EMPLOYEE DICIPLINE

Subtopics:
A. Definition
B. Importance of Discipline
C. Categories of Difficult Employees
D. Disciplinary Policies and Procedures
E. The Discipline Process
F. Approaches to Discipline

Introduction:
“Discipline is the force that prompts individuals or groups to observe rules,
regulations, standards and procedures deemed necessary for an organization.”
- Richard D. Calhoon
Any organisation, whether private or public has goals to be achieved. An
organization may have established goals such as increasing net assets of owners,
maximizing customer satisfaction, achieving institutional growth, improving market
share, achieving financial stability and so on. In order to achieve the organizational
goals proper employee discipline is essential. The existence of a good organization
becomes necessary for all the stakeholders such as owners, managers, workers,
suppliers, customers, investors and even the Government. Hence it becomes
necessary that all the employees (managers and non-managers) in an organization
adhere to the rules about work behaviour.

The basic purpose of discipline is to encourage employees to behave sensibly at

work, where "sensible behaviour" is defined as adhering to rules (Dessler, 1984).
Rules refer to official instructions in respect of what employees must and are allowed
to do and what employees are not allowed to do. For instances, “to start working at
8.00 a.m.” is an official instruction the employees must follow and “not to smoke
within the factory” is an official instruction that employees are not allowed to do.

In general rules are made to protect the organizations from indiscipline behaviour
of employees.

Discussion:
A. Definition of Employee Discipline

Discipline means behaving in a right and desired manner. It means

regulations or conditions imposed on employees by management in order to
correct or prevent behaviors which are counterproductive to the organization.
It connotes orderly and acceptable behavior by the members of the
organization. That means systematically conducting the business by the
organizational members who strictly adhere to the essential rules and regulations.
The employees are of different kinds and they come from different background,
 cultures, and experiences with different norms, values, and cultures. Hence, if
they behave differently, the organizational objectives will be far beyond from target
of achievement.
A disciplined employee will be organized and an organized employee will be
disciplined always. Employee discipline can be referred to a force that promotes
individuals. groups to observe the rules, regulations, and procedures of the
organization which is necessary to achieve organizational goals. It is a condition in
which employees perform organizational activities with a consistent behavior.
Through such disciplinary actions, employees confirm with what is considered
proper behavior.
Therefore, employee discipline is a procedure that helps correct or punish a
subordinate so that he/she conducts activities to within an acceptable manner. In
short, discipline implies obedience, orderliness, and maintenance of proper
subordination among employees. It is a tool that managers can rely on to
communicate organizational behaviors to the employees. Usually, disciplinary
actions are framed by supervisors, however, in self-managed work teams; it is a
team’s responsibility to maintain discipline at work.

B. Importance of Discipline

Importance of discipline in organizations can hardly be overemphasized. Orderly

behavior is necessary for achieving the organization’s objective. In the absence of
discipline, no enterprise would prosper. If discipline is necessary even in a nuclear
family or in a homogeneous unit, how can an industrial organization with
heterogeneous people, work smoothly without discipline.

When an employee is at fault, the management has to take disciplinary action.

Discipline is said to be good when employees follow willingly the instructions of their
supervisors and the various rules of the company. Discipline is bad when employees
either follow rules and regulations unwillingly or actually disobey them.

Poor discipline advises the need of correction. The fundamental reason for taking
disciplinary action is to correct situations that are unfavorable to the company.
Basically, discipline is a form of training. When disciplinary problem emerges, it may
be as much management’s fault as the workers. Many disciplinary problems grow
out of management’s failure to inform employees what is expected of them

The term ‘discipline’ has unpleasant associations with punishment but with the
addition of the “just cause” concept involving a limitation on the employer’s right to
discipline and discharge. The word has been extended to embrace a system of
training and education of both employee and his supervisor, designed to achieve
orderly conduct.

The significance of discipline can be explained as under:

 From the Point of View of an Individual:
 Discipline provides self-safety to an individual.
 It enhances an individual’s progress.
 An individual needs it for his own satisfaction.
 From the Point of View of a Work Group:
 Discipline ensures better teamwork and cohesive.
 A disciplined atmosphere is the key to the progress of the group.
 Discipline ensures higher productivity.
 Discipline enhances morale and motivation of employees.
 From the Point of View of an Organization:
 Discipline ensures higher productivity and quality.
 Discipline helps an organisation in attaining maximum profit.
 It is essential better all-round benefits.
 It helps in keeping a check on wastage and costs.
 It helps in developing a sense of belonging.

