Report on Grievance Handling

Industrial Relations Assignment

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Introduction

Every employee has certain expectations, which he thinks must be fulfilled by the organization he is
working for. When the organization fails to do this he develops a feeling of dissatisfaction. When an
employee feels something is unfair in the organization he is said to have a grievance.  An aggrieved
employee is a potent source of indiscipline and bad-working.

According to Julius, a grievance is “any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not,

whether valid or not, arising out of anything connected with the company which an employee thinks,
believes or, even feels to be unfair, unjust or inequitable.”

International Labour Organisation defines grievance as ‘A complaint of one or more workers in

respect of wages, allowances, conditions of work and interpretation of service stipulations covering
such areas as overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, job assignment, and termination of
service.’

Difference between Dissatisfaction, Complaint, and Grievance

Torrington (1987) provides a useful categorisation in this regard:

 Dissatisfaction: Anything that disturbs an employee, whether or not the unrest is expressed
in words.
 Complaint: A spoken or written dissatisfaction brought to the attention of the supervisor or
the shop steward.
 Grievance: A complaint that has been formally presented to a management representative
or to a union official.

Features of Grievance

If we analyse these definitions of grievance, some noticeable features emerge clearly:

a) A grievance refers to any form of discontent or dissatisfaction with any aspect of the organisation.

b) The dissatisfaction must arise out of employment and not due to personal or family problems.

c) The discontent can arise out of real or imaginary reasons. When the employee feels that injustice
has been done to him, he has a grievance. The reasons for such a feeling may be valid or invalid,
legitimate or irrational, justifiable or ridiculous.

d) The discontent may be voiced or unvoiced. But it must find expression in some form. However,
discontent per se is not a grievance. Initially, the employee may complain orally or in writing. If this
not looked into promptly, the employee feels a sense of lack of justice. Now the discontent grows
and takes the shape of a grievance.

e) Broadly speaking, thus, a grievance is traceable to perceived non-fulfilment of one’s expectations

from the organisation.
 Causes and Classification of Grievances
 
Grievances may occur for a number of reasons:

a) Economic: Wage fixation, overtime, bonus, wage revision, etc. Employees may feel that they are
paid less when compared to others.

b) Work Environment: Poor physical conditions of workplace, tight production norms, defective
tools and equipment, poor quality of materials, unfair rules, lack of recognition, etc.

c) Supervision: Relates to the attitudes of the supervisor towards the employee such as perceived
notions of bias, favouritism, nepotism, caste affiliations, regional feelings, etc.

d) Work group: Employee is unable to adjust with his colleagues; suffers from feelings of neglect,
victimisation and becomes an object of ridicule and humiliation, etc.

e) Miscellaneous: These include issues relating to certain violations in respect of promotions, safety
methods, transfer, disciplinary rules, fines, granting leave, medical facilities, etc.

Grievances can be classified into the following types:

Grievances

Wage Supervision Working Seniority and Discipline Collective Union

grievances conditions promotion bargaining management
and transfers relations

1. Wage grievances – These may be caused due to –

 demand for individual wage adjustment
 complaint about job classification
 complaint about incentive system
 miscellaneous

2. Supervision - These may be caused due to-

 complaint against discipline/administration
 complaint against behaviour of supervisor
 objection to the method of supervision

3. Working conditions - These may be caused due to-

 safety and health
 violation of rules and regulations, etc.
 4. Seniority and promotion and transfers - These may be caused due to-
 loss of seniority
 calculation/interpretation of seniority
 promotion - denial or delay
 transfer or change of shifts

5. Discipline - These may be caused due to-

 discharge/dismissal/layoffs
 alcoholism, absenteeism and accidents
 harshness of punishment and penalty

6. Collective bargaining - These may be caused due to-

 violation of contract/award/agreement
 interpretation of contract/award/agreement
 settlement of grievances

7. Union management relations - These may be caused due to-

 recognition of union
 harassment of union bearers
 soldiering / go-slow tactics

All these causes should be investigated to achieve the following twin objectives:

 To redress the grievances of the complainant.

 To initiate remedial steps to prevent recurrence of similar grievances in the future.

Effects of Grievance

Grievances, if they are not identified and redressed, may affect adversely the workers, managers and
the organisation. The effects are:

1. On production include:
 Low quality of production.
 Low quality of production and productivity.
 Increase in the wastage of material, spoilage/leakage of machinery.
 Increase in the cost of production per unit.

