Alternatives to Discipline

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Alternatives to Discipline
Effective Discipline
MTL Course Topics
EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE

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MTL Course Topics
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MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
It is a hotly-debated issue whether discipline at work
actually achieves the desired result of improved
performance, conduct and attitude. The same argument
pervades the penal system in society at large: do fines,
penalties and imprisonment actually work in their aims to
deter, correct and punish? It thus makes sense when
responding to an alleged breach of discipline to avoid knee-
jerk "hang 'em and flog 'em" responses and consider what
more effective alternatives might exist.

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MTL Course Topics
ALTERNATIVES TO DISCIPLINE
These are the steps to follow when considering whether
alternative solutions exist to deal with disciplinary problems.
1. Think through your aims. Are you wanting to correct
behaviour, set an example, or re-establish your authority?
Will discipline really achieve these aims?
2. Consider the costs, in particular the hidden costs of
damage to your staff relations
3. Find out what alternatives are possible. If necessary be
inventive and take some risks.
4. Weigh up the options of what is possible and the effect
of options on other people. Bear in mind you may be setting
a precedent and may be accused of unfair treatment. Take
soundings from others.
5. if your own management style encourages people to
break the rules, review what you can do to change your
style.

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MTL Course Topics
RE-THINK YOUR AIMS
Whenever you are faced with the possibility of using the
disciplinary option in resolving a case of sub-standard
performance or misconduct, ask yourself what your aims
are.
The answer might include any of the following...
• to show management annoyance at the behaviour
• to punish the wrong-doer
• to use the opportunity to re-assert your authority
• to warn others not to try similar behaviour
• to understand what's gone wrong
• to help the employee back to acceptable behaviour
• to demonstrate your confidence in your employees by
helping them.
It is always better to think through your aims in a
dispassionate way without emotions such as annoyance,
hurt and humiliation.

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MTL Course Topics
THE COSTS OF DISCIPLINE
There is always a price to be paid in choosing to use
discipline as a way of solving people problems.
Some costs are obvious. They include the time and effort
used to instigate the disciplinary process plus the possibility
of legal costs.
But many of the costs lie hidden below the "disciplinary
iceberg" and may be incalculable over time.
1. Above the surface = time, money, legal costs, tribunal
awards, solicitors' fees
2. Below the surface = poor staff relations, reputation as
an employer, the effect on other employees, the
development of a blame culture, more indiscipline,
continuation of a rule-breaking and disciplining cycle.

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MTL Course Topics
DOES DISCIPLINE WORK?
In research into 104 cases of workplace in discipline, Dr
Derek Rollinson of the University of Huddersfield Business
School discovered that, after being disciplined,...
• 24% accepted the rule they had broken had a useful
purpose
• 30% agreed only grudgingly to observe the rule in future
• 46% said they felt so strongly at the way they had been
treated that they regarded themselves as "victims".
This indicates that the effect of even a warning is over-
shadowed by the hurt people feel at being on the receiving
end of a punitive system of managing.

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MTL Course Topics
VICTIMS
There are several reasons why, according to research, nearly
half the people involved in disciplinary cases feel they have
been unfairly treated and see themselves as "victims".
These include the belief that...
1. They had been singled out while others got away with
it.
2. They agreed that they had done something wrong but
disliked the way they had been treated.
3. They felt the rule was wrong, arbitrary and only applied
at the whim of management.
4. They felt aggrieved, hurt and embarrassed at being
treated like a child in front of colleagues and
workmates.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs, having so many people
feeling victims who should be partners in the enterprise,
bodes ill for the success of any business.

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MTL Course Topics
CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVES
When you consider alternatives to discipline, it is important
to check that the result of using an alternative does not
create more damage in management-employee relations
than the discipline itself might have done.
Consider these points:
1. check the effect of any alternative on the performance
of the business
2. check the effect on others, particularly those who
expect you to act in a disciplinary way. If necessary,
explain your purpose to them.
3. check that you are being fair to everyone
4. check that you are not setting a future precedent
5. ensure that the original breach of discipline still stands
and can be dealt with if the alternative action fails to
work.

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MTL Course Topics
MEDIATION
Mediation offers an alternative to discipline in which the
parties to a dispute seek some kind of agreement. While it is
a popular resolution technique in Australia and the USA, it is
virtually unknown in the UK. It is treated suspiciously
because of the fear that it allows people to "get away" with
bad behaviour.
In fact mediation needn't favour either "side":
1. mediation should be voluntary and by agreement
2. mediation uses a third party who helps both sides see
disciplinary issues as problems to be solved
3. mediation takes the heat out of emotionally-charged
issues
4. mediators act as facilitators to help people avoid
position-taking and encourage win-win solutions.
In a year-long experiment with mediation in the London
Borough of Lewisham, the average cost of disciplinary cases
fell from £1000 to £300 per case.

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MTL Course Topics
THE OPTIONS
There are broadly four alternative approaches when dealing
with cases of sub-standard performance or breaches of
rules:
1. make alterations to the rules, standards, procedures,
targets or contract of employment.
2. improve resources so that people can meet standards and
targets
3. arrange for personal problems to be treated by specialists
4. consider changes in management or organisation style.
Before selecting an option it is worth considering why
indiscipline has occurred. Are people bored, frustrated,
lacking in social skills, feeling alienated? It is more helpful to
see indiscipline as a problem which, rather than having
winners and losers, can be resolved to everyone's benefit.

