CHAPTER-2

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF GRIEVANCES

In an organisation where individuals and group work together to meet a common

objective, differences of opinion might occur. Some time certain inconveniences may

arise. These things lead to complaints. Complaints, which are not promptly attended

to, leads to dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction also occurs when certain expectations, real

or perceived, are not met in the job. Dissatisfaction is the cause of grievance.

Complaint can be against a supervisor, about a machine, against the working

environment, against canteen, against workload, etc. Grievances produce

unhappiness, frustration, discontentment, inefficiency and low productivity.

Workers of a trade union concerning their individual use the term “grievance” to

designate claims or collective rights under an applicable collective agreement,

individual contract of employment, law, regulations, work rules, custom or usage.

Such claims involve questions relating to the interpretation or application of the rules.

The term “grievance” is used in countries to designate this type of claim, while in

some countries reference is made to disputes over “right” or “legal” disputes.1

An indication of what is usually meant by the term “grievance” is given in the

Examination of Grievances Recommendation (No. 130), adopted in 1967 by the

International Labour Conference, taking into account the variety of national practices.

The Recommendation states:

“The grounds of grievance may be any measure or situation which concerns the

relations between employer and worker or which affects or may affect the

conditions of employment of one or several workers in the undertaking when that

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measure or situation appears contrary to provisions of an applicable collective

agreement or of an individual contract of employment, to work rules, to laws or

regulations or to the custom or usage of the occupation branch of economic

activity or country.”

There is hardly a company where the employees do not have grievances of one kind

or the other. These grievances may be real or imaginary, valid or invalid, genuine or

false. A grievance leads to unhappiness, discontent, indifference, low morale,

frustration, etc. Ultimately, it affects employees concentration, efficiency and

productivity. A large number of work stoppages, shop floor incidents and strike could

be attributed to the faulty handling of grievances. In the maintenance of peace in

industrial units, a well-defined and adequate procedure for redressal of day-to-day

grievances is an essential pre-requisite. Prompt and effective handling of grievances

is the key to industrial peace.

Grievance is a rust on human relations. The cost of a grievance can be high in

terms of time lost, poor work, damage to costly machines by neglect, employee

resentment, poor customer service, resistance to change, union management

conflict and so on. The organisations that do not provide such complaint

processing mechanisms for their employees may suffer from consequences, which

could enfeeble the organisation process. Effective grievance administration helps

the management to shift from purely preventive and maintenance needs to the

developmental needs of employees such as improving communication, job­

redesigning, integration with corporate goals, etc. Workers learn about industrial

democracy from the grievance process, as they participate in shop decisions that

affect their work life.

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2.1 MEANING OF A GRIEVANCE

It sounds like an easy question, yet there is often a basic misunderstanding of what

exactly constitutes a grievance. Some (esp. management) believe that only a violation

of a specific article or section of the contract can be the basis for a grievance. This is

not true. In general terms, a grievance is any unjust act, practice or condition that

management has the power to correct.

In the language of labour relations, and from management’s angle, a grievance is

simply a complaint, which has been formally presented in writing, to a management

representative or to a union official. A grievance is a complaint by a staff member or

employee about unfair treatment in relation to any aspect of their employment.

Usually, this would not include complaints of misconduct, discrimination or

harassment which have separate identified procedures.

Broadly speaking, a grievance is any dissatisfaction that adversely affects

productivity. A grievance is a sign of an employee’s discontent with job and its

nature. The employee has got certain aspirations by the organisation, where he is

working. When the organisation fails to satisfy the employee needs, he develops a

feeling of discontent or dissatisfaction.

Grievance can be defined as any discontent or dissatisfaction, with any aspect of

organisation. It can be real or imaginary, legitimate or ridiculous, stated or invoiced,

written or oral. It must, however, find expression in some form or the other.

Discontent or dissatisfaction perse is not a grievance. It initially finds expression in

the form of a complaint. When a complaint remains unattended and the employee

33
concerned feels a sense of lack of justice and fairplay, the dissatisfaction grows and

assumes the status of a grievance.

Usually grievances relate to problems of interpretation or perceived non-fulfillment of

one’s expectations from the organisation. Aggrieved employees usually manifest

deviant behaviour.

The term ‘grievance’ has been defined by different researchers in different ways.

