Every employee has certain expectations which he thinks must be fulfilled by the organization he is working for. When the organization fails to do this, he develops a feeling of discontent or dissatisfaction. When an employee feels that something is unfair in the organization, he is said to have a grievance. In the Industrial Relations language, Grievance is defined as anything which irritates or tends to make work conditions unsatisfactory and thereby harbors a discontent or dissatisfaction arising anything connected with the company that an employee thinks, believes or even feels, unfair, unjust. In this sense many of the controversial issues in Industrial Organizations may be said to arise as a result of incept or ill-advised handling or neglect of grievances which individually may appear trivial but collectively may become explosive. The following principles should be observed while laying down a grievance procedure in organizations: A grievance should be dealt Continue reading
HRM Concepts
Manpower Planning Process – Problems, Barriers and Solutions
The centrality of manpower in production process of corporate entities has long been acknowledged by organization managers and administrators. It is an on-going process (integrated approach), not a once and for all phenomenon. Its process involves interrelated activities and the plan must continue to be modified to meet prevailing circumstances. As a plan, it is embedded with implementation programmes designed to ensure availability of adequate qualified persons. Such implementation programmes include recruitment and selection (employment) of required skilled personnel to perform jobs that will allow the enterprise meet both the corporate and individual goals. The plan implementation programme also entails training and development of personnel and performance appraisal as well as other related personnel administration functions. The term ‘Manpower Planning’ at organizational or corporate level is also known as micro-human resources planning and it has much to do with personnel management or personnel administration. The terms “manpower, ‘human resource”, and Continue reading
Workplace Flexibility and Work-Life Balance
In the modern highly volatile business environment, organizations go through a tough time keeping up with the market forces due to the severity of the competition they face. This makes the customer search for the best quality and value for their money. Therefore organizations formulate strategies and these strategies are then transformed into quantitative objectives and are broken down to each employee in the organization in order that they can carry out their part in it. This creates pressure in the minds of the managers and their employees. The managers persuade the employees and get the tasks done one way or the other. This increasingly demanding workplace complexity is what causes work-life balance issues. In other words, employees find it rather difficult to balance the work with their own personal lives. Is Workplace Flexibility the ‘Solution’ to Work-Life Balance Problems? In the context of human resource management, workplace flexibility refers Continue reading
Reprimands in the Workplace
Reprimanding is a form of punishment which is can be used in decreasing problematic behaviors. It simply means to be scolded, yelled at, and bawled out or to be chastised verbally for exhibiting unwanted target behavior. Reprimands are useful when a person is engaging in mannerisms that call for immediate action because maybe it is harmful to others, self, or to property. Reprimands should be explicitly and selectively used in response to particular mannerisms or behaviors. They should also be inclusive of a statement of the required behavior which of course is the opposite of inappropriate behavior. For the reprimands to be effective the user must be specific. They should also come immediately, use a physical demeanor or a firm voice, back up the reprimand with some loss of privileges, and encourage the person to behave appropriately by stating the correct behaviors explicitly. In this article, we will focus on Continue reading
Compensation Concept in HRM
The literal meaning of compensation is to counter—balance. In the case of human resource management, compensation is referred to as money and other benefits received by an employee for providing services to his employer. Money and benefits received may be in different forms — base compensation in money form and various benefits, which may be associated with employees services to the to the employer like provident fund, gratuity insurance scheme and any other payment which the employee receives or benefits he enjoys in lieu of such payment. Cascio has defined compensation as follows; “compensation includes direct cash payments, indirect payments in the form of employees to strive for higher levels of productivity.” Compensation Policy Compensation policy is derived from organizational strategy and its policy on overall human resource management. In order to make compensation management to work effectively, the organization should clearly specify its compensation policy, which must include the Continue reading
Collective Bargaining – Definition, Features and Process
Collective bargaining involves discussions and negotiations between two groups as to the terms and conditions of employment. It is called ‘collective’ because both the employer and the employee act as a group rather than as individuals. It is known as ‘bargaining’ because the method of reaching an agreement involves proposals and counter proposals, offers and counter offers and other negotiations. Thus collective bargaining: is a collective process in which representatives of both the management and employees participate. is a continuous process which aims at establishing stable relationships between the parties involved. not only involves the bargaining agreement, but also involves the implementation of such an agreement. attempts in achieving discipline in the industry is a flexible approach, as the parties involved have to adopt a flexible attitude towards negotiations. The main characteristics of collective bargaining are: Collective Process: The representatives of both the management and the employees participate in it. Continue reading