is aimed at public sector employees, who have to deal with difficult
clients in their workplace and therefore want to develop skills, required for appropriate
communication with different types of customers in demanding situations.
It is evident from the literature that dealing with difficult clients in the workplace is a
regularity; the findings of the conducted research primarily vary depending on the questions
of the researcher, the system of dealing with difficult clients which depends on the
communication skills of an individual employee, the methods of prevention and
management of conflict situations as well as on the consequences of psychological violence
in the workplace, which often develop into stress.
This Master's thesis, which passes from theoretical concepts to empirical part, presents the
potential factors of managing difficult customers in the work of public sector employees and
the consequences and actions that should be taken to reduce psychological stress at work
due to the misconduct of customers. The results of the research, which was carried out in
cooperation with the Slovenian public sector organizations and in which participated 137
officials, showed that good communication and conflict management skills have a positive
effect on the management of difficult customers. The fact that these employees are dealing
with the inappropriate behaviour of the customers in the workplace explains the factors of
verbal violence and stress in the workplace. On the basis of the research findings, the thesis
provides suggestions for improvement by both the researcher and the respondents (the
public sector employees).
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