According to Mondy and Noe, grievance can broadly be defined as “an employee’s

dissatisfaction or feeling of personal injustice relating to his or her employment.”2

Dale Yoder defines grievance as “a written complaint filed by an employee and

claiming unfair treatment.”

According to Dale S. Beach, a grievance is “any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice

in connection with one’s employment situation that is brought to the notice of

management.”4

Keith Davis defines grievance as “any real or imagined feeling of personal injustice

which an employee has about the employment relationship.”5 A grievance represents

a situation in which an employee feels that something unfavourable to him has

happened or is going to happen. In fact, in case of real grievance, the dissatisfaction

of an employee can be genuine which may be due to supervisory behaviour or the fact

that his/her terms and conditions of employment have been violated or ignored by the

management. Since no one can stop an employee to imagine, he/she can feel or

believe that there has been some deliberate neglect to him/her by the supervisor, or

his/her interests and rights have been deliberately violated or ignored, which may not

be true in reality. This state of affairs of an employee is called imaginary grievance.

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According to Flippo, a grievance is “a type of discontent which must always be

expressed. A grievance is usually more formal in character than a complaint. It can be

valid or ridiculous and must grow out of something connected with company

operations or policy. It must involve an interpretation or application of the provisions

of the labour contract.”6

One of the best definitions of grievance has been given by Michael J. Juicus. He

says, the term grievance means “any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether

expressed or not and whether valid or not arising out of anything, connected with

the company that an employee thinks, believes or even feels, is unfair, unjust or

inequitable.”7 This definition is very broad and covers all kinds of dissatisfaction,

which an employee has while doing his job. A grievance means any

discontentment or dissatisfaction arising out of anything related to the enterprise

where he is working. It may not be expressed and even may not be valid. It arises

when an employee feels that something has happened or is going to happen which

is unfair, unjust or inequitable.

It is clear from the above that grievance may be factual, imaginary or disguised

(hidden). It is a discontentment whether expressed or not. Grievance may arise from

imaginary conditions or from incorrect reasoning but it must cause a feeling of

injustice. Grievance is a real or imaginary feeing arising out of a ‘grief, which an

employee may have in regard to his employment or working conditions. A grievance

is the dissatisfaction of an employee in the organisation, which is based on his/her

perception of the situation. In fact, a grievance is always an individual problem, but

when cause of the grievance affects several employees of an organisation and the

union takes up the problem, it becomes a dispute.

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Grievance can be conceived in several stages. Dissatisfaction may or may not be

articulated. When it takes some shape and brought to the notice of some authority,

then it is seen as a complaint. A complaint is a formal representation of a grievance.

An individual grievance, if not settled under the grievance process, assumes the form

of an industrial dispute and attracts the disputes settlement provisions. Basically, a

grievance is a complaint of one or more workers covering such areas as wages,

allowances, conditions of work, overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, job

assignment, termination of service, etc. The National Commission on Labour states

that “complaints affecting one or more individual worker in respect of their wage

payments, overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, work assignment, and

discharges would constitute grievances.”

When an employee presents a problem, the grievance redressing authority, has to

analyse the problem, find out the root cause of the problem rather than viewing it

from legal aspects and solve it, based on humanitarian approach. This approach of

grievance redressal is known as clinical approach to grievance handling. Hence, a

grievance may be viewed as a complex psychological phenomenon, calling for

human action or procedure rather than any legal action or procedure in its

analysis and solution.

Some of the common grievances8 of employees-real or fancied-heard in industry are:

(a) I am placed in grade IX. My present job involves more skill and responsibility

compared to others placed in this grade. My repeated representations to place

me in the next higher grade have not yet been considered.

(b) My colleague and I joined service on the same day ten years ago. We draw the

same salary, he has been allotted a company quarter, and I have been told to wait.

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(c) Ten of us work under a foreman. When overtime work comes up, he does not

evenly distribute it among all of us. Instead, he gives it to three persons who are

his favourites.

(d) My colleague is a very difficult person. The foreman, therefore, does not tell

him a thing when he neglects his maintenance work. On the contrary he

requests me to do the left over portion of the work of my colleague. How long

can I continue to work like this etc?

The instances given above shows that an employee feels dissatisfied and harbours

a grievance when there is an infringement of his rights or interests. Mainly it

arises out of the misinterpretation or misapplication of company polices, rules and

practices.

Thus,

Grievance: A grievance is a claim by an employee or a group of employees, by the

association, or by the employer that there has been a violation, misapplication or

misinterpretation of the terms of collective agreement.

