Managing staff in the restaurant industry

Ah the biggest head ache of all managing people. I've only been at the management level for about two years now and I've gained a good bit of hands on experience to go along with my bachlors degree in culinary management. I've learned that managers who do not utilize the bigest tool we have to control our staff are the managers who have the most problems managing their staff. The tool I'm refering to is documentation. From the very begining of my management training I was always told if they don't want to listen document them and then the word will get out among staff. Then everyone will start to fall in place. Another tool we have to control staff is to take money away from them. We do this by sending them home a few times until they correct the behavior. The idea behind this is that when they see their shrinking pay check and aren't making any money they will do what is necessary so they don't get send home.
One of the biggest problems I have found when managing staff is when upper management dosn't back you up. This is when you try to take corrective action against a employee and the upper management over turns your action. This can cause trouble if it happends a lot because then the employee will not listen to you and will always go over your head to get the decision they want or think they will get. Now don't get me wrong if you make a wrong management decision then upper management should step in and over turn it. All in all upper management should back you most of the time so the employee will see you do have authority.
To sum it all up though I beleave managing people is pretty much the same across the board wether you work in the restaurant industry or any other industry.