human resource management chapter 9 integration

1. CHAPTER 9
EMPLOYEE AND LABOR RELATION
It is important that the employee not only be able to work, but be willing to work as well.
The willingness is based largely on management’s ability to integrate the interests and
needs of its employees with objectives of the organization.
Importance of human relations
There must be a reasonable merger of a person and organization interest. Integration
examines the fundamental nature of human resource, integration of this resource as
individual or groups with organizations and coping with inevitable conflicts that follow.
Managerial activities in this regard are termed as human relations. The goal is effecting
a reasonable integration leading to productive and creative collaboration toward mutual
objectives. We should have healthy overlapping of interest. The greater the overlap the
more productivity will coincide with employee satisfaction. The four major forces that
lead managers to become vitally concerned with human relations activities are:
1. Possible improvements in productivity and effectiveness
2. Governmental intervention
3. Union intervention and
4. Personal codes of ethics
Nature of Human Needs
Human needs can be classified into three categories:
1) physiological needs 2) social needs and 3)egoistic needs
1. Physiological needs- primary needs. These are those that are necessities to sustain
life. E.g Security.
2. Social and egoistic needs-Physical association and contact, love and affection,
social acceptance. Egoistic needs include recognition, dominance, independence,
and achievement.

2. The objective of integration is to gratify these needs. We have to satisfy these needs in a
manner that is acceptable by the society. Maladjustment results when we can not attain
the needs or attain in a difficult manner.
Collective Bargaining
The ILO (International Labours organization) workers manual defines collective
bargaining as negotiation about working conditions and terms of employment between
an employer, a group of employers or one or more representative employers’
organizations on one hand, and one or more representative workers organizations on the
other with a view to reaching agreement. The process of collective bargaining is bipartite
that is the negotiations are between the employers and the employees without a third
party’s intervention. The objective of collective bargaining is to come to an agreement
that divergent view points are put forth by the parties concerned and through
negotiations, a settlement is arrived at.
The following are features of collective bargaining:
1. it is a group process, where in one group representing the employers, the other
representing employees sit together to negotiate terms of employment.
2. it is a process in the sense that it consists of a number of steps
3. negotiations form an important aspect of the process of collective bargaining
4. it is a bipartite process
The employers and the employees are the only parties involved in the bargaining process.
There is no third party’s intervention. There are two types of collective bargaining:
1) Traditional and 2) Integrative.
1. Traditional- it is concerned with the distribution benefits such as wage, working
condition, promotions, layoffs.

3. 2. Integrative- if integrative bargaining to be utilized, each group must view the
other as cooperative and trustworthy. The philosophy is to pursue win-win
solution in preference to win-lose where one party wins and the other loses.
Process of collective bargaining
1. The pre-negotiation phase
2. The selection of the negotiators
3. The strategy of bargaining
4. The tactics of bargaining
5. The contract of bargaining
1. Pre-negotiation phase
Data of all type should be maintained very carefully by management and including facts
and figures in the more tangible areas of wage, hours, pensions, vacations and similar
types of remuneration. Management spends much time on this phase.
2. The selection of the negotiators
From management side, it may be industrial relation director, the head of the production
area, an executive vice president or the company lawyer. From employee’s side, union
(they usually use the team approach). Most of these negotiators are full type specialists in
the art of bargaining.
3. Strategy of bargaining
Strategy is concerned with mapping out the plan and basic policies to be followed in the
bargaining process. It is essential for management to plan its strategies and tactics
carefully in preparation for bargaining session.

4. 4. Tactics of bargaining
Bargaining does require a realistic study of the other side and awareness of the impact of
ones’ action on all concerned.
5. Contract of bargaining
The labour-management contract stipulates in formal terms the nature of the relationship
between management and labour. Most labour contracts include: 1) union security 2)
Grievance procedures including steps, time limitations and provisions for arbitration 3)
promotion, transfer and layoff 4) wages including shift and Sunday premiums. 5) Hours
of work including absenteeism, overtime, holidays and vacations 6) incentives, wage and
time study 7) Discharge 8) Safety and health and 9) Management responsibilities and
other miscellaneous clauses like, time of termination.
Union bargaining pressures
A Union is an organization of workers, acting collectively, seeking to protect and
promote their mutual interests through collective bargaining. Employees union pressures
take many forms:
Strike- a strike is concerted and temporary withholding of employee services from the
employer for the purpose of exacting greater concessions in the employment relationship
than the employer is willing to grant at the bargaining table. There are different types of
strike:
Recognition strike-it forces the employer to recognize and deal with the union.
Economic strike- seeking for better wage, hours of work and working conditions.
Wildcat strike- quick, sudden and unauthorized type of work stoppage.
Picketing- the plant is closed during the strike. Strikers patron on plant’s entrance. It is
the most effective device to accomplishing their objectives. Picketing or having