Employee Grievance: An employee grievance is a claim by an employee, who is

solely affected, that the terms and conditions of his agreement have been violated,

misapplied or misinterpreted.

Association Grievance: It involves more than one employee or bargaining unit or

association rights, or any dispute arising directly between the employer and the

association concerning the interpretation, application or alleged violation of the

collective agreement.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF GRIEVANCES

On the basis of explanation of grievances, there emerge the following characteristics:

1. The Discontent must arise out of something connected with the Company

Workers may be dissatisfied because of several reasons. For example, illness in the

family, quarrel with a neighbour, disliking for the political party in power, and so on.

Such outside sources are beyond the control of the company and, therefore, do not

constitute a grievance.

2. The Discontent may be Expressed or Implied

Expressed grievances are comparatively easy to recognise and are manifested in

several ways, e.g., gossiping, jealousy, active criticism, argumentation, increased

labour turnover, carelessness in the use of tools and materials, untidy house keeping,

poor workmanship, etc. Unexpressed grievances are indicated by indifference to

work, daydreaming, absenteeism, tardiness, etc. It is not wise to recognise only

expressed grievances and overlook the unexpressed ones. In fact, unexpressed or

implied grievances are more dangerous than the expressed ones because it is not

known when they may explode. Hence, the executives should develop a seventh sense

for anticipating grievances. He should be sensitive to even the weak and ‘implied’

signals from the employee. An employee may casually remark that it is too hot in the

room or that he has been assigned a job that he does not like. All such casual remarks

and grumblings are grievances by implication. Only for a painstaking and observant

supervisor it is possible to discover what is bothering employees before they

themselves are aware of grievances. The personnel department can be helpful by

training supervisors to become proficient in observing employees. The technique of

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attitude surveys and statistical interpretations of trends of turnover, complaints,

transfers, suggestion, etc., are also helpful in this connection.

3. The Discontent may be Valid, Legitimate and Rational or Untrue and

Irrational or Completely Ludicrous

The point is that when a grievance held by an employee comes to the notice of the

management it cannot usually dismiss it as irrational or untrue. Such grievances also

have to be attended by the management in the same way as rational grievances. We

should know that the large part of our behaviour is irrational. This may be largely due

to our distorted perception. Emotional grievances which are based upon sentiments

(like love, hatred, resentment, anger, envy, fear, etc.), misconceptions and lack of

thinking are examples of our irrational behaviour. These grievances are the most

difficult to handle.

4. Factual

The employer - employee relationship depends upon the job contract in any

organisation. This contract indicates the norms defining the limits within which

the employee expects the organisation to fulfill his aspirations, needs or

expectations. When these legitimate needs of expectations or aspirations are not

fulfilled, the employee will be dissatisfied with the job. Such dissatisfaction is

called factual grievance. For instance, when an employee is not given promotion,

which is due to him, or when working conditions are unsafe, grievances of

employee relating to these issues are based on facts. In other words, these

grievances reflect the drawbacks in the implementation of the organisational

policies.

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5. Imaginary

When the job contact is not clear-cut and does not indicate the norms defining the

limits within which the employee expects the organisation to fulfill his needs or

aspiration, the employee develops such needs, which the organisation is not obliged to

meet. Here, grievances are not based on facts. Even then, the employee feels

aggrieved. Normally, the organisation does not feel any kind of responsibility for

such grievances and their redressal, because they are based not only on wrong

perceptions of the employee but also on wrong information. However, such

grievances can have far-reaching consequences on the organisation because the

employees are likely to develop an altogether negative attitude towards the

organisation, which decreases their effectiveness and involvement in work.

6. Disguised

In general, organisations consider the basic requirements of their employees.

Psychological needs of employees such as need for recognition, affection, power,

achievement etc., are normally unattended and ignored. For instance, an employee

complaining very strongly about the working conditions in office may in turn be

seeking some recognition and appreciation from his or her colleagues. Hence,

disguised grievances should also be considered since they do have far-reaching

consequences in case they are unattended and ignored.

Our advantage of giving a widest possible meaning to the term “grievance ” is that

the possibility of the manager overlooking any complaints is very much reduced.

Even those discontents, which have not yet assumed great importance for the

complainant and have therefore not moved into formal procedural channels - such as

casual remarks or grumblings - technically called “complaints”, come within the

40
purview of the grievance handling machinery of the organisation and are removed in

the course.

