CHAPTER 21

Discipline and Disciplinary Action

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Understand the objectives and types of discipline
2. List the symptoms and causes of indiscipline
3. Enumerate the steps needed for a disciplinary action procedure
4. Discover the elements of a good disciplinary system
5. Understand McGregor’s suggestions
6. Explain the code of discipline

DLF is one of India’s biggest real-estate companies in terms of revenues and developable area. In fact, Super Brands India has awarded the “super brand” ranking to this company for three consecutive years. As part of its corporate governance, the company has developed a strong code of conduct to regulate the performance and behaviour of its directors and employees. The primary objective of its code of conduct is to further encourage its commitment to building a strong culture of corporate governance by promoting the importance of ethical conduct and transparency.

The general standards of the conduct of this company specify that: (i) the directors and employees shall conduct its business in an efficient and transparent manner in meeting its obligations towards the shareholders and other stakeholders; and (ii) they shall not be involved in any activity that would have an adverse effect on the objectives of the company or on the national interest. These specific conducts have been included under captions like: (a) compliance with applicable laws, (b) conflict of interest, (c) business opportunities, and so on.

As regards the consequences of non-compliance with the code of conduct, the company warns of appropriate action against the employee whose actions are found to violate it. The strong code of conduct of DLF and its excellent performance vividly show the importance of maintenance of discipline to its success. We shall now discuss the relevance of discipline and disciplinary action in this chapter.

Introduction

Managing employee behaviour and performance is one of the important tasks of managers. Discipline refers to the employees’ observance of standards of behaviour set by the organization. Disciplinary action refers to the punishing the employees who fail to meet those standards of behaviour. Many organizations maintain a disciplinary policy or system to regulate the behaviour of the employees and deal with the acts of indiscipline. Some organizations even conduct discipline management training for their supervisors and managers to help them understand the tactics of managing discipline among the employees effectively. The purpose of such training is to ensure that when the supervisors discipline their subordinates, they do so in a just and fair manner. This is essential to avoid the charges of bias and prejudice and steer clear of legal problems at a later stage. The managers must also be made to understand that the purpose of disciplinary action is not just punishing the erring employees but also ensuring that the same act of indiscipline is repeated neither by the corrected employees nor by anybody else. Since disciplinary proceedings and actions produce emotional situations for the supervisor and the employee both—the supervisor who conducts the proceedings and the employee who faces the disciplinary action—it is essential for an organization to have unambiguous policies and guidelines. These policies must tell the supervisor clearly how he should conduct the proceedings and how it should be concluded.

Although the acts of indiscipline by employees can reveal themselves in many forms, some of the important forms of indiscipline are disobeying the supervisor’s instructions, absenteeism, rule violation, carelessness, poor performance, stealing, alcoholism, wilful mishandling and misuse of organizational property, and general misconduct. All these acts have a negative impact on employee’s productivity and organizational performance. Thus, it becomes absolutely necessary for an organization to end these acts of indiscipline by modifying the behaviour of the employees through appropriate actions. In short, discipline is a corrective mechanism to build and maintain a productive, responsive workforce.¹ However, the organization must ensure strictly that its discipline policies and system are not arbitrary. This is because when the employees perceive or believe that the discipline policies of their organization are flawed and unfair, they may try to find alternate employment or depend heavily on the unions for protection and may reduce their focus on job activities, leading to a decline in employee productivity, morale and motivation.

Any action by the management to make the employees observe the code of conduct and correct employee behaviour and performance is the essence of the definitions of discipline. We shall now see a few of these definitions in Box 21.1.

We may define discipline as a system designed to ensure that the employees’ performance and behaviour are consistent with the relevant organizational rules and regulations in force.

Characteristics of Employee Discipline

In normal circumstances, employees conduct themselves voluntarily in a manner agreeable to the management. Thus, indiscipline is considered as an abnormal happening in an organization. If the acts of indiscipline are minor in nature and are occurring for the first or second time, the management usually persuades the employees to merely avoid repeating them. When the gentle and informal advice of the supervisors fails to produce desired results, the management may exercise its rights by initiating formal disciplinary actions against the erring employees. Employee discipline as a concept must have a few necessary characteristics. The necessary characteristics of discipline derived from these definitions are.

Standard Behaviour

Discipline involves setting a standard behaviour for the employees to follow in the organization. An organization may express the standard behaviour in the form of a code of conduct for its employees.

Driving Force

Discipline is a “force” that drives the employees of an organization to observe the code of conduct in the organization.

Positive or Negative in Nature

The force may be positive or negative. A positive force rewards the employees who observe the rules of the organization while a negative force punishes those who violate such rules and regulations.

Voluntary or Imposed

Discipline may be voluntary or imposed. In the case of voluntary discipline, an employee develops a discipline on his own, which is called self-discipline. In the case of the imposed discipline, the employees observe rules and regulations out of external force or threat.

A Right of the Management

Imposing discipline in the form of rules and regulations is an inalienable right of the management. The employees or unions can challenge this right only when these rules are not fair, just, reasonable or consistent.

An Element of Control Process

Discipline is an element of management control process. As such, it is an aspect of standard behaviour in the control process. An evaluation of the actual behaviour of employees would show the observance or inobservance of standard behaviour, i.e., the discipline of the employee.

Objectives of Discipline

Traditionally, the purpose of discipline is to punish the employees for the violation of rules and regulations. In those days, to impose discipline, organizations depended predominantly on the threat of punitive action. In modern times, discipline aims at encouraging employees to observe self-discipline in behaviour and performance so that both the employees and the employers benefit out of it. At present, organizations accord a high priority to developing self-discipline among the employees through necessary training and counselling. We shall now see the objectives of the contemporary discipline system.

