The “Rules of the Plantation” document highlights the overseer’s code of conduct during American slavery. Its 23 provisions or rules raise managerial and ethical issues in the current managerial, capitalist work environment. One provision that is especially interesting as related to the current managerial practices is number 10, which is also critical for the nowadays work ethics.
Rule number 10 of the “Rules of Plantation” documents indicates that “The negroes must be made to obey, and to work [], with very little whipping” (Southern Cultivator 103). Therefore, the whipping, a physical punishment, was accepted as a work practice. The 10th rule mentioned that the whipping should be very little, yet, by not interdicting it, it implies that this was a common practice. From the managerial perspective, this provision is equated with a practice specific to the authoritarian management, wherein employees can be punished if they do not meet the regulations or do not comply with their duties, as an enforcement of the extrinsic motivation practice (Beashel, Taylor & Alderson 234). Extrinsic motivation, as opposed to intrinsic motivation, wherein individual acts as a result of his/her own system of beliefs and attitudes, is externally induced, based on either reinforcement methods (rewards and incentives for repeating a behavior) or punishment (penalties) (Beashel, Taylor & Alderson 234).
However, the physical punishment is not a common practice in the 21st century management, but on the contrary, it is against the law. Any act that involves physical or verbal violence can be considered as a harassment or workplace bullying and sanctioned as an inappropriate, abusive behavior, as they offend individual well – being and the employees’ safety in the workplace (Feeley 55).
This 10th provision of the “Rules of the Plantation” implies that the overseer, as the right hand of the employer, has the right to whip the slaves, officially recognized back then as the “negroes”, when his judgment would dictate it was the case to do so. Such a behavior would be unimaginable today and subjected to legal considerations.
Nevertheless, an important aspect for the management science nowadays, as indicated in the 10th rule of the analyzed document, is the explanation “for much whipping indicates a bad tempered or an inattentive manager” (Southern Cultivator 103). This specification speaks for the current nowadays abusive managerial practices. Putting an overload on employees or mistreating workers in any other manner is a sign of inattentive management that can lead to ineffective results. This usually happens because abused or mistreated employees become un-motivated and when this happens they lose their enthusiasm for work and their productivity, satisfying for completing tasks quantitatively and not qualitatively.
This 10th regulation, as all the rest of the provisions from this document, define the code of conduct of the overseer, as the employed specialist, equivalent for the nowadays manager. This regulation specifies that the overseer can apply “unusual punishment”, at the employer’s command (Southern Cultivator). Therefore, this indicates that the employer has total authority and autonomy over the slaves, who are not considered individuals, but are more likely perceived as tools that the overseer should use in organizing his activity. Although the managers’ practice today implies organizing resources, including human resources for the same purpose of achieving results, as the overseer, the 21st century manager has ethical obligations towards the human resources. The respect for the individual prevail over abusive practices and abusive and unethical codes of conduct have severe implications for the employer’s reputation nowadays.
Works Cited
Beashel, Paul, Taylor, John & Alderson, John. Advanced Studies in Physical Education and Sport. Cheltenham: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. 1996. Print.
Feeley Kathryn-Magnolia. Workplace Bullying Lawyers’ Guide. Houston: Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co. 2013. Print.
Southern Cultivator (1843 - 1906). Rules of the Plantation. American Periodicals Series Online. p. 103.
