Multidisciplinary field
Employment relations
Importance of non-industrial
employment relationships
Many also equate IR to labour relations and believe that IR
only studies unionized(forming a group) employment situations, but this
Is an oversimplification(more simpler)
Human relations refers to the whole field of relationship that exists
bcoz of the necessary collaboration of men and women in the
employment process of modern industry. It is that part of mgt which is
concerned with the management of enterprise –whether machine
operator, skilled worker or manager. It deals with either the relationship
btwn the state and employers & workers organisation or the relation
between the occupational organisation themselves.
IR
Science building
1.part of the social sciences
Ethical
Problem Solving
1. IR seeks to design
1. IR contains strong
policies and institutions to
normative principles
help the employment relationship
about workers &
work better
2.Understand employment relationship &
its institutions through high-quality, rigorous
research
employment relationship,
especially the rejection
of treating the labour
as a commodity in favor
of seeing workers as
3.IR scholarship intersects with scholarship
human beings in
in labor economics, industrial sociology,
democratic communities
labor & social history ,HRM, political science,
entitled to human rights
law, & other areas
HISTORY
Roots
Industrial Revolution
massive economic and
social changes
producing free labor markets & large-scale industrial organizations with
thousands of wage workers
created the modern
employment relationship
Low wages, long working hours,
monotonous and dangerous work, and
abusive supervisory practices
Labour problems
high employee turnover,
violent strikes, and the
threat of social instability
HISTORY – Intellectual & Institutional
 Industrial relations - end of the 19th century - as a
middle ground btwn classical economics & Marxism, with
Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb’s Industrial Democracy
(1897) being the key intellectual work. IR thus rejected the
classical econ
John R. Commons
academic industrial
relations program
University of
Wisconsin in 1920
HISTORY – Financial Support
John D. Rockefeller, Jr
(Financial support)
progressive labor-management
relations
aftermath of the bloody strike at a
Rockefeller-owned coal mine in
Colorado
HISTORY – Chairs
Montague Burton
(Britain)
another progressive industrialist
@ Leeds, Cardiff &
Cambridge in 1930
Formalized in 1950
endowed chairs in industrial
relations
Allan Flanders & Hugh Clegg
formation of the Oxford School
HISTORY – Cont..
 Formed with a strong problem-solving orientation that
rejected both the classical economists’ laissez
faire(Noninterference in the affairs of others) solutions to
labor problems & the Marxist solution of class revolution.
It is this approach that underlies the New Deal legislation
in the United States, such as the National Labor Relations
Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
 Workplace Relations - the relationship btwn an employer
& its employees that governs the employment & nonemployment elements such as terms of employment,
working condition, welfare, rights and obligation to each
other, and so on.
 Purpose - unite the group of employees and employer as
one big, happy family.
 Principle -behind the IR is the collective bargaining
between the employee’s union and the employer to
achieve a collective agreement
 IR is not the same as the Employment Act in the sense that the
interaction process btwn an employer & the employees is not
much bound to legal & technical aspect of an employment, but
rather to achieve a compromise agreements and stands.
 IR executives & managers act as the middlemen btwn the union &
the employers, and in an ideal world, they strike a balance
between the two.
 Sometimes, the union fights hard and in response the employer
would take a tough stance. As a result, negotiation stalls and the
outcome can be potentially unhealthy. It’s true they say strong
worker’s union can make the employer’s life miserable and cripple
the company’s operation.
Employee Relations
 Involves the body of work concerned with
maintaining employer-employee relationships that
contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation,
and morale.
 Employee Relations is concerned with preventing &
resolving problems involving individuals which arise
out of or affect work situations.
 Relationship of employees with the organization
and with each other
correct poor performance &
employee misconduct
Advice to supervisors
progressive discipline
and regulatory
requirements
disciplinary actions and in resolving
employee grievances and appeals
promote a better understanding
of management's goals &
policies
Information to
employees
to employees to assist them in correcting poor
performance,
on or off duty misconduct, and/or to address
personal issues that affect them in the workplace.
applicable regulations, legislation,
and bargaining agreements
Advise to
employees
about their grievance and appeal rights
and discrimination and whistleblower
protections
 Developing,implementing,administering &
analyzing
the employer-employee relationship;
 performing ongoing evaluation of it;
 managing employee performance;
 ensuring that relations with employees comply
with applicable federal, state and local laws and
regulations;
 resolving workplace disputes
 Include





HR careers,
communications,
legal and regulatory issues,
technology, metrics and
outsourcing in the employee relations field, as well as effective
employee relations practices and global employee relations
issues
 Does not include matters involving
union organizing,
 union elections,
 collective bargaining and
 ongoing union-management relations,
which are encompassed in the Labor Relations Discipline.

