Discipline In A Workplace How to Maintain it - Click to Get Solution

Question: Describe about fair disciplinary process, mplementation of the disciplinary processes and Case law that have identified appropriate practice principles. Answer: Introduction Discipline in a workplace can be defined by the way in which the supervisory personnel or the management of the organization takes measures to correct the behavioral deficiencies amongst the employees of the organization. The Virgin Atlantic Group is a group of airlines owned by Sir Richard Branson and the Singapore Airlines and it is based in London. The headquarters of the airline is situated in Crawley and West Sussex of England. This airline organization caters the service of taking their customers to and from 30 destinations which is quite huge. Fair disciplinary process According to ACSAS the handbook of discipline at work should include the disciplinary procedure model. It suggest that the procedures should precisely and clearly sates its main purposes such as not to use any unauthorized device in the system that may corrupt the system or breaching of rules and policies (Gov.uk, 2016). The principles and rules behind procedures should be clearly stated and according to that works needs to be followed. The disciplinary procedure suggest four stages that are oral warning to the employee, written warning to the employee, final written warning to the employee and faintly dismissal of the employee. The procedure should clearly explain the following: At any stage and at any time one can appeal depending on the nature and type of misconduct Dismissal would be applied for the first misconduct unless it is the gross miscount (Katcher and Snyder, 2007). The employee may be suspended if it is gross misconduct on full pay after the investigation The employee have the rights to appeal against the action taken on him at every stage and hop they make the appeal The organization should set performance standards and conduct reinforced by the company rules. The disciplinary procedures are used to solve the problems with the employees performance or conduct and should have separate guidelines or procedures to deal with the situation (Lim, 2014). The handbook of disciplinary process also states how to handle grievances and discipline at work. The principles that are included in the procedures are as follows: Procedures and rules should provide a framework for performance and behavior Grievances and discipline are about the people and not processes The aim of the employer is to improve and not to punish The process also states that conduct and capability should be treated separately and the employer should recognize the differences between them. There is a difference between warning an employee for his miscount and for his capability (Blanpain et al., 2009). The dismissal of an employee on the basis of his capability includes the following reasons: Loss or lack of required qualification for the job Lack of skill or ability Lack of capabilities because of the ill health Dismissal because of misconduct or breach of the procedures may include: Poor attendance Poor timekeeping The examples of gross misconduct are as follows: Theft Fighting, intimidating behavior consumption of tobacco and alcohol on duty Implementation of the disciplinary processes It can be possible that the disciplinary processes may upset people or even angry. If the employees become distressed or upset then allow then to regain their composure and capabilities before continuing their jobs. There can be serious issues if the employees become too stress because of the strict guidelines. The employees aim to settle most of the problems informally with their managers, this lead to the development of many issues at the work place (Cushway and Hallsworth, 2012). Therefore, it is important for the management to set the principles and rules as per the convenience of the employees within the organization. The cases of poor performance or misconduct should be guided with appropriate disciplinary procedures. Therefore, it will help an organization by improving an employees performance or conduct. There can conflicts between the employer and employees and these can solve by promoting and developing rules, procedures and framework for handling grievances and disciplinar y situations (Employee relations, 2007). The procedures should be clearly explained in written and should be specific. It is also important for the employees to understand the rules, procedures and guidelines. The conflicts can be handled if the rules are clear and setting standard of conduct. Case law that have identified appropriate practice principles The disciplinary procedure should include the elements that will help to deal with the disciplinary and grievances issues. The management of Patak a well renowned company in UK having wide range of products including Indian pickles, sauces, curry pastas and chutney. The management of the company run an open door policy and also focuses on addressing and solving employees concerns (Silva, 2010). The company has regular forums for the employees through which they communicate with the managers. Grievances and discipline is the area in which the management felt that it would benefit them through appropriate training. The human resource manager in 2003 decided to address the problems and took help from Acas. The main aim providing training is to ensure that all the mangers are consistent in adopting and implementing best practices by directing them through appropriate disciplinary procedures (Stewart, 2010). According to the past reports, managers were not disciplined and uncertain with t heir roles and objectives. Moreover, they were also not clear with their role and HR role in handling the situations. Therefore, trainings empower the managers with necessary skills and information. The advisers of Acas also agreed with the training program that was based on existing procedures and policy on grievances and discipline. The training program includes: Guiding towards positive path through setting expectations and standards within the organization Correct procedures to handle