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    The Hot Stove Rule

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    Rahul Sarker
    The Hot Stove Rule outlines an approach to disciplinary action that avoids generating resentment. It draws an analogy between touching a hot stove and undergoing discipline, noting that discipline should be immediate, come with warning, be consistent, and impersonal. These characteristics ensure the discipline is directed at the action, not the person, allowing the employee to understand the cause and effect without feeling personally attacked. Consistency is also important so employees know what to expect for infractions.

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    The Hot Stove Rule

    Uploaded by

    Rahul Sarker
    817 views2 pages
    The Hot Stove Rule outlines an approach to disciplinary action that avoids generating resentment. It draws an analogy between touching a hot stove and undergoing discipline, noting that discipline should be immediate, come with warning, be consistent, and impersonal. These characteristics ensure the discipline is directed at the action, not the person, allowing the employee to understand the cause and effect without feeling personally attacked. Consistency is also important so employees know what to expect for infractions.

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    The Hot Stove Rule outlines an approach to disciplinary action that avoids generating resentment. It draws an analogy between touching a hot stove and undergoing discipline, noting that discipline should be immediate, come with warning, be consistent, and impersonal. These characteristics ensure the discipline is directed at the action, not the person, allowing the employee to understand the cause and effect without feeling personally attacked. Consistency is also important so employees know what to expect for infractions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    817 views2 pages

    The Hot Stove Rule

    Uploaded by

    Rahul Sarker
    The Hot Stove Rule outlines an approach to disciplinary action that avoids generating resentment. It draws an analogy between touching a hot stove and undergoing discipline, noting that discipline should be immediate, come with warning, be consistent, and impersonal. These characteristics ensure the discipline is directed at the action, not the person, allowing the employee to understand the cause and effect without feeling personally attacked. Consistency is also important so employees know what to expect for infractions.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The Hot Stove Rule

    The "Hot-Stove Rule" of Douglas McGregor gives a good illustration of how


    to impose disciplinary action without generating resentment. This rule
    draws an analogy between touching a hot stove, and undergoing discipline.
    When you touch a hot stove, your discipline is immediate, with warning,
    consistent, and impersonal.

    These four characteristics, according to McGregor, as applied to discipline


    are as follows:

    1. When you touch the hot stove, you burn your hand. The burn was
    immediate. Will you blame the hot stove for burning your hand?
    Immediately, you understand the cause and effect of the offense. The
    discipline was directed against the act not against anybody else. You get
    angry with yourself, but you know it was your fault. You get angry with the
    hot stove too, but not for long as you know it was not its fault. You learn
    your lesson quickly.

    2. You had warning as you knew the stove was red hot and you knew what
    would happen to you if you touched it. You knew the rules and regulations
    previously issued to you by the company prescribing the penalty for
    violation of any particular rule so you cannot claim you were not given a
    previous warning.

    3. The discipline was consistent. Every time you touch the hot stove you
    get burned. Consistency in the administration of disciplinary action is
    essential. Excessive leniency as well as too much harshness creates not
    only dissatisfaction but also resentment.
    4. The discipline was impersonal. Whoever touches the hot stove gets
    burned, no matter who he is. Furthermore, he gets burned not because of
    who he is, but because he touched the hot stove. The discipline is directed
    against the act, not against the person. After disciplinary action has been
    applied, the supervisor should take the normal attitude toward the
    employee.

    In applying this Hot Stove rule in disciplinary action, there must be


    organizational policies, rules and regulations regarding certain behavior
    and conduct which were issued and clearly explained to employees and
    accepted by them for compliance. Disciplinary action must be directed
    against the act, not against the person. It must be used by supervisors as a
    tool to develop the employee and the group. The steps that should be
    followed are:

    •Immediate investigation of the offense must be done to determine the


    facts. Promptness is necessary in order that the employee will associate
    the investigation with the offense rather than with his person.

    •Previous warning. It is important that the organization’s policies, rules and


    regulations are issued to and explained to all employees upon induction as
    part of the orientation program. This should be done by the supervisor with
    the help of Human Resources. In addition, whenever new policies, rules
    and regulations are developed, the employee must be made aware of
    them.

    •Consistency in the administration of disciplinary action is highly essential


    so that employees will know what to expect as a consequence of an
    infraction or violation of the rule or regulation.

    •Disciplinary action must be impersonal. It should be directed against the


    act, not the person. It should be institutional, that is, for the protection and
    interest of the entire organization and for all employees, and not done to
    satisfy the personal whim of the supervisor.

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