2. On the employees:
 Increases the rate of absenteeism and turnover.
 Reduces the level of commitment, sincerity and punctuality.
 Increases the incidence of accidents.
 Reduces the level of employee morale.
 3. On the managers:
 Strains the superior-subordinate relations.
 Increases the degree of supervision, control and follow up.
 Increases in discipline cases.
 Increase in unrest and thereby machinery to maintain industrial peace.

Discovery of Grievances
Grievances can be uncovered in a number of ways. Gossip and grapevine offer vital clues about
employee grievances. Ripe boxes, open door policies periodic interviews, exit surveys could also be
undertaken to uncover the mystery surrounding grievances.

These methods are discussed below:

 Observation: A manager / supervisor can usually track the behaviours of people working
under him. If a particular employee is not getting along with people, spoiling materials due
to carelessness or recklessness, showing indifference to commands, reporting late for work
or is remaining absent - the signals are fairly obvious. Since the supervisor is close to the
scene of action, he can always find out such unusual behaviours and report promptly.

 Grievance procedure: A systematic grievance procedure is best means to highlight

employee dissatisfaction at various levels. Management, to this end, must encourage
employees to use it whenever they have anything to say. In the absence of such a
procedure, grievances pile up and burst up in violent forms at a future date. By that time
things might have taken an ugly shape altogether, impairing cordial relations between
labour and management. If management fails to induce employees to express their
grievances, unions will take over and emerge as powerful bargaining representatives.

 Gripe boxes: A gripe box may be kept at prominent locations in the factory for lodging
anonymous complaints pertaining to any aspect relating to work. Since the complaint need
not reveal his identity, he can express his feelings of injustice or discontent frankly and
without any fear of victimisation.

 Open door policy: This is a kind of walk-in-meeting with the manager when the employee
can express his feelings openly about any work-related grievance. The manager can cross-
check the details of the complaint through various means at his disposal.

 Exit interview: Employees usually leave their current jobs due to dissatisfaction or better
prospects outside. If the manager tries sincerely through an exit interview, he might be able
to find out the real reasons why ‘X’ is leaving the organisation. To elicit valuable information,
the manager must encourage the employee to give a correct picture so as to rectify the
mistakes promptly. If the employee is not providing fearless answers, he may given a
questionnaire to fill up and post the same after getting all his dues cleared from the
organisation where he is currently employed.
  Opinion surveys: Surveys may be conducted periodically to elicit the opinions of employees
about the organisation and its policies.

Grievance Handling Procedure

There are valid reasons to have the grievances processed through a machinery or a procedure.

1. The Benefits of a Grievance Handling Procedure

According to Jackson (2000), further benefits that will accrue to both the employer and
employees are as follows:

 It encourages employees to raise concerns without fear of reprisal.

 It provides a fair and speedy means of dealing with complaints.
 It prevents minor disagreements developing into more serious disputes.
 It saves employers time and money as solutions are found for workplace problems. It
helps to build an organisational climate based on openness and trust.

2. The Statutory Provisions for the Grievance Handling Procedure

Clause 15 of the Model Standing Orders in the Schedule of the Industrial Employment
(Standing Orders) Act, 1946, specified that-

“All complaints arising out of the employment, including those relating to unfair treatment
or wrongful action on the part of the employer or his agent, shall be submitted to the
manager or other person specified in his behalf with the right of appeal to the employer.”

The Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1982, provides for the reference of certain
individual disputes to grievance settlement authorities. Section 9C of the amendment
stipulates that in which one hundred or more workmen are employed or have been
employed on nay one day in the preceding 12 months, the employer shall set-up a time-
bound grievance redressal procedure.

National Commission on Labour has recommended:

• A formal grievance procedure be introduced in units employing 100 or more workers.

• There should be a statutory backing for the formulation of an effective grievance procedure
which should be simple, flexible, less cumbersome and more or less on the lines of the
Model Grievance Procedure.

• It should be time- bound and have a limited number of steps.

• A grievance procedure should be such that it gives a sense of satisfaction to the individual
worker, ensures reasonable exercise of authority to the manager, and a sense of
participation to the unions.

• The constitution of grievance committee Should have a provision that in case a unanimous
decision is not possible, the unsettled grievance may be referred to arbitration.
3. Processing of Grievance

The details of a grievance procedure/machinery may vary from organisation to organisation.

The need for model Grievance procedures had been felt for a very long time. In the 16 th
session of Indian Labour Conference, they were adopted.

