Page 192 - DMGT516_LABOUR_LEGISLATIONS

Unit 7: Dispute Resolution and Industrial Harmony

According to Nair and Nair the following cases may be there behind the employees' grievances: Notes
1. Organisational aspects: Organisational structure, policy plans and procedure.
2. Informational aspects: Ignorance about company rules, regulations, promotion policies,
career prospects, transferability, etc.
3. Human aspects: A variety of reasons, the major ones being poor mental health and
attention. Jackson (p.5) traces the causes of grievances as arising from the following issues:

(a) Working environment, e.g., light, space, heat
(b) Use of equipment, e.g., tools that have not been properly maintained
(c) Supervisory practices, e.g., workload allocation
(d) Personality clashes and other inter-employee disputes (work-related or otherwise)

(e) Behaviour exhibited by managers or other employees, e.g., allocation of 'perks'
such as Sunday overtime working and harassment, victimisation and bullying
incidents
(f) Refused requests, e.g., annual leave, shift changes
(g) Problems with pay, e.g., late bonus, payments, adjustments to overtime pay
(h) Perceived inequalities in treatment: e.g. claims for equal pay, appeals against
performance-related pay awards
(i) Organisational change, e.g., the implementation of revised company policies or
new working practices.
The authors stress that all these causes should be investigated to achieve the following twin
objectives:

1. Redress the grievances of the complainant
2. Initiate remedial steps to prevent recurrence of similar grievances in the future

Effect of Grievance

Grievances can have several effects which are essentially adverse and counter productive to
organizational purpose.

The adverse effects include:
1. Loss of interest in work and consequent lack of morale and commitment
2. Poor quality of production
3. Low productivity

4. Increase in wastage and costs
5. Increase in employee turnover
6. Increase in absenteeism
7. Increase in the incidence of accidents

8. Indiscipline
9. Unrest

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