The Disciplinary Experience and its Effects on Behaviour: An Exploratory Study

Derek Rollinson, Janet Handley, Caroline Hook and Margaret Foot
Additional contact information
Derek Rollinson: Department of Management, University of Huddersfield Business School
Janet Handley: Department of Management, University of Huddersfield Business School
Caroline Hook: Department of Management, University of Huddersfield Business School
Margaret Foot: Department of Management, University of Huddersfield Business School

Work, Employment & Society, 1997, vol. 11, issue 2, 283-311

Abstract: Using the results obtained from a small-scale, exploratory study of the internal dynamics of the disciplinary process, two issues are addressed: whether the disciplinary experience results in the disciplined person's internalising and/or observing an organisational rule; and the extent to which this is affected by the way the disciplinary process is handled. It is tentatively concluded that discipline can achieve the outcome of rule internalisation and/or observation, but it does so for only about half of those formally disciplined; for the remaining half, there are ongoing tendencies towards rule breaking. Explanations for this state of affairs are located in two important features of the internal dynamics of disciplinary handling. The first is the implicit use of a `conditioning by punishment' paradigm, which is applied within a context where punishing stimuli are largely ineffective in shaping behaviour. The second, which flows from the first, consists of managerial styles that often create an impression in the eyes of the disciplined person that retributional motives are at work.

Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://wes.sagepub.com/content/11/2/283.abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:11:y:1997:i:2:p:283-311

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Work, Employment & Society from British Sociological Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().