Industrial Relations Management

Features of a Sound Employee Disciplinary System

Discipline is an inevitable correlate of organization. To be organized means to be disciplined and vice-versa. The behavior of an employee is at the root of all discipline in an organization.

Some of the key features of a sound employee disciplinary system are:

1. Knowledge of Rules

The employee must be informed clearly about what constitutes good behavior and the rewards that may emanate from it. All instructions should be clear and understandable. It is common sense that an employee will obey an instruction more readily if he understands it. The supervisor himself must know all the rules. He cannot effectively communicate with his workers if his own knowledge about rules is half baked.… Read the rest

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Need of Workers Participation in Management

The concept Worker’s Participation in Management (WPM) is a broad and complex one. Depending on the sociopolitical environment and cultural conditions, the scope and contents of participation may change. In any case, a common thread running through all interpretations is the idea of associating employees in managerial decision-making. The view expressed by the International Institute for Labor Studies (Bulletin 5) is worth quoting here.

Worker’s Participation in Management  has been defined as, “the participation resulting from practices which increase the scope for employee’s share of influence in decision-making at different tiers of organizational hierarchy with concomitant assumption of responsibility”.

The concept of worker’s participation in management crystallizes the concept of Industrial Democracy, and indicates an attempt on the part of an employer to build his employees into a team which work towards the realization of a common objective.… Read the rest

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Industrial Disputes Settlement Machineries: Mediation and Conciliation

Mediation

Mediation’s is a process available to the parties involved in contract negotiations by which an outside party is called in by union and management to help them reach a settlement. The neutral mediator does not ultimately resolve the dispute, but instead tries to move the parties towards agreement by maintaining communication and suggesting alternative solutions to dead-locked issues. The mediator’s function is to provide a positive environment for dispute resolution by drawing on extensive professional experience in the field of labor management interaction. The mediator must possess thorough knowledge of the issues, and an ability to innovate solutions to problems.… Read the rest

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Approachs to Ensure Employee Discipline

Maintenance of harmonious human relations in an organization depends upon the promotion and maintenance of employee discipline. No organization can prosper without employee discipline. Discipline has been a matter of utmost concern for all organizations. Maintenance of effective discipline in an organization ensures the most economical and optimum utilization of various resources including human resources. Thus, the objective of discipline in an organization is to increase and maintain business efficiency. Effective discipline is a sign of sound human and industrial relations and organizational health.

The different approaches to employee discipline include,(i) human relations approach, (ii) human resources approach, (iii) group discipline approach, (iv) the leadership approach, and (v) judicial approach.… Read the rest

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Tactics or Strategies Adopted in Collective Bargaining

The tactics or strategies to be adopted in any collective bargaining situation vary depending upon the culture of the organization and different environmental factors, particularly the type of union operating in an industrial establishment. But the following are some of the common strategies to make collective bargaining exercise more meaningful:

  • The management has to anticipate the demands and also understand the main directions in which the demands are going to be placed. Generally speaking, negotiations are best done if both the parties do their home work well. The representatives must come to the bargaining table equipped with the necessary information and supportive data regarding the company’s economic status and prospects, the prevailing rates of pay and conditions of employment in comparable industries in the local areas.
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Stages in Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining is a method by which trade unions protect and improve the conditions of their members working lives. Collective bargaining brings the employer and the employees around one table to discuss and settle many contentious issues effectively. It enables both the parties to know each other and their views, and to define their rights and obligations regarding terms of employment, working conditions, etc., through negotiations, discussions and bargains. Collective bargaining enables to conduct negotiations about working conditions and terms of employment between an employer and a group of employees or one or more employees’ organization with a view to reaching an agreement wherein the terms serve as a code of defining the rights and obligations of each party in their employment relations with one another; fix a large number of detailed conditions of employment; and during its validity, none of the matters, it deals with, can in normal circumstances be given as a ground for a dispute concerning an industrial worker.… Read the rest

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