Perceived discipline, punishment and organizational performance among employees of federal ministries in Cross River state

The study aimed at finding the relationships among discipline, punishment and organizational performance as perceived by staff of federal ministries in Cross River State. Purposive sampling technique was employed in drawing a sample of 1000 staff from an estimated population of about 8000 federal workers, whose ministries are domiciled in the federal secretarial complex in Calabar. The study design was correlational design, and the instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire called Discipline, Punishment and Performance Opinion Questionnaire (DPPOQ). The independent variables of the study were discipline (classified into, persuasion, issuance of query, warning letters & withholding of reward), and punishment (classified into suspension, demotion & dismissal), while the dependent variable was organizational performance. Results of the study indicate that there is a positive strong correlation between all the sub-scales of discipline and organization performance. Findings on the comparison between punishment indicators and organization performance show an inverse relationship. The study recommends the use of discipline instead of outright punishment in correcting staff to enhance effective goal attainment in organization.