Disciplining employees is one of the job responsibilities of management. Think about the role of the manager when disciplining employees and answer the following questions within the context of this course:

• • How has the significance of discipline in the workplace shifted over time?
  • How have workplace monitoring, surveillance, investigations, and drug testing been used recently when disciplining employees? Find a recent example of a business that has used this practice to include in your answer. Do you think these practices are done to protect the employer, the employee, or both parties?
  • What are three major principles that managers must be aware of when administering discipline?
  • What suggestions would you make to a business that is creating discipline procedures? What would you encourage the business to include in procedures?
  • What suggestions would you give to a business that is in an arbitration hearing involving an employee who was discharged for smoking marijuana on the job?
  • What difficulties do you think management would have in administering the following work rule in accordance with the disciplinary principles established in Chapter 12: "Any employee reporting to work under the influence of alcohol will be subject to discharge"?
• REFERENCE AND IN-TEXT CITATION APA7 FORMAT

An entire chapter of this text is devoted to employee discipline, an important union-management issue, for the following reasons:It is the most commonly heard grievance in arbitration, making up approximately40 percent of the decided cases.It is approached consistently by arbitrators, who typically rely on principles to make their determinations.1It is the most likely to involve readers of this book, who are likely to disciplineemployees in their careers in unionized as well as nonunionized settings and havethat action challenged by a union, employees, government agencies such as theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or in a suit by an employee. Employee discipline is approached in this chapter by discussing its significance over time and its various elements, enabling the reader to apply the principles discussed in Chapter 11 to this issue.The Changing Significance of Industrial DisciplineEmployee discipline represents both organizational conditions and managerial actions. Organizational conditions can lead employees to form a disciplined work group that islargely self-regulated and willingly accepts management's directions and behavioral standards. Managerial actions are taken against an employee who has violated organizational rules. 2Employee discipline has changed over time. Historical Overview of Employer Disciplinary PoliciesDuring the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the employer exercised"unrestricted discretion"in directing the workforce.In 1884, a judge in the State of Tennessee wrote the following: All may dismiss their employees at will, be they many or few, for a good cause, for no cause, or even for cause morally wrong, without being thereby guilty of legal wrong.3This judge's statement laid the foundation for the common law, employment-at-will doctrine, which will be covered next in this chapter. Employee discipline during this time was sometimes harsh. Employees who were verbally insolent to employers could have their tongues burned with a hot iron or be subjected to public humiliation (e.g., a public whipping in the town square). By the 1930s, management's discretion to discipline employees was challenged pragmatically and legally. Frederick Taylor's scientific management theory stressed the financial waste that occurred when employees were discharged in an arbitrary or capricious manner. According to Taylor, management had an obligation to determine and obtain desired employee work behavior and to correct, rather than discharge, the employee who deviated from managerial standards. The Wagner Act of 1935 helped shape management's disciplinary policies. A primary feature of this legislation was the prohibition of discriminatory discipline of employees because of their union activities or membership. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was created, in part, for enforcement purposes. Management often had to defend disciplinary actions against charges filed with this agency, with a potential remedy being reinstatement with back pay. This was the first time management could be legally held accountable for employee discipline, which encouraged further development of employee disciplinary principles and policies. 4 The NLRB was also affected.

organizational discipline procedures indirectly when it ruled that discipline andgrievance procedures were mandatory issues for collective bargaining. As a result of thisNLRB decision, nearly all existing collective bargaining agreements now have both aprovision regulating employee discipline and a grievance procedure that makes possiblethe submission of discipline issues to arbitration. As a result, managerial policies onemployee discipline were greatly influenced by the growth and development of laborarbitration. Under nearly every collective bargaining agreement, arbitrators have threebroad powers on discipline:1. To determine what constitutes"just cause"for discipline2. To establish"standards of proof and evidence"3. To review and modify or eliminate the penalty imposed by management whenwarrantedArbitrators have long held that management has the right to direct the workforceand manage its operations efficiently. Indeed, inefficient operations harm both theemployer and employees because higher costs and subsequent reduced profits can resultin employee layoffs. Discipline can improve efficiency by accomplishing the following interrelated purposes:To set an example of appropriate behavior.For example, management impresses onits employees the seriousness of being absent by giving an absent employee a three-day suspension.To transmit rules of the organization.As illustrated in the preceding purpose, man-agement has transmitted a rule of the organizationabsences will not be accepted.To promote efficient production.Discipline those employees who either cannot orwill not meet production standards.To maintain respect for the supervisor.In a sense, discipline shows the employeewho is the boss. A supervisor who does not discipline poor employees weakensmanagerial authority.To correct an employee's behavior.Indicate what is expected, how the employee canimprove, and what negative consequences might result in the future if the behaviordoes not change. The assumption here is that most employees have good intentionsand will improve if management will simply show them the error of their ways.Discipline can accomplish all these purposes, but arbitrators must be convinced thatmanagement based its action on"correction,"which is discipline's main purpose.Becausedischargeis a terminal rather than a corrective action, it is appropriate onlywhen all other attempts at correction have failed or the nature of the offense is soheinous, such as theft, attacking a supervisor, and so on, as to make lesser forms ofdiscipline inappropriate.5Employment-at-Will Doctrine and Wrongful DischargeConsideration in Nonunion EmployeesIn 2010, the number of union members in the workforce was 14.7 million, or 11.9 percentof the workforce, and unions represented another 1.5 million workers who were notmembers. In other words, today more than 86 percent of the U.S. workforce is notafforded the protection of a union contract or a collectively bargained grievance-arbitration procedure. Most of these nonrepresented employees are"employment-at-will"employees and may be discharged at will.6However, there are exceptions to theemployment-at-will doctrine.

