AMITY We nurture talent. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS MBA-IB 3 rd Semester By Ms. Chitra AIBS, Noida.

AMITY

We nurture talent

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

MBA-IB 3rd Semester

By Ms. Chitra

AIBS, Noida

Industrial RelationIn the words of Lester: "Industrial relations involve attempts at

arriving at solutions between the conflicting objectives and values; between the profit motive and social gain; between discipline and freedom, between authority and industrial democracy; between bargaining and co-operation; and between conflicting interests of the individual, the group and the community”

One of the most comprehensive definitions which views industrial relations from the perspective of human relationships is by J. Henry Richardson: "Industrial relations is an art, the art of living together for purposes of production. The parties while working together learn this art by acquiring the skills of adjustment.

• Concept of Industrial Relations:

• The term ‘Industrial Relations’ comprises of two terms: ‘Industry’ and ‘Relations’. “Industry” refers to “any productive activity in which an individual (or a group of individuals) is (are) engaged”. By “relations” we mean “the relationships that exist within the industry between the employer and his workmen.”

OBJECTIVES OF IR

• Understand the key strategic issues in industrial relations.

• Explain the unitary, pluralist and radical approaches to industrial relations.

• Appreciate the role of employers, trade unions and governments in industrial relations.

• Understand individual and collective bargaining, conciliation and arbitration.

Main Parties in Industrial RelationsIn simple words, industrial relations are the outcome of the 'employment relationships'

in industry, i.e. between employers and labour. The government of a nation or state influences these relations to a great extent. Thus, there are three main parties in industrial relations:

• Workers and their Organisations i.e. Trade Union : The personal characteristics of workers, their culture, educational attainments, qualifications, skills, attitude towards work, etc. play an important role in industrial relations.

• Employers and their Organisation: The employers are a very important variable in industrial relations. They provide employment to workers and try to regulate their behaviour for getting high productivity from them. In order to increase their bargaining power, employers in several industries have organised employers' associations. These associations put pressure on the trade unions and the Government.

• Government: The Government or State exerts an important influence on industrial relations through such measures as providing employment, intervening in working relationships. and regulating wages, bonus and working conditions through various laws relating to labour. The Government keeps an eye on. Both the trade unions and employers' organisations to regulate their behaviours in the interest of the nation.

Features of Industrial Relations

• Industrial relations are born out of employment relationship in an industrial setting. Without the existence of two parties i.e. labour and management, this relationship cannot exist. It is the industry, which provides the environment for industrial relations.

• Industrial relations are characterized by both conflict and co-operation. So the focus of industrial relations is on the study of the attitudes, relationships, practices and procedures developed by the contending parties to resolve or at least minimize conflicts.

• As the labour and management do not operate in isolation but are a part of the large system, so the study of industrial relations also includes vital environmental issues like technology of the workplace, country's socio-economic and political environment, nation's labour policy, attitude of trade unions, workers and employers.

• Industrial relations also involve the study of conditions conducive to the labour, management co-operation as well as the practices and procedures required to elicit the desired co-operation from both the parties.

• Industrial relations also study the laws, rules, regulations, agreements, awards of court, customs and traditions, as well as policy framework laid down by the government for eliciting co-operation between labour and management. Besides this, it makes an in-depth analysis of the intervening patterns of the executive and judiciary in the regulation of labour-management relations.

Scope of Industrial Relations 1) Development of Healthy Labour-Management Relations: The promotion of

healthy labour management relations pre-supposes:

The existence of strong, well-organized, democratic and responsible trade unions and associations of employers. This can lead to:

– Job security of employees

– Increased workers' participation in management

– Negotiations, consultations and discussions

– Good labour-management relations.

2) Maintenance of Industrial Peace: Industrial peace pre-supposes the absence of industrial strife. Industrial peace is essential for increased productivity and harmonious labour-management relations.

The industrial peace can be largely nurtured through the following means:

• Machinery should be set up for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes

Scope of Industrial Relations• The industrial peace can also be attained by the creation and maintenance of

implementation cells and evaluation committees which have the power to look into implementation of agreements, settlements and awards and also violations of statutory provisions laid down under various labour laws.

