dev team member needs to be removed

I would imagine the Scrum Master (SM) to be a Servant Leader, having no authority over the Dev Team.

Is the SM managing people or something else?

Perhaps not the answer you were looking for and one can define "management" in differing ways.

Let's also hear from others...

It is becoming less common these days for Scrum Masters to be line managers with hiring & firing authority. I think that's a good thing because it avoids conflicts of interest like this.

I recently read Esther Derby using an expression like "coaching someone off the team". Since a Scrum Master is a team coach, that might be one way forward, though I admit it sounds a bit cynical.

Upon reaching the conclusion that the team member must go, I believe the Scrum Master should not be left to face this alone. It seems the proper place for Scrum Master, as servant/master, to discuss with the Product Owner and Development Team (away from the individual) the issues that are becoming problems and also discuss with the individual (away from the team) what's going well, what needs to be improved, and how to approach that improvement. The Scrum Master may also assist in fostering that improvement, through moderating discussions between the member and the team.
As the conclusion emerges, the Scrum Master would then discuss the situation with his/her own supervisor, as the reasons for removal may involve the team member's job performance. The actual removal should be handled by those with authority over the team member's job and task assignments.

I agree with John and to add up on his argument:
When a Scrum Master takes on the responsibility and remove the member from the team it will somehow affect the team dynamic. Let’s say if this kind of problem occurs again, the team will automatically look at the Scrum Master for guidance. In this case I believe the Scrum Master should act as a mediator between the team members and/or supervisors.

With that being said, whose duty is it to remove a defective team member? May be we should look to the person who in an official capacity, hired him and inject him into the team?

The Scrum Guide clearly didn't put the Scrum Master in charge of hiring and firing, neither is Product Owner. We have to think of the organization. So the issue if unresolved within the team, should be escalated to the Management. This is my view in the light of Scrum  "Roles" .

The SM should coach the organisation as well as the team. By extension it is the organisation’s responsibility to support the SM in removing impediments. I don’t your circumstances but if this is a 100% ‘they need to go’ moment, then it is the organisation’s responsibility- not the SM.

Before this though, the SM should facilitate and try to improve the situation with the team member to bring them back in line to be a functioning member of the team. Leaving a team member to fester is never good...

I agree that scrum master is a servant leader and that he/she has no authority over the development team.

@john is that coming from you or coming from the development team? You need to understand why that developer is causing problem, what are the problems being raised, were these problems raised by the development team? what were the action plans to mitigate the problem? Did you ask the development team on they can help that developer?

@olugbenga i think that belongs to the upper management. And that upper management will need to have an idea as to what happened, what were the things that the team did before going on that process.

Hello,

to me, this issue seems pretty clear. The development team should deal with it, as it is self-organised. Should it however be left alone dealing with this situation. Of course not, and that's when the Scrum Master comes in for assistance in it's role of dealing with impediments.

At this stage, the situation is still open, and the team still has a chance to resolve the issue and get evryone to comply to scrum values and keep the team in operating order without alerting the outside world, like a nicely self-organised team would.

Should it remain impossible to resolve the conflict, the decision still belongs to the development team. The Scrum Master will support it and liaise with any external authority for contractual and procedure issues. Eventually, support de decision by upper management.

At least, this is how I see it

Scrum master agile coach should not have authority to remove dev team members as this will change the active dynamics and openness.

However he or she should have key input to the decision making as sometimes one bad agile attitude can destroy the whole dev team and others too as they all talk in my humble opinion.

If you have a trained and credentialed coach in your organization (not an Agile "coach") ask them to have a chat(s) with the individual. See if there is something that the individual needs that is not being met by the team. Humanize them.

But if all ends fail, I treat my client like it's my money on the line. If an individual isn't providing value to the team, I would ask a manager to reassign them. I wouldn't wait for a team decision on this. Morale is important.