organizational discipline procedures indirectly when it ruled that discipline andgrievance procedures were mandatory issues for collective bargaining. As a result of thisNLRB decision, nearly all existing collective bargaining agreements now have both aprovision regulating employee discipline and a grievance procedure that makes possiblethe submission of discipline issues to arbitration. As a result, managerial policies onemployee discipline were greatly influenced by the growth and development of laborarbitration. Under nearly every collective bargaining agreement, arbitrators have threebroad powers on discipline:1. To determine what constitutes"just cause"for discipline2. To establish"standards of proof and evidence"3. To review and modify or eliminate the penalty imposed by management whenwarrantedArbitrators have long held that management has the right to direct the workforceand manage its operations efficiently. Indeed, inefficient operations harm both theemployer and employees because higher costs and subsequent reduced profits can resultin employee layoffs. Discipline can improve efficiency by accomplishing the followinginterrelated purposes:To set an example of appropriate behavior.For example, management impresses onits employees the seriousness of being absent by giving an absent employee a three-day suspension.To transmit rules of the organization.As illustrated in the preceding purpose, man-agement has transmitted a rule of the organizationabsences will not be accepted.To promote efficient production.Discipline those employees who either cannot orwill not meet production standards.To maintain respect for the supervisor.In a sense, discipline shows the employeewho is the boss. A supervisor who does not discipline poor employees weakensmanagerial authority.To correct an employee's behavior.Indicate what is expected, how the employee canimprove, and what negative consequences might result in the future if the behaviordoes not change. The assumption here is that most employees have good intentionsand will improve if management will simply show them the error of their ways.Discipline can accomplish all these purposes, but arbitrators must be convinced thatmanagement based its action on"correction,"which is discipline's main purpose.Becausedischargeis a terminal rather than a corrective action, it is appropriate onlywhen all other attempts at correction have failed or the nature of the offense is soheinous, such as theft, attacking a supervisor, and so on, as to make lesser forms ofdiscipline inappropriate.5Employment-at-Will Doctrine and Wrongful DischargeConsideration in Nonunion EmployeesIn 2010, the number of union members in the workforce was 14.7 million, or 11.9 percentof the workforce, and unions represented another 1.5 million workers who were notmembers. In other words, today more than 86 percent of the U.S. workforce is notafforded the protection of a union contract or a collectively bargained grievance-arbitration procedure. Most of these nonrepresented employees are"employment-at-will"employees and may be discharged at will.6However, there are exceptions to theemployment-at-will doctrine.

