This is an interesting topic to discuss with an applicant. Here are a few questions you could ask: When two employees near you were going back and forth in a heated argument, did you take steps to break it up? Or were you more inclined to let them sort it out? If you were having a major argument with another employee, what was your main focus: to win the argument regardless of any bad feelings or to ensure a good working relationship was restored?
How often did you get into conflicts with your supervisors or with the boss? What was the nature of these conflicts? What was your approach to resolving them? With any of the above questions, if you get a short answer, ask him to explain his reasoning for acting in that way. Workplace upsets can sometimes have a very adverse affect on production.
Finding out how your prospective employee handled these in the past can provide you with some good insights into his future conduct.
