INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

BY-KONIKA SHARMA(Services)

CONTENTS

CONCEPTIndustrial Relation SystemOBJECTIVESIMPORTANCEEVOLUTION

CONCEPT

Industrial relations is used to denote the collective relationships between management and the workers.

Traditionally, the term industrial relations was used to cover such aspects of industrial life as trade unionism, collective bargaining, discipline and grievance handling.

Acc. to 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”.

Acc. to National Commission on Labor (NCL), industrial relations affect not merely the interests of the two participants- labor and management, but also the economic and social goals of the organization.

Industrial Relation SystemThree main parties are directly involved in industrial relations:

Employers: Employers possess certain rights.Management can also affect workers’ interests by exercising their right to relocate, close or merge the factory or to introduce technological changes.

Employees: Workers seek to improve the terms and conditions of their employment. They exchange views with management and voice their grievances. They also want to share decision making powers of management.

Government: The central and state government influences and regulates industrial relations through laws, rules, agreements. It also includes third parties and labor and tribunal courts.

OBJECTIVESThe main objectives of industrial relations system

are:-

To safeguard the interest of labor and management by securing the mutual understanding and good-will among all those sections in the industry which participate in the process of production.

To avoid industrial conflict and develop harmonious relations, which are an essential factor in the productivity of workers and the industrial progress of a country.

To raise productivity in an era of full employment by lessening the tendency to high turnover and frequency absenteeism.

To establish and promote the growth of an industrial democracy based on labor partnership in the sharing of profits and of managerial decisions.

To eliminate or minimize the number of strikes and lockouts by providing reasonable wages, improved living,working conditions and fringe benefits.

To improve the economic conditions of workers in the existing state of industrial managements and political government.

Linking up workers and organizational goals all together for the promotion of coordinal relationships in the industry.

IMPORTANCEThe importance of I R are as follows :

Uninterrupted production – This ensures continuity of production.The resources are fully utilized, resulting in the maximum possible production.

Reduction in Industrial Disputes – Disputes are reflections of the failure of basic human urges to secure adequate satisfaction which is fully cured by good industrial relations.

High morale – Good industrial relations improve the morale of the employees. Employees work with great zeal and feeling in mind that the interest of employer and employees is same, i.e. to increase production.

Mental Revolution – The main object of industrial relation is a complete mental revolution of workers and employees.Both should think themselves as partners of the industry and the role of workers in such a partnership should be recognized.

Reduced Wastage – Good industrial relations are maintained on the basis of cooperation and recognition of each other.Wastages of man, material and machines are reduced to the minimum and thus national interest is protected.

EVOLUTION Industrial relations has its roots in the industrial

revolution which created the modern employment relationship by introducing free labor markets and large-scale industrial organizations with thousands of wage workers.

As society accepted these massive economic and social changes, labor problems arose.

Low wages, long working hours, monotonous and dangerous work, and abusive supervisory practices led to high employee turnover,strikes and the threat of social instability.

Industrial relations was formed at the end of 19th century as a middle ground between classical economics and Marxism’s Industrial Democracy (1897). Industrial relations thus rejected the classical econ.

Institutionally, industrial relations was founded by John R. Commons when he created the first academic industrial relations program at the University of Wisconsin in 1920.

Then gradually, industrial relations was formed with a strong problem-solving orientation that rejected both the classical economists’ laissez faire solutions to labor problems.

It is this approach that underlies the New Deal legislation in the United States, such as the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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