Unit 5, Task 1 Understanding discipline within the

uniformed services P1, P2, M1, M2 and D1

In this essay I will evaluate the impact of discipline in the uniformed public services. As well as, why the qualities of self discipline are necessary for effective operations. Discipline is needed within the public services for a multiple amount of reason. Some of the reasons are enabling efficient and effective actions and working with teams to collaborate well. Within the armed forces soldiers are trained by their commanding officers to follow orders. When soldiers are disciplined they will know what to do and when to do it in the field of action when their life or others may be at risk. Discipline plays a crucial role within the uniformed public service. The police are trained in discipline as well as the army. When a team understands and respects discipline the job in hand will be done effectively and quickly. Through correct leadership everyone will be designated responsibilities and roles that best suit them to allow the mission/job to be achieved to the highest possible standard. This is what is necessary with all teams within the uniformed public services. When authority is not respected and there is no discipline, an order may not be carried out which may have a knock on effect. For example, if a medic on the field treats his friend who is not that badly injured when he is meant to treat someone else who is more severely injured. The person could die through this direct refusal of authority which could easily have prevented a death. Uniformed public service members understand that if they do not respect and follow the leadership of their commanding officer or boss they will be subject to punishment. Within the armed forces discipline is crucial to enable operations to get done effectively; if service men and women do not obey they are punished. The way in which the service men and women are punished is designed to make sure that if they do not follow orders or resist the authority their whole team will face the consequences. This is an effective way at making teams work together, as well as conform to the commanding officer s rule. When the team is punished for the action of only one person, the team will most likely punish that person themselves through social rejection or it is even common place that that person is bullied. Therefore, the person will reconsider resisting authority because they are aware of the consequences, the punishment and further understand discipline. Someone who is self disciplined and able to conform will bode well with the army or the police because the type of leadership displayed within these types of public services is more often than not, authoritarian. One study which is very relevant at looking at discipline is the Hofling s Nurses Study 1966 . The study has shown that people will obey, without question, someone they trust s judgement. Even though the nurses knew the hospitals policies about not taking prescriptions over the phone as well as the maximum dose they were allowed to give, they continued to do this. From looking at the Milgram s electric shock experiment 1974 has proven that if people feel that they can shift the blame from themselves they will carry out any task. In one hand this is a very good thing for the public services; it shows that people have the potential to obey any orders given to them. However, this is also a very negative thing. Previous to Milgram s study, people believed the Nazis to be different to everyone else, believing that the German race must have some type of defect to allow them all to carry out such horrific tasks. However, looking at these types of studies and seeing how easily people conform has shown that the majority of people will carry out any task given to them. If responsibility is put on them for doing something they have carried out they will simply say, I was told to do it. This is where the Geneva Convention has stated rules for example, that if you kill a

Joshua Stylianou

person in war you personally are responsible and the kill is only legal if there are set reasons for your deed . The importance of self discipline within the public services is paramount. If a public service member is self disciplined they will have the ability to follow instructions such as being on time, their appearance and being reliable. Someone who is not disciplined is likely to be value their own opinion choosing to be lazy and do the bare minimum. Without self discipline, team members for example could lead to a poor level of team work and social break down. It is very important to be self disciplined within the fire service, especially with punctuality. If a fire officer has a lack of self discipline they may not respect punctuality, this would be really dangerous because time management is a crucial thing within the fire service. This is because every second counts when someone is trapped in a burning house or in a wrecked car. Within the police self discipline is also needed for appearance and presentation. This is because, if a police officer turned up to a call looking a dishevelled they would not be taken seriously or given as much respect compared to if they were well groomed and smartly dressed. Furthermore, if all police officers have the same dress code, they look more professional and represent a stronger unit. Some people have a lack of self discipline whether it is due to low self esteem or other similar reasons. These types of people are likely to conform easily to peer pressure and the social norms and values. An example of this is shown in Asch s paradigm study 1951 . From the study, we can learn that 37 out of 50 participants conformed. What this study has proved is that the majority of people will conform. This is not a good thing because within the public services, service members are required to make decisions that can affect peoples lives. If they believe something is not right with a decision being made they may not voice their opinions due to a fear of social rejection and a lack of self confidents. Obedience, conformity, discipline and self discipline all come down to what type of personality you have, whether you will conform to anything just to be accepted into a social group or follow every order to the letter of a commanding officer. But one thing I have found out from researching and bringing this essay together is people will conform and respect discipline simply to be accepted. To be honest this is a good thing within the public services because without the service men and women working together things would not get done quickly or effectively. But on the other hand, What if another Hitler came into power? Would we all act the same way as the Nazis did? From the research I have made, I would suspect the answer would be yes we would .

Joshua Stylianou