Assignment 1

In any company in order to be successful employees need to be productive and efficient. Employees need to be disciplined to ensure that they can help the organization meet or exceed its goals. In the case of James the firefighter, as the arbitrator, I felt that the department acted appropriately in terminating James. Every organization has it policies and rules that must be followed. The City of Coral Springs, FL had a collective bargaining agreement with the International Association of Fire Fighters. The collective bargaining included the terms and condition between the city and the firefighters that they must follow. However, James who is a firefighter for the Westside Fire District blatantly disregarded authority of the agreement. The agreement or contract clearly states that they have a “progressive discipline policy” and does not tolerate employees acting inappropriately or performing below their expectations.

In this case as an arbitrator, the department of the Westside District had every right in terminating James. James had felt the need to undermine and disrespect any decisions made by the District manager. James has had verbal and written warning about his behavior on different occasions and not wanting to work as a “team player” was unacceptable. He disobeyed the watch commander’s instruction, he was defiant to the company’s policy and authority and he put lives in danger. I feel that the commander had given James the opportunity to correct his behavior but James chose not to. According to the text, to correct an employee behaviors management should indicate what is expected of the employee and what the consequences are when the behavior does not change. (Holley, 2010). I felt that management made James aware of his behavior and that he needed to change it. Unfortunately, he ignored his commander’s orders on changing his behaviors. According to the government agencies such as EEOC and the NLRB shows that employee discipline must