2.2 CATEGORIES OF GRIEVANCES

There are thousands of possible grievances, but they all should fall into one of the

following general categories:

1. Violation of the Contract

This is the clearest and most blatant type of the grievance. It includes such matters as

seniority hour’s work, staffing, wages, working conditions, holidays, vacations, and

disciplinary action without just cause.

2. Violation of Written Precedent

Written precedent is as enforceable as contract language. Examples include company

rules, procedures, or written interpretations of the contract from prior grievances or

arbitrations.

3. Violation of Past Practice

Even when the contract says nothing, and you have no written precedent, there can be

a grievance based on established “past practices”. A practice that has been in place for

an extended period of time and is accepted by both parties either explicitly (orally or

in writing) or implicitly (neither side has ever objected) may be the basis for a

grievance if it is violated.

4. Violation of Fair Treatment

There doesn’t have to be a contract clause covering supervisor’s assaults or abuse of

employees to make it possible to have this kind of violation. Discrimination and

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worker’s right covers a broad number of incidents or practices. Management cannot

discriminate on the basis of race, sex, age, nationality, religion, sexual preference or

union activity.

5. Violation of the Law

Laws written to protect workers are implicitly part of the contract, and violation of

municipal state or federal laws can constitute a grievance.

6. Violation of Management’s Rules or Responsibilities

Management has the responsibility to provide safe and healthy working conditions.

Likewise management has a right to certain policies under the contract. If

management fails to fulfill its responsibilities or violates its own policies, it may be

necessary to file a grievance.

Even if none of the above apply, if there is a bona fide unfair practice or action by

management, a grievance should be filed and should demand representation and a hearing.

2.3 TYPES OF GRIEVANCES

A. INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE (GROUP) GRIEVANCE

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines a grievance as a complaint of

one or more workers with respect to wages and allowances, conditions of work and

interpretation of service conditions covering such areas as overtime, leave, transfer,

promotion, seniority, job assignment and termination of service.

It is important to make a distinction between individual grievances and group

grievances. If the issue involved is related to one or a few individual employees, it

needs to be handled through a grievance procedure, but when general issues with

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policy implications and wider interest are involved they become the subject matter for

collective bargaining. Ideally, in individual grievance redressal, trade unions should

have less or no role, while in grievance of collective nature and wider ramification,

trade unions needs to be involved.

For the purpose of the study, grievance has a narrow perspective. It is concerned with the

interpretation of a contract or award as applied to an individual or a few employees.

B. FORMAL (WRITTEN) AND INFORMAL (ORAL) GRIEVANCE

A dissatisfied employee may also put the causes of dissatisfaction in writing and

present it before appropriate authority. When he/she does so, the grievance takes the

formal (written) form. On the other hand, unless the dissatisfaction is put in writing

and so long the employees goes on talking about the causes of dissatisfaction to

others, it is called informal (oral) grievance. Thus, as Jucius has rightly observed, a

grievance is a complaint expressed in writing or orally on a company related matter.

C. LEGITIMATE AND ILLEGITIMATE GRIEVANCE

In case of legitimate grievance, the employee’s contractual rights with respect to terms

and conditions of employment or spirit of collective bargaining are violated. On the other

hand, the dissatisfaction of an employee over supervisory behaviour, peer’s negligence or

any other perceptual matter can cause grievance, but it remains illegitimate.

2.4 EXPRESSION OF GRIEVANCE IS IMPORTANT

• Where people work in groups, there are inevitable grievances off and on. There

is nothing to get alarmed, if people/aggrieved express their grievances. Rather, it

is a matter of concern, if they do not express blocked individuals grievances,

which lead to industrial conflict.

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• If grievance level in an organisation is too low, this could mean either one of the

two things:

(i) The level of frustration may have created relationship of apathy among

employees and supervisors, or

(ii) The need of employees toward search for satisfaction has gone too low.

Both are harmful for the organisation.

2.5 SOME COMMON DIFFERENCES

A. GRIEVANCES AND DISPUTES

Industrial dispute is basically a collective concept, which affects the workers

concerned as a class. An industrial dispute usually concerns a sufficiently large

group of workers, and may be espoused either by a trade union or a substantial

number of persons. Even the individual termination of one worker can be perceived

as affecting workers collectively. The rational of collective espousal of industrial

disputes is to ensure that only those issues are taken up collectively which the

collectivity of employees consider worth contesting. Also, collective issues affect

industrial peace in a more important way.