grievances and discipline situations Delegating the work and exercising their powers appropriately that gave a chance to them to put into good practice Guidelines on handling difficult or awkward situations and how to avoid personality clashes and conflicts. This helped managers to feel confident and positive about their abilities and handling grievances and discipline situations. One of the most important policies of the Virgin Atlantic is that of total quality management which aims at priding the customer with the best quality of service which will ensure that the company achieves customer satisfaction at each and every level. In order to successfully maintain Total Quality Management, the management needs to take into consideration the different aspects of the business like that of economics, design, customer service production, manufacturing, marketing and the main objectives of the organization (Balmforth, 2009). The main aim of the organization is to profit in its business by providing the best quality of services to its customers. This is the reason why the organization ensures that it is updated with the latest trends in the services offered by them and also takes regular feedbacks from the customers in order to understand the spaces where they can improve. Along with satisfying the customers, the management gives equal importance to giving job satisfa ction to its employees (Dickinson, 2009). Therefore one of the most important policies of the organization is to look after its employees and understand the problems or issues they are facing so that the employees can be provided with the best work environment (Virgin Atlantic managers check in for training, 2008). It is the employees who hold the image of the organization in from of the loyal as well as potential customers and thus keeping the employees satisfied contributes to improve the brand image of the organization. In order to maintain such a huge organization, it is necessary for the management to incorporate some rules and regulations which need to be followed by the employees as well as the management itself (Marquis and Huston, 2006). There are strict rules against gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The management would not tolerate a person harming any other individual under any circumstances and the person may even face legal charges. Each and every employee is given an elaborate description of the job that they are assigned so that there is no room of miscommunication or misunderstanding (Virgin Atlantic sets trend for Stortext's technical records solution, 2005). This ensures that an employee does not go out of bounds and follows the exact orders given by the manager. This aids in maintaining coordination during team work and as a result everything gets done in an efficient manner. If an employee still fails to maintain the rules of performing the job, a warning is given to that person to make him or her aware about the way in which they are doing things in a wrong manner. This helps the employee to fully understand the mistakes that is being made by him or her and thus they can amend them in the best way possible. Through the incorporation of the disciplinary actions, the management is able to maintain a proper discipline and are therefore able to provide their customers with the best services. The basic disciplines that need to be followed in this organization are as follows: Maintaining equality in judgment Equal opportunities need to be given to each and every member of the organization No discrimination can be done on the basis of ones gender, race, religion, color etc. Democratic leadership style is to be followed where the opinion and feedback of each member is equally respected Maintaining quality of service and never compromising on it (Virgin Atlantic to ID passengers in a heartbeat, 2014) Problems or issues faced by an employee need to be immediately brought to the notice of the manager The management has to fulfill its responsibility of monitoring the activities of the employees in a sincere manner A person guilty of sexual harassment has to undergo a lot of charges as it is strictly against the company ethics Ethical conduct always needs to be followed by each and every member of the organization. Therefore the general policies and rules that the management of the organization has for it seem to be quite justified as the management needs to maintain an order amongst the employees of such a big organization. All the different aspects of the company rules and regulations along with the disciplinary procedures that it has is in support of other standard HR policies and practices like that of Equal Opportunities and Diversity management policies (Virgin Atlantic Airways v. Zodiac Seats, 2014). In case of Equal opportunities, each and every member needs to be given equal amount and level of chances to state their opinion, to improve themselves. Being a part of the organization gives a common identity to each and every member and thus with this there is the space where they can be regarded as equal irrespective of the position owned by them (Sargeant, 2006). Conclusion Thus by taking into consideration the above discussions, it can clearly be understood that disciplinary rules and regulations are integral to the growth and development of an organization. The significance that even the simplest of policy or rule plays in the making of an efficient team and thereby an efficient organization can be realized without much effort. Recommendations As per the given case study, it is quite clear that both the HR and the employee have had a gap of communication between them which has led to such a messy situation. Any company or organization needs to have the basic policies that would ensure that there is a proper and transparent line of communication between the HR department and the employees. References Blanpain, R., Bromwich, W., Rymkevich, O., Spattini, S. and Aparicio Valdez, L. (2009).The modernization of labour law and industrial relations in a comparative perspective. Austin: Wolters Kluwer Law Business. Cushway, B. and Hallsworth, I. 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