Industrial Relations

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This project is submitted in response to the case study of module 08 in Professional Qualification in Human Resources Management.

I am extremely grateful to all people, too numerous to mention, who have contributed to this case study.

The Management Process ,analyzation of a case in an organization, how to give an solution to the problems based on the theory and techniques which I have included in this case study are the most valuable ideas I have gained from my lecturers at IPM and various HRM Professionals. I would like to acknowledge the help of everyone who sacrificed their valuable time for various research programmes and those who have kindly helped me to develop this project.

I extend my thanks and sincere gratitude to my parents for the help and wise criticism given to me.

Finally I would like to thank lecturers at IPM who helped me in Professional Qualification in Human Resources Management(Module 08), friends for their ongoing support.

Thank you.

Contents...

1. Introduction

2. Causes of the situation

3. Proactive measures that could have been taken

4. Reasons for the poor industrial relations of Bolts and Nuts

5. Is the HR Manager to be blamed?

6. Reactive measures that could've been taken

7. Conclusion and recommendations

1. Introduction

Bolts & Nuts Company was manufacturing and marketing nuts and bolts and nuts.

They were making profits for a while till the new government changed its economic policy and the closed economy was changed into an open economy. With this competition came in and the company was unable to face it.

The company believed that the employees weren't giving their best and this finally led to the employees together as a Union going against the employer. Despite the disciplinary action taken by the employer, the employees began to strike and sabotage the company. The collective agreement made by the two parties did not stay for long.

The situation got worse when the company was pressured by environmental authorities and the company made this an opportunity to change the place of the factory and to get rid of the employees.

However, at this time, there was a case given to the commissioner of labour and while this was going on, the company dismissed their workers. When the workers appealed to the commissioner of labour, the company was asked to give compensation to all the employees.

The company ended up having to pay millions to its employees. This report will critically analyze this situation and look at ways it could've been avoided.

2.0 Cause of this situation

1) The cause for this unfortunate situation is that the company did not have a stategic planning.They did not anticipate the change of the economic policy of the new government.

2) They did not have a proper understanding about the changing environment and also they did not anticipate to change according to the future environmental changes.

3) No proper HR practices were followed.Grievances handling was not done in a proper manner. They did not listen to their employees and had very poor industrial relations. All these together resulted in the unfortunate situation of the company. There was no good relationship between the empolyer and the emploee.

4) They did not change according to the technological changes.If they had invested on new machinery and technology they would have been able to survive.

5) The company was not innovative, proactive and had very weak strategic planning. They were resisting to change anything they had. They were not willing to experiment

3.0 Methods and solutions that could've been taken by the company to avoid these situations

The company ideally should've been proactive in the whole thing because prevention is always better than cure. However, there were many reactive methods that could've been used. If they still used it, the situation wouldn't have become this unfortunate.

When the government advocated a free economy and liberalized the import of foreign goods, the company should've used a new technology in order to improve the quality of the product.

1) Change leardership style.

Provide the company with proper learders.The managers who are appointed as leaders should follow a leadership style that leads to sustainability of the organization along with ability to change according to the environment.

(2)Bargaining Rights

Bargaining rights refer to union recognition and the rights of individual workers to join together and bargain for a change in policy and organization.The employees should be facilitated in a method where they can speak up their issues.

(3) Change strategy into improving quality

Just as the economic policy was changed and competition came in, the company should've improved the quality of it's product to match competitive products. They should've bought new machines and trained the employees to use them even though purchasing new machines was costly. If they made that investment then, by now they would've been back in business and making thick margins.

(4) Involve employees in decision making

Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee involvement is not the goal nor is it a tool, as practiced in many organizations.The company should encourage the employees to come up with new ideas and to involve in decision making. Employees are the ones who are really in production; they would know what needs to improve in order to make production more efficient

(5) The employer should've had good HR practices and proper manpower planning

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