Abstract
Disciplinary action should be used to direct employee efforts towards the achievement of organisational goals and objectives. To achieve this, discipline and its application should be administered in a fair and consistent manner. However, this purpose is unattainable where disciplinary action is used to further personal agendas in the workplace. The objective of this paper was to explore whether disciplinary action is selectively applied within the case organisation. To realise this objective, a qualitative research design was adopted where semi-structured interviews were conducted with study participants. A total of 10 participants were purposively selected within the case organisation. Responses from participants were analysed using content and thematic analysis. The study's findings revealed that disciplinary action was selectively applied based on individual affiliation to leaders, caused by a lack of objectivity and unconducive organisational culture. Findings further revealed that there was a lack of action from HR representatives within the case organisation due to organisational politics that exist in the workplace. It is recommended that the case organisation educate and train its leaders on employment relations and labour law, to ensure that disciplinary action is more consistent and fairly applied. Moreover, leaders within the case organisation need to execute ethical decisions related to disciplinary action, failing which they should be disciplined themselves for promoting a toxic and unconducive workplace culture.