Chapter 10: Discipline and Employee Assistance Programs

• Essentials of Discipline

• Approaches to Discipline

• Administering Discipline

• Termination

• Employee Assistance Programs

• The Leaders Key Role

Essentials of Discipline

• Discipline: – (1) Condition or state of orderly

conduct & compliance with rules.

– (2) Action to ensure orderly conduct & compliance to the rules.

• Both sides are the responsibility of the manager.

• Discipline is essential to managerial success.

Steps in the Discipline Process.

• Establish & communicate ground rules for performance & conduct.

• Evaluate employee performance & conduct.

• Reinforce employees for appropriate performance & conduct, work with them to improve when necessary.

Essentials to Successful Discipline

• A set of rules that everyone knows & understands.

• A clear statement of the consequences of failing to observe the rules.

• Prompt, consistent, impersonal enforcement of the rules.

• Appropriate recognition & reinforcement of employees’ positive actions.

Negative Discipline- 4 Stage Model

• Oral warning

• Written Warning

• Punishment (suspension)

• Termination

Negative Approaches to Discipline

• Negative discipline: Maintaining discipline through fear & punishment, with progressively severe penalties for rule violations.

• Negative discipline has never been successful at turning chronic rule breakers into cooperative employees.

• Fear-and-Punishment are de-motivators.

Positive Discipline

• Positive Discipline: – When rules are broken you inform

& correct.

– Extension of coaching.

– Theory Y view of people.

• Positive discipline works!!• Shifting from negative to

positive discipline is easier said then done.

Positive Discipline: Formula for Chronic Rule Breakers

• Punishment-free formula for disciplinary action: – Oral Reminder– Written Reminder– Termination

Advantages

• Keeps discipline problems from developing.

• Improves relations between boss & workers.

• Fosters early & consistent rule enforcement.

• Lower costs: less turnover, fewer problems, better work, no chronic discipline problems.

• Avoids grievances in union settings.

• Turns some offenders around.

Shifting to the Positive Approach

• Supervisors who are used to administering penalties & punishments often have trouble shifting gears.

• They may have difficulty:– Accepting the idea of paying an employee to stay

home & think things over.– Shaking loose the habit of thinking in terms of

punishment & substituting the attitude of educating & helping people to avoid breaking rules.

Administering Discipline

• Uniform discipline system:– Prescribes the specific

action for each rule violation.

• You must be able to adapt your own leadership style to, your workers, their needs, their actions, & the circumstances.

Mistakes to Avoid• Starting off easy.• Neglecting to take action or too slow of a response.• Acting in anger.• Threatening action & not carrying it out.• Criticizing in front of others.• Exceeding authority.• Shifting responsibility for discipline.• Unexpectedly enforcing commonly violated rules.• Criticizing person instead of behavior.• Touching someone when you are disciplining. • Being inconsistent.

Essential Steps• Step 1: Collect all the facts.• Step 2: Discuss the incident with

the employee.• Step 3: Decide on appropriate

action (if any).• Step 4: Take the appropriate

actions & develop an improvement plan with the employee.

• Step 5: Make sure everything is documented.

• Step 6: Follow up.

Termination: Salvage or Terminate?

• The Dehire: – Not recommended.

– Trying to make the employee want to resign.

– Destructive way of handling a person.

– Legally it opens various discrimination lawsuits.

• From the productivity point of view & your own frustration level, it would be better to simply terminate.

Factors to be Considered

• Length of service.• Past record.• Need for worker’s skills, worker’s need

for job.• Possibility of trouble making over

firing.• Effect of firing on others.• Cost of keeping vs. cost of terminating.• Your authority.• Salvage options.

Just Cause Terminations

• Employee is terminated because the offense affected specific work he did or the operation as a whole in detrimental ways.

• Some questions to ask: – Did the employee know the rule?

– Were expectations reasonable?

– Did management make a reasonable effort to help?

• For more see questions to ask when considering a just cause termination.

The Termination Interview Checklist

• Select a good time & place to conduct the interview.

• Determine who will be present.• Develop your opening statement.• Determine how best to respond to

possible reactions.• Determine final pay.• Develop a list of clearance

procedures to be performed at the end of the interview.

Steps for the Termination Interview• Avoid small talk, tell the

employee that they are being dismissed & why in a firm calm manner.

• Listen to & accept responses of the employee.

• Say something positive to them.• Move on to discuss final pay,

benefits, etc.• Explain clearance procedures.• End the interview by standing up

& moving towards the door.

Employee Assistance Programs

• Counseling programs.

• An expansion of traditional occupational alcoholism programs.

• Employer paid benefit program to assist employees with personal problems.

Employee Assistance Programs

EAPs handle a wide range of problems:– Emotional

– Family– Marital

– Mental Health– Stress

– Financial– Substance abuse

– Legal– Workplace– Elder Care

Employee Assistance Programs

• Signs of employees in need of help are increased tardiness, fatigue, missed goals, inappropriate behavior, medical problems, psychological problems, stress, & increased sick days.

• An EAP can provide a comprehensive range of services:– Assessment– Intervention– Follow-up– Managerial assistance

Employee Assistance Programs

• 4 steps to an EAP program:– Identifying a troubled employee, & advising them of

available confidential counseling.– Visit with a counselor, who talks with the employee &

may arrange for treatment. – Solve the problem.– Depending on the outcome of the treatment, which, if

successful, the employee returns to work. • If however the treatment is not successful & the employee’s

performance is below expectations, then he or she is usually terminated.

How to Make EAPs Work

• 5 Steps:– Write a statement of policy & purpose with the

goals & objectives of the EAP & let everyone know it is available.

– Train supervisors & managers what to do.– Set procedures for the referral of employees who

need help.– Establish communications, to let employees know

about the EAP, & what to do when referrals are necessary.

– Evaluate the program.

The Leaders Key Role

• Effective leaders establish framework of orderly discipline & act promptly to correct mistakes & solve problems.

• Threat & punishment leaders are usually plagued with chronic discipline problems.

• The leader creates the prevailing condition of discipline. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.