(iii) Development of Industrial Democracy: The idea of industrial democracy states that the labour should have the right to be associated with the management of an industry. To achieve this objective, the following techniques are usually employed:

• Establishment of the Shop Councils and Joint Management Councils at the floor and plant level. These councils aim at:

• Improving the working and living conditions of employee • Improving productivity, encourage suggestions from employees • Assisting the administration of laws and agreements • Serve as a channel of communication between the management and

employees • Creating among the employees a sense of participation in the decision-

making process and • Sense of belonging to the industry.

Contemporary issues in IRLow Wages. Low wages have been a perennial problem and have been a source of

industrial dispute for years despite the existence of Payment of Wages Act and the Minimum Wages Act. The acts do not seem to be solving the problem due to their poor implementation. In many of the factories, workers are still given wages below subsistence level, which leads to high degree of dissatisfaction and subsequent decrease in productivity. In many industries, the minimum wages have not been revised at par to compensate for it.

Employment of Women. In the Indian cultural setup, the employment of women is a major problem even though things have started changing in the recent times. There are special provisions regarding the employment of women in the Factories Act, which prohibit employment of women during the night shift and also on heavy machinery. Under the Equal Remuneration Act, women are entitled to equality of wages at par with the male workers. Some employers don't follow the above provisions in letter and spirit and continue to exploit the women workers by virtue of their strong position and because of mass illiteracy and superstition among the women workers.

Contemporary issues in IR

Ignorance and illiteracy. Various labour laws that have beer made would be beneficial to the workers if implemented properly. For this it is important that the workers themselves understand the underlying principles and provisions of the law and demand whatever is due to them. With high rate of ignorance and illiteracy prevailing among the workers, it car be imagined how many of them know about the laws. It is here that the exploitation of workers takes place and legal provisions are ignored totally.

Industrial Housing. Another burning issue in the industrial relations field is that of accommodation to the industrial employees. Here the problem is that the firms are not able to provide accommodation to the employees and further that the house rent allowance (HRA) that they provide is not sufficient to keep pace with the ever -rising demands of the landlords

Child Labour. The law requires that no child below the age of 14 is allowed to work in any factory and the adolescent is not allowed to work in hazardous conditions. The Supreme Court has passed a ruling strictly prohibiting the employment of children in any kind of factory. But still one finds instances of violation of law.

Measures to Improve IR

• Progressive Management out look

• Strong & Stable Unions

• Mutual Trust.

• Mutual Accommodation

• Sincere Implementation of Agreements

• Workers participation in Management

• Sound personnel policies

• Government's Role.

Pluralistic

Co-operation

Conflict

Authoritarian

Paternalism

Unitary

Humanresource

management

Systems

Evolution

Revolution

Marxist

Control ofthe labourprocess

Input Conversion Output

Conflict(differences)

Institutionsand

processes

Regulation(rules)

Approaches to industrial relations

Social action

Wider approaches to industrial relations

Approaches to industrial relations

Labour market Comparative

UNITARIST APPROACH

• Industrial relations is grounded in mutual cooperation, individual treatment, teamwork and the sharingof common objectives.

• The underlying assumption is that it is to the benefit of all to focus on common interests and promote harmony.

• Conflict is regarded as destructive.

PLURALIST APPROACH

Regards conflict as inevitable because employers and employees have conflicting interests.

• Trade unions are seen as legitimate representatives of employee interests.

• Sees stability in industrial relations as the product of concessions and compromises between management and unions.

ADVERSARIAL IR

UNION MANAGEMENT

Strike Lockout

Bans Injunction

Boycott Strike breakers

Picket Employer associations

Industrial tribunal Industrial tribunal

RADICAL OR MARXIST APPROACH

• Marxists, like the pluralists, regard conflict between management and employees as inevitable.

• Sees industrial conflict as an aspectof class conflict.

• The solution to worker alienation and exploitation is the overthrow of the capitalist system.

SUMMARY

• The changing nature of global markets and the need to become more customer-driven have forced a critical re-examination of the way industrial relations is handled in Australia.

• Radical, pluralist and unitary approaches (in one form or another) all have their supporters.

• The traditional roles and dominance of government, employer associations and union are being challenged – their place in the industrial relations arena is no longer guaranteed.

• As a consequence, the IR agenda in the years ahead appears likely to be dominated by both change and controversy.

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