ISE MET305 Module3

Industrial relations
Industrial relations represent the relationship that exists between the employer and
employees in an industrial undertaking.
If these relations are strained, industrial disputes occur and industrial work suffers.
Objectives of industrial relations
1. To safeguard the interests of labour as well as that of the management.
2. To avoid industrial conflicts and develop harmonious relations.
3. To raise productivity.
4. To bring down strikes, lockouts and gheraos.
5. Provide an opportunity to the workers to participate in management and decision-
making process.
6. Establish industrial democracy based on labour partnership in the sharing of profits
and of managerial decisions
Factors affecting industrial relations
1. Institutional factors – These include policy of the organization, work environment,
work group
(workers having same purpose or objective), labour laws, collective agreements,
motivation, etc.
2. Economic factors – These include type of ownership, individual, nature and
composition of workforce,
disparity of wages between groups, etc.
3. Technological factors – These include methods, type of technology used, rate of
technological change, etc.
Psychological attitudes to work and working conditions
Attitudes refer to our opinions, beliefs and feelings about aspects of our environment. At
work, two particular job attitudes have the greatest potential to influence how we
behave, namely, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job satisfaction
refers to the feelings people have toward their job. Job satisfaction can have different
perspectives from the point of view of managers and employees.
On one hand, employees have their own expectations and attitudes and they want to be
treated in a fair and respectful manner, and as a result they will be satisfied at their
work.
On the other hand, managers want satisfied workers, who will have a positive attitude to
the job, who will be committed, and emotionally involved with their job. The conditions
under which the job is performed can influence the performance of employees.
Difficult working conditions can be influenced by:
• External factors (climate, temperature, humidity, lighting, noise, radiation, dust, smoke,
etc.)
• Subjective factors (gender and age of workers, fatigue, monotony, unfavourable
posture
during work)
• Factors related to the organization of production (duration of work shift, work
schedule,
working time, work pace, excessive strain)
Fatigue
Fatigue is the negative attitude shown by the worker to do a work.
Fatigue refers to reduction in work of the worker and reduction in pleasure in doing a
work.
Continued fatigue also affects adversely the psychology of the worker.
Effects of industrial fatigue
1. Decreases the worker’s capacity to do more work.
2. Reduction in production.
3. Affects personal life and psychology of the worker.
4. The fatigue experienced by many employees is an underlying cause of a broad range
of workplace injuries and accidents
Methods of eliminating fatigue
1. Hours of work – An eight-hour day with a lunch break of 45-60 minutes is a good
solution.
2. Working days of a week – The hours of work should be reduced to that optimum level
where workers
are able to keep up their working speed.
3. Nature of work – Complex work which involves human muscular efforts bring about
fatigue. Use of
suitable material handling devices can eliminate fatigues caused due to above said
reason.
4. Working condition– Improving working conditions such as providing sufficient
illumination, sufficient
ventilation, providing protective clothing’s etc., can reduce fatigue.
4. Rest pauses – Suitable and well planned rest pauses/ tea-coffee breaks within
working hours can reduce fatigue.
Communication in Industry
Communication is defined as the transfer of information from sender to the receiver
with information being understood to by both sender and receiver.
Communication may be verbal or written orders, reports, instruction, etc.
Types of communication in industry
1. Formal communication – Formal communication is used for official purpose. Formal
communication may be either vertical communication or horizontal communication.
a) Vertical communication – Vertical communication involves downward
communication and upward communication.
Downward communication means the flow of communication from the top level of an
organization to the lower levels of employees. Upward communication from workers to
higher management levels giving work accomplishment report or other feedback
information.
b) Horizontal communication – Communication between positions of the same level
(i.e., inter
departmental communication)
2. Informal communication
Informal communication is casual communication between coworkers.
It complements formal communication and enhances work relationships across the
rganization, and promotes open dialogue, sharing insights, and strong relationship
building.
Barriers of communication
1. Linguistic and cultural differences
2. Environment
3. Channel
4. Lack of planning
5. Physical barriers or disabilities
6. Geographical barriers
7. Organizational levels
Industrial safety
Industrial safety is primarily a management activity which is concerned with reducing,
ontrolling and eliminating hazards from the industries or industrial units.
Objectives of industrial safety
1. To prevent accidents in the plant by reducing the hazard to minimum.
2. To eliminate accident caused work stoppage and lost production.
3. To reduce all other direct and indirect costs of accidents.
4. To evaluate employee's morale by promoting safe work place and good working
condition.
Personal protective devices
Personal protective devices may be divided into two broad categories, viz., non-
respiratory protective devices and respiratory protective devices.

