But what happens if the person you are trying to manage is, by any objective measure, a jerk? What do you do then? Consultant Gini Graham Scott, author of A Survival Guide to Managing Employees from Hell (Amacom, $15), has some ideas.

To be sure, the case studies she uses frequently border on the cartoonish. For example, there is the bullying $200,000-a-year employee who rides a motorcycle to work and keeps pit bulls as pets or the assistant moved to the brink of tears by the slightest criticism. But the advice she offers is straight-forward and makes sense:

• Spend an inordinate amount of time interviewing before you hire someone. The best way to deal with a problem employeed is not hiring them in the first place.

•Meet with the employee at the first sign of trouble. Believing the problem may go away on its own is no way to deal with it. Invariably, it will get worse.

•"You'll find that being open and honest and straight-forward...is often the best policy. Doing so creates a good foundation of trust."

•Be painfully clear about what behavior you want to change.

•Keep "a detailed paper trail when an employee looks like trouble."

All this is good, and Scott makes one other point worth considering: "You may be thinking that you have problem employees, when the real problem is you. This may happen because you are repeating the same mistakes in hiring, or making difficult demands that no employee can truly satisfy.”

In other words, if the same problems occurring repeatedly, you may want to look in the mirror before you do anything else.

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