Unit13:GrievanceandGrievanceProcedure Structure:

13.1 Introduction Objectives 13.2 ConceptofGrievance SAQs 13.3 WhydoGrievancesArise? SAQs 13.4 ImportanceofGrievanceHandling SAQs 13.5 GrievanceHandlingProcedure SAQs 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 ConceptofArbitration Summary TQs Answers to SAQsandTQs

13.1Introduction Thereishardlyanyorganizationwheretheemployeesdonothavesomeortheothersortof grievance.Perhaps,human natureissuchthat whereverheworks,hehasgrievanceabout somethingortheother.Insomecases,theemployeeshavecomplaintsagainsttheiremployers, while in others it is the employers who have grievances against their employees. These grievances may be real or imaginary, valid or invalid, genuine or false. But it is common possible that grievance of the employees produce unhappiness, frustration, discontent, indifference and poor morale and ultimately it has an adverse effect on the efficiency and productivityofanemployee.Thisunitexploresthereasonsastowhygrievancesarise.Italso dealswithgrievancemachineryandprocedure. Objectives Afterstudyingthisunit,youwillbeableto: Explainthemeaningofgrievancesandthereasonastowhytheyarise. Bringouttheimportanceofgrievancehandling. Describegrievancemachineryandprocedure. 13.2ConceptofGrievance

The definition of a grievance often varies from company to company and from author to author. The broadest interpretation of the term would include any discontent or dissatisfactionthataffectsorganizationalperformance.Assuch,itcanbestatedorunvoiced, writtenororal,legitimateorridiculous.Theonlymajorrestrictioninthisdefinitionisthatthe discontentmustaffectworkerperformance. The word grievance is used commonly to indicate various forms and stages of an employees dissatisfaction. It means either dissatisfaction or a complaint or a grievance. While dissatisfactioncouldbedefinedasanythingthatdisturbsanemployee,acomplaintis spokenorwrittendissatisfactionbroughttotheattentionofthesupervisororhisimmediate head.Inthelanguageofthelabourmanagementrelations,agrievanceisacomplaintformally presented bytheemployeeoremployeestothemanagement. Dale Yoder defines it as "a written complaint filed by an employee and claiming unfair treatment". Prof. Jucious defines grievance as any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not and whether valid or not, arising out of anything connected with the companythatanemployeethinks,believesorevenfeelsunfair,unjustorinequitable.Prof. PigorsandMeyersdefinegrievanceasdissatisfaction.Accordingtothem,dissatisfactionof an employee is anything that disturbs the employee, whether expressed or not. The International Labour Organization (ILO) classifies a grievance as a complaint of one or moreworkerswithrespecttowagesandallowances,conditionsofwork, interpretationsof service stipulations, covering such areas as overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, jobassignment andterminationofservice.The NationalCommissionofLabourstatesthat complaints affecting one or more individual workers in respect of their wage payments, overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, work assignment, and discharges would constitutegrievances.

SelfAssessmentQuestionsI 1. Thebroadestinterpretationofthetermwouldincludeanydiscontentor dissatisfactionthataffects______________________________. 2. Inthelanguageofthelabourmanagementrelations,agrievanceisacomplaintformally presented bythe........................................

individual workers in respect of their wage payments, overtime, leave, transfer, promotion,seniority,workassignment,anddischargeswouldconstitutegrievances.

13.3WhydoGrievancesArise? Grievancesariseduetovariousfactors.Itisimportantfromthepointofviewofthemanager toknowtherootcauseoftheemployee'sdissatisfaction. Agrievanceisalwaysasymbolofsomemalfunctioningormaladjustmentandanableand skilfulmanagercanalwaysfindouttherealorsubmergedreasonsforagrievance. Several studies have been conducted in various establishments and it has been generally foundthatcausesofemployeegrievancescouldbegroupedunderdifferentmajorheadings. Someofthecausesthatneedtobeconsideredare: 1. Promotions 2. Amenities 3. Continuity of Services 4. Compensation 5. Disciplinary action 6.Fines 7.Increments 8. Wages 9. Acting Promotion 10. Recovery of dues 11. Safetyappliance12.Superannuation13.Supersession14.Transfer15.Victimizationand 16.Conditionsofwork. SelfAssessmentQuestionsII 1. Itisimportantfromthepointofviewofthemanagertoknowthe ___________________oftheemployee'sdissatisfaction 2. Someofthecausesforgrievancesinorganizationare....

