Managing technical professionals: communication and interpersonal skills

IN previous articles, I have implied that communication and people skills are a "must have" for technology managers, and mentioned that hearing the following from managers is not uncommon: "It's not the technical work that's challenging, it's the people stuff." The "stuff" that is being referred to here are the typical "people behaviors" you see in your teams: "John is in a mood today, keep your distance from him"; "can someone tell Shirley that she speaks too loud in her cubicle and I can't focus on my work?"; "Matt talks about religion at work and it offends me because I'm an atheist, he needs to stop talking about religion in the work place"; "Thelma took all the credit for the work that I did, and now everyone thinks she came up with that idea;" How many of you managers, have come across complaints such as these at work, and what have you done about them? The answer must be something besides "nothing;" or "I don't have time to deal with this childish behavior;" or "I have work to do."