CODE OF DISCIPLINE: To maintain harmonious relations and promote industrial peace, a Code of Discipline has been laid down

which applies to both public and private sector enterprises. It specifies various obligations for the management and the workers with the objective of promoting cooperation between their representatives.

The basic objectives of Code of Discipline are to: Maintain peace and order in industry. Promote constructive criticism at all levels of management and employment. Avoid work stoppage in industry Secure the settlement of disputes and grievances by a mutually agreed procedure Avoiding litigations Facilitate a free growth of trade unions Eliminate all forms of coercion, intimidation and violations of rules and regulations governing industrial relations. The Code is based on the following principles:

There should be no strike or lockout without prior notice. No unilateral action should be taken in connection with any industrial matter. Employees should follow go slow tactics No deliberate damage should be caused to a plant or property Acts of violations, intimidation and coercion should not be resorted The existing machinery for the settlement of disputes should be utilized. Actions that disturb cordial relationships should be avoided.

To ensure better discipline in industry, management and unions agree on not indulging into various actions. These actions can b summarized as follows: Management and Union(s) agree

that no unilateral action should be taken in connection with any industrial matter and that should be settled at appropriate level

that the existing machinery for settlement of disputes should be utilized with the utmost efficiency

that there should be no strike or lock-out without prior notice

that neither party will have recourse to coercion, intimidation, victimization or go slow tactics

that they will avoid litigation, sit-down and stay-in strikes and lock-outs that they will promote constructive co-operation between their representatives at all levels and as between workers themselves

that they will establish upon a mutually agreed grievance procedure which will ensure a speedy and full investigation leading to settlement;

that they will abide by various stages in the grievance procedure and take no arbitrary action which would by-pass this procedure; and

Management Agrees

not to increase work-loads unless agreed upon or settled otherwise not to support or encourage any unfair labor practice such as discrimination and victimization of any employee

to take prompt action for settlement of grievances and implementation of settlements, awards, decision and orders

to take appropriate disciplinary action against its officers and members in cases where enquiries reveal that they were responsible for precipitate action by workers leading to indiscipline

Union agrees

not to engage in any form of physical duress not to permit demonstrations which are not peaceful that their members will not engage or cause other employees to engage in any union activity during working hours

to discourage unfair labor practices such as negligence of duty, damage to property and insubordination

to take prompt action to implement awards, agreements, settlements and decisions

APPROACHES TO CODE OF DISCIPLINE Handling employee misconduct is a very critical task to be performed by the senior managers. Misconduct and other offensive behaviors often lead to decreased levels of productivity as they affect the individual performance of the employees. To manage discipline among employees, every company opts for a discipline policy which describes the approach it will follow to handle misconduct.

Effective Discipline

Discipline is the key to success. Theodore Roosevelt has said everything is possible. Self discipline makes employee realize Discipline can be positively related to performance. It is the accomplishments. Effective discipline should be aimed at the employee personality. This is because the reason for discipline rather than punishing the employee.

With self-discipline almost what is required at work. bridge between goals and behavior, and not at the is to improve performance

Factors necessary for effective disciplinary system include: 1. Training of supervisors is necessary: Supervisors and mangers need to be trained on when and how discipline should be used. It is necessary to provide training on counseling skills as these skills are used while dealing with problem employees. Moreover, discipline decisions taken by trained supervisors are considered fair by both employees and managers. Centralization of discipline: Centralized means that the discipline decisions should be uniform throughout the organization. The greater the uniformity, higher will be the effectiveness of discipline procedure. Impersonal discipline: Discipline should be handled impersonally. Managers should try to minimize the ill feelings arising out of the decisions by judging the offensive behavior and not by judging the person. Managers should limit their emotional involvement in the disciplinary sessions. Review discipline decisions: The disciplinary decisions must be reviewed before being implemented. This will ensure uniformity and fairness of the system and will minimize the arbitrariness of the disciplinary system. Notification of conduct that may result in discipline: Actions that lead to misconduct can be listed and documented so the employees are aware of such actions. This will unable them to claim that they have not been notified, in advance, regarding the same. Information regarding penalties: The employer should define the penalties and other actions like warnings, reprimands, discharge and dismissal well in advance. All these action plans must be communicated to the employees. Discipline shall be progressive: Discipline system should be progressive in nature. In a progressive discipline approach the severity of actions to modify behavior increases with every step as the employee continues to show improper behavior. The advantage of this approach is that employees cant take it for granted. Documentation: Effective discipline requires accurate, written record keeping and written notification to the employees. Thus less chance will be left for the employee to say the he did not know about the policy. Discipline should be fair: The disciplinary decision should be fair enough for the employee. Both over-penalization and under-penalization are considered to be unfair for the problem employee. Moreover, an internal fairness is to be maintained, that is, two employees who have committed the same offense should be equally punished.

