Some Thoughts on Maintaining Discipline in the Workplace

These last few days gave me several opportunities to talk about and listen to what other people say regarding discipline in the work place.  I will not try to relate all of them together, instead, I am writing them here as bits of pieces of ideas that you may pick up in case you are interested. Here goes...

Clarifying HR and Line Management Roles in Maintaining Discipline
Who hires and fires? If you answered HR, then you are wrong. HR is instrumental to  it but it should never be HR's call to hire and fire unless they are hiring a person for the department. Hiring, discipling and firing is a line responsibility. Line managers must be equipped to do it. HR on the other hand must be equipped to help but not take away that responsibility from a line manager. Why? Because line managers must take responsibility for the choices they make. In one BPO company where I worked. I told managers, they will have to fire the people they hire if those people fail to meet performance expectations. If they don't like firing people, they should do two things. Hire the best candidate and equip them so they can achieve their performance objectives.

On Becoming an HR Leader

If you are an HR professional and you are experiencing the following, you are likely suffering from a lack of credibility;

• People not taking the performance management system you launched seriously; 
• Not much happens after you launch a training and development program;
• Your HR programs die a natural death;
• People do not appreciate the fact that you are spending most of your waking hours working for them; and 
• People still call your department "Personnel" and think that all you do is keep time, arrange Christmas Parties and company outings.

The problem with HR in many Philippine organizations is not that the expectations are too high but that the expectations  are too low. It is not only due to the lack of management appreciation of what HR can do but the lack of appreciation of the  HR professionals themselves. Many of us think that our role as a support unit is to wait for orders, coordinate and implement rather than lead or take initiative. This has got to change.