HR MANAGEMENT - The Difference Between Incompetence & Insubordination

The Difference Between Incompetence & Insubordination

by Jonathan Lister , Demand Media

Insubordination and incompetence in the workplace have similar results with very different intentions. An insubordinate employee refuses to perform work tasks, whereas an incompetent employee lacks the aptitude to perform those tasks well. Incompetence can manifest in either physical or mental tasks, while insubordination doesn't usually involve a worker's ability/aptitude. Managers confront both circumstances in differing manners, though the results of these efforts usually land both types of worker in the unemployment line.

Employee Incompetence Definition

Incompetence can apply across the entirety of a person's existence and affect all major life tasks. For example, a person diagnosed with a mental disorder causing progressive cognitive impairment can be incompetent in all phases of decision-making. Alternatively, incompetence can apply to specific tasks with a given person. For example, a person lacking excellent dexterity, body mass and endurance can make an incompetent football player. This can mean an employee can be incompetent in one particular job role and competent in another depending on mental/physical acuity.

Incompetence in the Workplace

In the context of the workplace, a managers don't prove an employee's incompetence with a single act as evidence. Management personnel prove incompetence as a pattern of behavior showing an inability to complete assignments as assigned, according to McGrath Training Systems, a training firm specializing in educational institutions and government agencies. Proving incompetence requires extensive observation from outside managers, review of employee assignments, interviews with coworkers and performance evaluations from immediate supervisors. The credibility of an employee's immediate supervisors can also be an issue when determining competency. Management personnel have the difficult task of deciding whether supervisor directions are to blame for employee incompetency, or if the employee simply lacks the aptitude to perform at the required level.

Insubordination Definition

Insubordination can occur in a variety of circumstances, including a military unit or private work environment. Insubordination is more than simple disobedience or a failure by a person to perform an act up to the standard set by the supervisor. This act carries the subtext that the subordinate doesn't recognize his superior's authority to issue orders and make demands. If this problem spread throughout a given workforce, a supervisor can lose the authority necessary to command others.

Enforcing Consequences

Confronting insubordination at work often requires swift action to preserve the authority of the supervisor in question and to show other employees that there's zero tolerance for the behavior. Insubordination can carry an accelerated penalty schedule for an offending employee, including immediate termination after just one infraction. The employee handbook should inform the worker of the consequences for insubordination at the time of hire, including an outline of what the employer considers to be an insubordinate act. An employer can legally consider this an employee's warning against insubordination allowing the employer to fire the worker with cause on the first incident.