Discipline and Punishment Severity

It may be true that “draconian” punishments harden an individual. Those kinds of punishments, in most cases, tend to make the individual more severe and less sympathetic afterwards. When I think of these kinds of punishments, I immediately think of sports coaches. In that context, they have the goal of strengthening individuals, more so mentally than physically, and they (the coaches) gain from having the individuals (the players) having less sympathy as it helps them reach their objective – winning the game/contest/whatever they’re competing in. But in most contexts (work, group activities, etc), especially if the main goal is to strengthen the relationship and increase productivity, harsh punishments may not be the way to go. I’m thinking that draconian punishments are more of a short-term band aid to increase imminent production, but long-term it probably does more harm than help in terms of strengthening relationships and building mutual productivity and respect. I think that people need to find a moderate balance in terms of punishment. Not too extreme, but stern enough to encourage better performance without risking the relationship deteriorating. In addition to moderate punishment, it’s on the leader/coach/employer or whoever is the one giving the punishment to reinforce their principles and regularly check-in to see how the relationship is progressing, and be willing to change their method if unsuccessful. If the person isn’t responding to light/moderate punishment, then more severe measures may be necessary

            I can think of one time in my work experience where there was an example of discipline, and I personally think it could have been handled better. What makes things interesting is that I was one of the people involved in the dispute. Back when I was a lifeguard, there was another person on the staff who did not nearly have the work ethic/desire that the majority of the group had, and it showed with a lack of productivity on the job. She was lazy, didn’t really take the job too seriously, and always went out of her way to do even some of the most simple tasks. I always take pride in my work ethic, and to see her do the things she did (for example: avoiding cleaning bathrooms, not putting pool equipment away, and doing this all with a know-it-all attitude) didn’t sit well with me. One night when we were closing down the pool, she neglected to do an item on our mandatory closing checklist (I can’t necessarily recall exactly what it was) and we got into a verbal altercation, because I was trying to get the job done so we could go home for the night. The manager, our boss, wasn’t actually there at the time, but he was informed of the situation the next day. Our manager (Mike) was a very nice guy, and is not one to give out any serious punishments. He talked to both of us separately and was very respectful with how he handled it. I had been working with him longer than the other guard who I got into an altercation with, so I felt like he was more upset with her than with me. Regardless, I think he should have been a little more stern in his judgement, as neither of us really received any punishment. As other guards would have been able to tell you, there was plenty of evidence of her failing to do her job, and there was no evidence of me doing anything to break the rules or go against the employee standards. We would constantly talk to him about how bad of an employee she was, and I felt like he didn’t really do anything about it – but that didn’t surprise me because that’s just his personality (our boss). I’m not completely innocent here though, as I definitely should not have had that altercation with her in front of other staff members. If I were in Mike’s shoes, I probably would have been a little more stern as to how to remedy the situation, because my relationship with that co-worker had completely disintegrated. I wish I knew what the context of their own discussion was (although it was probably not my place), but that co-worker eventually quit before the end of the summer. This was the only time in my life I was verbally upset with another one of my co-workers, and I feel like I didn’t have any repercussions on my end. I’m not complaining about it, but if I were in the manager’s position, I probably would have handled it with some low-level to moderate punishment (instead of just talking to him about the situation). There was really no standard for punishment at the pool, so maybe having me do a little extra work on the job (work that was not already expected of me) would have served us better.