Goal Accomplishment

Achieving the corporate objectives is an important aim of employee discipline. In fact, all efforts directed towards the maintenance of discipline must end up with the accomplishment of organizational goals; otherwise the imposition of discipline will be of no use.

Developing a Responsive Workforce

Organizations utilize discipline to make the employees conform to the standards they have set. This obviously facilitates the employees in avoiding reckless and insubordinate behaviour and keeps them responsive and disciplined.

Changing Employee Behaviour

Organizations aim at bringing in the desired behaviour among the employees through discipline. The presence of the discipline policy can help the employees check their behaviour against the standards and cause changes in their behaviour, if necessary. For instance, discipline may caution the low performers of the organization and can compel them to alter their behaviour to meet the performance standards.

Improving Morale and Motivation

Organizations attempt to enhance employee motivation and morale through a fair discipline system. When the employees perceive the discipline policy of their organization to be fair and legitimate, they may be willing to work hard to avoid any disciplinary action against them. Similarly, when they see an act of indiscipline getting a fair and quick punishment, they feel proud of their disciplined behaviour. This feeling provides a sense of satisfaction, motivation and commitment to the employees. Eventually, it improves their morale.

Exercising Better Control over Employees

Discipline aims at supplementing the efforts of managers and supervisors to exercise effective control over subordinates. Since the authority to take disciplinary action is normally vested with the supervisors, it evokes fear in the minds of the employees and forces them to comply with the instructions of their supervisors.

Ensuring Consistency in Action

Organizations strive to ensure consistency in the disciplinary actions of different managers while dealing with acts of indiscipline of similar nature and intensity. They also aim at ensuring consistency in the disciplinary actions of the supervisors in different periods of time.

Promoting Industrial Relations

One of the objectives of discipline is to foster good industrial relations in the organization. Discipline issues often cause lot of strain in the union–management relations. However, through objective and transparent disciplinary process, organizations can convince the unions about the fairness of the process and get their continued cooperation in the future.

Substituting Personal Supervision

Another objective of discipline is to reduce the need for close supervision in the organizations. Discipline system and policies develop self-discipline among the employees, which, in turn, eliminate the necessity of closely supervising the performance and behaviour of the employees. Thus, through discipline, organizations can aim at reducing the cost of supervision without compromising on its quality.

Types of Discipline

The general purpose of discipline is to bring about positive changes in an employee’s performance, attendance or behaviour. There are many disciplinary systems available for an organization to fulfil the objectives of discipline goals. Depending upon its management philosophy, HR policies and other characteristics, an organization may settle for a particular type of discipline. We shall now discuss the different types of discipline.

Positive Discipline

Positive discipline, which is called self-discipline, as well as preventive discipline, aims at seeking the willing cooperation of employees in observing the discipline code of the organization. The two inherent aspects of positive discipline are: (i) personal responsibility of employees for maintaining discipline; and (ii) independent decision making by them to eliminate their unsuitable and undesirable behaviour. In this method, the responsibility of the organization is to create a positive environment that gently prompts the employees to comply with the organizational code of conduct. Besides, the management must provide unambiguous instructions to the employees and relevant and timely feedback about the performance and its behaviour expectations. In the event of indiscipline, ‘remind rather than reprimand’ is the approach in positive discipline.⁴ The employees are reminded about the rules, and the desired change in behaviour occurs. Thus, when performance or behaviour indiscipline is reported against employees, the first requirement for them, in this method, is to rededicate and recommit themselves to the job and the organization. The prerequisites for implementing positive discipline are:

• an excellent communication network
• a well-defined line of authority
• appropriate working conditions
• sufficient discipline training

Although an organization needs to devote considerable time and resources to developing positive discipline among its employees, its efforts would certainly pay it rich dividends in the long term. The benefits of positive discipline are cordiality in labour–management relations, improved employee motivation and morale, minimum use of formal authority, effective goal accomplishment and positive image for the organization in the labour market.

Negative Discipline

It is a traditional form of discipline followed by an orthodox management. In this method, fear is the key to the maintenance of discipline. For instance, the fear of punishment for the acts of indiscipline will be the driving force for the employees to avoiding misconduct. It also forces them to obey the rules and regulations of the organization.

This form of discipline is also known by names like punitive discipline and enforced discipline. It never seeks the willing cooperation of the employees in ensuring discipline within the organization. Besides, employees working under a negative environment view discipline as a restraint on their freedom of behaviour. The prime aim of the employees in this method is escaping punishment and not cooperating with the management. For instance, when the management threatens the employees with dire consequences if they do not report for duty at 10 a.m. and remain till 5 p.m., their response would be to ensure that they remain in the office during the stipulated office hours but not reach earlier or leave later than that time. The intention here is evading threat of punishment and not extending cooperation or performing to the potential. The consequences of negative discipline are:

• Distrust in industrial relations and mutual antagonism
• Low morale and motivation
• High labour turnover
• Work-to-rule approach
• Lack of self-belief

Progressive Discipline

It is a popular form of discipline adopted successfully by many organizations in maintaining discipline among their employees. This method of discipline has found wide acceptance even among the unions. Progressive discipline requires an organization to adopt a step-by-step approach in dealing with the indiscipline problems of an employee. While dealing with the discipline issues concerning the employees, this method suggests that the organization begin the disciplinary action process with a modest disciplinary action, then increase the degree of severity gradually and finally end up with the most severe punishment if the successive stages of punishment do not yield the desired change in the behaviour of the employees. For instance, the disciplinary process may begin with an oral reprimand to an employee for performance indiscipline and may end up in his dismissal, if all the efforts to correct his behaviour fail.

