CONCEPT OF SELF - MANAGED TEAM.

A self-managed team is a group of employees that's responsible and

accountable for all or most aspects of producing a product or delivering a
service. Traditional organizational structures assign tasks to employees
depending on their specialist skills or the functional department within
which they work. A self-managed team carries out supporting tasks, such
as planning and scheduling the workflow and managing annual leave and
absence, in addition to technical tasks. Management and technical
responsibilities are typically rotated among the team members.

Benefits of Self-Managed Teams:

Self-managed teams have greater ownership of the tasks they perform and
the end product or service they deliver. Self-managed teams tend to be
loss costly and more productive than employees working within a
traditional hierarchical structure because the team performs both technical
and management tasks. Team members may also fill in for each other to
cover holidays and absences. Decisions made by self-managed teams are
more effective because they're made by the people who know most about
the job.

Disadvantages of Self-Managed Teams:

Although a cohesive self-managed team may create a sense of trust and

respect between team members, overly cohesive teams can lead to
"groupthink": Team members are more likely to conform with team
norms than raise issues that may upset other team members. This may
lead to reduced effort or stifled innovation. Teams may struggle to make
the transition from supervisor-led management to self-management,
either due to lack of interpersonal skills or poor implementation of the
self-managed team concept within the organization.
CHANGING EMPLOYEE/EMPLOYER AND UNION
RELATIONSHIP.

Some of the major features of employer-employee relations are as

follows:

1. Employer-employee relations are the outcome of the employment

relationship in industry. These relations cannot exist without the two
parties—employer and employees.” It is the industry which provides the
setting for employer-employee relations.

2. Employer-employee relations include both individual relations as well

as collective relations. Individual relations imply relations between
employer and employees. Collective relations mean, relations between
employers’ associations and trade unions as well as the role of the State
in regulating these relations.

3. The concept of employer-employee relations is complex and multi-

dimensional. The concept is not limited to relations between trade unions
and employer but also extends to the general web of relationships
between employers, employees and the Government. It covers regulated
as well as unregulated, institutionalised as well as individual relations.
These multi-pronged relationships may be in organised or unorganised
sector.

4. Employer-employee relations is a dynamic and developing concept. It

undergoes change with changing structure and environment of industry. It
is not a static concept. It flourishes or stagnates or decays along with the
economic and social institutions that exist in a society. The institutional
forces give content and shape to employer-employee relations in a
country.

5. Strictly speaking a distinction can be made between human resource

management and employer-employee relations. Human resource
management deals mainly with executive policies and activities regarding
the human resource aspects to the enterprise while employer-employee
relations are mainly concerned with employer-employee relationship.
Human resource management refers to that part of employment relations
which is concerned with employees as individuals, collective or group
relationship of employees and employers constitute the subject matter of
employer-employee relations.

6. Employer-employee relations do not function in a vacuum. These are

rather the composite result of the attitudes and approaches of employers
and employees towards each other. Employer-employee relations are an
integral part of social relations. According to Dr. Singh (Climate for
Industrial Relations, 1968) the employer-employee relations system in a
country is conditioned by economic and institutional factors.

Economic factors include economic organisations (capitalist, socialist,

individual ownership, company ownership, and Government ownership),
capital structure and technology, nature and composition of labour force,
demand and supply of labour. Institutional factors refer to state policy,
labour legislation, employers’ organisations, trade unions, social
institutions (community, caste, joint family, and religions), attitudes to
work, power and status systems, motivation and influence, etc.

7. Several parties are involved in the employer-employee relations

system. The main parties are employers and their associations, employees
and their unions, and the Government. These three groups interact within
the economic and social environment to shape the employer-employee
relations system.

8. The main purpose of employer-employee relations is to maintain

harmonious relationships between management and labour. The focus in
these relationships is on accommodation. The parties involved develop
skills and methods of adjusting to or cooperating with each other. They
also attempt to solve their problems through collective bargaining. Every
employer-employee relations system creates a complex set of rules,
regulations and procedures to govern the workplace.

9. Three main parties or outlets are directly involved in employer-

employee relations:

(a) Employers:

Employers possess certain rights vis-a vis labour. They have the right to
hire and fire workers and thereby control the economic destiny of
employers. Management can also affect workers’ interests by exercising
their right to relocate, close or merge a factory and to introduce
technological changes. Many employers use dubious tactics to break
unions and their strikes. Employers try to gain loyalty of workers in
various ways.

They are concerned mainly with imposing motivation, commitment and

efficiency of labour. Employers negotiate individually as well as through
their associations with employees’ representatives to settle terms and
conditions of employment. Some employers share decision-making
power with workers.
(b) 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 to management. In their
struggle, workers get support form trade unions and labour legislation.
Trade unions exert power both at plant level and industry level.