organizational discipline procedures indirectly when it ruled that discipline andgrievance procedures were mandatory issues for collective bargaining. As a result of thisNLRB decision, nearly all existing collective bargaining agreements now have both aprovision regulating employee discipline and a grievance procedure that makes possiblethe submission of discipline issues to arbitration. As a result, managerial policies onemployee discipline were greatly influenced by the growth and development of laborarbitration. Under nearly every collective bargaining agreement, arbitrators have threebroad powers on discipline:1. To determine what constitutes"just cause"for discipline2. To establish"standards of proof and evidence"3. To review and modify or eliminate the penalty imposed by management whenwarrantedArbitrators have long held that management has the right to direct the workforceand manage its operations efficiently. Indeed, inefficient operations harm both theemployer and employees because higher costs and subsequent reduced profits can resultin employee layoffs. Discipline can improve efficiency by accomplishing the followinginterrelated purposes:To set an example of appropriate behavior.For example, management impresses onits employees the seriousness of being absent by giving an absent employee a three-day suspension.To transmit rules of the organization.As illustrated in the preceding purpose, man-agement has transmitted a rule of the organizationabsences will not be accepted.To promote efficient production.Discipline those employees who either cannot orwill not meet production standards.To maintain respect for the supervisor.In a sense, discipline shows the employeewho is the boss. A supervisor who does not discipline poor employees weakensmanagerial authority.To correct an employee's behavior.Indicate what is expected, how the employee canimprove, and what negative consequences might result in the future if the behaviordoes not change. The assumption here is that most employees have good intentionsand will improve if management will simply show them the error of their ways.Discipline can accomplish all these purposes, but arbitrators must be convinced thatmanagement based its action on"correction,"which is discipline's main purpose.Becausedischargeis a terminal rather than a corrective action, it is appropriate onlywhen all other attempts at correction have failed or the nature of the offense is soheinous, such as theft, attacking a supervisor, and so on, as to make lesser forms ofdiscipline inappropriate.5Employment-at-Will Doctrine and Wrongful DischargeConsideration in Nonunion EmployeesIn 2010, the number of union members in the workforce was 14.7 million, or 11.9 percentof the workforce, and unions represented another 1.5 million workers who were notmembers. In other words, today more than 86 percent of the U.S. workforce is notafforded the protection of a union contract or a collectively bargained grievance-arbitration procedure. Most of these nonrepresented employees are"employment-at-will"employees and may be discharged at will.6However, there are exceptions to theemployment-at-will doctrine.

organizational discipline procedures indirectly when it ruled that discipline andgrievance procedures were mandatory issues for collective bargaining. As a result of thisNLRB decision, nearly all existing collective bargaining agreements now have both aprovision regulating employee discipline and a grievance procedure that makes possiblethe submission of discipline issues to arbitration. As a result, managerial policies onemployee discipline were greatly influenced by the growth and development of laborarbitration. Under nearly every collective bargaining agreement, arbitrators have threebroad powers on discipline:1. To determine what constitutes"just cause"for discipline2. To establish"standards of proof and evidence"3. To review and modify or eliminate the penalty imposed by management whenwarrantedArbitrators have long held that management has the right to direct the workforceand manage its operations efficiently. Indeed, inefficient operations harm both theemployer and employees because higher costs and subsequent reduced profits can resultin employee layoffs. Discipline can improve efficiency by accomplishing the followinginterrelated purposes:To set an example of appropriate behavior.For example, management impresses onits employees the seriousness of being absent by giving an absent employee a three-day suspension.To transmit rules of the organization.As illustrated in the preceding purpose, man-agement has transmitted a rule of the organizationabsences will not be accepted.To promote efficient production.Discipline those employees who either cannot orwill not meet production standards.To maintain respect for the supervisor.In a sense, discipline shows the employeewho is the boss. A supervisor who does not discipline poor employees weakensmanagerial authority.To correct an employee's behavior.Indicate what is expected, how the employee canimprove, and what negative consequences might result in the future if the behaviordoes not change. The assumption here is that most employees have good intentionsand will improve if management will simply show them the error of their ways.Discipline can accomplish all these purposes, but arbitrators must be convinced thatmanagement based its action on"correction,"which is discipline's main purpose.Becausedischargeis a terminal rather than a corrective action, it is appropriate onlywhen all other attempts at correction have failed or the nature of the offense is soheinous, such as theft, attacking a supervisor, and so on, as to make lesser forms ofdiscipline inappropriate.5Employment-at-Will Doctrine and Wrongful DischargeConsideration in Nonunion EmployeesIn 2010, the number of union members in the workforce was 14.7 million, or 11.9 percentof the workforce, and unions represented another 1.5 million workers who were notmembers. In other words, today more than 86 percent of the U.S. workforce is notafforded the protection of a union contract or a collectively bargained grievance-arbitration procedure. Most of these nonrepresented employees are"employment-at-will"employees and may be discharged at will.6However, there are exceptions to theemployment-at-will doctrine.