A progressive disciplining of an employee may begin with the hiring of an employee and can continue through his entire work life in the organization. It may even lead to his suspension and ultimate dismissal. Progressive discipline may be defined as any employee discipline system that provides a graduated range of responses to employee performance or conduct problems.⁵

Although progressive discipline is similar to positive discipline, it differs on one basic aspect, which is the gradually growing and proportionate punishment to the employees. The extent of punishment depends on the frequency and severity of the performance and behaviour problem and the length of service of the employee.

Significance of Progressive Discipline Since the disciplinary actions for misconduct move from mild to severe punishment gradually, this method assumes greater significance from the organizational point of view. We shall now see the importance of progressive discipline for an organization.

• It provides adequate opportunities to the employees to correct their behaviour and performance.
• It enables the managers to intervene in the disciplinary issues involving the employees at the first available opportunity.
• It facilitates the managers in getting involved in the disciplinary matters without worrying about the prospects of losing the employees’ friendship.⁶ This is because the employees are let off with mild punishments in the initial stages of disciplinary actions.
• Progressive discipline helps the management avoid time-consuming and costly litigations because this method rarely resorts to extreme punishment. As a matter of fact, the serious disciplinary actions are almost always challenged in the court.
• In the event of dismissal or discharge of employees as a result of disciplinary action, the organization may have to incur high staffing cost for finding the right replacement for the separated employee. In this method, extreme punishments like dismissal are rare as the management provides an adequate number of opportunities to the employees to discipline themselves by changing their behaviour and continue in the job.
• A proper compilation of the several discipline violations indulged in by the employees and the series of actions initiated by the management through the progressive discipline policy can help the management prepare a legally defensible case against the employees in the event of their suspension or dismissal.

In contrast, when an organization adopts a discipline method which is arbitrary in nature, it can invite charges of victimization. It may also jeopardize the relationship between the employer and the employees seriously. The other unintended consequences of a disciplinary system which is not just, consistent and objective are production disturbances, quality compromises, loss of customers, strained labour–management relations, high labour turnover, and rapid unionization of the employees so that they may seek security from the unions.

Steps in a Progressive Discipline Process A typical progressive discipline will undergo a standard process although the steps in a process of progressive discipline are bound to vary from one organization to another, depending upon the management philosophy, the nature of industry, the labour market conditions and the strength of the unions. We shall now see the steps in a progressive discipline process in the event of reported indiscipline charges against an employee.

Stage 1: Counselling the employee—When any performance or behaviour problem like poor attendance, disobedience, dissidence, or performance deficit is made known to the organization, the first response of the management in this method is to provide counselling to the problematic employee. The counselling process must aim at

1. convincing him about the presence of the problem;
2. making him understand the nature and extent of the problem;
3. persuading him to realize the need to solve the problem at the earliest by explaining the likely consequences of the problem to the organization and to the individual; and
4. recommending the strategies for working on the problem to prevent its recurrence in the future.

After the counselling sessions, if the employee shows the required improvements in the performance or behaviour, the disciplinary action process is discontinued. Otherwise, the disciplinary process moves to the next step.

Stage 2: First disciplinary proceeding (reminder)—If the employee fails to show the necessary improvement in his performance or behaviour in spite of counselling sessions, the disciplinary action process progresses to the next step. At this stage, an appropriate authority like manager or supervisor holds a meeting with the employee concerned. The purpose of such a meeting is to remind the employee of the terms and conditions of his employment and explain to him the need to observe the rules of the organization. The manager also encourages the employee to clarify his misgivings and reservations regarding performance or behaviour standards and other related problems. Normally, the deliberations of the meeting are recorded in writing and sent to the employee for his confirmation and response. The employee can write back his views on the issues and the proceedings of the meeting to the appropriate authority empowered to deal with this issue. However, this must be done by the employee within the specified timeframe as fixed by the management. Normally, the higher-level officials avoid their intervention in the problem at this stage.

Stage 3: Second disciplinary proceeding (warning)—When there is no perceptible improvement in the behaviour of the employee at the end of the second stage, the disciplinary process moves to the next step. In this stage, the employee is again called for a meeting with the appropriate authority. Mostly, the authority that carried out the first two stages holds this meeting too. The supervisor quickly redoes the first two steps and moves to the present step. At this stage, the employee is clearly warned, in uncertain terms, of the likely consequences of his continuation with the same problem. For the first time, the threats of severe punishment like pay cuts, suspension, demotion, discharge or dismissal are placed before the employee. Once again, the deliberations are sent to the employee in writing and a copy of this is dispatched to the higher-level management. As in the earlier stage, the employee must again respond within the specified period.

Stage 4: Final disciplinary proceeding (undertaking from the employee)—When the employee still shows no sign of improvement in performance or behaviour, the disciplinary process reaches its final stage. At this stage, the appropriate authority calls the employee for a meeting one last time. This time, the employee gets his ultimate chance to set right his performance or behaviour. At the meeting, the supervisor makes it clear to the employee that he would not get any more chance in the future to defend his position and that this is the last chance to rectify his problems in performance or behaviour. However, this time the employee must give a written undertaking to improve his performance or behaviour to meet the expectations of the management. He must also give an undertaking to abide by the disciplinary action likely to be initiated against him if he persists with the same problem. The employee may sign or refuse to sign the required undertaking. In the event of his signing the undertaking, it amounts to accepting the problem and agreeing for future disciplinary action if he fails to improve his performance or behaviour. On the other hand, the employee’s refusal to sign the undertaking would force the organization to straightaway initiate the necessary disciplinary action, the quantum of which usually depends on the severity of the problem.

Stage 5: Initiating disciplinary action (dismissal or demotion)—At this stage, the management reviews the case made out against the employee in its entirety before deciding on the quantum of punishment. Factors like the seriousness of the problem, the length of service of the employee, the past record of the employee, the discipline policy of the company, collective bargaining agreement and the general environment of the organization act as inputs for the decision involving disciplinary action. Finally, the organization may decide to initiate less severe punishments like pay cuts, increment cuts, involuntary transfers, withholding promotions and even suspension of employee. The management may also decide in favour of more severe punishments like demotion, discharge or dismissal, which are usually permanent in nature. Box 21.2 outlines the role of a whistle-blower in identifying acts of indiscipline.

