Performance Management for Disciplinary Action - Essay Example

Ch. 11 Summary Use of performance management for disciplinary action can either mean punishment or training to help people. Teaching is better than forcing obedience. Discipline implies the need for managers to notify employees of performance problems and their possible consequences. More than a right, managers assume the responsibility to do anything to implement discipline. Punishment is an emotional process that is executed in a state of anger. While applying consequences, managers should follow certain principles including adherence to laws, documentation of action, use of least pressure, deterrence from the use of severe measures until inevitable, and specific and detailed description of performance problem to the employee.

Managers must have full awareness of the problem to use the disciplinary process effectively. First, the manager diagnoses the problem together with the employee, and after coaching and feedback, if the desired improvement is not seen, actions become unilateral from bilateral, thus causing the manager to decide what eventually needs to be done to halt the consistently poor performance of the employee. Progressive discipline involves the least use of force to solve performance problems, but in case of a failed solution to the cooperative problem, consequences are applied.

The three phases of the progressive discipline process include identification and cooperation, cooperative consequences in the case of persistence of performance problems, and unilateral consequences. Identification and cooperation include the identification of the problem and the preparation of a plan to solve it. Cooperative consequences include the identification and application of consequences. Unilateral consequences include taking severe action in case of the persistence of problems remaining within the labor agreement constraints. Ch. 12 Summary Commitment and a different mindset are required to manage performance.

Good management aims at adding value instead of speeding up the processes to get everything done quickly. Common managerial objections include being too busy to take more work, not being clear on the manager’s job, considering the system dreadful, dissatisfaction of the employees with the appraisal process, the tendency of employees to benefit from the cooperative approach of the manager, and the power being shifted from the manager’s hand into the employees’ as a result, considering the process of performance appraisal useless until used for rewarding employees, lack of acknowledgment of the imperfection of any pay for performance system, fear of the manager to lose employees’ interest if they are told to improve their performance, interference of the HR in the manager’s performance management.

Managers can make more efficient use of their time if they analyze how much time is wasted on unproductive activities. Managers should consider managing the performance of employees as their prime responsibility. Managers should emphasize developing mutual understanding irrespective of the level of perfection of the system. Employees might get resistant initially, but gradually they would start to understand the managers’ sincere efforts in managing performance. It is a myth that working cooperatively with employees diminishes a manager’s power.

Performance management should not be linked with pay for performance. Managers should try to make performance management as close to perfect as they can. Managers should not cultivate fear of negative emotions during performance management. Managers should try to convince and cooperate with HR during performance management and take them into confidence.