How Can I Encourage Professionalism Without Alienating My Team?

Hello, I am an HR professional in a small IT firm. It's been 10 months working here. My employees have started showing hatred towards me because every time I ask them to be disciplined and adhere to work ethics. I have been struggling for a long time to make them behave professionally. Instead of obeying, they have formed a collective group and have fun whenever an announcement is made or a mail is sent.

What should be done?

Bringing about behavioral change is a challenging task. One way could be to organize training programs. You can take the help of external trainers and brief them on this concern. Ask if they can design some group exercises to drive home the point of ethics and maintaining a professional work atmosphere. Speak to top management as well and ask for feedback. They may be able to guide you, perhaps to change your style of communication with the team.

Enforcing discipline is a difficult job. One has to be tactful and careful in words. One must choose the issues to be enforced and those to be ignored. Play a balanced role. There is no point in being a school teacher. Try to involve the departmental heads in this initiative. Have an in-house exercise to identify problem areas and then make it a group task involving HODs, senior workers, and staff. Finally, do not get disheartened by this response and never react angrily when such adverse comments are made.

I fully agree with the views expressed earlier in this thread that enforcing discipline or bringing about change is not an easy task. I believe that the days have passed where you could impose discipline on employees only by penalizing them, especially in a sector like Information Technology where companies follow good HR practices to motivate their employees.

- Have a one-on-one meeting with the employee who is opposing the company policy or not working in a disciplined way. Try to convince them, and I am confident you will succeed.
- If they still do not become disciplined or fail to follow work ethics, penalize them. However, do not forget to counsel them that the penalty will only be a loss to them, and as part of the organization, they must adhere to the rules and regulations.
- If there is still no improvement, unfortunately, the only option left is to terminate their services.

Conclusion

BUT I BELIEVE YOUR PROBLEM WILL BE RESOLVED WITH THE FIRST TWO STEPS MENTIONED ABOVE.

All the best.

Regards, Shreyas Dave Muscat Sultanate of Oman