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MTL Course Topics
ALTERING THE CONTRACT
People at work sometimes break their contract of
employment reluctantly but unavoidably because of
changes in their circumstances, eg a change of address, a
need to change their hours of work.
Where employees' circumstances are genuine and changes
in the contract are possible it makes sense to use them so
that the employee can return to satisfactory performance.
It is important that any change in contract is made only on
condition of an improvement in performance within a
reasonable period of time. Other people will be watching
carefully to see whether the change is justified in improving
things or just a ruse by the employee to get their own way.
If it turns out to be the latter, then morale will be sapped
and others will try to take advantage of the precedent you
have set for easy rides for themselves.

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MTL Course Topics
IMPROVING RESOURCES
Sub-standard performance may be due to people lacking the
resources to do the job to the required standard.
This could be due to: inadequate room to work in and poor
conditions; unsuitable, damaged, or late raw materials;
inefficient equipment that doesn't do what it's supposed to
do; underfunding in essential equipment; the wrong staff,
untrained staff, unmanaged staff; a poor organisation of
work; a poor use of information.
Where such cases exist, discipline is inappropriate and a
more thorough review needs to be carried out to match
organisational goals with organisational resources. Having
said this, blaming resources, and by implication
management, is a well-established excuse for poor
performance. Excuses should not be confused with reasons.

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MTL Course Topics
TREATING THE PROBLEM
There are a wide range of ways to treat poor performance
which is due to personal problems. It is often a question of
matching the right problem with the right solution.
1. If the problem is one of skills and performance, consider
coaching, on-the-job training, mentoring, shadowing,
changing the work group.
2. If the problem is one of attitude towards the job,
consider the counselling approach.
3. If the problem is one of sickness or injury, consider
getting medical reports and medical solutions.
4. If the problem is one of personality fit between
members of a team or between team member and
team leader, consider third-party. mediation, arbitration
and conciliation
5. If the problem is one of drink or substance abuse,
consider outside professional help.

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MTL Course Topics
MANAGEMENT STYLE
It is possible that where there is a high incidence of
disciplinary cases, part of the reason may lie with the
management or organisational style being used.
Highly authoritarian styles of management - sometimes
called the military model - tend to seek out wrong-doing.
They tend to believe that management should be tough and
punitive. This can lead to a self-fulfilling cycle: people are
expected to break the rules if allowed to, consequently
evidence is continually sought to prove it and so people are
punished when caught.
An organisation may have individual authoritarian managers
in its ranks or may, possibly, still operate as a whole in this
way. Such general ways of managing are likely to be
unacceptable to most people today.

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MTL Course Topics
THE AUTHORITARIAN STYLE
Norman Dixon has described the traits of the so-called
"authoritarian personality".
These are...
1. adherence to conventional values
2. uncritical obedience to the group he or she belongs to
3. a tendency to seek out people who violate the rules
4. opposition to the subjective-minded
5. a belief in magical determinants of an individual's fate
6. a preoccupation with being tough
7. hostility
8. a belief that wild and dangerous things go on
9. an exaggerated concern for sexual "goings-on".
Inspector Javert in Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" is an
example of this type of character. He makes his life's aim
the relentless search for the petty criminal Jean Valjean so
that order and justice can be restored to the world.

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MTL Course Topics
THE GENTLE STYLE
The "gentle" style of management accepts that the people
in any enterprise are partners in that enterprise. When
people break rules or perform poorly, they need to be
treated like members of a family: exclusion and banishment
are unthinkable and, if it is necessary, discipline is done with
the best of intentions.
The gentle management style believes that people change
and grow, not by fear and threats, but by removing fear and
encouraging people to take responsibility for their own
actions and outcomes at work.
Gentle management styles encourage, facilitate and allow.
They have no need for punishment and discipline. They treat
performance shortcomings as issues that need to be
resolved.

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MTL Course Topics
TOUGH LOVE
"Tough love" means confronting unacceptable behaviour
immediately it happens but doing it with care and concern
rather than blame and punishment. It is a feature of the
gentle style of discipline.
It is based on the way that parents are taught to treat unruly
children by making it clear that they are not prepared to
accept bad behaviour and will do all they can to help their
children change.
Tough love has 7 features:
1. refuse to accept bad behaviour
2. confront issues, help people
3. act at once to stop the behaviour becoming normal
4. confront excuses
5. be blunt and ready to say the "unsayable"
6. demand more, not less, of people
7. act from a position of care and love.

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MTL Course Topics
WE TALK TO PEOPLE
One simple alternative to the divisive nature of discipline is
to talk to people. Talking helps both sides to listen,
understand, accept and put things into perspective.
"We like our players to play for fun and to be happy rather
than afraid. It's like that with any business. If you have
employees who work through fear, you're not going to get
any ingenuity out of them. You're not going to get any
employees who take a gamble or come up with ideas. All
you'll have are robots who are going to do their jobs, have a
low-key approach, stay out of trouble. They'll put in the
hours and go home. But I'd rather have it the other way. So
we talk to people. We don't fine them indiscriminately. A lot
of teams have rules that say if you're late or miss the plane,
you get fired. We have rules but we temper them with
mercy. We talk to people." (Arnold "Red" Auerbach, coach
and manager of the Boston Celtics)

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MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn

Alternatives to Discipline

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