If you look at any HR literature, you will find that everybody agrees that employees should not be pulled up by their bosses in public. It’s a sin to chide somebody in front of his fellow employees, more so in front of strangers. But, in India at least, it happens all the time.

“I have known of instances where a senior manager was slapped by his boss in front of shopfloor workers,” says D. Singh, a Mumbai-based HR consultant. “His crime was insignificant; he had just failed to implement an order of debatable merit. The real purpose was to establish authority.”

You would think that the executive on the receiving end of this “reprimand” would put in his papers. But it didn’t happen that way. Instead, he apologised. The pecking order — there had been rumours that the person doing the slapping had fallen out of favour with the top bosses — was reinforced. And it was business as usual.

There are several lessons to be drawn from the incident. First, for all the talk about the boom in the job market, it’s a different world out there for youngsters just entering the market and those who have been at it for 20 years plus. Today’s jobseekers have all the confidence of the new India. You need to woo them.

At the other end, forty-something executives have either moved into the fast lane or they haven’t. If they are among the also-rans, they have learnt to swallow their pride. You hear ever so often that the backbone of the Indian industry is Mr Average, the rank and file. But Mr Average can always be replaced by another Mr Average.

It must be conceded here that public reprimanding —or, in some cases, sheer maltreatment — has become much less when it comes to workers. Earlier, in family-run concerns, they were treated like serfs. It is still prevalent in many places. But, thanks perhaps to trade unionism and the often violent protests — managers have been lynched and even burnt to death — there is greater awareness of the dignity of labour. It’s among the non-unionised executives where little change has taken place.

“In the West, if your boss gets unduly aggressive, you take him to court,” says Singh. “In our system, it is hardly a way out. In the US, a supervisor has been sued for several million for ticking off a counter clerk in front of a customer. She claimed mental harassment, human rights violation and what have you. You could do the same here. But it will get you nowhere.”

Some executives claim that public reprimands are a necessary and effective tool for enforcing discipline. “If a customer comes and complains to me, I immediately ask the employee she has complained against to meet me,” says a service sector employee. “I rebuke her there and then. It makes the customer feel that we care.” Does it? This happened at a restaurant. Wonder if the customer — who was complaining about slow service — ever came back.

HR surveys in the West have highlighted some things you should consider before reprimanding employees. Kirk Miller & Associates offers the following guidelines:

* Make sure your information is accurate.

* After the infraction conduct the reprimand as soon as possible.

* Make sure you are calm before conducting the reprimand.

* Conduct the reprimand in private.

* Let the employee tell you what happened and why.

* Focus on specific behaviour, not on generalities.

For us, that may be purely academic. In India, unfortunately, we still feel that the ability to shout at people is a key trait of a successful manager.

THE FIVE DEADLY SINS

Where you can go wrong in reprimanding employees

Lacking a complete understanding of the rules and/or not making them clear to others

Ignoring the seriousness of an offence as well as any mitigating and aggravating circumstances

Failing to get all relevant facts and acting on hearsay evidence

Procrastinating in taking action against violations

Flying off the handle or losing one’s temper.

Source: Reprimanding Marginal Employees, By Andrew E. Schwartz