What are the factors affecting the industrial relations strategy?

Answer 1

Proper industrial relations help you to run your company in an efficient manner. You can maintain morale among your employees with the right kind of industrial relations. Industrial relations are more of an art than a science, balancing a number of factors to get the right relationship between capital and labor. Knowing the factors affecting industrial relations will help you to properly calibrate this relationship. Two-way communication between labor and capital allows workers to stay fully informed of workplace expectations as well as changes that affect them. Management becomes aware of problems as they arise, rather than learning about things after they have reached the point of crisis. Unions can affect industrial relations in a number of complex ways. When a union comes to a workplace, individuals no longer bargain on their own. Rather, they are represented collectively by a third party. This can make employees feel like they have more of a voice. It can also provide a means to collectively arbitrate labor disputes. Wages and benefits are perhaps the most obvious factor affecting industrial relations. While wages and benefits don't make industrial relations run smoother all by themselves, they can help employees to feel more appreciated. Every company has an ideology as part of its corporate culture. This ideology will necessarily include a component about how management relates to labor.

The factors influencing industrial relations strategies can be divided into internal and external factors. The following list covers internal factors:-

a. The management attitude toward its employees, e.g. to what extent management undertake responsibilities toward its employees.

b. The employees' attitude toward their employer. E.g. to what extent employees are satisfied with their employer, working conditions, future prospects etc.

c. The management attitude toward its trade unions, that is, negative, positive or natural.

Negative attitude: Where employer unnecessarily interfere

and use management authority negatively.

Positive attitude: Where management consider that trade

unions are effective source of developing better relationship between company and its employees.

Neutral: Where management consider trade

union as a necessary evil and do not believed that there is any point to take an active interest in promoting good relationship with them.

d. The employees attitude toward trade unions, i.e. negative, positive or neutral.

e. The inevitability of difference of opinion between management and trade unions.

f. The extent to which enforcing managerial decisions affecting employees interest.

g. The existing and likely future strength of trade unions.

h. Is there only one dominating trade union or numbers of competing trade unions which can lead to inter-union disputes?

i. The extent and effectiveness of agreed procedure for discussing and resolving grievance or handling disputes exist within the company.

j. The effectiveness of managers, supervisors and shop stewards of authority they can exercise over their staff.

k. The extent to which technological changes are likely to affect company is expanding, stagnant or running down.

External factor affecting industrial relations strategies:-

1. That extent to which collective bargaining is to be carried out, e.g. national level, local level or plant level.

2. The effectiveness of trade unions and the extent to which union officials can control the activities of shop stewards.

3. The militancy of trade uniond, that is nationally or locally.

4. The effectiveness of any agreed procedure.

5. The nationally and locally existing employment and pay situation.

6. The total legal aspects under which industrial relation exist.

Answer 2

1.Economic factor

2.Phychological factor

3.Political factor

4.Social factor

5.Global factor

6.Institutional factor

7.Technological factor

Answer 3

Conflict & Co-operation are the main aspects of industrial relation.