C. Categories of Difficult Employees

 Bad Attitude
 One Tough Babe/Dude: A workplace bully who is always acting tough
and coming on strong.
 A Serious Threat: An employee who appears to pose a serious threat,
perhaps due to being mentally unstable, physically powerful, part of a
culture of violence, or having criminal connections.
 Prima Donna: A previously well-performing employee who is suddenly
thrust into a supervisory or management position and becomes
intoxicated with his new-found power.
 The Arrogant: A good employee who knows she is good and
repeatedly lets other people know it – often in an arrogant, abrasive,
and obnoxious manner.
 Across a Cultural Chasm: An employee who can’t fit into the culture
with the rest of the employees, thus creating tension in the office.
 Negative Nelly/Ned: An employee with a negative attitude who is
always looking for what’s wrong or what could go wrong in a situation,
and is constantly whining and complaining.
 The Bean-Spiller: An employee who can’t keep a secret and either stirs
up other employees with the information he shares or breaches the
confidence of customer records.

 Incompetent
 The Impossible Intern: An employee who is just getting her feet wet
and doesn’t know how to conform to the rigors and restrictions of the
workplace.
 Getting It Wrong: An employee who, while well-meaning and eager to
please, doesn’t have the skills or aptitude to do the job right—and may
be clueless about that fact.
 Friends Forever: An employee who is hired because of a relationship
with a friend or family member but turns out to be incompetent, socially
maladapted, or both.
 Protected by the Big Boss: An employee whom you hire because your
boss wants you to, and who turns out to be someone you shouldn’t
have hired.
  Last To Know: A difficult employee who remains on the job for months
because his coworkers don’t want to be the ones to tell the boss and
get that person fired.

 Personal Issues
 The Sensitive Soul: An employee who is overly sensitive when it comes
to taking any criticism and reacts to it as if taking a blow to the heart,
thus making it difficult for you to give her any real feedback.
 One Problem After Another: An employee who is going through a
difficult time and has lots of problems. You show compassion for a
while, but eventually you need to put the needs of the business first.
 Too Much, Too Soon: An employee who seems to have all the right
stuff on paper but, in the trenches with many tasks and responsibilities,
can’t handle the multitasking and stress of his position.
 Sick and Tired: An employee who calls in sick a lot, whether because
she is really sick or possibly doesn’t like the job, is bored, has
something more interesting to do, or is looking for another job.
 Scary: An employee with major personal problems that you are
unaware of, because either he keeps those problems hidden or other
employees don’t tell you about them.

 Trust and Honesty

 Liar, Liar: An employee who is loose with the truth, occasionally so
artfully that her lies aren’t caught until some Big Lie is revealed, leaving
coworkers and management feeling like fools.
 It’s the Little Things: An employee who takes advantage of gaps in the
system or his manager’s good nature to get away with an increasing
number of “little things” that may add up and implicitly encourage other
employees to do the same.
 Over a Barrel: An employee who has been given increased
responsibility and uses the new position of power to demand even
more, including increased compensation.
 Con Job: An employee who is a con artist—a master of charm and
smooth talking, but little substance.
 Pay or Play: An employee who appears to be trying to scam you by
using government regulations, complaints to regulatory agencies, or the
threat of a complaint or lawsuit to force a monetary settlement.
 A Favor Backfires: An employee hired as a favor to a friend or on a
friend’s referral without the usual checks.
 On the Side: An employee who is moonlighting and doesn’t know
where to draw the line for acceptable second-job activities, both during
the workday and beyond.
 Social Networker: An employee who is not productive due to use of
Facebook, Twitter, and other social-networking sites during work hours.
 Backstabber: An employee who takes credit for work others have done.
 Blame Game: An employee who refuses to take responsibility for poor
work or mistakes, and places the blame on others.

