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Nirathanka

A Guide to achieve better Industrial Relations Part I - Basics

11/15/2017

15 Comments

 
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Govindaraju NS
General Manager- Human Resources
Kern-Liebers (India) Pvt. Ltd, Antharasanahalli, Tumkur
Indian economy went through very important changes in the last two decades which includes globalisation, liberalisation, free trade policy and the recent ones are demonetisation and Goods and Service Tax (GST). These developments have led to the inflow of foreign investment and ease of doing business in India. Start-ups are given much importance and encouraged. Many of the public undertakings have been disinvested. Moreover, important changes have been brought in the labour laws and some more on the way…
  • No doubt these developments have led to the industrial development and creation of more employment but the changes in labour laws have created a temporary burden in the hands of employer by increasing the production costs even though they have increased the standard of living of the workforce.
  • These developments have not created any significant change in the ideology of labour unions and their behaviour. One may observe a very short decline in the union movement due to increase in literacy, education and emergence of new type of business segments like consolidation of taxi business, Business Process Outsourcing etc., but this change is very insignificant and negligible. The ideology and behaviour of the unionism has largely remained same from the last two decades. We are yet to experience any major shift in the unionism and their approach.
  • Whereas globalization has further provided access to developed countries’ union ideology and standard of living of working class which further created more desire in the minds of Indian working class. That means more aggressive demands and collectivism.
  • We were under the impression and belief that there will be no union formation at any point of time in Information Technology and IT enabled services. But the advent of unionism in these sectors is the latest development. We had a wrong belief that higher wages and benefits offered in these businesses will keep the unions out of the game.
Human Resource Management is an important function in the business. It is the responsibility of Human Resource department to effectively manage the entire life cycle of an employee which includes acquisition of right talents, integration, compensation management, performance management, learning and development, effective engagement, public relations and external environment management, industrial relations, welfare, legal compliances, resignation and relieving process, alumni management and many more. Effective management of these functions is the key to health and success of an organisation.

Achieving and sustaining better Industrial relations is one such important task of the HR Leader which is very sensitive, difficult and highly challenging. We have experienced that many industries have faced serious challenges and problems and many have closed down their sheds due to industrial unrest and ineffective management of unions and industrial relations. Sometimes the companies are direct reasons and in sometimes the unions are the direct cause for these developments. This is the negative side of it but let us look at the positive side. There are many examples where the industries have flourished and continued their existence even with thepresence of strong union activities in the industry.  The professional approach and leadership of management and unions, balancing rights and needs of both the parties and many other factors have contributed for the co-existence and development. On this front, the role played by HR leader and his team, his professionalism, ability to lead and educate, maturity, capability of understanding and balancing, business sense and many other factors plays an important role.  In my two decades’ of experience, I have spent at least a decade working with industries which have a strong union presence and experienced how achievingbetter industrial relations and harmony can be a success factor for HR Leader. My experience has also taught me what actions, approach, behaviour and skills of HR Leader can lead to better industrial relations and harmony in the industry.

Before we get into what approach, strategies, guidelines and techniques lead to better industrial relations, it is important that Human Resource professionals need to be essentially aware of certain basic information, concepts, principles and legal provisions. Let us call this as ‘basics’. The in-depth understanding of these factors can lead towards desired, conducive and better industrial relations. Let us look at these basics now…
​

1. Why union gets formed?
​
I tried to find the reasons for the formation of union in the industries where I worked so far and made an investigation and interviewed few union and management leaders. The reasons I found are ….
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There are three major reasons which I found largely triggered the workers to get united and form unions. They are exploitation, discrimination and a strong influence from the neighbouring company union.

2. Stages of Union development in the Industry.
The quality of management leadership, approach towards workers and union, what reasons and at what stage of the company unions have been formed, age of the company and workers, maturity, literacy and education of union leaders both internal and external, location of the industry, professional approach of HR Leader and his/her abilities and many more factors decide the nature of union development in the industry. They take their shape and develop approach based on these factors.

