employees who feel they are being fairly treated "reciprocate" by displaying organizational citizenship behavior (Eckhart, 2004, p. 66). Chiaburu and Lim (2008, p. 463) found that the manager's trustworthiness was equally as important as the manager's level of fairness. Studies indicate that "trustworthiness represents a signal that the environment is safe and employees can therefore trust their managers and reciprocate accordingly" (Chiaburu & Lim, 2008, p. 454).
Progressive discipline may also lead to a "termination trap," wherein the company finds itself with no recourse but to fire an employee, even if they would prefer not to ("Don't Fall," 2003). Therefore, a system of procedural justice that can reduce the need for progressive discipline is beneficial. This paper will examine the "ethical organizational due process" (McCabe & Rabil, 2002, p. 33), proposing a discipline process that includes specific steps that reflect the values of the organization and that can be used as an alternative to progressive discipline.
One of the most serious drawbacks of progressive discipline is its inherent Catch-22: it "mandate[s] formality and preclude[s] any opportunity for informal resolution," thus proceeding inevitably toward dismissal of the employee if the offending behavior is not rectified ("Don't Fall," 2003). In addition, the feeling of being "under the gun" makes it difficult for the employee to improve Since in many companies, progressive discipline is only used for employees that it wishes to terminate, any employee called into the boss's office is already on the way to becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. As Cascio (2003, p. 9) points out, discipline "must be administered consistently" and impersonally lest it be perceived as unfair. Moreover, employee termination cases that end up in court can cost the company substantial amounts of money, so if progressive discipline has been used merely as a documentati...