Unit Two: Case Incident One: Punishment

Unit Two: Case Incident 1

Kaplan University

MT302 Organizational Behavior

February 14, 2011

Unit Two: Case Incident 1

Part 1

The concept of punishment at its very core is a retributive practice and its goal a social order. Punishment is an act of inflicting pain or loss whether real or perceived; granted, in business inflicting physical pain as a punishment in today’s modern world is not an acceptable business practice -- so the term moves to the word discipline. Discipline is defined by Webster as: “to punish or penalize for the sake of enforcing obedience and perfecting moral character or to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control or to bring (a group) under control.” (Merriam-Webster, 2011).

Define and Analyze the Problem

The problem as presented in the case study Managers who use punishment, becomes when is punishment appropriate and warranted and is punishment justified in all circumstances? The difficulty in analyzing this case study is that we are limited in the background knowledge leading up to the actual punishment. The punishment delivered I think is subjective, however, in my opinion this manager needs to refine what he considers “punishment” because in my observation from reading see it more of a temper tantrum from a boss who clearly is unable to lead through coaching and motivation and relied on “bully tactics” to get his point across.

Solution to the Problem

In my opinion the manager should have outlined from the onset of employment expectations of each employee. Proper training needs to be given so that the employee can meet expectations, along with ongoing training and on the job coaching to ensure that the employee has the job knowledge necessary to meet expectations. In this case monthly sales goals should be clearly defined. The manager needs to coach and provide support to the employee throughout the process and then when the employee fails to reach the goals the manager needs to counsel...