HR MANAGEMENT - 5 Keys to Effective Management of Discipline in the Workplace

KEY #1 – UNDERSTAND ABOUT PEOPLE

1.1   HOW PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT?

Basically people three (3) most common factor that makes people different are Biology, Culture and Belief.

Biology
In Biology, people are different from distinguish biological aspects of human genes (except identical twins) and physical (gender, size, skin color, hair color and everything related to human physical form).

Culture
Culture is in the process of human deeds raised. The way a proportion will create a culture of self, family and group or race. Culture displayed in everyday life through language, accent, dress and way of life.

Belief
Human believes system is a very complex to understand. Human belief in often influenced by parents, the people around them, facts of theory, evidence, what they experience, what they know and their instincts.

●  Belief Fostering Value
    In general, human values ​​are divided into two categories: the majority and
    the elite and being demonstrated in the ability to think, act and outcome.
   
    The differences can be summarized as follows:

Difference	Majority People	Elite People
Belief	Right and wrong	Flexible
Thought	Positive and negative	Positive
Feel	Knowing a lot	Keen in continuous learning
Learning Outcomes	Not practicing what they learned	Practicing what they learned in their daily life
Practice	Do the routine	Try to do differently
Habit	Always give reasons	Always find a way
Working Style	Do for current need and as the need arise	Doing things for the future
Work Outcome	Does for the sake of doing	Produce quality
Effort	Doing good	Doing the best
Ego	Sense wiser than everyone else	Appreciate the knowledge and experience of others
Self Satisfaction	Satisfied with average achievement	Want to achieve more success
Leadership Strength	Adding followers	Develop more leaders
Leadership Quality	Good or moderate	Brilliant

1.2   FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR 
         AT WORK          

In their best selling management book, "Follow This Path, How the World's Greatest Organizations Drive Growth....", Curt Coffman and Gabriela Gonzalez-Molina state, “The success of your organization doesn’t depend on your understanding of economics, or organizational development, or marketing. It depends, quite simply, on your understanding of human psychology: how each individual employee connects with your company and how each individual employee connects with your customers.”


Common factors which influence individual behavior at work are:

Demographic Factors
The demographic factors are socio economic background, education, nationality, race, age, gender, etc. Organizations prefer persons that belong to good socio-economic background, well educated, young etc as they are believed to be performing better than the others. The young and dynamic professionals that have good academic background and effective communication skills are always in great demand. 

Abilities and Skills
The physical capacity of an individual to do something can be termed as ability. Skill can be defined as the ability to act in a way that allows a person to perform well. The individual behavior and performance is highly influenced by ability and skills. A person can perform well in the organization if his abilities and skills are matched with the job requirement. The managers and supervisors plays vital role in matching the abilities and skills of the employees with the particular job requirement.

Perception
There is many factors that influence the perception of an individual. It is important to create the favorable work environment so that employees perceive them in most favorable way. The employees are likely to perform better if they are going to perceive it in a positive way.

Attitude
According to psychologists, attitude can be defined as a tendency to respond favorably or unfavorably to certain objects, persons or situations. The factors such as family, society, culture, peers and organizational factors influence the formation of attitude. It is important to study the variables related to job as to create the work environment in a favorable way that employees are tempted to form a positive attitude towards their respective jobs. The employees can perform better in the organization if they form a positive attitude.

Personality
The several factors that influence the personality of an individual are heredity, family, society, culture and situation. It implies to the fact that individuals differ in their manner while responding to the organizational environment. Personality can be regarded as the most complex aspect of human beings that influences their behavior in big way. It can be concluded that the study of personality traits offers an opportunity to understand the individuals. It helps them properly in directing their effort and motivating them for the accomplishment of the organizational goal. It refers to the fact that different environmental factors may generate different responses. The study of these responses is very important for the organization. Every organization demands a particular type of behavior from their employees and such behaviors can be discovered through observation, learning, exposure, training, etc.