Symptoms and Causes of Indiscipline

The indiscipline may manifest itself in the behaviour or performance of the employees in many forms. It may be caused by organizational, individual and union factors. We shall first see the symptoms of indiscipline followed by the causes of such indiscipline.

Symptoms of Indiscipline

Since organizations are made up of people, it is natural for them to have inter-personnel conflicts and discipline-related problems. Even very effective disciplinary policies cannot completely thwart the occurrence of acts of indiscipline within the organization. The management must ever be ready to deal with any form of misconduct. Although it is not possible to prepare a complete list of misconducts, Box 21.3 lists the frequently reported performance and behaviour misconducts in an organization.

Causes of Indiscipline

Indiscipline simply means unacceptable behaviour of an employee in the organization. The unacceptable behaviour may occur in the form of unsatisfactory performance or undesirable conduct. The short-term approach of an organization in tackling indiscipline is to initiate necessary action against the problematic employees. The intention of this disciplinary action is to pre-empt these employees from making the same mistake in the future. In this case, the prevention of indiscipline is based only on the threat of punishment. However, in the long run, an organization must make efforts to identify and then prevent the factors which cause problems of indiscipline to the organization. These factors may individually or collectively become responsible for the misconduct of employees. It is therefore essential for the organization to promptly identify the root cause of the indiscipline and carry out corrective actions. We shall now record the important factors responsible for undisciplined behaviour.

Conventional Management Practices Outdated and old-fashioned management practices may cause indiscipline amongst the present-day employees. For instance, tough rules for leave sanctioning may force the employees to indulge in absenteeism. Similarly, a rigid work schedule may witness frequent schedule violation or breaking.

Unfair Treatment Unfair treatment leads to the exploitation of employees. Therefore, when an organization indulges in unfair practices in areas such as compensation fixation, promotion determination and work allotment, it can cause indiscipline among the employees. For instance, fixing low wages may result in work sluggishness. Similarly, unfair promotion practices may cause responsibility avoidance and work jerking by employees. Finally, work overloads may lead to quality compromises in production.

Absence of an Effective Code of Conduct The code of conduct alone helps the employees in the identification of discipline and indiscipline in their behaviour. When the code of conduct is unambiguous, the employees understand clearly the dos and don’ts in their job. Apparently, they avoid acts of indiscipline. In contrast, when there is no the code or a poorly written code of conduct, the employee may have difficulty in distinguishing between the acts of discipline and those of indiscipline. They may not even know what constitutes misconduct unless and until the authorities tell them.

Absence of a Proper Grievance-handling Mechanism When the employee has a grievance, he must be sure about what he must do next and about the probable time period within which his grievance would be redressed. In the absence of an effective grievance redress system, the employees may indulge in misconduct to attract the attention of the management to their grievances. Thus, lack of effective grievance handling also acts as a source of indiscipline.

Ineffective HR Policies and Practices A good HR policy would meet all the reasonable needs of the employees both within and outside the organization. Thus, an effective and dynamic HR policy can help the management in avoiding employee grievance and, by extension, reduce the chances of employee misconduct. In contrast, an ineffective HR policy can breed grievances and indiscipline.

Absence of an Efficient Communication System There is a need for every management to keep the employees briefed about the future programmes of the organization. Similarly, it must get continuous feedback from the employees about the various actions of the organization. Further, it should not only be aware of the concerns of its workforce but make every effort to get these concerns addressed. All these require the presence of an effective two-way communication system in the organization. In the absence of such a system, there would be a communication gap between the employees and the management. Obviously, both may have to depend on informal sources like grapevine to gather information. The faulty information fed into the informal communication channel may cause disquiet among the employees and result in indiscipline. For instance, the unconfirmed news of an imminent lay-off can spark an immediate and violent reaction from the employees even if it turns out to be false at a later stage.

Negative Attitude of the Employees and their Unions When the employees and their union perceive a negative environment in the organization, they may distrust the management and suspect the real intentions of its every action. In such a situation, the management actions may be opposed by the employees in different forms, which may also include performance and behavioural misconduct.

Organizational Culture Organizational culture is made up of the attitudes, experiences, beliefs, values and psychology of the members of the organization. As such, the organizational culture is derived from the culture of the society in general. It indicates the basic characteristics of the organization and influences the way the employees interact with one another as well as with other stakeholders like the employers of the organization.⁷ When the prevailing culture fosters confrontational behaviour among the employees, the organization may witness an increasing number of acts of indiscipline. In contrast, if the prevailing organizational culture is peaceful and affable, the complaints of misconduct would normally be less.

Types of Disciplinary Action

The outcomes of indiscipline in normal circumstances are disciplinary actions in the form of punishments. However, the severity of punishment is usually decided by the nature, circumstances and intensity of the offence. Organizational policies and statutory provisions also play a role in determining the outcome of the disciplinary action. As shown in Figure 21.1, different types of punishment are normally awarded for different kinds of offences.

Oral Reprimand

It is an oral warning issued to an employee by a manager for the performance or behaviour misconduct reported against that employee. The purpose of oral reprimand is to caution the employee against the continuance of the same misconduct in the future. The manager also explains the likely consequence of a similar misconduct in the future. Oral reprimands are normally issued in private and the matter is kept confidential. As far as possible, the focus of the discussion must be on the problem and not on the person.⁸ However, the employee may be allowed to offer a brief response to the charges made out against him.

