How to lay down the law to a staff member

1. Quotable quote

"Although there will undoubtedly always be a certain amount of reprimanding and bawling-out of subordinates as long as one person works for another, as a general means of management it's on the decline.

This is only in part because we've become more civilised and considerate. The principal reason is that new strategies that work better in getting people to excel in their work have proven more effective. More rational organisation of work, more participation, and the breaking down of class and status systems carried into the workplace from the outside, make temper tantrums less and less acceptable.

In the light of this trend, it behooves the manager who uses rage and personal tyranny as a system of motivating others into action to have a serious look at himself and his techniques of management."

2. Here's an idea

Stay alert. Observant managers can usually anticipate disciplinary problems before they start. If you deal with an employee’s infraction of the rules early on, then you will usually be able to avoid the need for disciplinary action.

3. Here's an idea

Always express a misdemeanour as a work-related problem. For example, ‘Whenever you’re late you place an undue burden on the other staff who must not only do their own work, but must also, unexpectedly, rearrange their responsibilities to handle the work they were assuming you would do.’ Avoid personal attacks - ‘lazy’, ‘irresponsible’, ‘sneaky’, ‘deceitful’, and the like. …