5. employees carry signs announcing their concerns near the employer’s place of business,
is one of the first activities to occur during a strike.
Third Party Resolutions
When disagreement becomes serious, management and union can use fact finder,
mediator or conventional arbitrator.
Fact finders- may be appointed by the government or be selected by the two parties.
When certain investigation is made it is made public.
Mediator- mediation is the process by which the third party attempts to stimulate labour
and management to reach some type of agreement. Mediators can not decide issues, they
can only listen, suggest, communicate, explain and persuade. Usually mediators are
supplied by state or federal government. They can take initiative on calling of
conferences and explaining the desirability and inevitability of reaching an agreement.
Conventional Arbitration- the process by which the third party collects the facts from
the two primary parties and proceeds to make a decision that is usually binding on labour
and management. It is a means of making decision by impartial body when efforts at
mediation or conciliation have failed. Arbitration is judicial in character in contrast with
conciliation which is advisable. The matter or dispute is closed or settled by the decision
of the judicial authority which is binding on both the parties.
Grievance Handling
The process of grievances
Grievance is any discontent or dissatisfaction that affects organizational performance.
This can be written or unvoiced or oral. This dissatisfaction should affect workers’
performance. A complaint becomes grievance when the employee feels that an injustice
has been committed. Complaints are often submitted in informal fashion where as
grievance is formal. The grievance procedure provides an orderly system whereby both
employer and union determine whether some action violated the contract.

6. A Manager’s Step in handling a grievance
The dispute should be handled by management. The greater burden rests on manager.
Steps of Grievance
1. Receive and define the nature of the dissatisfaction
Statements should not be pre-judged on the basis of past experiences. The superior should
not be too busy to listen.
2. Get the facts- facts should be separated from opinion and impression.
Have records i.e internal records of about absenteeism of the person.
3. Analyze and decide
4. Apply the answer/decision
5. Follow up
The objective of the grievance procedure is to resolve a disagreement between an
employee and the organization. The purpose of follow up phase is to determine whether
the clash of interest have been resolved. Follow up is the step in the procedure that tells
us when a mistake in handling has been made.
Disciplinary Action
Disciplinary action refers to any conditioning of future behaviour by the application of
either rewards or penalties. This approach would include positive motivational activities
such as praise, participation and incentive pay as well as negative motivational
techniques such as reprimands, layoffs and fines. Both types of activities seek to
condition employee behaviour in order to achieve good discipline in the organization.
Basic Elements of Disciplinary Action Process
1. The location of the responsibility for administration of disciplinary action. There
is general agreement that it must be a line responsibility.
2. The classification of what is expected of an employee in the way of behaviour-
this requires an establishment of reasonable rules and regulations that contribute
to effective behaviour.

7. The objective of disciplinary action is not to inflict punishment rather a certain type of
behaviour is desired and the employee is informed of the nature of that behaviour and the
reason for it. If it requires a penalty to produce that type of behaviour, then, disciplinary
action must be administered.
In modern managements’ increasingly legalistic environment, written records constitute a
third basic element of well organized disciplinary action program.
Disciplinary Action Penalties
1. Oral reprimand
2. written reprimand
3. loss of privileges
4. fines
 these are administered by immediate supervisor
5. lay off
6. demotion
7. discharge
 these are out of the control of immediate supervisors
The penalties are listed in the general order of severity-from mild to severe. Discharge is
the most severe penalty that organizations can give and constitutes “Industrial capital
punishment”.
Guides to Disciplinary Actions
Applying disciplinary action can be compared to touching a hot-stove. The following is
the “hot-stove rule”:
1. You have warning- knowing that it is hot you should realize what is likely to
happen if you touch it.
2. The burn is immediate- you can see the connection of two events
3. The burn is consistent- the stove burns all who touch it.