Written Warning

When an oral warning or counselling to the employee does not produce the desired result, the manager may issue a written warning to the employee. On many occasions, this is the first stage of the formal discipline process. The written reprimand normally specifies the nature of offence and also its implications for the organization, the co-workers and the employee concerned. The employee is normally asked to acknowledge the receipt of the written reprimand, irrespective of whether he agrees with the content of the letter. The written warnings are usually legal documents and may have to be presented in the court at a later stage. Naturally, the drafting of such a letter requires a lot of legal expertise and matter-of-fact presentations.

Denial of Increments, Promotions and Pay Hikes

On some occasions, the management may refuse promotions, increments or pay hike by blacklisting the employee for a specified period of time. These are usually punishments of a temporary nature. At a later stage, the management may review the progress in the performance or behaviour of the employees to decide whether to clear his name for pay hike, promotions and increments or not.

Pay Reductions and Disciplinary Demotions

This is usually more severe than the denial of pay hikes and promotions because the employee loses part of even the existing benefits and privileges hitherto received by him. In case of demotion, the employee loses social status too in addition to the monetary loss.

Suspension

A few offences normally require the direct suspension of the employee without any prior warnings, oral or written. In other offences, it normally comes as the next logical step after oral and written reprimands in the discipline process. Depending upon the nature of the misconduct committed by the employee, the immediate supervisor or manager may demand the suspension of the employee accused of misconduct. However, the decision regarding suspension is normally made by higher authorities in the organization. It is also a temporary punishment. Once the investigation is over, the suspension may be converted into dismissal or into some other less severe punishment or simply revoked.

Discharge or Dismissal

This is the severest punishment of all. In this, the employee is permanently removed from service. Dismissal or discharge must be done in accordance with the relevant provisions of the law. It must stand the scrutiny of the judicial and quasi-judicial authorities. It is normally preceded by a termination meeting in which the employee is informed of the decision by the management. Usually, higher authorities are consulted on the matters pertaining to dismissal or discharge. In case of dismissal, the employee is not entitled to any separation benefits. In contrast, the employee is eligible for his provident fund and other retirement benefits in the event of his discharge from the job.

Steps in Establishing a Disciplinary Action Procedure

In many organizations, the disciplinary procedure is considered to be the most sensitive and critical HR activity. Many managers, as far as possible, avoid involving themselves in the disciplinary action procedure due to the fear of future consequences. Their ignorance of the organizational rules and the legal dimensions of the disciplinary action also discourage them from being strict in upholding discipline and in punishing the undisciplined employees. However, an effective, well-publicized and legally sound disciplinary proceeding which protects the managers from undue legal harassment can gain their confidence and willing involvement in the disciplinary procedure. The steps mentioned in Figure 21.2 are considered essential for establishing an ideal disciplinary procedure, even though each organization can have its own system to develop and maintain the disciplinary procedure. We shall now see the steps in the establishing of a disciplinary action procedure.⁹

Establishing a Code of Conduct

The first step in the process of establishing a disciplinary procedure is the development of a clear and internally consistent code of conduct for the employees. Since the employees decide the standard behaviour based on this code, it must be explicit, definite and self-explanatory. Organizations usually distribute employee handbooks, which contain detailed information about the dos and don’ts for their employees. The presence of a code of conduct also helps the management in ensuring transparency and consistency in disciplinary actions. Similarly, it helps the employees in knowing the behavioural and performance expectations of the management. Thus, the preparation of a comprehensive code of conduct is the first requirement for installing a disciplinary procedure.

Developing Goals and a System of Discipline

The next step in the installation of the disciplinary procedure is the determination of the disciplinary objective of the organization. The management must make it clear to the employees what it expects as the outcome of the disciplinary action procedure. When the goal of the disciplinary procedure is the punishing and the consequent correcting of the behaviour of the undisciplined employees, it would adopt a negative disciplinary system. The characteristics of negative discipline are: (i) it focuses more on the past behaviour of the employee; (ii) the act of imposing discipline follows an authoritarian style; (iii) the outcomes of the disciplinary action are punishment, forced behaviour alteration and isolation of the employee concerned.

In contrast, if the goal of the discipline system is to encourage the employees to follow self-discipline and enable them to make independent decisions to modify their behaviour appropriately, the organization would adopt a positive discipline system. the characteristics of positive discipline are: (i) the spotlight is on improving the future behaviour or performance of the employee; (ii) the environment in such disciplinary meetings is friendly and collaborative; (iii) the outcome of the disciplinary action is an understanding of the problem and joint determination of strategies like counselling and training to solve the problems. Once the organization decides on the goals of discipline and on the discipline system to achieve the discipline goals, it moves to the next step.

Dissemination of Information about the Goals and the Likely Outcome of the Disciplinary Proceedings

The primary purpose of any form of disciplinary system is to deter the employees from indulging in any act of behavioural or performance misconduct. In order to achieve this purpose, it is absolutely essential for the organization to publicize the goals and rules of the disciplinary proceedings among all the employees of the organization. Every employee must know clearly what will follow as disciplinary action for his acts of indiscipline. The organization must also widely publicize the maximum punishments for different misconducts.

Ensuring Consistency in the Disciplinary Action

The main purpose of developing a disciplinary proceeding is to ensure that the misconducts of equal nature get equal punishment, irrespective of persons and periods. This requires the managers’ strict adherence to all the provisions of the disciplinary system. When an organization fails to ensure consistency in the application of disciplinary rules and regulations and acts arbitrarily in the award of punishments, its moral, ethical and legal credibility in dealing with discipline matters gets drastically undermined. Therefore, it is very important for the management to observe the disciplinary proceedings closely to ensure the total compliance of managers and supervisors with the disciplinary procedure.

