Fixed working hours, strict uniform, internal policies, harsh deadlines is that all about disciplining you say? Heck yes, this should be the point where delusions come to an end. The time of traditional Machiavellian management have passed a long time ago but some organizations still follow old school ways of disciplining employees where managers.
Discipline is not a punishment
The most spread errors of disciplining are based in the idea that discipline is a punishment. Consequently, the manager perceives discipline as a punishment and applies tons of negative sanctions expecting that those harsh realities could make any change to the routine work life of the workforce. On one hand harsh disciplining appears in the form of famous threats like “no benefits this month” accompanied with additional work overload. On the other hand severe disciplining may bring unpredictable results.
Employees see the sanction equivalent to offense and feel confronted with all the specified scopes. Often discipline is seen as something done to an employee, not something done with employee’s consent. When building up a fence consider to count the opinion and consent of every person in the company.
Inconsistent management or favouritism
Imagine a scenario of teaching someone of your ground rules in a specific situation. However in this specific instance, the attacked employee spotted that you have assigned those rules only to him. But here comes the hanky-panky of being ‘the boss’. When drawing a line remember that this rule should be applied to all.
Make an employee to live with an illusion of being fired
Once an employee got onboard there’s always a slight feeling of being fired. There’s always a fear of being kicked off or disregarded and not being accepted. Unreasonable curses create an immense illusion of being fired. In this specific instance it’s worthwhile to mention that, a feared employee will be afraid of committing something this will lead to low productivity and morale. Peaceful environment cannot be build on fears of employees, which comes along with employee empowerment.
Empty threats
A manager who makes an empty threats will never be taken seriously. It’s a huge mistake to even think that threatening the worker is the best off disciplining. Instead of setting harsh ground rules try maintaining pleasant communication for both sides. Threat becomes a blocking wall amidst the employee and employer.
Taking it for granted
It was assumed that Ashley knew the rules or at least she could read it on intranet, and no problem. But in the most cases that is far not enough. Even if some rules and ground have been disclosed, never take it for granted that employees are aware of the company policies.
It’s in the company’s best of interest to help the potential employee shed light upon organization’s internal procedures. Employee disciplining is undoubtedly a vital element of any HR management. In most cases discipline helps to establish a harmony in the work life balance. However, without knowing the root causes of performance problem or misconduct of a management task it will be difficult to rebuild the employee relationship.