I think changing other employees’ behaviours is not an easy task, what’s the best method to do such, and how to ensure they change it to the right way. Thank you for your valuable contributions.
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.
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`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.
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).
Listen. (The best managers get very attentive when someone’s not doing well. They know their best shot at improving the situation lies in having the clearest possible understanding of the situation – including knowing the tough employee’s point of view.)
Give clear, behavioral feedback. (Most managers will spend months, even years, complaining about poor employees… and not ever giving them actual feedback about what they need to be doing differently. )
Document. (Whenever you’re having significant problems with an employee, WRITE DOWN THE KEY POINTS. )
Be consistent. (Employees look to see what you do more than what you say.)
Set consequences if things don’t change. (If things still aren’t improving at this point, good managers get specific. They say some version of, “I still believe you can turn this around. Here’s what turning it around would look like. If I don’t see that behavior by x date, here’s what will happen” )
Work through the company’s processes.(Good managers hold out hope for improvement until the point when they actually decide to let the person go. AND they make sure they’ve dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s that will allow them to fire the person if it comes to that. )
Don’t poison the well. (No matter how difficult an employee may be, good managers don’t trash- talk to other employees. Just don't do it.)
Manage your self-talk.(Good managers take a fair witness stance, making sure that what they say to themselves about the situation is as accurate as possible. )
Be courageous. (Firing someone is the hardest thing a manager has to do. If it gets to that point, do it right.)
I welcome views of eminent people like Prof. Mahfuz and others on the suggestions given by Erika Andersen in Forbes magazine!!! Thank you..
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.
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?
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.
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.