 Communication
  Communication Breakdown: An employee with whom you think you’re
communicating, and who claims to understand what you’re saying, but
who ultimately does assigned tasks incorrectly—or not at all.
 What Are You Talking About?: An employee who does specialized
work and speaks a kind of “techno-babble” that you simply don’t
understand, and who uses that language to conceal and misdirect
when she does something wrong.
 Silence is Golden: An inarticulate, hard-to-talk-to employee in a
position where being a team player and/or good communicator is
important.
 Who’s in Charge Here?: A difficult employee who is able to hide within
a complex chain of command and avoid detection, supervision, and/or
accountability.
 When the Cat’s Away: An employee who is entrusted with supervising
coworkers while a regular manager is out of the office and who does so
irresponsibly and/or ineffectively—and sometimes conceals critical
information about problems that occurred during the manager’s
absence.
 Putting the Customer First : An employee who embraces the “putting
the customer first” ethic but takes it too far, such as running up costs in
the name of customer service, to the detriment of the business.
 Cold and Non-communicative: An employee who does not participate
in meetings or provide management and coworkers with updates on
assignments.

D. Disciplinary Policies and Procedures

A disciplinary action policy identifies and standardizes procedures for responding

to incidents that go against company policy. A well-written disciplinary action policy
clearly states your company's rules and the consequences that happen if those rules
are broken.

 What should a disciplinary action policy include?

Your disciplinary action policy should include the following six components:

1. Policy overview: This section explains the steps that will be taken to address
employee misconduct or failure to perform.

2. Statement of at-will employment: This portion of the policy states that

all employees of your company work at will and can be terminated at any time,
for any reason.

3. The forms of discipline and the steps that will be taken:  In this section, your
policy should state each step that will be taken to address an issue and the
form, or forms, of discipline that will be administered. Clearly state what each
step will include and the reasons that will constitute moving the issue to the
next step. This section should also explicitly state what the requirements are
for managers, such as documenting each step of the process and keeping
employees fully informed.
 4. Explanation of the steps in the disciplinary process and which infractions
begin at which step: Include detailed descriptions of each step and what the
employee can expect, as well as any infractions that will not follow the steps in
chronological order. For example, tardiness issues may begin at step one,
which involves the manager giving the employee a verbal warning, while
major offenses will begin at step three, which might be suspension.

"Include language that the policy is a guideline, not an absolute," Michael

Coles, owner of The Coles Firm, told Business News Daily. "Employers
should reserve the right to upgrade or downgrade discipline in the face of
aggravating or extenuating circumstances."

5. A statement regarding an employee's right to appeal a decision:  Your policy

should include a statement stating any employee who believes they were not
treated fairly or properly can appeal disciplinary decisions to the appropriate
party, such as HR. Outline the steps on how employees can appeal a
decision.

6. Statements that offer the company legal protections:  You should also include
legal protections for your business, as there are several potential legal
ramifications if you do not carefully design your disciplinary policy. To avoid
legal issues, your disciplinary policy should:

 Include a statement that protects your right to terminate employees at

will
 Inform employees about unacceptable behaviors
 Provide consistent, fair discipline guidelines
 Prevent managers from inconsistent, illegal or abusive discipline
 Require documentation and collected evidence of employee behavior
issues

A procedure is a series of steps or stages through which a matter may be

processed towards a decision or conclusion.
Armstrong (2010) presents a general disciplinary procedure from which
organisations can draw theirs from.
 It begins with the informal warning which is given to the employee in the first
instance or instances of minor offences. The employee’s immediate supervisor
administers this warning.
 Secondly, a formal written warning letter is given to the employee in the first
instance of a serious offence or after repeated instances of minor offences.
 Then further disciplinary action is given to an employee if, despite previous
warnings, he or she still fails to reach the required standards in a reasonable
period. This disciplinary action could be dismissal. Additionally, an employee can
be summarily dismissed only in the event of gross misconduct as defined in the
company rules.
 However, disciplinary action should not be taken against an employee unless the
following conditions are met:
 First, it is undertaken only in cases where good reason and clear evidence
exists.
  Second, it is appropriate to the nature of the offence that has been
committed.
 Third, it is demonstrably fair and consistent with previous action in similar
circumstances.
 Fourth, it takes place only when employees are aware of the standards
that are expected of them or the rules with which they are required to
conform.
 Fifth, employees are allowed the right to be represented by
a representative or colleague during any formal proceedings.
 Sixth, employees are allowed the right to know exactly what charges are
being made against them and to respond to those charges.
 Lastly, employees are allowed the right of appeal against any disciplinary
action (Armstrong, 2010).
A disciplinary procedure should specify the following key elements: rules,
offences, penalties, procedural steps, and appeal procedures.
 Rules:
An ideal disciplinary procedure provides for working rules and arrangements
that are tailored to the specific needs of the organisation. For example, the
minimum standards for the performance or conduct of employees are referred to
as work rules. Most employers state those rules in the organisation’s handbook or
disciplinary procedure code book.
 Typically, work rules specify standards affecting issues, such as listed
below:
 Working hours;  
 Time for break;
 Safety rules and reporting of injuries;
 Reporting of lateness, absence due to illness;  
 Designated areas for smoking;  
 Standards of personal conduct;
 Theft, fraud or dishonest;
 Immoral conduct;  
 Sabotage of company material or property;
 Falsification of records (Foot & Hook, 1988).
 Offences:
When a rule is broken, an offence has been committed. A disciplinary
procedure must seek to identify offences which would attract disciplinary action.
In practice, offences are commonly classified into minor, serious, or gross
misconduct.