Provision for Appeal

Every disciplinary procedure must have a provision to permit the aggrieved employee to appeal against the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings. On no account should this ‘right to appeal’ be taken away from the employees. Similarly, every disciplinary procedure must respect the management’s right in changing the rules and regulations of the disciplinary proceedings and the punishments awarded to the employee at the end of these proceedings. No policy, procedure or system can take away the right of the management to decide on disciplinary matters.

Feedback and Review

Changes continuously occur in the environment of business. These changes in labour and technological characteristics and in legislation may require proportionate changes in the code of conduct and the disciplinary proceedings. For instance, fixed working hours have to some extent been replaced by flexi hours. Similarly, the need for the physical presence of employees in offices has been replaced with the e-commuting mode of employment. Since maintenance of discipline is a continuous process, it is essential for the organization to gather feedback from its managers, employees and unions about the efficacy of the existing discipline system. Based on the feedback, the management must review the disciplinary proceedings to make them more contemporary and objective.

Essential Steps to Enhance the Effectiveness of Discipline Meetings

In any organization, disciplining is one of the most difficult tasks to be performed by the managers, especially when severe punishments are to be given. Disciplining the employees is not an uncommon activity of the organization and thus the process of disciplining must get due attention and importance from the management. When the manager comes across a situation where discipline is breached, he must work systematically to take the discipline issue to its logical end. The manager must not invite the charges of unfairness, arbitrariness and inconsistency at any time during the process. He must follow the discipline guidelines systematically and scrupulously all through the discipline process.¹⁰ The manager must adhere to steps like

1. Gathering relevant information about the reported act of indiscipline
2. Evaluating the nature and intensity of the misconduct and its impact on employee performance and behaviour.
3. Collating all the relevant information about the undisciplined employee. The information may relate to the employee’s length of service, past behaviour, the background of the misconduct, and the severity of the incident. This information would then be used at the time of interview with the undisciplined employee.
4. Calling a meeting with the manager to discuss every aspect of the problem, and they should develop jointly the action plan to prevent the occurrence of such incidents in the future.
5. Recording the results and agreements of the meeting in writing and signed by both the manager and the employee.
6. Verifying the employee’s compliance with the agreements of the meeting.

Elements of a Good Disciplinary System

A good disciplinary system would focus on the act of the problem and not on the person. It would consider the questions of “What was done” and “Why was it done?” It would be least concerned about “Who has done it?” A good disciplinary procedure approaches the whole disciplinary issue in an impersonal and objective manner. Typically, a good disciplinary system would be guided by the philosophy of an organization and its policy on discipline. In fact, organizations are now widely publicizing their codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures to show how fair they are in dealing with their human resources. This publicity, in turn, helps the organization in attracting the most talented and enterprising individuals to the organization. A good disciplinary system facilitates the organization in developing a cordial relationship with the unions. It also ensures due recognition for the unions in the disciplinary process. We shall now see the elements of a good disciplinary system.

Clarity in Discipline Goals

At the outset, an effective disciplinary system must have absolute clarity in its goal. The vision, mission and philosophy of an organization can guide its HR department in developing an unambiguous goal for its discipline. In the absence of clarity, an ambiguous goal can send conflicting signals to the employees about the intentions of the organization in discipline handling. It may also create unnecessary fear and uncertainty in the minds of the employees. It can also affect the morale of the employees adversely.

Fairness of the Procedure

A good disciplinary system would ensure that the managers dealing with employee misconduct act impartially in conducting the disciplinary proceedings and in deciding the quantum of punishment. At the end of the disciplinary process, the employee must get the feeling that he was given a fair hearing and that the disciplinary action was guided purely by the severity of the offence and not by the personality of the offender.

Transparency

Each employee facing disciplinary action must be aware of the stages involved in the disciplinary proceedings. The details of the disciplinary meeting must be conveyed in writing to the employee. The employee must also be given the opportunity to respond in writing if they disagree with the facts presented in the written report. In short, there must be complete transparency in the disciplinary proceedings.

Prior Warning

The purpose of any disciplinary system or policy is to prevent the occurrence of indiscipline in the organization. A good disciplinary system will act as a deterrent against the possible misconduct. In this regard, the organization must ensure that each employee is aware of the consequences of his actions. The code of conduct must spell out clearly the dos and don’ts in the organization and the maximum punishments for various performance and behaviour misconducts.

Adequate Privacy

A good disciplinary system would ensure that discipline is enforced in private and that the employee is not humiliated unnecessarily in public. This may allow the punished employee to lead a normal work life in the aftermath of punishment.

Immediate Response

The organization must never delay the process of imposing discipline on the employees charged with misconduct. In fact, ignoring or postponing disciplinary action would make things even worse for the organization.¹¹ Organizations can compromise on disciplines only at their own peril.

Consistency

It is another critical element of a good disciplinary system. In the absence of consistency in the outcome of the disciplinary action, the employee may lose confidence in the discipline delivery system itself. Obviously, an organization is fraught with more dangers from a defective discipline system than from the absence of it. An inconsistent system may affect the employees’ morale and motivation, can develop the grievance of unfair treatment among the punished employees, and finally strain the industrial relations.

Progressive Discipline

A good discipline system would provide adequate opportunity to the employees to modify their behaviour and fulfil the performance and behaviour expectation of the management. A progressive discipline, for instance, would begin with counselling the employee, then gradually get tough with him, and, finally, end up with the severest punishments like dismissal or discharge, if all the efforts fail. Understandably, it provides ample opportunity to the employees to refine their behaviour.

Documentation

Proper documentation of the disciplinary proceedings is another important element of a good disciplinary system. In the event of a legal tussle over disciplinary actions, the organization must be able to defend its case effectively in the court. The documents of the disciplinary proceedings are important evidences to prove the fairness of the whole process.