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10. Discipline shall be flexible and consistent: The manager administering discipline must consider the effect of actions taken by other managers and of other actions taken in

the past. Consistent discipline helps to set limits and informs people about what they can and cannot do. Inconsistent discipline leads to confusion and uncertainty. 11. Disciplinary action should be prompt: The effective discipline should be immediate. The longer time lag between the misconduct offense and the disciplinary action will result in ineffectiveness of the discipline.

Broadly defined, there are two approaches to discipline employees. They are:

Positive Discipline Approach Progressive Discipline Approach

Positive Discipline Approach

This approach is based on the premise that role of a discipline approach should not always be to punish; rather, it should try to regulate the negative behavior of employees to make them better workers. Positive discipline is a corrective action which results in improved performance, more productivity and effective workforce. Harsh and negative punishment might work in the short term, but the end result will eventually be employee dissatisfaction, low productivity, higher rate of absenteeism and high turnover. This approach tries to mend the negative behavior of employees by first providing them counseling in terms of what is expected out of them and then giving oral and written warnings to them. Termination or discharge in extreme cases may also take place.

Steps of positive discipline approach

1.

Counseling: Counseling is an important part of the discipline process, because it gives a supervisor the opportunity to identify employee work behavior problems and discuss possible solutions with him. The goal of this phase is to make employee aware of organizational policies and rules. Counseling by a supervisor in the work unit can have positive effects also. Often, employees simply need to be made aware of rules. An oral warning can also be given to employee during counseling. Confrontation helps to understand the employee point of view as well. However, proper training should be given to the supervisors regarding counseling skills to make this process successful.

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Written warning: If employee behavior has not been improved by counseling sessions, then a second conference is held between the supervisor and the employee. This stage is documented in written form. As part of this phase, the employee and the supervisor develop written solutions to prevent further problems from occurring.

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Final warning: When the employee does not follow the written solutions, a final warning conference is held. In that conference the supervisor emphasizes to the employee the importance of correcting the inappropriate actions. Some firms incorporate a decision-day off, in which the employee is given a day off with pay to develop a firm, written action plan to remedy the problem behaviors. The idea is to impress on the offender the seriousness of the problem and the managers determination to see that the behavior is changed.

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Discharge: If the employee fails to follow the action plan that was developed and further problem behaviors exist, then the supervisor will discharge the employee.

The positive aspect of this approach is that it focuses on problem solving rather than punishing and penalizing. This approach involves positive confrontation with the problem employee and thus gives him an opportunity to justify himself. The supervisor makes him aware of the company policies. The greatest difficulty with this is the extensive amount of training required for supervisors and managers to become effective counselors. Also, the process often takes more supervisory time than the progressive discipline approach.
Progressive Discipline Approach

It is a step by step program designed to correct performance problems arising out of employee misconduct. This approach typically follows four progressive steps to rectify offenses committed by an employee. It suggests that actions to modify behavior become progressively more severe as the employee continues to show improper behavior.

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Oral reprimands: It is a verbal interaction between the employees and supervisor where they discuss the problem behavior and the expectations to change the behaviors. An oral warning is issued as an informal reprimand that is simply noted in the record.

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Written reprimand:

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supervisor if the behavior continues or if the employee further commits a serious offense. A written warning is more official and summarizes the previous oral attempts. This written feedback is discussed with the employee and then placed in his personnel file.

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Suspension: The third step is suspension without pay; its purpose is to emphasize the seriousness of the offense and necessity of change. Dismissal: The final step is dismissal of employee and is used only when previous steps have failed to change unacceptable behavior.

The progressive discipline model has two advantages for managers:

It gives the employee additional opportunities to correct his performance prior to discharge.

It stresses the seriousness of repeated violations to employees.

This progressive discipline has the following disadvantages:

Progressive discipline may result into bitter relationships between supervisor and employee.

Supervisor may feel obligated to address every performance offence and assign an appropriate punishment to it, even though it may not be required.

Management may focus only on the problem employees at the expense of the good performers, thereby consuming too much of a manager's time.