 Penalties:
These are measures for dealing with specific offences. They may also be
referred to as ‘negative rewards.’ The objectives of penalties are: to reform
offenders, deter would-be offenders, and maintain the integrity of the
organisation. Another way of putting it, is to see penalties as educative, corrective
and punitive. Most formal disciplinary processes often employ is called
‘progressive discipline.’
The step-by-step processes include:
 Warning – oral or written (informal/formal);
 Suspension and downgrading;  
  Fines, withholding annual increment or promotion;
 Retirement, outright dismissal or termination of appointment (Foot  &
Hook, 1988).

 Procedural Steps:
These are usually guidelines which set out the operational drills, associated
with the imposition of penalties for offences, and for appealing and challenging
the penalties.
The procedural steps will involve the following:
1. Specify who has the responsibility and authority to make relevant
decision – Immediate Superior, Department Managers, General
Manager, Managing Director, HR Manager, Disciplinary Committee,
Appeals Committee, etc.
2. Provide for a  right of appeal to a  level of management not previously
involved in the action.  
3. Specify the mode of imposing various penalties which must be
proportionate to offences or misconduct committed

 Appeal Procedures:
This section of the disciplinary procedure should indicate what the employee
should do, if he or she is not happy with the action taken against him or her.
There should be a clear appeal procedure, with time limits for the submission of
appeal stated. It would be too important to leave disciplinary decisions solely to
the discretion of immediate superior or committee, no matter how powerful they
are, without providing opportunity for an appeal. Therefore, it is essential that
there be some ways for employees to initiate a review.
The following channels of appeals against disciplinary actions are usually
adopted:  
1. Up-the-line Approach: Here, the employee should have the right to
appeal, first to the supervisor, and then the step-by-step process may
continue up the line, through the Departmental Head, HR Department,
General Manager, and the Managing Director or Committees.
2. HR Director’s Intervention: In this approach, the appellant would simply
appeal to the HR Director for intervention and possible settlement.  
3. Disciplinary and Appeal Committee : In organisations, this is the
committee which is given authority to receive, hear and settle
employee’s appeal arising from disciplinary action. The committee
could either overrule a line manager’s decision or uphold it

E. The Discipline Process

Discipline is an approach used by management to modify undesirable

performance and behavior through the use of a corrective action process.
 Employees should receive training, coaching, and constructive feedback to assist
in modifying their performance. Timely, appropriate, and continous feedback is
essential to maintain effective performance. Inappropriate behavior/performance
must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and judged by the severity of the
infraction.

F. Approaches to Discipline

If a  thorough investigation shows that an  employee has violated some

organisation rule, disciplinary action must be imposed. Three approaches to
disciplinary action are preventive discipline, progressive discipline and positive
discipline.

