Factors necessary for effective disciplinary system in an organization

1. Training of supervisors is necessary: Supervisors and mangers need to be
trained on when and how discipline should be used. It is necessary to provide
training on counseling skills as these skills are used while dealing with problem employees. Moreover, discipline decisions taken by trained supervisors are considered fair by both employees and managers.
2. Centralization of discipline: Centralized means that the discipline decisions
should be uniform throughout the organization. The greater the uniformity,
higher will be the effectiveness of discipline procedure.
3. Impersonal discipline: Discipline should be handled impersonally. Managers
should try to minimize the ill feelings arising out of the decisions by judging
the offensive behavior and not by judging the person. Managers should limit
their emotional involvement in the disciplinary sessions.
4. Review discipline decisions: The disciplinary decisions must be reviewed
before being implemented. This will ensure uniformity and fairness of the
system and will minimize the arbitrariness of the disciplinary system.
5. Notification of conduct that may result in discipline: Actions that lead to
misconduct can be listed and documented so the employees are aware of such
actions. This will unable them to claim that they have not been notified, in
advance, regarding the same.
6. Information regarding penalties: The employer should define the penalties
and other actions like warnings, reprimands, discharge and dismissal well in
advance. All these action plans must be communicated to the employees.
7. Discipline shall be progressive: Discipline system should be progressive in
nature. In a progressive discipline approach the severity of actions to modify
behavior increases with every step as the employee continues to show improper behavior. The advantage of this approach is that employees can’t take
it for granted.
8. Documentation: Effective discipline requires accurate, written record keeping and written notification to the employees. Thus less chance will be left
for the employee to say the he “did not know” about the policy.
9. Discipline should be fair: The disciplinary decision should be fair enough for
the employee. Both over-penalization and under-penalization are considered
to be unfair for the problem employee. Moreover, an internal fairness is to
be maintained, that is, two employees who have committed the same offense
should be equally punished.
10. Discipline shall be flexible and consistent: The manager administering discipline must consider the effect of actions taken by other managers and of other
actions taken in the past. Consistent discipline helps to set limits and informs
people about what they can and cannot do. Inconsistent discipline leads to
confusion and uncertainty.
11. Disciplinary action should be prompt: The effective discipline should be immediate. The longer time lag between the misconduct offense and the disciplinary action will result in ineffectiveness of the discipline.

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Titany answered the question on December 3, 2021 at 06:17