Commentary

In a UK Sunday Times article titled: “Discipline, law and order and good governance”, the author said that when we look around and see the appalling indiscipline that pervades society nowadays, one ruefully reflects and wonders where the long-cherished conventional standards of ethical behavior and socially-accepted norms of conduct have gone.

Orderly people observe discipline in their daily lives. Discipline is action or inaction that is regulated to be in accordance (or to achieve accord) with a system of governance. It is commonly applied to regulating human and animal behavior. Furthermore, it is applied all branches of organized activity. 

It can also be a set of expectations that are required by any governing entity including the self, groups, classes, fields, industries, or societies. This is very important in administrative and managerial circles in getting people to work towards a set target and objective.

Discipline is integral to any orderly form of life. It is a moral obligation among many groups of people. Disciplined behavior is required by laws and other legal obligations. Commercial entities put in place strict disciplinary requirements for honoring commercial agreements.

In the military, discipline regards the efforts made by superiors to punish the service person. In academia, discipline regards the educators' responses and efforts that are designed to punish the student(s).

In animal husbandry and training, the animals are disciplined to perform specific task and activities without errors. Additionally, animals can discipline their young through numerous methods; including nips, bites, and grips.

In the public and private sectors, time management is a form of discipline that utilizes time as the regulator and the observer of time as the governor. The requirement is for time to be used efficiently. This activity maximizes the result of a set of activities by marking each activity within a boundary of time.
Time management can utilize skills, tools, or techniques to create specific time allotments according to a range of organization methods. A major theme arising from time management is that of modifying behavior to ensure compliance with time-related deadlines. This theme is interrelated with discipline and methods of discipline that can be used without punitive consequences.

Responsibility-based discipline co-opts the participants to understand remedies for problems in an organization. The general aim is to instill an understanding of consequence in the subject. Punishment can be used to instill immediate compliance as it acts as a reminder to the offender that there are consequences to their actions, especially when it comes to breaking the law.