organizational discipline procedures indirectly when it ruled that discipline andgrievance procedures were mandatory issues for collective bargaining. As a result of thisNLRB decision, nearly all existing collective bargaining agreements now have both aprovision regulating employee discipline and a grievance procedure that makes possiblethe submission of discipline issues to arbitration. As a result, managerial policies onemployee discipline were greatly influenced by the growth and development of laborarbitration. Under nearly every collective bargaining agreement, arbitrators have threebroad powers on discipline:1. To determine what constitutes"just cause"for discipline2. To establish"standards of proof and evidence"3. To review and modify or eliminate the penalty imposed by management whenwarrantedArbitrators have long held that management has the right to direct the workforceand manage its operations efficiently. Indeed, inefficient operations harm both theemployer and employees because higher costs and subsequent reduced profits can resultin employee layoffs. Discipline can improve efficiency by accomplishing the followinginterrelated purposes:To set an example of appropriate behavior.For example, management impresses onits employees the seriousness of being absent by giving an absent employee a three-day suspension.To transmit rules of the organization.As illustrated in the preceding purpose, man-agement has transmitted a rule of the organizationabsences will not be accepted.To promote efficient production.Discipline those employees who either cannot orwill not meet production standards.To maintain respect for the supervisor.In a sense, discipline shows the employeewho is the boss. A supervisor who does not discipline poor employees weakensmanagerial authority.To correct an employee's behavior.Indicate what is expected, how the employee canimprove, and what negative consequences might result in the future if the behaviordoes not change. The assumption here is that most employees have good intentionsand will improve if management will simply show them the error of their ways.Discipline can accomplish all these purposes, but arbitrators must be convinced thatmanagement based its action on"correction,"which is discipline's main purpose.Becausedischargeis a terminal rather than a corrective action, it is appropriate onlywhen all other attempts at correction have failed or the nature of the offense is soheinous, such as theft, attacking a supervisor, and so on, as to make lesser forms ofdiscipline inappropriate.5Employment-at-Will Doctrine and Wrongful DischargeConsideration in Nonunion EmployeesIn 2010, the number of union members in the workforce was 14.7 million, or 11.9 percentof the workforce, and unions represented another 1.5 million workers who were notmembers. In other words, today more than 86 percent of the U.S. workforce is notafforded the protection of a union contract or a collectively bargained grievance-arbitration procedure. Most of these nonrepresented employees are"employment-at-will"employees and may be discharged at will.6However, there are exceptions to theemployment-at-will doctrine.

organizational discipline procedures indirectly when it ruled that discipline andgrievance procedures were mandatory issues for collective bargaining. As a result of thisNLRB decision, nearly all existing collective bargaining agreements now have both aprovision regulating employee discipline and a grievance procedure that makes possiblethe submission of discipline issues to arbitration. As a result, managerial policies onemployee discipline were greatly influenced by the growth and development of laborarbitration. Under nearly every collective bargaining agreement, arbitrators have threebroad powers on discipline:1. To determine what constitutes"just cause"for discipline2. To establish"standards of proof and evidence"3. To review and modify or eliminate the penalty imposed by management whenwarrantedArbitrators have long held that management has the right to direct the workforceand manage its operations efficiently. Indeed, inefficient operations harm both theemployer and employees because higher costs and subsequent reduced profits can resultin employee layoffs. Discipline can improve efficiency by accomplishing the followinginterrelated purposes:To set an example of appropriate behavior.For example, management impresses onits employees the seriousness of being absent by giving an absent employee a three-day suspension.To transmit rules of the organization.As illustrated in the preceding purpose, man-agement has transmitted a rule of the organizationabsences will not be accepted.To promote efficient production.Discipline those employees who either cannot orwill not meet production standards.To maintain respect for the supervisor.In a sense, discipline shows the employeewho is the boss. A supervisor who does not discipline poor employees weakensmanagerial authority.To correct an employee's behavior.Indicate what is expected, how the employee canimprove, and what negative consequences might result in the future if the behaviordoes not change. The assumption here is that most employees have good intentionsand will improve if management will simply show them the error of their ways.Discipline can accomplish all these purposes, but arbitrators must be convinced thatmanagement based its action on"correction,"which is discipline's main purpose.Becausedischargeis a terminal rather than a corrective action, it is appropriate onlywhen all other attempts at correction have failed or the nature of the offense is soheinous, such as theft, attacking a supervisor, and so on, as to make lesser forms ofdiscipline inappropriate.5Employment-at-Will Doctrine and Wrongful DischargeConsideration in Nonunion EmployeesIn 2010, the number of union members in the workforce was 14.7 million, or 11.9 percentof the workforce, and unions represented another 1.5 million workers who were notmembers. In other words, today more than 86 percent of the U.S. workforce is notafforded the protection of a union contract or a collectively bargained grievance-arbitration procedure. Most of these nonrepresented employees are"employment-at-will"employees and may be discharged at will.6However, there are exceptions to theemployment-at-will doctrine.