 Preventive Discipline:
Discipline is regarded as preventive when organisation design and put
in place programmes or measure that discourage or dissuade organisational
members from coming late, absenteeism, redundancy, disobedience to
superior officer, insubordination among others. Preventive discipline is meant
to prevent violation or deviation. Therefore, it is usually stated expressly
without ambiguity and in simple terms for the high and the low in the
organisation to understand the message. For example, “Loitering during work
hours is prohibited”. However, for preventive discipline to be effective,
managers must create an environment of openness and honesty, one in
which employees feel comfortable sharing even negative information and are
appreciated for doing so in a timely fashion.
 Progressive Discipline:
Generally, discipline is imposed in a  progressive manner. By definition,
progressive discipline is the application of corrective measures by increasing
degrees (Bohlander & Snell, 2007). Progressive discipline is designed to
motivate an employee to correct his or her misconduct voluntarily. The
technique is aimed at nipping the problem in the bud, using only enough
corrective action to remedy the shortcoming. However, the sequence and
severity of the disciplinary action vary with the type of offense and the
circumstances surrounding it. Because each situation is unique, a number of
factors must be considered in determining how severe a disciplinary action
should be.
The typical progressive discipline procedure includes four steps. From
an oral warning (or counselling) to subsequent unsatisfactory behaviour or
performance will not be tolerated, the action may progress to a written
 warning, to a suspension without pay, and ultimately to discharge. The “capital
punishment” of discharge is utilised only as a last resort.

 Positive Discipline:
Positive discipline or non-punitive disciple is based on the concept that
employees must assume responsibility for their personal conduct and job
performance. By definition, positive discipline is a system of discipline that
focuses on early correction of employee misconduct, with the employee taking
total responsibility for correcting the problem (Bohlander& Snell, 2007).
Nothing is imposed by management; all solutions and affirmations are jointly
reached. HR managers often describe positive discipline as “non-punitive
discipline that replaces threats and punishment with encouragement. The
positive discipline is implemented in three steps.
The first is a conference between the supervisor and the employee.
The purpose of this meeting is to find a solution to the problem through
discussion, with oral agreement by the employee to improve his or her
performance. The supervisor refrains from reprimanding the employee or
threatening him or her with further disciplinary action. Supervisors may
document this conference, but a written record of this meeting is not placed in
the employee’s file unless the misconduct occurs again. If improvement is not
made after this first step, the supervisor holds a second conference with the
employee to determine why the situation agreed to in the first conference did
not work. At this stage, however, a written reminder is given to the employee.
This document states that new or repeated solution to the problem, with an
affirmation that improvement is the responsibility of the employee and
a conviction of continued employment (Nova, 2012). However, when both
conferences fail to produce the desired results, the third step is to give the
employee a one-day decision-making leave (a paid leave). The purpose of
this paid leave is for the employee to decide whether he or she wishes to
continue working for the organisation. The organisation pays for this leave to
demonstrate its desire to retain the employee. Therefore, employee given a
decision-making leave is instructed to return the following day with a decision
either to make a total commitment to improve performance or to quit the
organisation. If a commitment is not made, the employee is dismissed with the
assumption that he or she lacked responsibility toward the organization.

Conclusion:
Discipline means securing consistent behaviour in accordance with the
accepted norms of behaviour and it is essential to a democratic way of life. Proper
administration of discipline results in willing cooperation and observance of the rules
established to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Proper employee
discipline will lead to the absence of disorders and irregularities in the employees'
behaviour. Disciplined employees cooperate and behave in orderly way.
As disciplinary actions may have serious repercussions on the employees,
organizations and even on the industry, they must be based on certain principles to
be fair and acceptable to the employees, their representatives and other interested
parties.
Reflection:
Discipline ensures individuals behave in an acceptable way at the workplace
and adhere to the rules and regulations of the organization. Individuals who are
disciplined are not only successful professionally but also in their personal lives.
Disciplined employees are liked and appreciated by not only their superiors but also
other fellow workers. Such employees climb the success ladder quickly as compared
to individuals who attend office just for the sake of it and they often find themselves
out of the system in no time. Misbehaving at the workplace spoils the entire work
culture eventually leading to zero or very less productivity. You need to understand
that there is a difference between office and home and you just can’t behave in the
same way at work as you behave at home. Discipline is crucial at workplace as it
ensures employees behave in a decent way and maintain the decorum of the
workplace.
Imagine this, would you be able to concentrate on your work if the colleague
sitting next to you is constantly over the phone and chatting with his girlfriend?
Obviously NO. In fact, no one can’t. Discipline ensures individuals maintain silence at
workplace and work as a single unit with their team members to achieve organization
goals and objectives. Discipline is in fact the lifeline of an organization. Without
discipline, employees would not only misbehave but also do whatever they want to
do. Discipline is important as it binds the employees and motivates them to respect
their organization.

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