Non-respiratory protective devices

a) Head protection – include helmets, hats and caps.
b) Eye-and-face protection – Include mono-goggles, impact goggles, welding goggles,
foundry
goggles, chemical goggles, gas tight goggles, welding helmets, etc.
c) Hand and arm protection –include gloves, mittens, hand guards and hand pads,
sleeves (for
protection to arms excluding hands), cuffs guards (protect the lower part of the
forearm), etc.
d) Foot and leg protection – include shoes, boots, foot-guards (generally made of steel),
leg guards or leggings (wrapped around the legs up to knee or even up to hip), etc.
e) Body protection –includes aprons, overalls, jackets, and complete head to toe
protective suits.
Respiratory protective devices
a) Devices which supply air – Devices which supply air consists of a face-piece (half or
full mask or a
loose fitting helmet or hood) to which air is supplied through a small diameter hose.
b) Air purifying devices – The air purifying type of respirators include chemical cartridge
type, canister type, and mechanical filter type.
Industrial disputes
An industrial dispute means any dispute or difference between employers and
employers or between employees and employees or between employees and employers
which is connected with employment or non-employment or conditions of labour, of any
person.
Causes of industrial disputes
1. Psychological causes – Difficulties in adjusting with each other (employer/worker),
authoritarian
leadership, clash of personalities and strict discipline are the few psychological causes.
2. Institutional causes – Institutional causes such as non-recognition of labour union by
the management, unfair working conditions and practices, denial of legal and other
rights of workers can cause industrial disputes.
3. Economic causes – Violation of terms and conditions employment such as more
working hours, inadequate wages, no bonus/incentives, etc., lead to industrial disputes

Methods of settling industrial disputes

1. Collective bargaining: It is a process by which workers' representatives and
the employer attempt to reach on an agreement on the terms and conditions of
employment such as wages, hours of work, bonus, safety, etc. Once both sides
have reached a contract that they find agreeable, it is signed and kept in place for
a set period of time, most commonly 3 years.
2. Conciliation and mediation: Through conciliation and mediation, a 3rd party
provides assistance with a view to help the parties to reach an agreement. The
conciliator brings the rival parties together, discuss with them their differences
and assist them in finding out solution to their problems where as mediator is
more actively involved while assisting the parties to find an amicable settlement.
3. Arbitration – In this type of settlement, a third person arbitrator chosen by joint
agreement between the employee and employer is made use of. Arbitrators’ decision
has legal validity. It has to be accepted and implemented by disputing parties. In India,
legal provision for onciliation and arbitration has been made in Industrial Dispute Act.
Trade union
Trade union/labour union is an association of workers organized for the purpose of
maintaining and improving the conditions of workers in an industry.
Popular labour Unions are INTUC (Indian National Trade Union Congress backed by
Congress Party), AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress backed by CPI), CITU
(Confederation of Indian Trade Union backed by CPM), HMS (Hindusthan Masdhur
Sangh of Praja Socialist Party) ,Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh(BMS).
Objectives of trade unions
1. To protect and promote the interest of workers.
2. To ensure good health, safety and welfare standards of workers.
3. To ensure that workers get as per rule (terms and conditions), the pension, provident
fund,
compensation for injuries, etc.
4. To protect the jobs of the workers against lay off, strike, etc.
5. To ensure workers get good respect and human treatment from foreman, managers,
etc.
6. To improve the economic status of workers
7. To provide legal assistance to workers.
8. To ensure better health, safety and welfare standards for the workers

Workers’ participation in management

Workers’ Participation in Management (WPM) refers to participation of non-managerial
employees in the decision-making process of the organization.
Objectives
1. To motivate workers.
2. To create a climate for cordial and harmonious employer-employee relation.
3. To make managing the subordinates easy.
4. To minimize the number of grievance and therefore industrial disputes.
5. To satisfy workers by making they feel that they have their voice in management.