Using the knowledge of union development stages, the positive union development can be moderated properly.  Lack of knowledge, experience, caution and foresight on this can impair or delay the desiredand beneficial development of unions or make it impossible in some cases.
​
The extent of positivity of above factors decide the positive development of unions in the industry. The duration at each development stage depends on the above factors and proper moderation of the union development. The development stages can be shown as below in general.
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3. Types of Unions.
One can classify the unions into many types considering their thoughts and experience. However, depending on the reasons for union formation, location of the industry, management approach, education level of the workmen and leadership styles, the development of union takes its shape. This can lead to different types and styles of union. In my experience and thoughts they can be divided into the following types.
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Progressive union is an ideal union desired by every organisation. If the company makes constant efforts to create this type of union and succeeds, it can achieve progress by balancing the rights and expectation of both the parties. Existence and continuation of militant union can spoil the industry and can cause harm to both the parties and even lead to closure of the organisation. Both vulnerableunion and ineffective union may be good for the organisation in the short run but can definitely cause more trouble in the long run.

4. Expectations Vs Expectations.
Management and workers have their own expectations, demands and needs. They travel in opposite directions as the objectives of each party are different. The objective of the company is to create wealth by constant increase of profits whereas the objective of the union is to improve the living standards of their members by increasing their wages and benefits. Striking a balance between these two ends is a real challenge. I will stop now on this topic as there is a need to repeat the nature and list of these expectations while discussing about the strategies and techniques later in the article.

5. Must know legal provisions for better Industrial relations.
The knowledge of all labour law provisions is very important for HR Leaders to achieve and manage better industrial relations. More specifically, HR leaders must have the complete knowledge of Industrial Dispute Act 1947& Rules, Trade Union Act 1926 and Rules and Industrial employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946 and Rules.
​
There are few provisions which are very important and HR Leader must know without fail. They are -  
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I have listed only a few important provisions not getting into the details of the provisions considering the readers interest and fear of exceeding the pages. HR Leader and people involved in union relations must know every labour law applicable to their industry. I have been interacting and working with many external union leaders who have not studied much but are highly learned and fully aware of the legislative provisions related to labour and employment. This ability of external union leaders may put the industry in trouble. Hence, according to me HR Leaders should know more than anyone who are in the field.

6. Pressure tactics of union and workers. How can these pressure tactics affect Industry?
Workers and union adopt and practice many tactics to achieve their objectives and to show the power of their collective bargaining. It is not always possible to avoid these things considering the limitations and business conditions of the industry. Understanding these tactics and effects of such tactics on the company business helps the company and management to be prepared with adequate measures to safeguard the interest of the organisation when such tactics are adopted by the union and workers.
​
It is the task of the HR Leader to sensitise the management leadership and guide them to be prepared with contingency measures. The preparedness of the management depends on the top management leaders acceptability and understanding of reality and a little exposure on these eventualities. Many of the pressure tactics of union and workers can be listed as below.
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The sustainability of the parties during escalation depends on how well they are prepared and equipped and also financial tolerance. Existence of good leadership in management and union, honesty/integrity and maturity of the leaders can avoid any damage and inconvenience to both the parties.

We have discussed few points which can support in achieving the better industrial relations. We also need to be aware and implement certain practices, strategies and techniques which can lead to achievement of better industrial relations and harmony in the industry.I will discuss these dynamics in the second part.

Author’s Declaration
I have written this article entirely based on my experience, thoughts and intelligence. I have not referred to any books or internet while preparing this article. The graphs and pictures are all my original thoughts. The pictures are sketched by my family members based on my ideas. Resemblance, if any, found in any books or internet publications, it can only be co-incidence. The legal provisions have been taken from the relevant statutes.

15 Comments
Reema Shetty
11/16/2017 02:29:34 am

Good article

Reply
MAHESH. H link
11/16/2017 04:07:06 am

Dear Sir........Congratulations.........Thanks a lot for having taken such an amazing interest in making beautiful article which is useful for many many HR professionals in the field.

Would love to meet you and discuss in person soon .

