A Need for Today: Positive Discipline
“You’ve been uncooperative, lax and late for work three times in a row. Take tomorrow off—with pay.”
Has this supervisor gone dotty, rewarding poor performance with a day off? What’s going on?
It’s positive discipline at work. The technique, introduced more than 20 years ago by Canadian industrial psychologist John Huberman, has been used at organizations like General Electric, Union Carbide, AT&T, the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and others.
Punishment Doesn’t Work
“Our entire society is based on a criminal justice system that says that crime or misbehavior must be punished,” notes Richard C. Grote, former president of Performance Systems Corp. in Dallas, ‘a pioneer in the dissemination of positive discipline. “But as we know, the system doesn’t have the desired effect: improved behavior. Furthermore, most employees aren’t criminals.”
Workers who are punished usually don’t become better workers. By contrast, positive discipline has resulted in significant improvements in employee performance, absenteeism and morale.
With nonpunitive discipline, the responsibility for change lies squarely on the employee’s shoulders.
A Change of Attitude
It isn’t easy to shake off ingrained societal beliefs. Most companies that adopt positive discipline undergo a radical transformation in their attitudes toward discipline, performance and individual responsibility. But even without a company-wide wrenching, an individual manager can begin to apply the tenets of positive discipline.
“First, it’s important to acknowledge that you can’t really control an employee’s behavior—you can only influence it,” says Grote. “This realization alone is a great relief because you’ve shifted the responsibility to where it belongs: the employee. You are no longer the bad guy.”
A concrete example is the performance discussion. This always involves excuses. Rather than argue with the employee, you accept the excuse: “Yes, that is a problem” (the car wouldn’t start, the baby- sitter didn’t show, another department was late with its figures). “How are you going to handle it?” Emphasize responsibilities the person has toward the job.
Implementing Positive Discipline
Oral reminder. Manager and employee meet to discuss a specific performance problem. The object is to gain the employee’s agreement to solve it. Rather than issue a warning of more serious discipline to come, the manager reminds the worker of an obligation to meet company standards of behavior. A record of this meeting does not go into the employee’s personnel file, but the manager keeps notes for a working file.
Written reminder. This is in order if the problem persists, followed by another meeting to discuss the employee’s failure to abide by the original agreement. Again, the manager attempts to get the employee’s cooperation. A record of this meeting is placed in the employee’s file.
Observation: Under old-style discipline, the employee feels punished and resentful (”I did wrong, they got me for it, I’ve paid my dues”). Positive discipline is corrective, not punitive. It says to the employee: “You are really responsible for your own actions.”
“This system allows management to stop beating up on people,” concludes Grote. “It’s a mature way to deal with problems,” and one that most employees usually seem to find is quite reasonable.