13.4ImportanceofGrievanceHandling

At one or other stage of the grievance procedure, the dispute must be handled by some member of management. In the solution of a problem, the greater burden rests on management. The clearest opportunity for settlement is found at the first stage, before the grievance has left the jurisdiction of the supervisor. For this reason, many firms have specificallytrainedtheirsupervisorsastohowtohandleagrievanceorcomplaintproperly. The dispute or grievance constitutes a managerial problem and the scientific method is usually mostproductivein arrivingatasatisfactorysolution.Thefollowingdirectionshelpin handlingagrievance: 1. Receive and define the nature of the dissatisfaction: The manner and attitude with whichthesupervisorreceivesthecomplaintofgrievanceisimportant.Asaprinciple applicable to this step, the supervisor should assume that the employee is fair in presentingthecomplaintorgrievance.Statementsshouldnotbeprejudgedonthebasisof past experience with this or other employees. The supervisor should not be too busy to listenandshouldnotgivean impressionofcondescensionindoingso.Thussupervisors whowerenearly taskoriented,ascontrastedwithpeopleoriented,tendedtoexperiencea significantlygreaternumberofgrievancesbeingfiledintheirunits. 2. Get the facts: In gathering facts, one quickly becomes aware of the importance of keeping proper records such as performance ratings, job ratings, attending records, and suggestions.Inaddition,withtheincreasinglylegalisticbentthatischaracteristicofmodern labourmanagement relations,the supervisor is wise to keep records on each particular grievance. It is also important that the supervisor possesses and exercise some skill in interviewconference,anddiscussion. 3. Analyzeanddivide:Withtheproblemdefinedandthefactsinhand,themanagermust nowanalyzeandevaluatethem,andthemcometosomedecision.Thereisusuallymore than one possible solution. The manager must also be aware that the decision may constituteaprecedentwithinthedepartmentaswellasthecompany. 4. Applytheanswer:Thoughthesolutiondecideduponbythesuperiorisadversetothe employee,someanswerisbetterthannone.Employeesdislikesupervisorswhowilltake nostand,goodorbad.Intheeventofanappealbeyondthisstageoftheprocedure,the manager must have the decision and the reasons for his decisions should be properly recorded. 5. Follow up: The objective of the grievance procedure is to resolve a disagreement betweenan employee andtheorganization. Discussionandconference areimportantto this process. The purpose of its followup phase is to determine whether the clash of

interest has been resolved. If follow up reveals that the case has been handled unsatisfactorily or that the wrong grievance has been processed, then redefinition of the problem,furtherfactfinding,analysis,solutionandfollowuparerequired. Among the common errors of management encountered in the processingofgrievances are: 1. Stoppingtoosooninthesearchoffacts 2. Expressing a management opinion priorto the time when allpertinentfacts havebeen discovered 3. Failingtomaintainproperrecords 4. Resorting to executive fiat or orders instead of discussion and conference to change mindsand 5. Setting the wrong grievancea mistake which may in turn produce a second new grievance.Followupisthestepintheprocedurethattellsuswhenamistakeinhandling hasbeen made. SelfAssessmentQuestionsIII 1. Theclearestopportunityforsettlementisfoundatthe_____________,beforethe grievancehasleftthejurisdictionofthesupervisor. 2. Ingatheringfacts,onequicklybecomesawareoftheimportanceof ___________________________suchasperformanceratings,jobratings,attending records,andsuggestions. 3. In analysing and evaluating a grievance the manager must also be aware that the decisionmay constitutea...................................................

13.5TheGrievanceHandlingProcedure Principles suggested by the Indian Institute of Personnel Management for addressing the grievanceareasfollows: a) Agrievanceshouldbedealtwithinthelimitsofthefirstlinesupervisor. b) Theappellateauthorityshouldbemadecleartotheemployeeso that if he cannot get satisfactionfromhisimmediatesupervisor,heshouldknowthenextstep. c) Thegrievanceshouldbedealtwithspeedily. d) Inestablishingagrievanceprocedure,ifthegrievanceisagainstaninstructiongivenbya superiorintheinterestoforderanddiscipline,theinstructionsmustbecarriedoutfirst andthenonlyemployeecanregisterhisprotest.

