Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 5/e

Managing Employee Discipline

Learning Objective 4

1. Explain what is meant by fair disciplinary practices.

As we said earlier in this chapter, positive employee relations are best built on trust, and few personnel practices are more unethical or will undermine trust and employee relations more than will unfair, arbitrary disciplinary actions. The purpose of discipline is to encourage employees to adhere to rules and regulations. Discipline is necessary when an employee violates one of the rules. 112

The Three Pillars of Fair Discipline

The manager builds a fair discipline process on three pillars: rules and regulations, a system of progressive penalties, and an appeals process. 113

Rules and Regulations 

An acceptable disciplinary process ...