Chapter 10: Discipline and Employee
Assistance Programs
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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
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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:
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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.