Discipline & Punishment


Before evaluating the consequences of punishment in work setting, I think it is important to know what the purpose of that punishment is. Is it to get the work done more productively? Then, yes, often some discipline does allow a more productive result. However, if the purpose was to get the relationship straightened up, I believe is a very ineffective and not necessarily meets the goal of the punishment.
Personally, I believe mutual respect, or some minor discipline, is more effective in getting the relationship function productively. Punishment and harsh discipline discourage at least to me and demotivate me to alter my attitude. What I consider a harsh discipline is embarrassing, devaluing, and ignoring. Shaming the particular employee/member of wrongdoing in front of the group often is the worst way of disciplining and getting the words delivered. It is a form of attack and attacks stimulates revenge, not repent. Devaluing the particular person’s work also has negative effects in relationship in a work setting. Ignoring the person as a punishment for wrongdoing and to show superiority, I believe, is very childish and irresponsible, in a way that the one in higher position is too lazy get things straightened up, but is still unhappy about the situation. The discouragement will be enhanced in situations where the punished employee tried his/her best and presented full effort. The employee may be on wrong track, which is often a result of vague instruction from the higher level, and need a simple guidance, not a punishment.
Exceptions may apply to be honest. Showing disrespect to the one in authority, purposely not putting effort and unwillingness to adopt are subjected to punishment. In the meantime, everyone needs to agree on the fact that disrespect does not equal disagreement. A disagreement with the manager’s idea is not disrespecting the manager. This notion may be fundamental understanding in American work setting, but not in where I am from. As an entry level position seeker, I also acknowledge that younger employees definitely need more guidance and understanding for those who are older and are more experienced.
Now, I want to link my own experience with punishment in organization setting. I used to be a part of organization that arranges and performs on biweekly basis. The structure of the organization was rather simple, president, who was very experienced in performing, vice president, treasurer, secretary, which was my role, and the performance team leader, who was the vocal and led the performance on stage. In the beginning of 2017, the former performance team leader suddenly resigned from the position. An older member of the performance team with more experience, compared to other members, filled the position. The new team leader had never been in a leadership position before. Although she was a great vocal, she had little understanding of instruments and how to run a band.
Our president was very disappointed of the performances that the leader put together. He believed the new leader was not prepared and was not putting enough effort to prepare more on her own time, learning instruments or getting to know the team better. In president’s eye, she was preparing only when she was rehearsing with the band. He corrected her attitude and way of performing on weekly practice in front of everyone. He also spoke with her individually to tell her what he was unhappy about, but as a result, they spoke with each other minimally outside of practice. I became the middleman to deliver the words and dragged the practice atmosphere down. Quite a few members, the president, and the leader left the team at the end of the semester.
If I were in the president’s position, since I do not have much performance related experience, I would not be confident enough to correct the leader so much. If I desired more input from the leader, and the leader was not good at it, and I could be a source of help, I would have met with the leader more often. Since there are multiple rehearsals, I would have watched one fully without disruption. I will write down suggestions and deliver the suggestions after the first rehearsal, since maintaining the atmosphere is important especially in this entertainment setting.

Comments

  1. Professor ArvanNovember 9, 2019 at 2:00 PM

    "In the meantime, everyone needs to agree on the fact that disrespect does not equal disagreement."

    I want to take on that line a bit so that we can unpack some issues. There are two issues here that I want you to consider. In so doing, you might consider the hypothetical where I am your boss - note the age difference, the difference in educational background, and the gender difference. These things all might matter in what follows.

    It is conceivable that in our one-on-one meeting I might grill you about a decision you made. I would use my normal inquiry process to do this, but I might be a little blunter than I am in class. In the process of the inquiry I might illustrate that you made an error. I wouldn't have known that in advance, but it became apparent during our discussion. At around that part of the discussion, you might go from being just ordinarily nervous to feel ing embarrassed and perhaps might get upset about it - that part i don't know, since I don't know your personality. But I have had real work experiences that play out something like this. So let's just assume that did happen. After the fact, was I being disrespectful to you? The evidence to support that is that you ended up getting upset. If so, was the tone in my normal inquiry wrong for conducting this type of one-on-one?

    Now here is a different story for you. I was doing a performance review meeting with somebody who worked for me in the College of Business. She broke down crying during the meeting and I didn't think I had done anything wrong - even tone-wise. I learned later in the meeting that she was emotional because she was happy about the performance review. Her previous boss hadn't treated her with respect. I was doing that. So getting emotional itself can't be a perfect indicator of whether the process was respectful or not.

    Regarding the last story you told, I wonder if the leader who left did so for reasons unrelated to the performance. That seems like an important part of the story. If the reasons were somewhat performance related, the new person was in a no-win situation from the start. I have commented on the posts of several other students, that sometimes we react out of anger, which sounds like the case for the president of your group. If there is time to calm down, then a more rational approach to managing the situation is appropriate. That might still entail a punishment, if the situation warrants it. But it will be more measured then. Yet there is a tendency to react when exasperated, which usually compounds the error rather than making it unlikely to happen again.

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousNovember 12, 2019 at 7:36 AM

      I should clarify the first statement to "everyone needs to agree on the fact that disagreement does not equal disrespect." What I meant here is that disrespect definitely evokes disagreement, but disagreements are not necessarily disrespects, but just a show of suggestions/ideas. If the boss who has better educational background and working experience, he/she should explain when a younger employee expresses concerns, and not shame or ignore the young employee's opinion. Through explanation, I believe this young employee can learn and grow further.

      In terms of the new performance leader, I am sure she was getting the logistics of the performance and the band through out her time as the leader in that semester. However, she disliked the fact that the president was not seeing her improvement and wanted the band perform exactly as he wished. The members of the band actually liked the leader a lot, since she was in the similar age as they were and was a good and fun friend to speak with. Even when the president was speaking with the leader, she was calm, but his tone and word choices definitely have offended the leader, that is why, I believe, the two ended up hating each other.

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