There should be no recourse to official machinery of conciliationunless the procedure has beencarriedoutwithoutreachinganysolution. GrievanceMachinery Agrievancemachineryisusuallythoughtofinconnectionwithacompanythatdealswitha labourunion.Thoughtheunionmustbegivensomecreditforstimulatingtheinstallationof such procedures, all companies, whether unionized or not, should have established and knownmethodsofprocessing grievances. Toestablishnewgrievancemachinery,workersineachdepartmentandeachshiftshallselect, fromamongthemselvesandforaperiodofnotlessthanone yearatatime,departmental representatives, and forward the list of persons so selected to the management. Where the unions in the undertaking are in a position to submit an agreed list of names, recourse to election may not be necessary. Nor will this be necessary when a Works Committee is functioningsatisfactorily, fortheWorksCommittee'smemberofaparticularconstituencyshall actasthedepartmentalrepresentative. GrievanceHandling Thedetailsofthegrievanceprocedurevaryfromindustrytoindustryandfromtradeunionto trade union because of the variations in the size of organizations, trade union strength, the management philosophy, the company traditions, industrial practices and in the cost factor. An important aspect of the grievance machinery is the reassurance given to an individual employeebythemerefactthatthereisamechanism availabletohimwhichwillconsiderhis grievance in a dispassionate anddetailed manner, and that his point of viewwill be heard and given due consideration. An employee's conception of his problem(s) maybe quite biased.Ventinghisgrievanceandbeingheardgiveshimafeelingofbeingcaredfor.He getsit"offhischest",sotosay,anditdoesalotofgoodforhismoraleasrevealedbythe famousHawthorneStudies.

GrievanceHandlingProcedure Initialstep Thegreatestopportunityforthesettlementofacomplaintorgrievanceliesintheinitial stepoftheprocedure.Ifthereisnoformalprocedureandthefirmannouncesanopendoor policy,thenit is possible that the supervisor may get bypassed by the worker who would take his grievance directly to the higher levels of management. But such bypassing not merely undermines the supervisors authority, who loses face, but also creates an atmosphere of winorloose in which both the worker and supervisor will try to prove the otherwrong.

Intermediatestep Asthefigureindicates,thenextsteponthemanagementsideoftheprocedureistosubmit the dispute to middle management. Involving the supervisors middle and seniorline managersinthegrievanceprocesshelpsintwoways.Initially,thesocialbarriersbetween the various categories are, to some extent, broken by personal contact and mutual understanding.Secondly,theproblemsolvingapproachintegratesthevariouslevelsinthe organization into a team to jointly overcome the problem which concerns not only the worker but the manager as well. However, it is important to ensure that the line

management assumes prime responsibility for the settlement of a grievance. In many organizations,thePersonnelDepartmentisinjectedintotheprocedureasadecisionmaking power. On the union side, intermediate levels are represented by higher personnel in the union hierarchy. In most of the organizations, the business agent, a fulltime negotiations specialist of the union, takes over the intermediate and sometimes the final step. The presenceofabusinessagentmayexplainwhymanagementisoftenoutmanoeuvredbythe union.Businessagentsarespecialistsinunionmanagementnegotiations,anditisalsotheir fulltime job. The line manager often considers grievance processing a minor, incidental, anddistastefulduty.Thislackofspecializationandinterestonthepartoflinemanagement hasledtothesituationinwhichthestaffpersonneldepartmentisgivenauthoritytomake decisionsaboutgrievances. FinalCompanyunionstep Usually, the final step to be undertaken by the company and union is a discussion of the grievance between representatives of top management and top union officials. For management,itmaybethePresident in importantgrievances,a Vicepresident,orahigh levelIndustrialRelationsExecutivebut,fortheunion,itmaybethePresidentofthelocal union,theUnionExecutiveCommittee,orarepresentativeoftheInternationalUnion.Itis difficulttosecureanintegrationofinterestsatthishighlevel. SelfAssessmentQuestionsIV 1. A________________isusuallythoughtofinconnectionwith acompanythatdeals withalabourunion. 2. Thedetailsofthegrievanceprocedurevaryfromindustrytoindustryandfromtrade uniontotradeunionbecauseofthevariationsin.................... 3. Anemployee'sconceptionofhisproblem(s)maybequite___________________.

