Navigating Employee Discipline: Best Practices for a Healthy Workplace.

 

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Definition of Discipline

 

Employee discipline is the process an organization uses to enforce its rules and standards of behaviour, addressing policy violations and maintaining a respectful, productive workplace. An organization's employee discipline system exists to deal with behaviours of staff members who violate their established rules or organizational policies or standards.

Jones Chitondo (Chitondo, 2025) defines that the term "discipline" refers to the strategies, actions, and processes used to address and correct inappropriate or unacceptable behavior, conduct, or performance by employees. The main goal is to ensure that all employees adhere to the company's policies, rules, and standards of conduct, thereby maintaining a productive, respectful, and harmonious work environment.

Based on the above definitions the term 'Discipline' involves the following:

1.A condition where employees conduct themselves in accordance with rules and standards of acceptable behaviour.

2.To make employees obey rules of behaviour.

3.To punish employees when they do not obey rules of behaviour.

4.Managerial action encouraging employees to comply with standards of the

organization.

5.A form of training to enforce organizational rules.

Importance of Discipline

 

Proper administration of discipline results in willing cooperation and observance of the rules established to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Proper employee discipline will lead to the absence of disorders and irregularities in the employees' behaviour. Disciplined employees cooperate and behave in orderly way.

Discipline is one of the behaviours that obey the written and unwritten rules that are inside the company. Discipline should be imposed without generating resentment to develop employees to perform in an organization. An organization which manages discipline well and treats their employees as customers can achieve higher employee’s performance (Anthony, 2017)

Objectives of the Disciplinary Policy

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A Culture of Employee Discipline

The primary objectives of a disciplinary policy are to maintain standards of conduct, ensure fair and consistent treatment, and to correct unacceptable behavior through progressive measures, not punishment. Disciplinary policy should focus on achieving following objectives:

 

1. To develop self-control among all the employees.

2. To encourage employees to meet established rules of behavior.

3. To protect the organization from illegal and harmful actions of employees.

4. To protect the life of an employee from illegal and harmful actions of another                  employee or a group of other employees.

5. To ensure peaceful and orderly working environment for the achievement of         organizational goals and objectives.

6. To promote fairness and order in the treatment of employees and in the conduct of         industrial relations.

Disciplinary Policy involves clear general guidelines to Certain disciplinary actions are available under positive approach of penalizing an offender. They are as follows

 

1. Oral Or written warning

2. Fining

3. Suspension of work for a particular period

4. Stoppage of salary increment

5. Stoppage of applying for a promotion

6.Transfer to a difficult area/unpleasant work

7. Reduction of seniority

8.Demotion

9. Termination of employment /dismissal

Formal Inquiry requires following 

 

It is very important to appoint qualified managers(panel) in terms of education, experience, honesty, confidence and impartiality as inquiring officers. Raising minor misconduct issues among workers can lead to different results. Single instances of this behaviour require only a verbal warning according to the policy. The discipline level automatically escalates from one level to another for proven disciplinary offenses beginning with the second incident. The first step is an initial warning session then procurement of written warnings.

If misconduct persists after these steps the employer can conduct employee termination. The employer retains the right to terminate employment when disciplinary procedures fail to produce improvement. right to dismiss him/her (Jaharuddin & Ibrahim, 2014)

Conclusion

Effective employee discipline direct to maintain the productive and harmonious work place. By implementing clear policies and procedures, organizations can address behavioral issues fairly and consistently. Ultimately, a well-structured disciplinary process not only protects the interests of the organization but also supports employees in their professional journey, promoting a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.

 

References

Anthony, A. E. (2017). EFFECTS OF DISCIPLINE MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN AN ORGANIZATION. International Academic Journal of Human Resource and Business Administration , 1-18.Available at: https://www.iajournals.org/articles/iajhrba_v2_i3_1_18.pdf[Accessed on 25^th Mar 2025]

 

Chitondo, J. (2025, February). MANAGING EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE: PURPOSE, IMPORTANCE, AND EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES. Strategies for Managine Employee Discipline. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/managing-employee-discipline-purpose-importance-jones-ciqif/[Accessed on 25^th Mar 2025]

 

2.     Fanindia Aulia Safitri, A. S. (2019). THE EFFECT OF TRAINING, DISCIPLINE, MOTIVATION, AND SATISFACTION. 13. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3313138[Accessed on 25^th Mar 2025]

3.     Jaharuddin, N. S., & Ibrahim, S. (2014). Management Science. Universiti Putra Malaysia Press. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nor-Jaharuddin/publication/336509976_Management_Science_A_Collection_of_Readings/links/5da3cdaf92851c6b4bd34aa3/Management-Science-A-Collection-of-Readings.pdf#page=159[Accessed on 25^th Mar 2025]