Appeal Procedure

A good disciplinary system would provide adequate opportunity to the disciplined employee to appeal against the disciplinary action. In fact, an appeal provision in the disciplinary system lends credibility to the entire disciplinary proceedings and acts as a check against arbitrariness.¹²

Review and Feedback

A good disciplinary system would seek feedback from the managers, frontline supervisors and workers about the efficacy of the system. This feedback would help the organization in reviewing the discipline system in light of the suggestions provided by different stakeholders.

Douglas McGregor’s Hot Stove Rule of Discipline

Douglas McGregor (1967) identified a few essential characteristics of the disciplinary system of an organization to make it fair, growth-producing and objective. He compared the characteristics of a good disciplinary system with those of a red hot stove to facilitate a better understanding of the concept of discipline. He found four similarities and used them to highlight the requirements of an effective disciplinary system. These common characteristics are: (i) forewarning, (ii) immediacy, (iii) consistency and (iv) impartiality. We shall now see these four characteristics of a hot stove applicable to any disciplinary system.

Forewarning

The employees must be forewarned about the consequences of their actions. They must know without doubt that if they break the rule (like touching the hot stove), they would be punished (like getting the fingers burnt) surely. The employees have the responsibility to be aware of the rules and of the punishment for the violation of the rules.

Immediacy

When the employees break the rule, the punishment must follow immediately (like getting their fingers burnt at once). The organization must ensure that there is no undue delay in conducting disciplinary proceedings and deciding on the punishment, once indiscipline has been reported and proved subsequently.

Consistency

Whenever the employees break the rule (like touching the hot stove repeatedly) they must be punished with the same intensity and speed (like burning the fingers as many times). Thus, there must be consistency in the administration of discipline between persons and periods.

Impartiality

Irrespective of who breaks the rule the punishment (severity of burn to the fingers) must be the same. The disciplinary system must consider the offence alone and not the personality of the offender while deciding the punishment.

Code of Discipline

The code of discipline was drafted by a sub-committee appointed by the Indian Labour Conference in 1957 in its fifteenth session and later accepted by the central organizations of employers and employees in 1958. This code is a moral and not a legal approach to discipline.¹³ It places the burden of maintaining discipline on the shoulders of both the management and the employees represented by their unions. The basic tenet of this code is to foster mutually beneficial cooperation between the management and the workers at all levels of the organization. We shall now see the major objectives of the code of discipline:

• It aims at averting stoppages and time-consuming and costly litigations.
• It strives to secure the settlement of conflicts, disputes and grievances through mutual negotiations and reconciliation and voluntary arbitration.
• It looks to shun all forms of bullying, exercise of coercive authority, and violence in the relationship between the employers and the workers and their representatives.
• It endeavours to provide adequate opportunity for the unions to grow freely and quickly.
• It encourages the establishment of a regular grievance redressal procedure in all the organizations with the purpose of attending to the employee complaints promptly.
• It encourages free exchange of constructive ideas, suggestions, concerns and criticism between the representatives of the management and those of the employees at different levels of organization.

The recommendations of the Indian Labour Conference regarding the code of discipline are non-statutory in nature, and, therefore, its implementation is not mandatory. Due to its recommendatory nature, it could not serve its intended purposes effectively.¹⁴

Summary

1. Discipline is a system designed to ensure that the employees’ performance and behaviour are in consistence with the relevant organizational rules and regulations in force.
2. The characteristics of employee discipline are: standard behaviour, driving force, positive or negative, voluntary or imposed, right of the management, and an element of control process.
3. The objectives of discipline are goal accomplishment, developing a responsive workforce, changing employee behaviour, improving morale and motivation, exercising better control over employees, ensuring consistency in action, promoting industrial relations and substituting personal supervision.
4. The types of discipline are positive, negative and progressive.
5. The steps in a progressive discipline process are: counselling the employee, first disciplinary proceeding (reminding), second disciplinary proceeding (warning), final disciplinary proceeding (getting an undertaking), and initiating disciplinary action (dismissal or demotion).
6. The causes of indiscipline are conventional management practices, unfair treatment, absence of an effective code of conduct, absence of a proper grievance-handlingmechanism, ineffective HR policies and practices, absence of an efficient communication system, negative attitude of the employees and their unions, and organizational culture.
7. The types of disciplinary action are oral reprimand, written warning, denial of increments, promotions and pay hike, pay reductions and disciplinary demotions, suspension, and discharge or dismissal.
8. The steps in establishing a disciplinary action procedure are establishing a code of conduct, developing goals and a system of discipline, dissemination of information about the goals and the likely outcome of disciplinary proceedings, ensuring consistency in the disciplinary action, provision for appeal, and feedback and review.
9. The elements of a good disciplinary system are clarity in discipline goals, fairness of the procedure, transparency, prior warning, adequate privacy, immediate response, consistency, progressive discipline, documentation, appeal procedure, and review and feedback.
10. Douglas McGregor’s Hot Stove Rule of Discipline has (i) forewarning, (ii) immediacy, (iii) consistency, and (iv) impartiality.

Review Questions

Essay-type questions

1. Evaluate critically the different types of discipline with suitable examples.
2. Discuss the steps in a progressive discipline process.
3. What are the causes and symptoms of indiscipline in an organization?
4. Enumerate the steps in the establishment of a disciplinary action procedure.
5. Explain the steps needed to establish a disciplinary action procedure using an example.
6. Delineate the elements of a good disciplinary system with relevant examples.
7. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the code of discipline.
8. “Disciplining an employee is the most complex task for the management of a company.” Discuss.
9. Discuss the effectiveness of the disciplinary procedure in maintaining discipline in Indian industries.
10. Discuss the essentials of a sound disciplinary system.

Skill-development Exercise

Objective – The objective of this exercise is to show you how to develop a code of conduct for maintaining effective discipline within the organization so that the employees’ morale and motivation are high.

