Aims: This paper describes discipline as a specific technique of power which constitutes, in our view, a form of institutional violence.
Background: The need to create and maintain safe and healthy work environments for healthcare professionals is well documented.
Evaluation: Foucault's concept of disciplinary power was used to explore institutional violence from a critical perspective.
Key issue: Violence is identified as an important factor in the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals. Given the shortage of such professionals, there is an urgent need to take a fresh look at their working environments and working conditions.
Conclusion: Power, surveillance and disciplinary techniques are used at all levels of hospital management to control and contain both human resources and costs.
Implications for nursing management: By associating common workplace practices with institutional violence, employers who have a policy of zero tolerance toward workplace violence will need to re-examine their current ways of operating.