1.3   FACTORS AFFECTING ORGANIZATION CULTURE

Culture represents the beliefs, ideologies, policies and practices of an organization. It gives the employees a sense of direction and also controls the way they behave with each other. The work culture brings all the employees on a common platform and unites them at the workplace.

There are several common factors which affect the organization culture:

1.   The individual working with the organization.
      The employees in their own way contribute to the culture of the  
      workplace. The attitudes, mentalities, interests, perception and even the
      thought process of the employees affect the organization culture.

2.   The gender of the employee also affects the organization culture.  
      Organizations where male employees dominate the female counterparts
      follow a culture where late sitting is a normal feature. The male
      employees are more aggressive than the females who instead would be
      caring and softhearted.

3.   The nature of the business also affects the culture of the organization.
      Companies depending on external factors like demand and supply will
      suffer in high employee turnover that eventually affect the culture of the
      place.

4.   The clients and the external parties to some extent also affect the work
      culture of the place. Organizations catering to UK and US Clients have no
      other option but to work in shifts to match their timings, thus forming the
      culture.

5.   The management and its style of handling the employees also affect
      the culture of the workplace. There are certain organizations where the
      management allows the employees to take their own decisions and let
      them participate in strategy making. In such a culture, employees get
      attached to their management and look forward to a long term
      association with the organization. The management must respect the
      employees to avoid a culture where the employees just work for money
      and nothing else. They treat the organization as a mere source of earning
      money and look for a change in a short span of time.

KEY #2 – UNDERSTAND ABOUT DISCIPLINE

To begin with, we must first answer these 2 questions:

Question 1 : What is Discipline at Work?  

Discipline at work may be defined as:
The acceptance by an employee of the authority of his employer (or the later duly appointed representative) his consequent limitation of his freedom of actions within the employment relation. The presence of discipline at work is a fundamental element in the employment relations, and the requirements of that relation cannot be accomplished unless employees accept the authority of the employer.             

Question 2 – What is the Foundation of Discipline?

The employer – employee relation is the foundation of discipline at work. The binding of the relationship are made by the acceptance and fulfillment of the obligations by both party as follows :

Employer’s Obligation
1.  Provide written “understandable” information on the company’s rules and
     procedures.
2.  Provide “clear” guideline on employee’s job scope and responsibilities
     through a properly drawn job description.
3.  Provide “clear” guideline of performance standards and performance
     expectations.
4.  Provide appropriate training, coaching, counseling and supervision.
5.  Provide fair and consistent enforcement of rules and procedures.
6.  Develop, communicate and implement performance measurement system.

Employee’s Obligation
1.  Present for work at the designated day and time.
2.  Give honest and faithful service.
3.  Provide and use reasonable skill and care in performing his duties.
4.  Obey all reasonable rules and orders given to him.
5.  Consistently practice good conduct.
6.  Give full disclosure when a conflict of interest arises.

2.1   PURPOSE OF DISCIPLINE IN THE WORKPLACE

Employers develop and implement disciplinary and corrective-action policies for a variety of reasons, ranging from instructing proper workplace processes to deciding who gets promoted from within.

Workplace Structure
Disciplinary review and corrective-action policies provide workplace structure. They establish guidelines for employee performance and behavior and add an essential component to the overall management system. Disciplinary review and corrective action enforce workplace guidelines contained in employee handbooks, standard operating procedures and employment agreements. Merely outlining workplace policies is not enough; management must consistently discipline employees who fail to adhere to them. This is the simplest way to enforce them.

Eliminate Nonproductive Workers
Disciplinary review also helps identify toxic behavior in the workplace. Employees who blatantly disregard policies and procedures are subject to various disciplinary measures. These measures help employers identify misalignment between employees’ workplace actions and the organization's philosophy and mission. Ultimately, an employer’s disciplinary policy helps justify actions to remove toxic behavior from the workplace, such as suspension or termination. Employees who engage in behavior that runs afoul of the organization’s philosophy are subject first to disciplinary action and then face eventual termination.

