You are a first-year supervisor in a manufacturing plant. You supervise a group of employees who play cards during their lunch break for recreation and for a break from their monotonous work. They use matchsticks instead of money as their wager. The word around the plant is that they convert the matchsticks to money after work to divide the winnings, but you have no proof that this is happening. Also, you are aware that staff members in the front office have football pools every week during the fall and declare a winner every Monday morning. They also put their predictions on the Super Bowl and World Series, along with a $5 bill, in a glass bowl. After the results are known, they declare a winner and give all the money to the winner. These employees do not report to you; they work for a different supervisor who is frequently out of the office on business travel. Office staff seldom, if ever, enters the manufacturing plant. Rules against gambling on the job are posted all over the plant. You were informed about the principles of employee discipline during your orientation and supervisory management training program. You learned that the rules must be reasonable and posted and that any disciplinary action must be applied consistently.

QUESTIONS: Do the plant employees operate under the same rules? Should you discipline one or more employees to set an example for violating the no-gaming rule? Do you have proof of a rule violation? Are there other alternatives? What should you do? Why?