This document discusses grievance procedures in the workplace. It defines a grievance as any employee dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, arising from their employment. Effective grievance procedures allow management to understand employee concerns, maintain discipline, and resolve conflicts fairly. The document outlines the typical stages of a grievance process from direct supervisor to external mediation. It also lists benefits like preventing escalation of issues and saving employers time and money resolving workplace problems. An example incident at the Taj Hotel in 1983 is provided where effective grievance handling by HR reduced attrition and improved customer satisfaction after employees protested working conditions.

1. 2013

2. What is Grievance ?What is Grievance ?
• Grievance is “any discontent or“any discontent or
dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not,dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not,
whether valid or not, arising out of anythingwhether valid or not, arising out of anything
connected with the company which anconnected with the company which an
employee thinks, believes or even feels to beemployee thinks, believes or even feels to be
unfair, unjust or inequitable.”unfair, unjust or inequitable.”

3. CAUSES for GrievanceCAUSES for Grievance

4. Need for Grievance ProcedureNeed for Grievance Procedure
1. Management can know the employees’ feelingsemployees’ feelings
and opinionsopinions about the company’s policies andpolicies and
practices.practices.
2. It keeps a check on the supervisor’s attitudesupervisor’s attitude and
behaviorbehavior towards their subordinates.
3. Employee gets a chance to ventilate his feelingsventilate his feelings
4. Build good moralegood morale, maintains code of discipline.discipline.
5. Brings uniformityuniformity in handling grievances.
6. It develops faithfaith of employees.
7. Reduces personality conflictspersonality conflicts.
8. Provides judicial protectionjudicial protection to the employees.

5. Processing of GrievanceProcessing of Grievance
– Primary Stage (Supervisor)
– Intermediate Stage (Group head)
– Organization Level (Management head)
– Third Party Mediation (Legal authorities)

6. Errors in processing of GrievanceErrors in processing of Grievance
1. Stopping too soon in the search of facts
2. Expressing a management opinion prior to the time
when all pertinent facts have been discovered
3. Failing to maintain proper records
4. Resorting to executive fiat or orders instead of
discussion and conference to change minds
5. Setting the wrong grievance a mistake which may in
turn produce a second new grievance.

7. Objectives of a Grievance HandlingObjectives of a Grievance Handling
ProcedureProcedure
a) To enable the employee to air his/her grievance.
b) To clarify the nature of the grievance.
c) To investigate the reasons for dissatisfaction.
d) To obtain, where possible, a speedy resolution to the
problem.
e) To take appropriate actions and ensure that promises
are kept.
f) To inform the employee of his or her right to take the
grievance to the next stage of the procedure, in the
event of an unsuccessful resolution.

8. Steps in Grievance HandlingSteps in Grievance Handling
ProcedureProcedure
Acknowledge Dissatisfaction
Define the Problem
Get the Facts
Analyze and Decide
Follow up

9. Benefits of a Grievance HandlingBenefits of a Grievance Handling
ProcedureProcedure
1. It encourages employees to raise concerns
without fear of reprisal.
2. It provides a fair and speedy means of dealing
with complaints.
3. It prevents minor disagreements developing
into more serious disputes.
4. It saves employers time and money as
solutions are found for workplace problems

10. Organization IncidentOrganization Incident
• When:When: On 23rd
September 1983
• How many:How many: A few hundred employees
• Of:Of: Taj (Bombay)
• Did what:Did what: expressed their unhappiness
• By:By: setting fire to a few sofas in the lobby,
breaking furniture and shouting anti-
management slogans.
• Owner:Owner: J.R.D. Tata
• Reason:Reason: Management communications problem

11. Organization Incident (contd.)Organization Incident (contd.)
• HR team:HR team: Provided an effective, internal
channel for grievance anticipation and
counseling.
• Effects:Effects: Employee attrition reduced and
customer satisfaction improved.
• J.R.D:J.R.D: “I agree with your diagnosis. One lesson I
have learnt through 50 years of working with
people is that there are no union problems…
only management problems.”