Latest update March 25th, 2025 7:08 AM
Mar 01, 2009 News
“Moral standards are on the decline like never before. Even the exhibition of common courtesy is now a rarity in some organizations…I believe that trying to reverse this phenomenon while it is an uphill task is not irreversible if we all work together.”
If ever there was a crusader for the cause of social development in Guyana it is Joyce Enid Sinclair.
While many have given up hope concerning the breakdown of moral standards and etiquette in Guyana, Joyce continues to not only advocate but to empower persons to reverse this trend.
An experienced, results-oriented Human Resource Specialist with extensive knowledge and proven skills in Management, and a trained educator, author and guidance counsellor, this consultant has combined the disciplines of education, training, counseling and management for the benefit of hundreds of Guyanese youths.
Over the last eighteen years she has conducted many successful workshops in Strategic Management, Organisation Development, Customer Care, Supervisory Management, Team Building, Communication, Telephone Courtesy, Report Writing in commercial banks, large department stores, airline companies, private sector organizations, large and small private businesses, ministries, in government agencies and departments, and four international organizations in Guyana.
Joyce has also made other significant types of interventions, all in a quest of a higher quality of service delivery.
She has co-sponsored with other consultants on workshops in Organisation Development, Human Resource Management, Stress Management and Strategic Management.
Joyce Sinclair was awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement (AA) by the Government of Guyana in 1983 for her contribution to Education and Public Service.
In 1989 she was the recipient of one of the 12 Outstanding Women’s Awards given by the Women’s Studies Unit of the University of Guyana.
In 1995 she was awarded a special commemorative plaque by the Caricom Secretariat for her “contribution to Caribbean integration through her laudable concern for the Welfare and Development of the Secretariat’s staff”.
In 2003, Ms Sinclair was selected as one of the YWCA’s Women of Distinction at an award ceremony at Le Meridien Pegasus.
Joyce is the holder of a Bachelors degree General – History, Latin and French from the University College of the West Indies, a Post graduate Certificate in Education from the University of Hull, East Yorkshire England, a Post graduate Certificate in Guidance and Counselling from the University of Western Ontario – Canada, and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh, USA.
Commenting on her passion for ensuring morals and etiquette, Joyce said it was spawned in her home. She recalled that even though her parents were not wealthy, they had a rich upbringing in the observing of courtesy rules and maxims in the home.
The second of seven siblings, Joyce remembers that they could not speak loudly in the home, her brothers could not be bare-backed or they could not chew or talk at the dining table, drink and eat at the same time.
“We came from a very humble background. My mother was a housewife and my father a shift attendant at the Office of the Guyana Sewage and Water Commissioners, who did odd jobs to subsidise his salary. My parents were not very educated but they were outstanding in the way that they raised us… Good manners became a natural part of everything we did.”
Another thing which amazes Joyce unto this day is the fact that her parents practiced a lot of what she now recognizes to be child psychology in the home even though they never had any formal training in that area.
Her training at home was reinforced at school which in those days placed emphasis on morals.
“I walk into schools now and students are shouting at the top of their voices; that could never happen back then, students stepped aside and stopped talking out of respect if a teacher was passing”.
Noting the almost complete breakdown in standards now, Joyce believes that the key to reversing this disturbing trend is to initiate classes in this regard from the level of the Teachers’ Training College which will in turn be passed on to students.
“It should also be part of the curriculum at the University of Guyana; they have laudable programmes there. We don’t only want to have biologists and doctors and lawyers, but we want polite ones.”
A former student of the Bishops’ High School, Joyce taught for many years at St Joseph’s and Bishops’ High before becoming Chief Training Officer in the Public Service Ministry.
She later became the Permanent Secretary with the same entity, a position she held for nine years.
Ms Sinclair recently held the position of Programme Manager, Human Resource Management at the Caricom Secretariat for four years and recently a contract appointment as Assistant Resident Representative (UNDP).
She was recalled by the Caricom Secretariat and worked for three years as a contract employee – Special Assistant Human Resources Management.
Joyce has served as Chairman of many Boards and Committees including National Equivalency Board and Ministry of Education Improvement of Standards Committee.
She has also been a member of the Council of the University of Guyana and has been the representative on the Board of Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD) and Latin American Centre for Development Administration (CLAD).
She has a long history in training in several areas of management in public organizations as she sought to improve standards of office conduct and instill in the minds of employees, basic management practices.
She pioneered the successful “Training by radio” series of the 1980s and was a regular contributor to ‘Viewpoint’ on Radio.
She is now in private Management and Training Consultant.
Joyce recently launched her third publication “High Quality Customer Care for Polishing Your Telephone Manners.”
In 1994 she published “Receptive Courtesies” and in 2006 ‘Courtesy Tips for Children & Young People.’
According to Joyce, she was prompted to do this latest publication since she was appalled at the lack of courtesy which exists in the service industry.
“I have so many horror stories I can relate of recent, where I was in total astonishment at how persons in the customer service industry behave.”
The lack of telephone etiquette which now obtains was another sore point for her.
She recalled one experience recently where she went into a hardware store and while she was being attended to by a salesgirl, the Manger summoned the staffer.
“The Manager shouted “Girl come nah” and she shouted back across the store, “I can’t come now I wid somebody.”
Aghast, Joyce said she returned the following day and encouraged Management not to repeat such mistakes.
In this regard she noted that in many instances poor quality of service is delivered due to ignorance.
She related another incident when she visited a government office and enquired from a staffer about the possibility of speaking with a senior functionary.
The young lady reported of the manager that “He aint deh”. When it was enquired of her if she knew when he would return, the rude retort was “He doan tell me when he going nor coming so I woan know that”.
Joyce’s most recent publication deals with the basic rules for high quality service and includes pieces on cell phone etiquette, customer loyalty and polishing telephone manners.
The book sets out the rules and guidelines clearly and methodically allowing anyone in the service industry to quickly grasp the basic concepts of protocols of service, the hospitality in service and more particularly, the rules of service.
Joyce is of the firm opinion that while her fight to return the social and moral values in society might be an uphill task, it is not impossible to achieve.
She, however, noted the need for there to be greater involvement at the level of parents, religious organizations and community groups.
She refuses to be daunted by the continuous decline of morals in society, noting that her strength and determination for continuing is garnered from the numerous persons whose lives she has touched.
“Ever so often someone would stop me on the street, the majority of whom I cannot even remember and thank me for the training that I have imparted in them in a number of areas…when they relate how it has improved their jobs and by extension their lives, it makes me feel good and gives me the motivation to continue.”
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