After the induction of Section 2-A in the Industrial Disputes Act 1947, the concept of

industrial dispute has been diluted to include cases of dismissal, discharge,

retrenchment, or otherwise termination of individual workmen as well. These cases

of termination cannot be espoused before the official industrial dispute resolution

machinery by the individual worker himself. From the foregoing it is seen that,

termination cases clearly fall in the category of grievances, but by the legal fiction of

Section 2-A of the IDA these cases become industrial disputes. Likewise, a

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promotion grievance of an individual workman can be espoused as an industrial

dispute by a union or by a substantial number of persons. In such cases also a

grievance becomes an industrial dispute. Therefore, when a grievance is transformed

into a general claim, it comes in the domain of collective bargaining, and ceases to be

grist for the grievance-procedure mill.

It becomes somewhat difficult, therefore, to distinguish between a grievance and an

individual dispute.

(a) Primarily, a grievance is an individual concept, a dispute over rights arising

from the terms of the agreement or an award or a legal provision or from the

working conditions. When a grievance is collective, usually it is referred to as

an industrial dispute, no matter to what issues it relates.

(b) A grievance usually relates to one or some individuals and an industrial dispute

primarily relates to interest matters of the workers collective or is at least

deemed to be so.

(c) A grievance is usually justifiable but an industrial dispute may not be justifiable.

Grievances are generally related to matters concerning work-related issues, claims of

payments, and personnel matters like promotion, increments, seniority, suppression

and matters arising from application of standing orders. Generally, they do not

emanate from general matters in the long-term settlements. And a strike action or

other interruption is usually not resorted to for settling grievances. It is noticeable

that even at the international level the concept of grievances is of individual nature

and it particularly pertains to right matters. The National Commission on Labour

1969 (NCL) referred to question of “wage payments, overtime, leave, transfer,

promotion, seniority, work assignment and surcharges” as grievances.

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B. GRIEVANCE AND LABOUR CLAIMS

In industrial relations parlance, a claim may be distinguished from a grievance. While

a grievance may arise from the non-fulfillment of worker’s right such as seniority,

promotion, bad working condition, victimisation etc., a claim for money arises from

the non-payment of dues under any statutory provisions. Hence, to settle a claim a

worker need not espouse an industrial dispute nor he may activate the grievance

redressal mechanism. He can take up the matter with the authorities provided under

the concerned statute.9 Technically, however, even cases of claims fall in the category

of grievances. Often, cases of delayed payment of wages, overtime, compensation,

etc. are raised as grievances even as there are legal procedures to process them.

C. COMPLAINT AND GRIEVANCE

Differences, tensions and conflicts are inevitable in the modem workplace. How they

are managed is the benchmark of productive workplaces. In the world of business,

several executives distinguish between an employee complaint and a grievance.

Complaint is an informal or formal objection to treatment or a work situation. For

example, if an employee is upset with work situation or the professionalism in office,

feeling that he is being treated unfairly. According to Pigors and Myers, “a complaint

is a spoken or written dissatisfaction, brought to the attention of the supervisor and the

shop steward.”10 While differentiating complaints from grievances, Flippo defines a

complaint as “a discontent or dissatisfaction, which has not, as yet, assumed great

significance to the individual. It takes the form of a grievance when the individual feel

that an injustice has been caused to him.”11 Thus, whatever may be the types of

grievances, they are neither in the interest of an employee nor in the interest of an

46
organisation. Therefore, an early effort has to be made to find out their causes to

manage then effectively.

2.6 NATURE OF GRIEVANCES

Technically speaking, grievances may be collective or individual; grievances usually

arise when the employees in their working lives feel aggrieved about some managerial

decisions, practices, policies or service conditions. Employees are often heard

complaining that work environment is not conducive to exigencies work; promotional

avenues are not available, etc. If employee’s dissatisfaction is not attended properly,

it may lead to uncooperative attitude of employees and will also affect organisational

health.

In case the grievances are collective like the lack of a promotion policy, it is a

situation of an industrial dispute, but if a grievance relates to one or some workmen,

like denial of promotion of a workman or his transfer, then it is a case of grievance.

In fact, the word “grievance” now connotes individual grievances only, though it is

not wrong to use the words “collective grievances.”