Improve Performance
Discipline helps employees improve their performance. In some cases, employees are unaware of behavior and actions that prevent them from achieving acceptable performance levels. The purpose of workplace discipline is to alert employees to their behavior and actions and help them understand how these inhibit performance and productivity. Disciplinary review is an appropriate method for supervisors to use when correcting employees' misdeeds and helping them attain performance levels that meet employers' expectations. In this scenario, workplace discipline is a teaching and improvement tool.

Justify Employment ActionsDiscipline in the workplace justifies employment actions besides suspension and termination. Employees subject to disciplinary review also may be the first ones laid off during a performance-based reduction in force.

2.2   WHAT IS POSITIVE DISCIPLINE AT WORK?

Positive discipline fosters appropriate behavior by encouraging employee participation. The first step is to lay out clear protocol and ethical guidelines to ensure your employees fully understand what you expect. The next step is to use constructive criticism to instill correct behaviors. For example, you might explain to an under-performing employee how her failure to follow proper protocol is hurting her performance and then offer helpful suggestions for increasing productivity.

Positive Reinforcement
An important element in positive discipline is positive reinforcement, which motivates your employees to comply with organizational protocols and standards. You might worry that being soft on your employees will encourage misbehavior, but rewards, bonuses, promotions and other types of positive reinforcement align employee interests with the company’s, inspiring employees to work harder.

Negative Discipline
Negative discipline consists of some form of punishment, such as negative criticism, demotion, wage loss, suspension or termination. Generally, negative discipline should be your last resort. You don’t want your employees to feel as if they are perpetually under attack. But don’t hesitate to use negative discipline in the event of illegal or unsafe employee behavior, such as sexual harassment, violence or failure to follow vital safety protocols.

Goal
Positive discipline fosters appropriate behaviors while maintaining a happy workplace. The keys are to involve and motivate employees as much as possible. Your goal is not to create automatons that obey your every command. Rather, strive to create high-functioning employees that understand why it is important to follow protocols and comply with organizational directives.

Process

Follow a clearly defined disciplinary process to help employees improve. For example, the book “Positive Discipline,” by Eric Harvey and Paul Sims, suggests identifying the problem, analyzing its severity, discussing it with the employee, documenting the discussion and then following up on the measures to which you and the employee committed. Set a clear, achievable goal and a reasonable timeline to help the employee meet your expectations. Offer support and guidance throughout the process.

Feedback
An important aspect of positive discipline is continual feedback. Employees need to know when they’re doing things right. If you limit your feedback to corralling misbehavior, your employees learn nothing more than how to stay out of trouble. Provide regular, constructive feedback so employees always know where they stand.

2.3   CATEGORIES OF DISCIPLINE

Discipline in employment can be dealt with under different categories as follows:

1.  Discipline Relating to Duty
     This rule shall specify the employee’s obligation to his duties including
     attendance, providing his skills and obey to reasonable orders given to
     him.

2.  Discipline Relating to Misconduct
     This rule shall specify the violation of employee’s obligation including the
     act done willfully with wrong intention.

3.  Discipline Relating to Company Provided Accommodation
     There is a need to establish rules for employees provided with
     accommodation that go beyond the hours of work.
    
4.  Discipline relating to Safety and Health              
     In many sectors, there may be other concern for safety and health arising
     from the nature of work and the failure to personal protection. In most
     workplace where there are equipment and machinery which can cause
     injury or illness, employer should introduce “permit to work” system.          

     Rules on safety and health should prevent accident and must show that
     failure to obey such rules can lead to disciplinary action. Employer should
     observe the provisions provided under the Occupational Safety and Health
     Act, 1994 and other related legislations.

