IR, Scope, Importance, Parties involved

1. Industrial Relations

2. What is IR
• It is an art of living together for the purposes of production,
productive efficiency, human well-being and industrial
progress.
• Industrial relations constitute one of the most delicate and
complex problems of the modern industrial society that is
characterised by rapid change, industrial unrest and conflicting
ideologies in the national and international spheres.
• It is a dynamic concept that depends upon the pattern of the
society, economic system and political set-up of a country and
changes with the changing economic and social order.
• These institutions are a social network of organisations,
participants, processes and decisions: all of which interact and
inter-relate together within the industrial relations environment
and even beyond it.

3. CONCEPT AND SCOPE
• “Industrial relations” means relationship between management
and workmen in a unit or an industry.
• Tead and Metcalfe observed that “industrial relations are the
composite result of the attitudes and approaches of employers
and employees towards each other with regard to planning,
supervision, direction and coordination of the activities of an
organization with a minimum of human efforts and frictions
with an animating spirit of cooperation and with proper regard
for the genuine well-being of all members of the
organization.”

4. Cont…
• Professor Clegg defines industrial relations in the broadest
terms as “encompassing the rules governing employment
together with the ways in which the rules are made and
changed and their interpretation and administration.”
• It is a highly complex and dynamic process of relationships
involving not only employees and managements, but also their
collective forums and the State.
• In an organisation, these relationships may be personal and
informal at one end, and may be highly institutional with
legally prescribed structures and procedures, at the other end.

5. Parties to IR
The four main parties who are actively associated with any
industrial relations system are:
• The workers,
• The managements,
• The organisations of workers and managements,
• The State.

6. Objectives of IR
Apart from the primary objective of bringing about sound and
healthy relations between employers and employees, industrial
relations aim:
• to facilitate production and productivity;
• to safeguard the rights and interests of both labour and
management by enlisting their co-operation;
• to achieve a sound, harmonious, and mutually beneficial
labour management relations;
• to avoid unhealthy atmosphere in the industry, especially
work, stoppages, go slows, gheraos, strikes, lockouts; and
• to establish and maintain industrial democracy.

7. According to Kirkaldy, industrial relations in a country are
intimately connected with the form of its political government;
and the objectives of an industrial organization may vary from
purely economic to purely political ends. He divides the
objectives of industrial relations into four categories:
• improvement in the economic conditions of workers in the
existing state of industrial management and political
government;
• control exercised by the state over industrial undertakings with
a view to regulating production and promoting harmonious
industrial relations;
• socialization or rationalization of industries by making the
state itself a major employer; and
• vesting of a proprietary interest of the workers in the industries
in which they are employed.

8. 1-8
• Union
– a group of workers
• recognized by law
• collectively bargain terms and conditions of employment with
their employer
• Industrial Relations
– study of employment relationships and issues
• often in unionized workplaces
Important Terms in Industrial
Relations

9. • Labour Relations
– study of employment relationships and issues between
groups
– employees and management
– also known as management relations
• Collective Agreement
– written document outlines terms and conditions of
employment
– in a unionized workplace
1-9
Important Terms in Industrial
Relations

10. • Human Resource Management
– examines employment relationship
– between employers and individual employees
• Employee Relations
– usually in nonunion settings
1-10
Important Terms in Industrial
Relations

11. • Employment Relations
– examines employment relationships
– in union and non-union workplaces
1-11
Important Terms in Industrial
Relations

12. Labour in India
Type Industry Known As
Primary Sector Agriculture
Forestry and logging
Fishing
Mining
Agriculture and allied
industries
Secondary Sector Manufacturing
Electricity
Construction
Industrial Activities
Tertiary Sector Trade, Hotels & Restaurants
Transport, communication &
storage
Financial Services
Real Estate
Public administration and
defence
Community & personal services
Services

13. Characteristics of Indian Labour
1. Occupational Structure in India (Distribution of
labour; Profile of GDP; Segmentation of labour market)
2. Size of workforce (Male female ratio; main & marginal
workers; organized vs. unorganized sector; challenges)
3. Workforce participation rate (Trend)
4. Changes in industrial environment (professional
management; rise & disinvestment of PSU; FDIs, Technology/
& its impact on Industrial Labour:- Status of the worker;
stabilization of workforce; healthy work env.; protective
legislation; workforce composition; higher level of
aspirations; growth of Trade Unionism)

14. Cont…
5. Features of Industrial Labour in India (Level of literacy;
Predominance of male workers; Heterogeneity of workforce; lack of
unity; High rates of absenteeism and turnover; migratory character;
Claim to dignity)
6. Migration of Rural Labour to Urban Areas (Causes of
migration; Factors pushing from rural areas)
7. Instability of Labour force and lack of commitment
8. Role of Labour in Economic Development (Industrial
democracy; Emerging role of labour; National Interest; Role of trade
unions)
9. Profiles of Indian Managers (Traditional to modern)

15. System Approach (by John Dunlop)
Focuses on
– Participants in the process
– Environmental forces
– Output
And their inter-relationship.
13/20

16. System Approach (contd.)
(Set of Ideas and Beliefs)
14/20

17. System Approach (contd.)
(i) Market or Budgetary
Restraints
(ii)Technology
(iii)Distribution of Power
in Society
Union –
Management
Government
Rules of the
Workplace
Environmental Forces Participants Outputs
15/20

18. System Approach:Participants
The main participants are
 Workers and their organisations
 Management and their representatives
 Government agencies
16/20

19. System Approach:Environment
Three types of environments
 Technological characteristics of workplace
(Technological sub-system)
 The market or economic constraints
(Economic sub-system)
 The ‘locus’ and ‘balance of power’ existing in
society
(Political sub-system)
17/20

20. System Approach: Output
Output is the result of interaction of the
parties/actors of the system which is
manifested in the network of rules, country’s
labour policy and labour agreements etc. that
facilitate a fair deal to workers.
18/20

21. • Descriptive
• Lacks ability to predict outcomes/ relationships
• Underestimates importance of power and conflict in
employment relationship
• Is static
• Cannot explain rapid decrease in unionization
1-21
Criticisms of the Dunlop Model

22. Environmental Framework of IR
IR
Economic
Forces
Social
Forces
Psychological
Forces
Politico-
legal
Forces

23. Scope of IR
1. Promotion of Healthy Labour-management
relations
2. Maintenance of industrial peace and
avoidance of industrial strife
3. Promotion of industrial democracy

24. 1. Promotion of Healthy Labour-
management relations
• Existence of strong, well organized,
democratic and responsible TUs and
associations of employers in the industry
• Spirit of collective bargaining
• Labour welfare

25. 2. Maintenance of industrial peace and
avoidance of industrial strife
• Machinery for the prevention and settlement of
industrial disputes
(i)Legislative & administrative enactments;
(ii) work committees and joint management councils;
(iii)conciliation officers and board of conciliatiors
(iv) Labour courts, industrial tribunals, national tribunals,
court of enquiry
(v) Provisions for voluntary arbitration
• Provisions of bipartite and tripartite forums for
settlement of disputes

26. 3. Promotion of industrial democracy
• Establishment of the shop council and joint
management councils at the shop floor and
plant level
• Recognition of Human Rights in Industry
• Increase in productivity

27. Factors affecting IT
1. Institutional factors
2. Economic factors
3. Social factors
4. Technological factors
5. Psychological factors
6. Political factors
7. Enterprise-related factors
8. Global factors

28. CASE of the DAY