Identifying the Problem
Your ability to identify the problem and the subsequent use of the disciplinary process is
dependent on your knowledge of the rules, agreements, conventions, customs and
practices. Without such knowledge you are virtually blind to all but the most obvious
breaches of the rules. With that knowledge as a background, you have to set down the
facts of the situation, as they appear before investigation, logically.
One way to
accomplish this is to ask the following simple questions:
WHO
Who is involved in the matter? This will involve the alleged offender plus any
victims, witnesses etc.
WHERE
Where did the incident take place?
WHEN
When did it happen?
WHAT
What has been suggested to have happened?
WHY
Do we know why the action took place?
HOW
How does the incident break the rules?
(If the answer to this question is "no rules have been broken" then the disciplinary
process should not be used. It may be that some other managerial action such as
instigating training may be required.) If the answer to this question is that one or
more rules have been broken then you should embark on an investigation.
Investigation
The investigation should take place immediately following the discovery of a suspected
breach of the rules and immediately before convening a disciplinary interview. The
intention should be to find out all the information to enable the manager to decide whether
to convene a disciplinary interview.
There are several skills required if an investigation is to be carried out properly and well.
The first skill is to approach the investigation with an open and unbiased mind. It is wrong
to assume anything about the outcome of the investigation until it has reached its
conclusion.
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