4.4. Discipline 

Disciplining employees is not the most pleasant part of being a manager. But, it is an important part of the management role, and every manager needs to have the basic skills involved in the employee discipline.  Any disciplinary action taken should be immediate, consistent, impersonal, based on known expectations, and legally defensible.

Discipline becomes necessary when alternative measures have proven ineffective in ensuring that employees adhere to established standards. Effective leadership begins by ensuring that work rules are clearly defined, reasonable, fair, regularly reviewed, and aligned with collective bargaining agreements. These rules should be communicated orally to employees, posted visibly, and enforced promptly, consistently, and without bias. Leaders must exemplify adherence to these rules to set a positive example for the workforce.

When disciplinary action is warranted, it should be approached with sensitivity and sound judgment. Supervisors should conduct a thorough investigation to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident. Generally, disciplinary actions should be administered in private. Personnel policies typically correlate the severity of the penalty with the seriousness of the infraction, following a progressive discipline approach that may involve informal discussions, verbal warnings, written reprimands, suspensions, demotions, or termination. Regardless of the severity, all disciplinary actions should be documented in the employee’s file, ensuring thorough documentation, especially in cases leading to dismissal.

To aid supervisors, the “hot stove” analogy is often recommended for disciplinary actions. Similar to touching a hot stove, disciplinary experiences should provide advance warning, immediate consequences, consistency, and impersonality. Employees should be aware of expectations, disciplinary actions should be prompt, consistent, and focused on the behavior rather than the individual.

Disciplining employees typically stems from either performance issues or misconduct, with the latter often posing a more serious concern due to its deliberate nature and defiance. Poor performance can often be remedied through coaching and performance management, whereas misconduct usually necessitates progressive discipline. Extreme cases of misconduct may warrant immediate termination.

Identifiable behaviors that may indicate poor performance or misconduct include: 

• Lack of skills, knowledge, or motivation.

• Poor attitude or effort.

• Misconduct such as working slowly, poor quality of work, tardiness, or wasting time.

• Interpersonal issues like arguing with coworkers or lack of cooperation.

• Challenges in subordinate-supervisor relationships such as insubordination or lack of follow-through.

• Inappropriate supervisor-subordinate interactions like favoritism or mistreatment.

• Mishandling of company property or engaging in harassment, workplace violence, dishonesty, or safety violations.