13.6Arbitration In case, the grievance has not been settled by top management and top union leadership, threepossibilitiesremain: 1. Theunioncantemporarilyorpermanentlydroptheissue 2. Theunioncancallastrikeifthecontractpermits 3. Thecasemaybesubmittedtoanimpartialarbitrator.

Arbitrationisusuallyhandledbyeitherasingleindividualorapanelofthree,consistingof arepresentativeoflabour,oneofmanagement,andanimpartialthirdperson.Anarbitrator isanoutsidethirdpartywhoisbroughtintosettleadispute,andheorshehastheauthority tomakeadecision.Thearbitratormay behiredforaparticularcaseormaybeappointedas apermanentofficial forthe industryorthe company andtheunion.Generally, theperson maybeacceptabletobothunionandmanagement.Salaryisusuallypaidbyboth,sinceitis importantthatnoundueinfluenceshouldhaveabearingonhis/herdeliberations. SelfAssessmentQuestionsV 1. Agrievanceshouldbedealtwithinthelimitsof.. 2. A..isusuallythoughtofinconnectionwithacompanythatdealswithalabour union. 3. A ..is an outside third party who is brought in tosettle a dispute, and he or shehastheauthoritytomakeadecision.

13.7.Summary The broadest interpretation of the term grievance would include any discontent or dissatisfactionthataffectsorganizationalperformance. Inthe language of the labourmanagementrelations,agrievanceisacomplaintformally presented bytheemployeeoremployeestothemanagement. Thedisputeorgrievanceconstitutesamanagerialproblemandthescientificmethodis usually mostproductiveinarrivingatasatisfactorysolution. A grievance isalways a symbol of some malfunctioning ormaladjustment and an able andskilfulmanagercanalwaysfindouttherealorsubmergedreasonsforagrievance. The dispute must be handled by some member of management. In the solution of a problem,thegreaterburdenrestsonmanagement. The clearestopportunity for settlement is found at the first stage, before the grievance hasleftthejurisdictionofthesupervisor. Thefollowingdirectionshelpinhandlingagrievance: Receiveanddefinethenatureofthedissatisfaction. Getthefacts. Analyzeanddivide. Applytheanswer.

 Followup. Agrievanceshouldbedealtwithinthelimitsofthefirstlinesupervisor. Theappellateauthorityshouldbemadecleartotheemployee. Thegrievanceshouldbedealtwithspeedily. Inestablishingagrievanceprocedure,ifthegrievanceisagainstaninstructiongivenbya superiorintheinterestoforderanddiscipline,theinstructionsmustbecarriedoutfirst andthenonlyemployeecanregisterhisprotest. Incase,thegrievancehasnotbeensettledbytopmanagementandtopunionleadership, thesamemaybesubmittedtoanimpartialarbitrator. 13.8TerminalQuestions 1. WhatisGrievance?Whydoesitarise?Whatisitsimportance? 2. Bringouttheimportanceofgrievancehandling. 3. Explainthegrievancehandlingprocedure. 4. Whoisanarbitrator?Whatishisroleingrievancehandling? 13.9AnswerstoSAQsandTQs SelfAssessmentQuestionsI 1Organizational performance, 2 employee or employees to the management, 3 National CommissionofLabour SelfAssessmentQuestionsII 1root cause, 2 Promotions2. Amenities 3. Continuity of Services 4. Compensation 5. Disciplinaryaction SelfAssessmentQuestionsIII 1First stage,2keepingproperrecords,3precedentwithinthedepartmentaswellasthe company

SelfAssessmentQuestionsIV 1grievance machinery, 2 the size of organizations, trade union strength, the management philosophy,thecompanytraditions,industrialpracticesandinthecostfactor,3 biased

SelfAssessmentQuestionsV

1Thefirstlinesupervisor,2Grievancemachinery,3Arbitrator AnswerstoTQs: 1. Referto13.2&13.3 2. Referto13.4 3. Referto13.5 4. Referto13.6