A grievance may be submitted by a worker, or several workers, in respect of any measure

or situation, which directly affects, or is likely to affect, the conditions of employment of

one or several workers in the organisation. Where a grievance is transformed into a

general claim - either by a union or by a large number of workers - it falls outside the

grievance procedure and normally comes under the purview of collective bargaining.

Ideally, individual grievances should be allowed to be processed through a grievance

procedure. Thus, only individual grievances are in real terms the grievances, which

arise from matters that may be:

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1. Technical, i.e. incidental to the work at the shop floor; and

2. General, i.e. in respect of service conditions, wage payments, welfare facilities etc.

From a study conducted by Chandra,12 the common causes of employee grievances

relate to the following:

1. Promotions

2. Amenities

3. Continuity of service

4. Compensation

5. Disciplinary action

6. Fines

7. Increments

8. Leave

9. Medical benefits

10. Nature of job

11. Payment

12. Acting promotion

13. Recovery of dues

14. Safety appliances

15. Superannuation

16. Supersession

17. Transfer

18. Victimisation

19. Conditions of work.

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The International Labour Organisation (ILO) classifies a grievance as a complaint

of one or more workers with respect to wages and allowances, conditions of work and

interpretations of service stipulations, covering such areas as overtime, leave, transfer,

promotion, seniority, job assignment and termination of service. The National

Commission of Labour (NCL) states, “complaints affecting one or more individual

workers in respect of their wage payments, overtime, leave, transfer, promotion,

seniority, work assignment, and discharges would constitute grievances.”13 A point to

be noted is that where the issue is of a wider or general nature, or of general

applicability, then it will be outside the purview of the grievance machinery.

Chandra found that policy issues relating to hours of work, incentives, wage,

dearness allowance and bonus are beyond the scope of the grievance procedure - they

fall under the purview of collective bargaining.

A grievance has a narrower perspective; it is concerned with the interpretation of a

contract or award as applied to an individual or a few employees.

There is a need for deeper analysis of the policies, procedures, practices, structures

and personality dynamics in the organisation, to arrive at the real causes of

grievances. Grievances stem from management policies and practices, particularly

when they lack consistency, uniformity, fair play and the desired level of flexibility.

Grievances also may arise because of inter-personal problems of individual

employees and union practices aimed at reinforcing and consolidating their bargaining

strength. The absence of a proper two-way flo indeed be a

fertile groundfor breeding grievances.

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2.7 EFFECTS OF GREIVANCES

Grievances, if they are not identified and redressed, may affect adversely the workers,

managers and the organisation. The adverse effects include:

(1) ON PRODUCTION

(a) Low quality of production.

(b) Low quality of productivity.

(c) Increase in the wastage of material, spoilage/ leakage of machinery.

(d) Increase in the cost of production per unit.

(2) ON THE EMPLOYEES

(a) Increases the rate of absenteeism and turnover.

(b) Reduces the level of commitment, sincerity and punctuality.

(c) Increase the incidence of accidents.

(d) Reduces the level of employee morale.

(3) ON THE MANAGERS

(a) Strains the superior - subordinate relations.

(b) Increases the degree of supervision, control and follow up.

(c) Increases in indiscipline cases.

(d) Increase in unrest and thereby machinery to maintain industrial peace.

2.8 INDICES OF GRIEVANCES AND GRIEVANCE RATE

There are certain, expressed and unexpressed both, indices of grievances diagnosing

the state of organisation’s health, like decline in production/output (other things being

equal), change in an individuals work habits, approach to the job, absenteeism rates,

50
increased labour turnover, accident data, requests for transfer, number of disciplinary

cases, increased suggestions, carelessness in the use of tools and materials etc.

It is not wise to recognise only the expressed grievances and overlook the

unexpressed ones. In fact, unexpressed or implied grievances are more dangerous than

the expressed ones because it is not known when they may explode.

A grievance rate is usually stated in terms of number of written grievances presented

per 100 employees in one year. A typical grievance rate is 10% to 20% and any rate

above or below that range might indicate a labour relations situation meriting further

investigation. Method of handling grievances will affect the rate of grievance. Other

factors affecting grievances rate are job conditions, rules of government, general

social conditions and the home environment. Grievances should be carefully studied

by the management to determine the real causes of this breakdown of the human

machine. This would keep the grievance rate low.

