In this case, you may have to bring things down to his level. While you shouldn't confront him with a violent or confrontive attitude outright, you should approach the employee about it, and if he gets out of line, then you unleash the same attitude that he is giving you. Generally, people who have negative and confrontational attitudes in the work place will only respond to authority when that figure of authority asserts a sort of dominance. If you show this person that you aren't intimidated by his unacceptable behavior, he may back down. Of course, you can always fire this worker, but if he's already got a bad attitude in the workplace, this can lead to an even more hostile confrontation. If this employee is productive, then it might be worthwhile to keep him around, BUT you shouldn't allow his behavior to continue. When I worked for retail, I worked with a fellow employee who was always irrate, and his attitude led to him not caring about the job. Often times, I had to do everything myself because this worker was just too lazy to do anything, and when someone would confront him about it, he would become even more confrontational. Somehow, he managed to keep this job for about 2 years, and for those 2 years I had to deal with the workload that he didn't bother to do by myself. Considering I was working in the warehouse for an appliance company, that was alot of heavy work. So in effect, by keeping an employee like this around, you may be demoralizing and increasing the workload of your other, more productive employees. If this employee is loafing about, with this bad attitude toward management and co-workers, then he is not worth keeping around. It is possible to let someone go based on workplace attitude, though it isn't always encouraged, and as I said earlier may lead to an even worse tirade. The best thing to do would be to call a sort of meeting where you can discuss his attitude, and if he is still showing signs of this negative behavior, then do not hesitate to let him go.

Bad attitudes in the workplace are never pleasant to deal with. I am unclear as to your relationship to said employee, so I will assume you are above him in the ranks for the purpose of this answer. Blatant lack of respect is insubordination and that is enough to give him the pink slip. But to do so in haste could lead to bigger problems for you and your company. Perhaps he is having personal problems that impact his work attitude. Maybe he feels underappreciated. Who knows. Set up some one on one time with him to find out what might be the cause of his bad attitude. Be sincere and ask what he feels would help improve the ill feelings he is acting out with his bad attitude. Let him know that you can't help make the workplace pleasant for him or anybody else as long as there is a blatant lack of respect. If he is having personal problems, help him find a better means to deal with them. Let him know firmly that you care, but that personal issues cannot be brought to work. Document, document, document. Write down the details, time, date, etc., you had this discussion with him (and note any bad attitude behaviour too). If you have to let him go, he can't say you didn't try to work with him (and if he sues, that will be important to your company and they will more than appreciate your attention looking out for their best interest). Good luck!

I guess first I'd ask him what annoyed him so much about authority. Then I would try to see why he felt like that. Then I would nicely explain how if he changed his attitude, that at least he would give off a good impression, which would make him more successful with anything, if he could just at least look positive, instead of having a bad negative attitude about authority and such.

Talk to your employee privately after work. Simply ask your employee if he or she is having some problems either at work, or personally and that you want your employees to work as a team and that you're there for him or her provided they need a non-judgmental ear to listen to. If he or she is being insubordinate to you or to your fellow employees, then you may have no other choice, but to fire him or her. Candidly, a bad attitude does not help boost employee morale and one bad apple can ruin the rest of the bunch. Better off getting to the heart of the matter and in a nice, professional tone and manner tell them that their attitude must change, or you'll have no other choice, but to fire him or her. Sometimes you have to be forthright, and candid with people of this nature. Good luck with your situation!

I work as a consultant for team building inside companies via the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator so I apologize if this is formal or long winded. First of all you need to isolate the different sections of the issue. Phase one will be to determine if there is a specific situation or aspect of the job that makes him exude this bad attitude. If there is then you can simply keep him away from that aspect of the job and put him on other tasks. A good example of this is if you have an employ that is always thinking big thoughts, and looking at the big picture...and you have him crunching out figures and data on the profits generated last month. If there is no particular part of the job leading to this issue then you must confront him about it. Beforehand try to isolate in which form he will take the information the best. The absolute key to this talk is not only to tell him what is wrong. You must do two other things. You must ask him if something is bothering him and give him the opportunity to come forward with an issue on his own. You must also give him a few ideas as to how he can correct the his attitude. It helps in this conversation to let him know that you value the work he does as it will make him feel appreciated. If all else fails...fire him. At that point you really hvae no option. A worker with a bad attitude can drastically effect productivity in the workplace. "Good attitudes can be contagious...but bad attitudes are down right infectious."