                  

KEY #3 – UNDERSTAND ABOUT PERFORMANCE

3.1   TYPES OF WORK PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS

Quantity of work (untimely completion, limited production)

●  Poor prioritizing, timing, scheduling

●  Lost time

    - Lateness, absenteeism, leaving without permission

    - Excessive visiting, phone use, break time, use of the Internet

    - Misuse of sick leave

●  Slow response to work requests, untimely completion of assignments

●  Preventable accidents

Quality of work (failure to meet quality standards)

●  Inaccuracies, errors

●  Failure to meet expectations for product quality, cost or service

●  Customer/client dissatisfaction

●  Spoilage and/or waste of materials

●  Inappropriate or poor work methods

3.2   WORK BEHAVIORS WHICH RESULT IN PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS

Inappropriate behaviors (often referred to as "poor attitude")

●  Negativism, lack of cooperation, hostility
●  Failure or refusal to follow instructions

●  Unwillingness to take responsibility ("passing the buck")

●  Insubordination

●  Power games

Resistance to change

●  Unwillingness, refusal or inability to update skills

●  Resistance to policy, procedure, work method changes

●  Lack of flexibility in response to problems

Inappropriate interpersonal relations

●  Inappropriate communication style: over-aggressive, passive

●  Impatient, inconsiderate, argumentative

●  Destructive humor, sarcasm, horseplay, fighting

●  Inappropriate conflict with others ? customers, coworkers, supervisors

Inappropriate physical behavior

●  Smoking, eating, drinking in inappropriate places

●  Sleeping on the job

●  Alcohol or drug use

●  Problems with personal hygiene

●  Threatening, hostile, or intimidating behaviors

3.3   HOW TO HELP PEOPLE IMPROVE THEIR PERFORMANCE?


“Give a Man a Fish and he will eat for a day; Teach a Man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime”

Does this Chinese proverb means anything to you?

Similarly, many managers and supervisors fail because they simply tell people what to do. The key to high performance is teach them how to do and it is called “High Performance Coaching”

What is High Performance Coaching?
You may think that "high-performance coaching" means coaching for high performers – in other words, people who, for whatever reason, have been identified as "star talent."

Actually, high-performance coaching is about helping all people reach their full potential, in any area of their lives. For the managers and supervisors as coach, this means working with people to improve their performance at work.

High-performance coaching may also involve working with other people within your organization – collaborating with other managers and leaders to make the workplace a high-performance organization, one that helps everybody to perform at their best.

The approaches and techniques used in high-performance coaching borrow heavily from the worlds of sport and the military – areas where optimal performance is the key.

High-performance coaching conversations usually start with finding out people's "starting points" – their visions or life ambitions. Then, it moves on to explore the directions in which people need to move to achieve those visions, and the steps they need to take now to do so.


Key Points
●  High-performance coaching is about helping people to achieve their very
    best. 

●  It's particularly useful for long-range career or life planning, for dealing with
    career change points, for making changes to performance or behavior, and
    for dealing with major life setbacks.
●  High-performance coaching conversations usually start with finding out
    people's "starting points" - their visions or life ambitions. You can then look
    at helping the coachee obtain a balanced set of skills, while looking at
    emotional interferences such as their worries and fears.
●  Overall, high-performance coaching involves challenging coachees as well as
    supporting them, so that they can build their skills and improve their
    performance in a balanced way. 

KEY # 4 – UNDERSTAND WHAT

USUALLY WENT WRONG?

 

Most companies have established a system of progressive discipline for dealing with employees with performance or behavior problems. Here’s a look at where managers and supervisor often derail the process.

The tough truth is that any policy’s only as good as the people who have to enforce it on a day-to-day basis. Managers and supervisors are only human (despite what their underlings may occasionally think), and, like the rest of us, they’re susceptible to acting on ingrained personality quirks.

Four pitfalls that trip up many managers and supervisors as they try to correct employee problems:

4.1   TEACHING THEM A LESSON

The most common mistake managers and supervisors make in the progressive discipline process: They think of it as punishment for the employee.

That’s a giant misconception – and it’s often the underlying catalyst for legal problems that crop up if the discipline process ultimately leads to the employee’s termination.

Managers and supervisors who see discipline as punishment bring an unnecessarily adversarial attitude to the table – in the misguided belief that the threat of negative consequences will somehow translate into a positive outcome.

In rare cases, that approach work, but even those “wins” may sour when employment opportunities open up. Employees have long memories, and the old adage’s true: “Employees don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.”

The alternate approach is to look at discipline as an educational process – an opportunity to improve. That means the manager, supervisor and the employee work together to solve the problem.