2.9 SYMPTOMS OF GRIEVANCES

Frequently, an employee does not express his/her dissatisfaction before anyone in any

form but discontent exists. It may be because of his/her personality characteristics,

childhood experiences, position in the family and socioeconomic and cultural

background. Moreover, some employees are reluctant to complain to avoid further

tension, believe that dissatisfaction is temporary and it will vanish, do not like to be

called “chronic complainer” or have greater tolerance. This type of discontent among

employees is very dangerous because it is not known when they may erupt. Therefore,

this type of implicit grievances has very negligible observable symptoms, unless close

supervisory observations are made or frequent attitudinal surveys are conducted by

the organisation. However, there are some distinguished symptoms, which can be

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observed and understood from the behaviour and actions of the individual. These

symptoms include absenteeism, alcoholism, accident, late coming, lack of cooperation

and withdrawal attitude of an employee in the place of work than his/her previous

behaviour. Other visible symptoms could be silently bad tempered behaviour and

appearance, moodiness, worry and tension, insubordination, frequent request for

transfer, increase in wastages and decline in productivity of the worker. A grievant

also faces recurring health problems, makes self-criticism, develops negativism and in

extreme cases tries to destroy valuable property of the organisation. If adequate and

appropriate attention is not given to the grievant, in extreme cases, he/she may submit

the resignation to the organisation.

Thus, the symptoms of grievances are either to be noticed and observed by the supervisors

or a formal mechanism like employee attitude survey and suggestion box facilities called

‘Gripe Boxes' should be made available in the organisation to assess the state of mind of

the employees with respect to various factors which could cause employee grievances.

2.10 SOURCES OF GRIEVANCES

A grievance represents a situation in which an employee feels that something

unfavourable to him has happened or is going to happen. In an industrial enterprise,

grievances may arise because of the following reasons:

(1) Employment terms. Such terms and conditions in labour agreements, which are

too general, contradictory, or ambiguous, may give rise to many grievances later on.

(2) Working conditions. A large number of workers’ grievances are about the bad

and unhealthy or unhygienic working conditions prevailing in the company,

such as frequent breakdowns of power, defective equipment and layout, lack of

safety measures, absence of airy and well-lighted rooms to work, and so on.

52
(3) Unsatisfactory compensation. Many grievances grow from lower wages,

salaries and fewer allowances, lack of benefits and services, and absence of

other indirect compensations.

(4) Difference of opinion. An important reason of grievances is the difference of

opinion on any particular point or issue between workers and the management,

between workers and workers, or between managers and managers. Different

interpretations of legal provisions, attitudes of workers and managers, their

varied cultural backgrounds, their different personal goals, etc. lead to

difference in opinions.

(5) Ineffective supervisors. Sometimes, ineffective supervisors also prove to be a

source of many grievances. They fail to properly abide by and administer the

labour contract. All times, they are not able to give proper and adequate

counselling to workers and help them solve their problems. They are also not

able to clearly explain management policies and practices to the workers. Their

failures results in increasing the number of grievances in the company.

(6) Lack of participation in management. Lack of opportunity for participation of

workers in decision making in the firm results in greater number of grievances.

If workers participate in decision making processes, they desist from

complaining against many things which were decided with their participation.

(7) Attitude of management. Many grievances arise due to conservative attitudes of

managers and supervisors. The partial attitude of the managers toward workers may

create an atmosphere of fear doubts, and dissatisfaction in the mind of workers.

(8) Political behaviour. Many grievances arise due to set political thinking and

pure political considerations of managers and workers.

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Thus, the sources of grievances may be grouped under three heads, viz.

(i) management policies (ii) working conditions (iii) personal factors.

(i) Grievances resulting from Management Policies

(a) Wage rates or scale of pay

(b) Overtime

(c) Leave

(d) Transfer-improper matching of the worker with the job

(e) Seniority, promotion, and discharges

(f) Lack of career planning and employee development plan

(g) Lack of role clarity

(h) Lack of regard for collective agreement

(i) Hostility towards a labour union

(j) Autocratic leadership style of supervisors

(ii) Grievances resulting from Working Conditions

(a) Unrealistic

(b) Non-availability of proper tools, machines and equipment for doing the job

(c) Tight production standards

(d) Bad physical conditions of workplace

(e) Poor relationship with the supervisor

(f) Negative approach to discipline

(iii) Grievances resulting from Personal Factors

(a) Narrow attitude

(b) Over-ambition

(c) Egoistic personality

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2.11 DISCOVERY OF EMPLOYEES GRIEVANCES

Knowledge about grievances is important in handling them. Upward channels of

communication provide the dependable sources for discovery of grievances.

