Final answer:
A supervisor's failure to decisively act on disciplinary issues may lead to loss of authority, lack of discipline, and increased insubordination. It is important for maintaining order and productivity that supervisors enforce standards and consequences consistently, despite any external pressures.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a supervisor must take disciplinary action against a subordinate and fails to act decisively, several repercussions may occur. The supervisor risks undermining their own authority, potentially leading to a loss of discipline within the team or organization. This hesitation may breed insubordination and resentment, as the subordinate might continue to act against the established norms, knowing that there are no immediate consequences.
Much like historical leaders who mandated standards for behavior and enforced consequence for non-compliance, a supervisor in modern organizational settings must apply appropriate actions to maintain order and productivity. In the military, for example, the failure to enforce commands consistently results in poor discipline, which can be detrimental to the functioning and outcomes of an army. Similarly, in the business sphere, a bank supervisor facing political pressure must still enforce financial regulations to prevent controversy and maintain fiscal responsibility.