The goal is to find a way for managers, supervisors and employees to collaborate in identifying causes of problematic behavior (or substandard performance) and then make a plan to solve those problems.

4.2   LET IT BE, LET IT BE ……

Many managers and supervisors are focused on one thing: Productivity.

They don’t want to deal with disciplinary problems – either behavioral or performance-related – any more than employees want to hear about them.

It’s easy to let small things slide. And bringing up minor problems sometimes seems like more trouble than it’s worth.

Who wants to stir the pot when it’s already hard enough to make monthly goals?

The last thing the manager and supervisor needs is a morale problem. They’re already stressed as it is.

It’s an understandable rationale … but it’s fatally flawed. Those small issues rarely go away by themselves – indeed, they almost always get worse.

And by not taking action, managers and supervisors send employees the message that undesirable behavior will be accepted, or – even worse – hasn’t even been noticed.

Delay has another adverse impact on the manager and supervisor. As the problem worsens, it’s common for managers to build up resentment against the employee – and that can warp the supervisor’s perspective in a way that makes it difficult to eventually deal with the issue in an objective, positive way.

4.3   NOT DIGGING DEEP ENOUGH

Sometimes, managers and supervisors are so busy and so stressed out they simply issue a proclamation to an employee: “Don’t be late again.” “From now on, I expect you to finish X amount of work during the day.”

While the desired outcomes are probably reasonable, there may well be equally reasonable causes for the employee’s tardiness or temporary lack of performance. Many times, threats or managerial and supervisory edicts have little effect on behavior, simply because they don’t address the root cause of the problem.

Again, it’s this type of situation progressive discipline policies are designed to address. A collaborative approach to the problem – in something as low-key as a one-on-one between manager supervisor and employee – has a far better chance for success than a flat edict from the supervisor.

4.4   THE TIME HAS COME

Managers and supervisors who drag their feet on dealing with employee problems tend to wait until things get so bad they must act – and often, the action they take is extreme. This tactic results in two unintended consequences: First, the punishment often appears overly harsh to the employee and his or her co-workers – not exactly a morale-builder.

Second, by exercising this “nuclear option,” the manager and supervisor guts the progressive discipline process the company’s gone to great lengths to design and implement. The opportunity for a well-thought out, step-by-step approach to solving the problem is largely gone.

The moral of the story: Managers and supervisors should deal with problems as early as possible, tailoring sanctions to fit the offense. Many small problems can be eliminated by a quick managerial response – and if they’re not, the supervisor has the progressive discipline process to fall back on.

The delayed, unduly harsh response to a problem paints the manager in a corner, limiting future options. That could lead to the loss of a potentially productive employee.

KEY #5 – LEARN HOW TO IMPROVE

5.1   IMPROVE YOUR ORGANIZATION CULTURE

Organization culture has a powerful influence throughout the organization. It affects everything that goes on in the organization, from the way the employees dress and greets each other, to even the basis of promotion within the organization, and how decision are made.

The organization’s culture has an impact on the employee’s degree of satisfaction with the job as well as on the level and quality of their performance. An employee for example, who seeks an environment where his inputs are important, will be happy in an organization where employee’s suggestion is taken seriously. On the other hand, an employee who believes that “the boss is always right” and prefer to be told what to do rather than making his own decision would choose to perform at the minimal capacity just to safeguard his employment.

Strong organizational culture is where every employee knows what is expected of them. In a strong culture, the system of the rules is widely shared and accepted and these spell out how people are to behave. When people know what is expected of them, there is little time wasted in deciding how to act in a given situation.

In an organization where the culture is weak, people are confused and unsure as to how they should act. Thus mush time is wasted in trying to figure out what is expected of them. The management will then be spending much time in rectifying problems.

A strong culture will also allow employees to feel better about the organization and motivate them to work harder. The culture becomes a way of life that enables employees to identify with the organization and have sense of belonging.

The impact of a strong culture on productivity can be tremendous. The culture removes a great deal of uncertainty. Thus strong organization culture will inspire the people towards high quality performance.

