CIMA E2 Syllabus B. Managing people performance - The 'Hot-Stove Rule' of Douglas McGregor - Notes ^{5 / 19}

The 'Hot Stove Rule' compares discipline with touching a hot stove.

The rule relates to immediacy.

Immediacy means that after noticing an offence, for example, an employee arriving late for work, and producing poor quality work, the manager should take disciplinary action as speedily as possible, subject to investigations. 

Leaving the matter for the future represents a failure to follow the hot stove rule.

The comparison between McGregor's hot stove rule and disciplinary action is that discipline should be directed against the person and not against the act.