Unit 2: Case Incident 1

Unit Two: Case Incident 1

Aaron Coffman

Kaplan University

MT302 Organizational Behavior

01/17/2011

Unit Two: Case Incident 1

There are certain conditions in a workplace that could make punishment justifiable. Punishment is used on many different levels throughout organizations and can vary depending on the action and reaction of an employee’s mistake.

Some conditions that are justifiable for punishment can include poor performance, consistently being late for work, not meeting deadlines, all the way to unethical behavior in the workplace such as sexual harassment and stealing. With these conditions come different levels of punishment. For being late for work a proper punishment could be losing hours on your future work schedule which in turn an employee would get less pay. Such conditions as sexual harassment and stealing can be a cause for being suspended if not fired altogether. “Despite conventional wisdom that suggests that punishment should be avoided, punishment remains an important aspect of virtually all managers’ jobs” (Wade ,2005)

I do think most managers use punishment in many ways necessary as part of their managerial role and opportunity. Punishment that they deliver has implications for their own identity and reputation. Managers have a great deal to gain or lose in terms of their identity as a fair manager and their reputation for fairness. Fair punishment can send a positive indirect message to the rest of the organization by making an example of the subordinate and signaling to other members of that work group that the punishment was fair and consistent. Unfair punishment can trigger negative emotions, attitude, and behavior from the subordinate so it is important to take necessary steps to discuss fairness issues with the subordinate.

Punishment, as I mentioned earlier, can also have a negative impact on the subordinate and/or the whole company. Punishment that usually has a negative impact would be the use of unfair...