5.2   IMPROVE YOUR PEOPLE HANDLING SKILLS

Many people are brilliant technically and superb in operational matters but many fail because of poor people handling skills. Basically there are two issues in every business operation, the production issue and the other is people issue.

Most organization pays too much attention in production issue and recklessly neglecting people issue. Building Relations, Leadership Quality, Managerial Skills, Administrative Skills, Supervisory Skills, Assertive Listening,    Communicating Effectively, Criticizing Positively, Correct Motivation, Team Building and Dealing with Critical People are some most common weaknesses. At times Inviting Positive Debating is necessary.

Managers and supervisor must learn and improve their people handling skills. This is not a suggestion but a prime requirement. You must work closely with the people around you because the progress and achievement of your organization relies so much with the people around you.

5.3   IMPROVE YOUR SYSTEM

While most people are focusing on offering attractive wages, compensation and benefits in achieving high performance team and retaining people, they did not pay attention on how their system affect their people.

Your system must in line with all your effort to motivate your people and if it does not, you will end up scratching your head wondering what went wrong?

At times, you will start blaming the people around you. A careful study on you people development plan, what you teach, how you coach, how you set your standard, how you mark quality, how you measure performance, how you reward high performance, how you motivate people and many other issue in achieving high moral and pleasant workplace.

Salary increment, bonus and promotion must reflect performance. Offering attractive non-monetary incentives often motivate people.



5.4   DISCIPLINING CORRECTLY                                                                            

Having comprehensive disciplinary rules and procedure means nothing if you don’t discipline your people correctly. The two most common acts that lead to paralyzing your entire disciplinary system are “double standard practice” and “condoning sub-standard or indiscipline acts”.


The Hot Stove Rule
The "Hot-Stove Rule" of Douglas McGregor gives a good illustration of how to impose disciplinary action without generating resentment. This rule draws an analogy between touching a hot stove, and undergoing discipline. When you touch a hot stove, your discipline is immediate, with warning, consistent, and impersonal.

These four characteristics, according to McGregor, as applied to discipline are self-serving and may be explained as follows:

1.   When you touch the hot stove, you burn your hand. The burn was
      immediate. Will you blame the hot stove for burning your hand?
      Immediately, you understand the cause and effect of the offense. The
      discipline was directed against the act not against anybody else. You get
      angry with yourself, but you know it was your fault. You get angry with
      the hot stove too, but not for long as you know it was not its fault. You
      learn your lesson quickly.

2.   You had warning as you knew the stove was red hot and you knew what
      would happen to you if you touched it. You knew the rules and regulations
      previously issued to you by the company prescribing the penalty for
      violation of any particular rule so you cannot claim you were not given a
      previous warning.

3.   The discipline was consistent. Every time you touch the hot stove you
      get burned. Consistency in the administration of disciplinary action is
      essential. Excessive leniency as well as too much harshness creates not
      only dissatisfaction but also resentment.

4.   The discipline was impersonal. Whoever touches the hot stove gets
      burned, no matter who he is. Furthermore, he gets burned not because of
      who he is, but because he touched the hot stove. The discipline is
      directed against the act, not against the person. After disciplinary action
      has been applied, the supervisor should take the normal attitude toward
      the employee.

In applying this Hot Stove rule in disciplinary action, there must be company policies, rules and regulations regarding certain behavior and conduct which were issued and clearly explained to employees and accepted by them for compliance.

Disciplinary action must be directed against the act, not against the person. It must be used by supervisors as a tool to develop the employee and the group.


The steps that should be followed are:

Step 1 – Investigate immediately
Step 2 – Check previous warning given
Step 3 – Act consistently
Step 4 – Provide reasonable opportunity to face charges
Step 5 – Impose disciplinary action

 “Discipline in the workplace is not merely about

The making of rules and taking action;

It is about being together, working together and succeed together”
- Faudzil Harun -

“Only highly motivated people are keen

in seeing quality in their work”
- Faudzil Harun -

“Wishing you Every Success”