Disciplinary Process

The Purpose of Employee

Discipline
• Employee Discipline
– A tool used by managers to improve
poor performance and enforce
appropriate behavior to ensure a
productive and safe workplace.
© 2006 Thomson-Wadsworth
 The Purpose of Employee
Discipline
• Eliminate inappropriate behavior
• Create a "win-win" situation for
manager and subordinates
• Not to exercise vengeance or
eliminate a problematic employee
 Organizational Policy and
Procedure
• Policy and Procedure (P&P)
– A written standard used within an
organization to describe what is to be
done and how to do it.
– Usually policies and procedures are
written for tasks that are done
repeatedly and by more than one
individual.
 Organizational Policy and
Procedure
• Importance of a written
disciplinary policy and procedure
– Protects manager and organization
– Guarantees rights of employee
– Teaches manager how to discipline
employees
 Organizational Policy and
Procedure – Components
• Procedure - usually has a
minimum of 4 steps:
– Verbal warning
– Written warning
– Suspension
– Termination
The Disciplinary Process
 The Disciplinary Process

• Special circumstances
– Certain events may result in
termination without progressive
discipline
– Before immediate termination,
manager should consider:
• Magnitude of problem behavior
• Prior record of employee
Employee Grievances
 Employee Grievances
• Grievance P&P has the same format as
discipline P&P
• Typical procedure:
– Discuss problem with manager
– Discuss problem with manager's superior
– Superior may refer problem to grievance
committee or CEO
• Union employee grievances are handled
differently...
 Conclusion

• Managers must use judgment,

empathy, consistency, and fairness
when administering employee
discipline.
• All disciplinary actions should be
documented in a factual,
nonjudgmental way.
 Conclusion

• Alternatives to the traditional

disciplinary process include the use
of employee assistance programs.
• Employees can use the grievance
procedure to resolve conflicts with
management.