Causes Of Indiscipline

Employee misconduct may be caused by the individual or it may also be a result of poor managerial skills of the superiors.

(a)    Personality

The natural temperament and character of the individual may contain a high level of disobedience. People who are self assertive or possess some feeling of superiority usually resent authority and are less inclined to follow directives meekly and unquestioningly. They question in their minds, the right of anybody to exercise authority, power and control over them. They see themselves as right while authority sees them as undisciplined.

(b)    Intelligence and Knowledge

A person with low mental faculties is unlikely to calculate the consequences of his behaviour. He lacks the ability to understand why certain actions are expected or rejected by the organization. Such people behave in a haphazard manner and very frequently find themselves at variance with authority.

(c)    Job Maladjustment

Indiscipline may arise because the employee is placed on the wrong job or at an inappropriate position in the hierarchy. A person without the relevant background is unlikely to appreciate the rationale of the rules, regulations, and procedures pertaining to the situation he finds himself.

If a person is located in too junior a position, he may ignore the rules which he considers below his dignity. Similarly if a person is elevated to a disproportionately high position, there is the temptation of throwing weight or abuse of authority. In either case, there is the likelihood of breaking the code of conduct and this amounts to indiscipline from the point of view of the organization.

(d)    Inappropriate rules

If management institutes rules which are unfair, improper or unpracticable, there is little likelihood of them being accepted and followed. The employee will weigh the social cost of obedience against the benefits of discipline. Where the cost of compliance is too great, the employee will disobey even at the risk of disciplinary measures being taken against him.

(e)    Communication

Failure to communicate the rules and the penalties of disobedience would result in possible breach of the rules, regulations and procedures. The employee would be in no position to do or not to do what is unknown. But even if the employee knew the do's and dont's of the organization, ignorance of the consequence of breaches could lead to indiscipline. He would not be in a position to calculate the cost of indiscipline.

(f)    Supervision

At the lower cadres of the organization close supervision is necessary to ensure compliance with established code of conduct. There are circumstances when McGregor's Theory X about the average man is applicable. In addition, where the informal group values associates indiscipline with bravery and cleverness, close supervision is necessary to maintain discipline.

(g)    Vacillation

Employees who breach a regulation and escape disciplinary action due to some indecision by management or pressure on them by some external influence would encourage future indiscipline. The culprit and his colleagues would see in this a sign of weak management which can be disobeyed without the risk of punishment.

(h)    Where employees see the institution and application of rules as aimed at discriminating against a certain ethnic, religious or racial group, they are likely to view the rules as subjugation. Political influences would then set in and disobedience would be seen as quest for freedom. Management would be inclined to use repressive measures to impose discipline. As a result, the unity of the organization would be compromised and smooth functioning disrupted.