(c) Government:

Government has come to play an increasing role in employer- employee

relations to protect the interests of both employers and employees.

10. The Central and State Government evolve, influence and regulate
employer-employee relations through laws, rules, agreements, awards of
courts, executive and financial machinery.

The Government has played an increasing role in employer-employee

relations in part by becoming the biggest employer and partly by
regulating working conditions in the private sector. The Government of
India has enacted procedural as well substantive laws to regulate
employer-employee relations in the country.

In addition, the Government has set up wage boards, labour courts,

tribunals and other bipartite and tripartite bodies to maintain healthy
relations between employers and employees. The requirements of the
Welfare State envisaged in the Constitution of India are the major reason
for State intervention in employer-employee relations.
11. The scope of employer-employee relations is quite wide.

The main issues involved here are:

(a) Grievances and their redressal.

(b) Workers’ participation in management.

(c) Ethical code and discipline.

(d) Collective bargaining.

(e) Standing orders.

(f) Machinery for the settlement of industrial disputes.

Concept of Worker’s Participation in Management

  Traditionally the concept of Workers Participation in Management

refers to participation of non-managerial employees in the decision-
making process of the organization. Workers’ participation in
management implies mental and emotional involvement of workers in the
management of Enterprise. It is considered as a mechanism where
workers have a say in the decision or any process in the company that
allows workers to exert influence over their work or their working
conditions. 

According to Keith Davis, “Workers’ participation refers to the

mental and emotional involvement of a person in a group situation which
encourages him to contribute to group goals and share in responsibility of
achieving them”.
Forms of Worker’s Participation in Management

 Participation through ownership/ Co-ownership: Workers

may become more involved in industries by making them
shareholders of the company. The management may promote the
scheme by allowing the workers to make payments in
installments. It may also advance loans or even give financial
assistance to such workers to enable them to buy equity shares.
Instances of workers holding shares in their companies are
many. Participation through ownership has the distinct
advantage of making the worker committed to the job and to the
organization but its effect on participation is limited because
ownership is different from management in the company form of
ownership. Workers are made shareholders by allotting those
shares in the company. They are employees as well as owners of
the business concern. Thus, their participation in the
management is automatically guaranteed.

 Work committee: Works committees have been constituted in

industrial establishments employing 100 or more workers, and
these comprise representatives of employers and employees. The
constitution of a works committee is a legal requirement under
the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The
committees discuss a wide range of topics connected with the
workers’ welfare. Certain voluntary committees, like the welfare
committee, the safety committee, the canteen committee, the
incentives committee, have also been constituted in most
manufacturing establishments. There is no need for so many
committees and sub-committees, and the effectiveness of their
 role in promoting industrial democracy, increased productivity
and reduced labor unrest is beyond doubt. The opinion of most
of the managers about the committees is that they have only a
nuisance value. These committees are consultative bodies. Their
functions include discussion of conditions of work like lighting,
ventilation, temperature and sanitation etc., and amenities like
water supply for drinking purposes, canteen, medical services,
safe working conditions, administration of welfare funds etc.
The works committee should not deal with matters connected
with collective bargaining which are exclusively reserved for
trade unions.

 Suggestion Schemes: Employees’ views on such matters as

machine utilization, waste management, energy conservation and
safety measures are invited, and reward is given for the best
suggestion. This procedure enables the management to arouse
and maintain the employees’ interest in the problems of their
concern and its management. The progressive managements
increasingly use the suggestions schemes. The suggestions flow
from various levels, though mainly from the operators. The ideas
range from changes in inspection procedures to design changes,
process simplification, paper-work reduction, and the like. The
rewards to the employees are commensurate with the benefits
derived from the suggestions. Suggestion scheme may also be
introduced for creating interest in the work by announcing a
suitable reward for original and useful suggestions. Employees
can put their suggestions in the suggestion boxes which are
installed in the various departments.
 Joint management councils: Joint councils are bodies
comprising representatives of employers and employees. The
functions of these bodies may range from decision making on
some issues, to merely advising the management as consultative
bodies. The joint councils are of consultative nature and indicate
a loose type of participation because their suggestions are not
binding on the management. These councils serve no useful
purpose. They only provide a platform to employers and
employees as they may give free vent to their complaints and
grievances without making any attempt to find remedies and
solution. The main object of such councils is to give an
opportunity to workers to understand the working of the industry
and satisfy their urge for self-expression.

 Board representation: In this case the workers’ representative

is given a seat on the boards of directors. In advanced countries
like Britain and U.S.A., trade unions have already rejected this
idea. It is generally felt that the workers do not understand the
intricacies of management. Moreover, their representatives being
in minority may not have much say in the decision making
whereas that decision will be applicable to all the employees. By
remaining out of the board, they can keep a better check on the
management.