Procedure Note – The class is split up into groups. Each group has (1) an HR manager, (2) two HR team members, (3) two office-bearers of the trade unions, and (4) two observers of the meetings. The role of the observer is to observe the various aspects of the role-playing sessions and report on them.

Situation

Tupelex Aquatics Private Limited is engaged in the production of cleaning solutions including water purifiers, vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, glass and industrial cleaning solutions. This company has been a market leader for many of its brands with a dominant share in the market. However, in the past two years, the company has reported a high incidence of performance and behaviour misconduct. as well as a significantly higher rate of labour turnover during these years.

An investigation by the company into the cause of these two events revealed the reason—the absence of a fair and objective code of conduct and disciplinary system. The arbitrary manner of the disciplinary proceedings and actions emboldened the undisciplined employees and de-motivated the sincere and efficient ones. Due to this, employees began to leave the company in search of better employment. Sensing the urgency of the situation, the management ordered the HR department to develop a code of conduct for the employees and an effective discipline system based on the progressive discipline model.

Steps in the exercise

There are three steps in the exercise:

Step 1: The HR manager meets the office-bearers of the trade unions to ascertain their views and suggestions relating to the proposed code of conduct and disciplinary action procedure.

Step 2: He convenes a meeting of his HR team to evolve a new code of conduct and disciplinary action procedure after due consideration of the relevant reports and guidelines. The new code of conduct and disciplinary procedure will be sent to the top management for approval.

Step 3: The observers analyse the performance of the members in the role-playing session and give their feedback.

Case Study

Mr Ravi Kumar has been with Akash Cements Limited for the past 26 years and still has five more years of service in the company. He is a senior technician in the production department. He is known for his commitment and his supervisors and managers have had high regard for him. He has maintained an unblemished service record in his entire career and has been disciplined in the past only for complaints like late attendance and availing leave without prior permission. As regards the disciplinary actions taken in this regard, he was counselled by his supervisors immediately after the occurrence of these misconducts. As such, no written reprimand was served on him for these minor offences. Thus the personnel file of Ravi was devoid of any serious complaints against him. until a serious misconduct was reported against him last week.

Last Saturday, when Ravi Kumar was busy arranging the machine and materials before commencing production, he picked a job-related quarrel with Rakesh Ray, a co-worker in the designation of a machine assistant, regarding work sharing for that day. What started as a wordy duel soon developed into a full-fledged confrontation. Finally, it ended up in a physical brawl between these two employees. In the process, Ravi Kumar dealt some injuries to Rakesh Ray. The latter had to be given first aid and leave with pay for that day. Since the duty supervisor was away from the work spot due to his scheduled meeting with the manager, the supervisors had to depend on the statements of the witnesses, all of whom were unanimous in their view that Ravi Kumar was primarily responsible for the incident as he had been the first one to use physical force and Rakesh Ray had merely defended himself. However, the employees were aware neither of the exact conversation between them before the scuffle nor of what enraged Ravi Kumar.

The code of conduct of the company was clear about how a case of fighting must be dealt with. It recommended an emergency suspension of the employee involved in the fighting pending enquiry.

However, the duty supervisor was not in favour of suspending Ravi Kumar immediately as he perceived no danger from him and was also aware of his past record. Moreover, he was afraid that this harsh punishment could affect Ravi Kumar’s performance. He recommended to the HR manager that Kumar be allowed to work till the disciplinary proceeding was over and its outcome was known. The HR manager was against the opinion of the supervisor for he felt that this concession could set a bad precedent and, thus, weaken the disciplinary system of the organization. The management is in favour of helping Ravi Kumar without violating the discipline code of the company.

Questions for discussion

1. Do you agree with the recommendation of the supervisor regarding the suspension of Ravi Kumar?
2. How would you approach the issue if you were the HR manager of this company?
3. How would you help the management in resolving the disciplinary issue in the way the management wishes?

Notes

1. P. Falcone, “Fundamentals of Progressive Discipline,” HR Magazine, 42, no. 2 (February 1997): 90–94.
2. William R. Spriegel and Edward Schultz, Industrial Management (London: Longmans, 1967).
3. R. Wayne Mondy, Human Resource Management (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2007), p. 430.
4. Wayne F. Cascio, Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits, 6th ed. (New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2002), p. 549.
5. Marjorie Mader-Clark and Lisa Guerin, The Progressive Discipline Handbook: Smart Strategies for Coaching Employees (Berkeley, CA: NOLO, 2007), p. 3.
6. Carol Hymowtz, “Managers Struggle to Find a Way to Let Someone Go,” The Wall Street Journal, (28 July 1998), p. B1.
7. William O. Umiker, Management Skills for the New Health Care Supervisor (Boston: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2005), p. 174.
8. Charles W. L. Hill and Gareth R. Jones, Strategic Management (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001).
9. Joyce B. Gentry, HR How-to: Discipline, Everything You Need to Know About Implementing an Effective Employee Discipline Program (Chicago, IL: CCH Incorporated, 2003), p. 12.
10. Marjorie Mader-Clark and Lisa Guerin, The Progressive Discipline Handbook: Smart Strategies for Coaching Employees (Berkeley, CA: NOLO, 2007), p. 34.
11. Joyce B. Gentry, HR How-to: Discipline, Everything You Need to Know About Implementing an Effective Employee Discipline Program (Chicago, IL: CCH Incorporated, 2003), p. 16.
12. Joyce B. Gentry, HR How-to: Discipline, Everything You Need to Know About Implementing an Effective Employee Discipline Program (Chicago, IL: CCH Incorporated, 2003), p. 17.
13. G. R. Madan, Indian Social Problems Vol. 2, 5th ed. (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1998), p. 242.
14. Jerome Joseph, Industrial Relations: Towards a Theory of Negotiated Connectedness (London: Sage, 2004), p. 149.