Brief Analysis on Employee Discipline Definition

Punctuality and discipline are two fundamental characteristics that a professional employee should have to succeed in life. Employees who have discipline instilled in them are successful in their professional lives and personal lives. These employees who follow discipline will reach success faster than people who are not disciplined. Causing chaos or misbehaving at a job will ruin that will finally lead to a reduction in productivity of the organisation. One must understand that you cannot have the same behaviour at home and in the workplace. Discipline is very significant in the workplace. It makes sure all the employees behave properly, which helps maintain decency. The main goal of discipline in work is to maintain respect and trust between employees, managers, and supervisors to ensure healthy relationships with all members of an organisation.

Employee discipline definition

Employee discipline is defined as the regulation and modulation of human activities in a workplace, which will generate a controlled employee performance. The main purpose of employee discipline is to behave sensibly and safely at work. Discipline encourages self-control, orderly conduct, and dedication of employees. 

Predominant goals of employee discipline 

• Motivates employees so that they obey the organisation’s performance standards. 
• Employee discipline helps maintain trust and respect among supervisors, employees, and higher powers. If discipline is not supervised it can create internal issues like low morale and ill-will among employees.

• Helps to improve the job performance of the employee.
• To help improve the morale and efficiency of working among employees.

Predominant types of disciplines 

There are predominately two types of discipline that can be seen in an organisation.

• Positive discipline 

The synonyms of positive discipline: are self-discipline or constructive discipline. It is a type of discipline that does not have any punishment. The main goal of positive discipline is to encourage self-discipline in the employees. Self-discipline involves identifying your aims and striving towards them to achieve them. In this type of discipline, the employee is not afraid of punishment but will still obey the rules and regulations of the organisation. The employees also practise self-control to meet their aims and goals.

• Negative discipline 

The synonyms of negative discipline: are corrective discipline or punitive discipline. In this type of discipline, the employees obey the rules of the organisation because they fear punishment. The punishment can be in the form of fines, demotions, transfers, etc. The management of the organisation will take this action to make sure the needed code of conduct is followed. This makes sure no employees go off-track in terms of workplace discipline. The employees do not have the freedom to have their own goals in the negative discipline. 

Why do we need employee discipline? 

The need to have discipline is because there might be situations where employees might behave inappropriately. In this section, we see the various causes/ factors for indiscipline 

• When the leadership/supervision is ineffective
• When there is an absence of communication among employees and high authorities 
• If their authorities practise favouritism and discrimination among employees
• If there is an absence or lack of rules in an organisation 
• If the organisation has bad working conditions
• If there is no proper teamwork and cooperation between the authority and employees

Why is employee discipline important?

• Helps behaviour correction 

The predominant aim of the organisation is to improve the behaviour of the employee through well-organised instructions instead of punishment. This must be done by a supervisor. The supervisor should thoroughly elucidate which areas the employee should work on to improve their behaviour. When an employee ignores the instructions from the supervisor, strict action might be taken. For successful behaviour correction of employees, the organisation must make time and community with its employees. This will instil discipline among the employees 

• To protect the organisation’s image and its employees

The employee’s conduct not only affects themselves but also their colleagues. Hence, the discipline of employees can be a way to protect the other employees who put their time and effort into the workplace. When the organisation gives information about employee discipline and behaviour, it induces a sense of safety among the employees. Employee discipline makes sure every employee is entitled to their right to protection. 

• It is an organisation’s advantage 

If there is an effective employee discipline code among the employees in an organisation, it forms a congenial environment for employees to work in. This improves the organisation’s output which will in turn increase the profits. With good discipline comes easy communication among employees. With good communication, the organisation can keep its employees and can attract new talent. 

Conclusion

In this article, we have the employee discipline definition. It is described as regulation and modulation of human activities in a workplace which will generate a controlled performance of the employee. Discipline is very significant in the workplace. It makes sure all the employees behave in a proper manner which helps maintain decency in the workplace. These employees who follow discipline will reach success faster than people who are not disciplined. There are two prime types of discipline – positive and negative. The aims/goals of employee discipline are – to help maintain trust and respect among supervisors, employees, and higher powers, improve the job performance of the employee, and improve the morale and efficiency of working among employees. We need discipline when an employee shows indecency in the workplace. The importance of employee discipline is – behaviour correction, which can be an organisation’s advantage, and protect the organisation’s image and its employees.