Why is it important to handle grievances carefully?

Answer 1

Introduction Maintaining quality of work life for its employees is an important concern for the any organisation. The grievance handling procedure of the organisation can affect the harmonious environment of the organisation. The grievances of the employees are related to the contract, work rule or regulation, policy or procedure, health and safety regulation, past practice, changing the cultural norms unilaterally, individual victimization, wage, bonus, etc. Here, the attitude on the part of management in their effort to understand the problems of employees and resolve the issues amicably have better probability to maintain a culture of high performance. Managers must be educated about the importance of the grievance process and their role in maintaining favorable relations with the union. Effective grievance handling is an essential part of cultivating good employee relations and running a fair, successful, and productive workplace. Positive labor relations are two-way street both sides must give a little and try to work together. Relationship building is key to successful labor relations. Precautions and Prescriptions The management should take care of following aspects to develop a culture of trust and confidence upon the employees.

1. Always ensure that the managers involved in the grievance handling procedures have a quiet place to meet with the complainant.

2. Always ensure that managers have adequate time to be devoted to the complainant.

3. Explain manager's role, the policy and the procedures clearly in the grievance handling procedure.

4. Fully explaining the situation to the employee to eliminate any misunderstanding and promote better acceptance of the situation complained of.

5. Try to let employee present their issues without prejudging or commenting

6. Do use a positive, friendly ways to resolve the crisis than punitive steps, which disturb the system.

7. Do remain calm, cool, collected during the course of the meeting.

8. Always focus on the subject of the grievance than allied issues.

9. Don't make threats manage the grievances.

10. Never make use of allegations against personalities.

11. Be aware of the staff member's potential concerns to the possible repercussions of raising a grievance.

12. Don't become angry, belligerent, or hostile during grievance handling procedure.

13. Do listen for the main point of arguments and any possible avenue to resolve the grievance.

14. Listen and respond sensitively to any distress exhibited by the employees.

15. Eliminating the source of the irritation or discomfort being complained of.

16. Reassure them that the managers will be acting impartially and that your hope is to resolve the matter if possible.

17. Don't "horse trade" or swap one grievance for another (where the union wins one, management wins one). Each case should be decided on its merits.

18. Avoid usage of verbosisms like "it will be taken care of."

19. Ensure effective, sensitive and confidential communication between all involved.

20. Take all possible steps to ensure that no victimization occurs as a result of the grievance being raised.

21. The investigator or decision maker acts impartially, which means they must exclude themselves if there is any bias or conflict of interest.

22. All parties are heard and those who have had complaints made against others are given an opportunity to respond.

23. Try to look upon the problem on different angles for appropriate understanding.

24. Ensuring that there is proper investigation of the facts and figures related the problem under concern.

25. Consider all relevant information in the investigation process.

26. Ask the staff member their preferred resolution option, although it is important to make it clear that this may not be a possible outcome.

27. Be aware of the limits of authority of the person who involved in the grievance handling procedures.

28. If the manager feels that he/she is not the appropriate person (senior manager) to deal with the issue refer the complainant to the appropriate person as soon as possible.

29. Try to get a better idea of whether the alleged discrimination or harassment happened or didn't happen.

30. Tell them exactly what they are supposed to have done, to whom and explain, why this may be seen as discrimination/harassment or as inappropriate.

31. Grievances are preferably to be settled informally at the level of the employee's immediate supervisor.

32. Try the level best to involve team members to resolve the crisis at unit level itself.

33. Avoid as far as possible the union involvement in conflict resolution situation process.

34. Follow documentation the procedures, of all necessary steps taken to resolve the problem/complaint. Conclusion To a great extend the aggravation of industrial problems depends on manager's approaches and attitude in effective handling of employees grievances. Care should be taken in the way managers approaches the problem and perceiving the pros and cons of the situation. The conflict management approaches include the win-win strategy that help in the healthy organisational practices and which reflects the strong organisational culture. The cooperation from both parties is the pre-requisite to handle the problem and effective settlement of the grievances. Conscious use of professional self can help managers in the conflict handling situations grievance redressal process.

Gyan Prakash Singh MBA (IT) er_gyanpsingh@Yahoo.com 9336691851

Answer 2

What might happen if an organization does not provide some method by which a employee can voice his complaints and obtain a explanation? The employee will be unhappy, his productivity is impacted, he openly begins to share his discontent with not just his colleagues but also outsider‟s, friends, relatives, maybe even customers and vendors. Just as the employee has all the right to voice a grievance, as employer (or the management) owes it to the employee to respond suitably to the grievance. It is but commonsense that the resolution of a problem rests on management. The earliest and clearest opportunity for issue resolution is found at the first stage, before the grievance has left the jurisdiction of the manager. For this reason, many firms have specifically trained their managers on how to handle a grievance or complaint properly. If the dispute or grievance constitutes a managerial problem it can often be resolved by the manager himself with the help of the HR team. The following steps discuss how a grievance can be redressed:

1. Receiving the grievance: The manner and attitude with which the manager receives the complaint of grievance is important. The basic premise is that the manager should at the outset assume that the employee is fair in presenting his/her opinion/complaint. The complaint should not be prejudged on the basis of past experience with this or other employees. When a employee approaches the manager with a issue the manager needs to make himself available to listen it all out and provide him/her the undivided attention. Research confirms that managers who were more task-oriented, as contrasted with managers who were more people-oriented, tended to experience a significantly higher number of grievances being filed in their units.

2. Reviewing the grievance: Once a complaint is received all facts supporting the issue needs to be gathered. Proper record keeping such as performance ratings, job ratings, attending records, and suggestions are reviewed. In addition, with the increasingly legal implications of modern labour-management relations, the manager should keep records on each particular grievance. All action taken, discussions with the employee, summary and what is agreed to all of it needs to be recorded.

3. Analysis and decision: With the problem defined and the facts in hand, the manager must now analyze and evaluate them, and come to some decision. It is important for the manager to involve others in the process to ensure that it is fair and is the best solution. The manager must include the views of his own manager as he might not be aware of all the implications of the problem and its resolution. Involving HR too is a recommended process in all organizations. HR can then seek finance or legal counsel if required, before any decision is taken. All involved in the decision making process need to be aware that the decision may create an undesirable precedence within the department as well as the company.

4. Response: Often it might not be possible to provide a positive resolution to the problem. If the solution decided is adverse to the employee‟s views, attention needs to be given to the method of communication. Employees dislike managers who will take no stand, good or bad. Clearly communicating the message and sharing as much information as possible about the decision making process helps in establishing credibility to the process used to make the decision. The manager can also invite HR or his manager to sit-in on the conversation with the employee. As far as possible this should happen in a face-to-face meeting. In the event an employee wishes to take the appeal beyond to the next stage of the procedure he must be allowed to do so. The manager must have the opportunity to explain his decision to the other members so they can take a well-informed decision.

5. Follow up: The objective of the grievance procedure is to resolve a disagreement between an employee and the organization. Open communication is important for this process. The purpose of phase is to determine whether the employee feels that the problem has been sufficiently redressed. If follow up reveals that the case has been handled unsatisfactorily, then redefinition of the problem, further fact-finding, analysis, solution and follow up are required. At this stage the manager can step aside and allow someone else in a position of authority like the HR or the manager‟s manager to lead the process and close it.

Answer 3

What is the importance of grievance machinery

Answer 4

it is important to have in place a policy and procedure to address grievances in the workplace