Theories
of
IR
 System Theory
 Oxford Theory
 Structural Contradiction Theory
 Gandhian Theory
 Human Relations Theory
System Theory (by John Dunlop)
 Focuses on
 Participants in the process
 Environmental forces
 Output
And their inter-relationship.
13/20
System Theory (contd.)
Environmental
Forces
(i) Market or Budgetary
Restraints
Participants
Union –
Management
(ii)Technology
(iii)Distribution of
Power in Society
Outputs
Rules of the
Workplace
Government
15/20
System Theory : Participants
The main participants are

Workers and their organisations

Management and their representatives

Government agencies
16/20
System Theory :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
System Theory : 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
System Theory (contd.)
(Set of Ideas and Beliefs)
14/20
The Oxford Theory
 Flanders – Conflict is inherent – Collective
bargaining required – CB central to IR system –
determined thro’ rule making process of CB
 r = f (b)
or r = f (c)
where r – rules governing IR
b – collective bargaining
c – Conflict resolved thro’ CB
 Criticism – too narrow (comprehensive for analysing
IR) – overemphasis political process of CB –
insufficient wt deeper influence in determination of
rules
 Emphasis rules, job regulation, institutions of job
regulation as indicative of order orientation
organisation
 Liberal-pluralist approach
STRUCTURAL CONTRADICTION THEORY Hyman(1971)
 Marxian analysis of IR + Trade union = Pessimistic
& Optimistic approach
 Both represent structural contradictions
 Pessimistic approach – Lenin, Michels, Trotsky –
limitations of trade union consciousness –
Working class + intellectuals = New social order
 Optimistic approach – Marx & Engels – role of
working class not only maintenance &
enhancement of wage level but also carry class
struggle against capital class thrust creating
classless society
 Trade unions – represent workers response to the
deprivations inherent in their role as employees
within a capitalist economy – opposition & conflict
can’t be divorced from their existence & activity
Cont..
 Inherent deprivation cause conflict of trade unions
with employers in politico-economic structure
 Analysis – focus on not only structure but also
deprivations & socio-economic inequalities
(inherent components of capitalist mode of
production)
Gandhian Approach
 Truth, Non-violence, Non-possession, Non co-
operation (Satyagarah), trusteeship...
 Workers’ right to strike.
 Concept of equality
There is no room for conflict of interests between
the capitalist and the labourers.
 But what IF conflicts occur...?
o Should they go for strikes/lockouts...!

Two things that Gandhiji expect from workers
i.
Awakening
o
o
ii.
Unity
Nurturing faith in their moral strength
Awareness of its existence
Gandhiji advocates
 Demands should be reasonable and through collective




action.
Avoid strikes as far as possible.
Avoid formation of unions in philanthropic
organisations.
Strikes should be the last resort only.
In case of organising a strike, workers should remain
peaceful and non-violent.
Human Relations Theory – KEITH DEVIS
 Human are not inanimate or passive.
 Human are very complex to understand i.e. to manage.
 Integration of people into work-situation that motivates
them to work together productively, cooperatively, &with
economic, psychological & social satisfactions
 Goals
 to get people to produce
 To cooperate through mutuality of interest
 To gain satisfaction from their relationships
 Highlights – policies & techniques – improve
employee morale, efficiency & job satisfaction
 Encourages small work group to exercise
considerable control over its environment & in the
process helps to remove a major irritant in labourmanagement relation.
What Influences Human To Work
 Style of leadership


Autocratic style
Democratic style
 Motivation (satisfy the dissatisfied needs)




Physiological needs (food, water, clothing, shelter)
Safety needs (physical, finance and job security)
Social needs (belonging, affection)
Egoistic needs (self-esteem and esteem from others)