Reply
SHEKHAR GN.
11/16/2017 04:15:36 am

Dear Govindaraju Sir,

Your article in Kannada impressed me to read this one! After reading I really flabbergasted at the way you have presented such complicated “SUBJECT” in the decipherable manner. This article is an example for your WISDOM, and shows your strong hold on Industrial Relations.

We always felt that, Industrial Relations & Dealing with Workers (Union) are not our cup of coffee, but your inputs inspire to pursue a career in IR.

We will be awaiting for Part 2 of the article!

Keep writing Sir. We are proud of you.

Be Great,

Shekhar GN.

Reply
Sudhakar
11/16/2017 06:37:43 am

Impressive article in related to Industrial Relation and common trends in manufacturing industry. Really this topic will be helping to new trends HR & IR persons and definitely we are waiting some more articles related to HR.
Thank you,

Sudhakar

Reply
RAJESH KALLA
11/16/2017 08:49:40 pm

Hi Govind
Quite an informative article related to Industrial Management and Human Relationship especially in corporate sector. As a student of Marketing your perspective has provided me with inputs which shall be helpful to me to deal effectively with these kind of engagements professionally.
My sincere congratulations to you and trust we shall have these kinds of articles in future from you as well.
Best Wishes
Rajesh Kalla

Reply
Rajendra
11/16/2017 10:08:43 pm

Very nice one sir. Waiting for part 2 article. I wish you keep converting your experience into words and that shall definitely become guide for upcoming professionals like us. Hats off for your commitment in sharing knowledge. Great job sir.

Reply
Manjunatha K H
11/16/2017 11:52:56 pm

Dear sir,

I have gone through the Kannada version of the this article but reading the same article in English, gives new concept/version/insight on Industrial relation & Mainly on union management . We knew that this article came out from your great work experience. Also we can sense that how much efforts /hard work you put to cultivate this article. Great sir & salute.

Completely, this articles gives an practical experience for readers. I always feel great/proud myself working with you sir. You’re an ideal leader for an any organization.

This article has covered many significance aspect of industrial relation such as Legal aspect/Union formation & management/tactic of union workers.

We request you to write an article on Complete Union settlement process , Management preparations tactics Vs workers preparation for settlement & With some leading cases. If time permit, pls make the video on HR functions. Your way of explanation by gesture/picture makes very easy for learners to understand.

A waiting for Part 02 & further articles. Thank you sir.

Best regards
Manjunatha K H

Reply
Suresh yadav
11/17/2017 01:28:28 am

Sir,

The English version of article came out very beautifully. Good learnings . Please write more articles.

Thanks & Regards
Suresh

Reply
Venugopal G S
11/17/2017 08:28:11 am

Very Good Article and All the best to sir...... Venugopal HR- Officer.

Reply
Manjunath
11/18/2017 07:11:49 am

Guruve,.Congratulations.,
Really beautiful article which is useful for many many HR professionals in the field.
Please keep itup.
Thanks
Manjunath

Reply
Kiran Kumar Sr
11/20/2017 06:59:18 am

Hi Sir,

First I would like to congratulate you on your article, its been one more mile stone in your professional lead, you are mentor for all of us in IR, & you have well articulated. Many more to come.

Regards
Kiran Kumar S.R
Head - HR
VonRoll India Pvt Ltd

Reply
Fazalu Rehaman
11/23/2017 08:44:53 pm

This information has provided a valuable resource in this present fluctuating economy.thank you sir

Reply
Umesh
11/26/2017 09:55:22 pm

Dear Sir,

I wish to congratulate you on your article .

Really a good insights about the union management & interesting to learn to the further.

Reply
Prafulla Chakra, VP-HR & IR(Retd), Consultant-HR-IR
12/2/2017 02:56:33 am

Dear Mr Govind
Yes, it is worth.
It would be better if you could have covered and taken into account the macro-micro level.

Reply
V jayaraman
12/3/2017 02:44:17 am

Excellent and thought provoking article. Best wishes, vj

Reply

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