Fig. Procedure for Grievance

The principles for model grievance are as follows:

 Aggrieved employee shall just present his grievance in person to the person designated
and the answer should be given within 48 hrs.

 If the worker is not satisfied with the answer, he, along with one departmental
representative, will represent his grievance to the department head. He will give his
judgment in 3 days or state the reason for the delay.

 If he is not satisfied, then he may be requested to refer the case to the grievance
committee. The grievance committee will make a recommendation within 7 days. The
management has to implement it.

 If even, then he remains unsatisfied, he can report the matter to higher tier of
management for revision

 If the worker is still not satisfied with the decision then the union may ask for voluntary
arbitration, the decision of which will be binding on both the parties.

4. Steps in Grievance Handling Procedure

 At any stage of the grievance machinery, the dispute must be handled by some members of
the management. In grievance redressal, responsibility lies largely with the management.
Grievances should be settled promptly at the first stage itself. The following steps will
provide a measure of guidance to the manager dealing with grievances.

 Acknowledge Dissatisfaction: Managerial/supervisory attitude to grievances is important.

They should focus attention on grievances, not turn away from them. Ignorance is not bliss,
it is the bane of industrial conflict. Condescending attitude on the part of supervisors and
managers would aggravate the problem.

 Define the Problem: Instead of trying to deal with a vague feeling of discontent, the problem
should be defined properly. Sometime the wrong complaint is given. By effective listening,
one can make sure that a true complaint is voiced.

 Get the Facts: Facts should be separated from fiction. Though grievances result in hurt
feelings, the effort should be to get the facts behind the feelings. There is need for a proper
record of each grievance.

 Analyse and Decide: Decisions on each of the grievances will have a precedent effect.
Grievance settlements provide opportunities for managements to correct themselves, and
thereby come closer to the employees. Horse-trading in grievance redressal due to union
pressures may temporarily bring union leadership closer to the management, but it will
surely alienate the workforce away from the management.

 Follow up: Decisions taken must be followed up earnestly. They should be promptly
communicated to the employee concerned. If a decision is favourable to the employee, his
immediate boss should have the privilege of communicating the same.

Some of the common pitfalls that managements commit in grievance handling relate to
stopping the search for facts too soon, expressing a management opinion before gathering
full facts, failing to maintain proper records, arbitrary exercise of executive discretion,
settling wrong grievances.

5. Key Features of a Good Grievance Handling Procedure

Torrington & Hall refer to four key features of a grievance handling procedure, which are
discussed below-

 Fairness: Fairness is needed not only to be just but also to keep the procedure viable. If
employees develop the belief that the procedure is only a sham, then its value will be lost,
and other means sought to deal with the grievances.

 Facilities for representation: Representation, e.g., by a shop steward, can be of help to the
individual employee who lacks the confidence or experience to take on the management
single-handedly. However, there is also the risk that the presence of the representative
produces a defensive management attitude, affected by a number of other issues on which
the manager and shop steward may be at loggerheads.

 Procedural steps: Steps should be limited to three. Otherwise, this will only lengthen the
time taken to deal with matter and will soon bring the procedure into disrepute.
 Promptness: Promptness is needed to avoid the bitterness and frustration that can come
from delay. Furthermore, the manager whose decision is being questioned will have a
difficult time until the matter is settled.

6. Essential pre-requisites of a Grievance Handling Procedure

Every organisation should have a systematic grievance procedure in order to redress the
grievances effectively. Unattended grievances may culminate in the form of violent conflicts
later on. The grievance procedure, to be sound and effective should possess certain pre-
requisites:

 Conformity with statutory provisions: Due consideration must be given to the prevailing
legislation while designing the grievance handling procedure.

 Un-ambiguity: Every aspect of the grievance handling procedure should be clear and
unambiguous. All employees should know whom to approach first when they have a
grievance, whether the complaint should be written or oral, the maximum time in which the
redressal is assured, etc. The redressing official should also know the limits within which he
can take the required action.

 Simplicity: The grievance handling procedure should be simple and short. If the procedure is
complicated it may discourage employees and they may fail to make use of it in a proper
manner.

 Promptness: The grievance of the employee should be promptly handled and necessary
action must be taken immediately. This is good for both the employee and management,
because if the wrong doer is punished late, it may affect the morale of other employees as
well.

 Training: The supervisors and the union representatives should be properly trained in all
aspects of grievance handling before hand or else it will complicate the problem.

 Follow up: The Personnel Department should keep track of the effectiveness and the
functioning of grievance handling procedure and make necessary changes to improve it from
time to time.