Dear Ra'ed,

It is better to change ourselves than trying to change others. Up to a stage we can set rules. Dictate the rules and observe if they are followed by others. To have a true interaction with others at work, not only to make orders to be obeyed, I would recommend a group therapy, but not with the objective to reach each individual alone. The group has to be analyzed as a social unit, with its rules and unique identity. A group is not a sum of its members. They will react differently when in group. There is not much sense to call a person indivually to treat a problem which is observed in a group.

Dear Ra'ed,

It is better to change ourselves than trying to change others. Up to a stage we can set rules. Dictate the rules and observe if they are followed by others. To have a true interaction with others at work, not only to make orders to be obeyed, I would recommend a group therapy, but not with the objective to reach each individual alone. The group has to be analyzed as a social unit, with its rules and unique identity. A group is not a sum of its members. They will react differently when in group. There is not much sense to call a person indivually to treat a problem which is observed in a group.

Dear @Ra'ed, motivation to change is the key issue! Motivating Employees to Change Behavior is good article about it.

The case study -Company uses technology to change employee behaviour is attached also.

http://ijmsbr.com/MotivatingBehavior.pdf

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-managing/human-resources/company-uses-technology-to-change-employee-behaviour/article18816761/

Dear Ra`d. Changing the behaviours of most people is easy, while changing the behaviours of some people is not an easy task.

There are many ways for changing the behaviour of stubborn or hard people to deal with. Incentives is the best way in this concern.

 It could be higher wages, a lavish trip or even a thanks letter.  Employee incentives are designed to highlight those individuals, to let them know they're special, and to motivate them to keep up the good work.

Why we should change employees’ behaviors. If an employee works in a firm, and the firm has some laws that every employee should follow, then you should make 2,3 remarks about his behavior and then he must go home.

Thus you are avoiding the not so good issue  "Changing other employees’ behaviors", which clearly have negative connotations.

Dear Costas, what if he/she does not follow the rules after the suggested remarks? what's your suggestions?

Esteemed friends:

Forbes magazine recommends 9 ways to deal with difficult employees. It is a step-by-step procedure contributed by Erika Andersen in the Forbes magazine (kindly read link also). 

 I welcome views of eminent people like Prof. Mahfuz and others on the suggestions given by Erika Andersen in Forbes magazine!!! Thank you..

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/11/21/9-ways-to-deal-with-difficult-employees/

Dear Ra'ed,

I think behaviors depends on people's mentality. We should talk about the ability of adaptation to work within a certain system. It's not an organization's duty to educate people how to behave. The organization duty is to hire people who fits the job, and one of the main terms is to have the ability of adaptation within the group, follow the system and work within the organization's strategy.

Dear Ra'ed,

If you exhaust all  that Dear Sundarapandian lists, and you made the suggested  remarks then the employee must go. This will educate the other workers! If you work in an industry you do not go there to tell the owner how to organize his industry, as far as he has "human conditions" in his industry. Only for these matters the employees can struggle.

Are individuals difficult or is it the combination of different personality profiles that socially interact that makes people difficult?

Psychologists claim that not all people can efficiently work together because of incompatibilities in personality profiles. Some people might permanently exaggerate in critical judgment perceived by others as signs of intelligence, stupidity, competence or incompetence, simply depending on mental states or motivations of senders and receivers. Some people might have great difficulty handling critical remarks from colleagues having other education certificates, whereas others do not support authority or social hierarchy. Thus critical remarks formulated by personality types A, B, C or D addressed to personality types A, B, C or D might be accepted or rejected depending on which personality types are interacting, or not?

From organizational theorists point of view, coaching might be your answer. You also need to address the root cause of resistance to change.

Thank you all so much for your valuable contributions.

I absolutely agree with you: changing the behaviour of an individual employee or even an entire organization is not an easy task. But the good news is, it is doable.

There are a few ingredients that are necessary to cope with the task:

• awareness: the employee or organization needs to understand the characteristics of the his/their "traditional" behaviour and its advantages and draw-backs in the situational context
• enlightenment: they need to learn about potential alternative behaviour
• enable: they need to learn how to do it and practice - eventually first in laboratory environment e.g. workshop or training, then in real life
• motivate: they need to see and feel the difference, get feed-back and appreciation for their efforts and each step forward
• communicate: do not stop to reiterate the benefits of the desired behaviour and gains achieved through first achievements until it is deeply absorbed by everybody involved
• integrate: involve the persons concerned, listen to their view, give them an active role, select a few early adopters and make them missionaries
• leadership: as a leader you MUST be the role model !!! Demonstrate the desired behaviour as often as possible, show that it does not cost more effort than the not so desirable alternatives, that it might even be fun doing it and that it can bring about a  feeling of success
• reward and appreciate: show that doing it the right way brings a sense of achievement
• be consequent: also be clear about consequences of non-compliance, if necessary. Make it transparent to the concerned person(s) what the negative effects of their non-compliance are, give a second chance and be clear about the consequences of continued non-compliance
• group dynamics: consider using contests, social media features like networking around this specific topic with discussions, rating of contributions, ranking, etc.

Thank you Elisabeth, nice guidelines.

A good starting point is to answer the question, “What does excellence in the new behaviour look like?”. Clearly demonstrating key indicators tells employees where to aim. Motivation is one of the ways used to change other employees’ behaviours.