APPROACHES OF INDUSTRIAL RELATION

 

APPROACHES OF INDUSTRIAL RELATION


Approaches to Industrial Relation


Industrial relations are viewed from various angles like economic and social, political, legal, psychological and managerial. But in fact, no single approach can comprehensively understand the complex nature of industrial relations from a proper perspective, as they are not susceptible to any objective enquiry. Industrial relations are an eclectic system composed of a group of people and organizations working with varying viewpoints. Over the last century, the following approaches towards industrial relations have been observed:


1. Psychological approach: 

Psychologists are of the view that the perception and attitude of the focal participant are important to understand the problem of industrial relations. The same problem may be observed and analysed by the participant according to his own individual perception. The general impression of a person is radically different when he is seen as a representative of management from that of the person as a representative of workmen. The conflict between labour and management occurs because both see the other as less dependable and every group negatively views/perceives the behaviour of the other to the extent that even the honest intention of a party is looked at with suspicion. In most industrial conflicts, the personalities of the participants i.e. labour/management representatives assume importance rather than the interest of both i.e. workmen and management and sometimes strained inter-personal and inter-group relations breed disharmony in the system. The problem is aggravated by the unfulfilled needs for recognition and economic motives etc. of power, prestige, recognition and economic motives etc.


 2. Sociological Approach: 

Under the sociological approach, the organization is viewed as a social system composed of numerous interacting parts, individuals and groups with differing personalities, educational backgrounds, emotions, likes and dislikes and a host of other personal factors such as attitudes and behaviour. These features of individual attitudes and behaviour create problems of conflict and competition among the members of the industrial society. Sociological factors like value systems, customs, norms, symbols and attitudes and perceptions of labour and management affect industrial relations in varied ways. The behaviour of individual workers as well as management executives is largely monitored by these social factors and a change in these factors cannot be overlooked. It is for this reason that today's management has increasingly become professional and there is a greater thrust on the use of behaviour techniques in dealing with the human side of the enterprise. Therefore, this approach recognizes the workers as human beings and a significant part of the organization and that if labour were treated properly, most of their problems would be solved automatically. 


3. Human Resource Approach:

During the 1950s several behavioural scientists started analyzing the behaviour of human beings at the workplace. This concept treats workers as human resources who have their own emotions, perceptions, attitudes and personality. These features make them complex individuals and they interact with others, either individually or in groups, their complexity further multiplies. So when these human resources are not properly managed, the problem of industrial relations surfaces. Human beings have four types of basic needs i.e. physiological, safety, social and egoistic. Physiological needs are food, water, clothing and shelter. Safety needs are physical security, financial security and job security. Social needs are of companionship, belonging and affection and egoistic needs are one's desire for self-esteem and esteem from others. The human resource approach assumes that it is necessary for management to design a suitable motivational strategy to provide an environment for their optimum need satisfaction, required for maintaining good human relations in the organization. For this purpose, efforts were made to integrate employees with the organization so that organizational goals and employees' aspirations could be achieved simultaneously.


4. Socio-Ethical Approach to Industrial Relations:

This approach holds that industrial relations, besides having a sociological base do have some ethical ramifications and good industrial relations can only be maintained when both, labour and management realize their moral responsibility in contributing to the said task through mutual cooperation and a greater understanding of each other's problems. 

This approach encourages mutual settlement of disputes, collective bargaining and voluntary arbitration and not compulsory adjudication. This puts pressure on labour management to maintenance of good industrial relations through peaceful settlement of disputes.



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