8. 4. The burn is impersonal-you are burnt for touching and not because you are a
particular individual.
Concepts/commonly cited concepts
1. Disciplinary action should be taken in private.
2. An application of a penalty should always carry with it a constructive element.
The employee should be told why he/she is punished.
3. Disciplinary action should be applied by the immediate supervisor. We should not
violate the individual responsibility.
4. Promptness is important in the taking of disciplinary action. It should not delay
too much –it becomes hazy if it is late.
5. Consistency in the administration of disciplinary action is highly important.
6. An immediate supervisor should never be disciplined in the presence of his own
subordinates.
7. After the disciplinary action has been taken the manager should attempt to assume
a normal attitude to the employee.
When management is dissatisfied with behaviour of an employee, its goal is to effect a
change more consistent with organization requirements. Penalties or punishments
constitute only one means of doing this, and should be used as a last resort. The attitude
of the immediate supervisor should be one of counselling and understanding rather than
police and punish.
Separation
It is the last operative function of human resource management.
Separation Processes
1. Turnover Turnover refers to the movement into and out of an organization by the
workforce. An excessive movement is undesirable and expensive. There are
certain costs the organization incurs:
1. Hiring costs involving time and facilitation for recruitment, interviewing and
examining a replacement.

9. 2. Training costs involving the time of supervisor, personal development and
training.
3. The pay of a learner is in excess of what is produced.
4. Accident rates of new employees are often higher.
5. Loss of production in the interval
6. Production equipment is not fully utilized during the hiring interval and the
training period.
7. Scrap and waste rate climb when new employees are involved.
8. Overtime pay may result from an excessive number of separations causing trouble
in meeting contract of delivery dates.
In dealing with separation from the firm the objective is not their total elimination; some
losses are functional to the firm in that employees leaving can be replaced with higher
quality types.
Separations can produce values to the organization in the form of new ideas entering the
enterprise with possible higher quality of personnel being added, lowering of salaries
paid when older, high seniority persons are replaced by lower paid entrances.
2. Retirement
Retirement is characterized by “roll less roll”. It means that the day before retirement an
employee is productive but starting from retirement date the employee becomes roll less
roll. It is a major event in one’s individual life and the organization has a responsibility
to enforce the individual’s transition from the employment (productive) to retirement.
With a society built on a work ethics the move from a recognizable productive work roll
on one day to a roll less roll on the next has stimulated the belief that retirement leads to
mental and physical illness and sometimes premature death. Too many work in life and
idleness is a living death.
A study of 2000 participants both before and after retirement concluded that health
declines are associated with age but not retirement. In fact unskilled workers dominate a

10. slight improvement in health after retirement. It is evident that retirement is a major
responsibility in facilitating the transition from one stage to the other.
There are two types of retirement:
1. Mandatory retirement (compulsory retirement)
2. Voluntarily retirement
Many organizational managers have maintained that compulsory retirement at a fixed age
for old is beneficiary. Because:
I. It is simple to administer with no complications to improve that the older
employee no longer meets job requirement.
II. Openings are created to which younger employee can advance.
III. Human resources planning is facilitated when retirement schedules are
known.
IV. Graceful exit are provided for employees who are no longer qualified.
V. It stimulates employees to make plans for retirement in advance of a known
date.
The arguments against any fixed compulsory retirement of age revolve largely around
individual freedom and utilization of all available talents. Forced retirements would result
in significant losses of real talent. It may lead also to a short time attitude in the years just
prior to retirement. Short timers tend to be less interested and committed to the
organization’s challenges and problems and they may even retire on the job.
3. Layoff
An organization may force individuals (employees) to leave the organization. Lay off
may be temporary or permanent. If it is permanent, the organization does not need that
individual due to different circumstances. It is very much associated with loss of income.
In the free enterprise system there are many occasions when a qualified employee will be
released from employment (layoff) because the organization no longer requires his/her
service. Lay offs can be temporary as then firm adjusts to variations in market demand
for its product. They can also be permanent as the firm goes out of business or transfers
to a distant location.

11. The company typically wishes to take advantages of the lay off to retain its most able
employees and let the more marginal ones go.
4. Discharge
The employee is deemed to be fundamentally unsatisfactory in terms of performance.
It is the most stressful and distasteful method of separation.