Grievances can be uncovered in a number of ways. Gossip and grapevine offer vital

clues about employee grievances. It is always preferable to have knowledge based on

observation and through direct communication from the employee concerned. The

methods, which could be undertaken to uncover the mystery surrounding grievances,

are discussed below:

(1) DIRECT OBSERVATION

A manager/ supervisor can usually track the behaviour of people working under him.

If a particular employee is not getting along with people, spoiling materials due to

carelessness or recklessness, showing indifference to commands, reporting late for

work or is remaining absent - the signals are fairly obvious. A careful analysis of

grievance rate, accident rate, requests for transfer, indiscipline, etc., may reveal

general patterns that are not easily discernible in the instance. Since the supervisor is

close to the scene of action, he can always find out such unusual behaviour and report

promptly.

(2) GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

A systematic grievance procedure is the best means to highlight employee discontent

and dissatisfaction at various levels. A grievance procedure provides an avenue and

an opportunity to give vent to employee’s grievances. The dilemma most managers’

face is whether and how far they should encourage or discourage grievances.

Management, to this end, must encourage employees to use it whenever they have

55
anything to say. In the absence of such a procedure, grievances pile up and burst up in

violent forms at a future data. By that time things might have taken an ugly shape

altogether, impairing cordial relations between labour and management and

management find it beyond their capacity to deal with them adequately. If

management fails to induce employees to express their grievances, unions will take

over and emerge as powerful bargaining representatives. Thus, it is important to have

a grievance procedure to process grievances.

(3) GRIPE BOXES

The gripe box is a facility to file anonymous complaints about the various causes of

discontent and dissatisfaction in the organisation. A gripe box may be kept at

prominent locations in the factory for lodging anonymous complaints pertaining to

any aspect relating to work. It is different from the suggestion scheme that may be in

vogue in a company. In this case anonymity is assured and there is no reward or

punishment. Since the complainant need not reveal his identity, he can express his

feelings of injustice or discontent frankly and without any fear of victimisation.

(4) OPEN - DOOR POLICY

Most organisations preach open-door policy, but do not practice it. The policy is good

and democratic, but usually ineffective and at times counter-productive. This is a kind

of walk-in meeting with the manager when the employee can express his feelings

openly about any work related grievance. The manager can cross - check the details

of the complaint through various means at his disposal. Organisations would do well,

if they have a grievance procedure. If a grievance procedure exists, open-door policy

becomes redundant. At first glance, this policy may appear very attractive but it has

the following limitations:

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a. This policy is workable only in very small organisations. In big organisations

where management by exception is practiced, the top management does not

have the time to attend to innumerable routine grievances daily, which is the

work of lower-level managers.

b. Under this policy the frontline supervisor who should be the first man to know

about the grievances of his subordinates is bypassed. This provokes him in two

ways: first he thinks the man who skipped him is disrespectful. Secondly, he

fears that he will incur his superior’s displeasure because this will be interpreted

by the superior as his failure to handle his subordinates.

c. By following an “open-door” policy the top management cannot have adequate clues

to assess a superior’s skill in handling grievances. The top management does not

know what action, if any; the supervisor would have taken to resolve a grievance.

d. Top management is likely to be too unfamiliar with the work situation in which

the grievances developed, to be able to correctly evaluate the information that it

gets. There may be several levels of management between the operative

employee and the top President of a company. Theoretically, each level affords

an equal opportunity for distortion, fading and delay of certain facts on which a

complaint may be based.

e. Though the door of the executive’s office remains physically open,

psychological and social barriers prevent employees from actually entering it.

Some employees hesitate to be singled out as having a grievance. Others are

afraid they will incur their supervisor’s disfavour.

f. Sometimes an open-door policy is used to hide the top management’s own

hesitation to make contact with the operatives and the open-door is often a

slogan to conceal closed minds.

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The way the open-door can be most effective is for a manager to walk through it and

get out among his people. The open door is for managers to walk through, not

employees. The true test of such a policy is whether the top man behind the door has

an open-door attitude and his employees psychologically free to enter.

(5) EXIT INTERVIEW

Employees usually quit their current jobs/organisations due to dissatisfaction or better

prospects outside. It requires certain skills to get to know the real reasons for leaving

the job. If the manager tries sincerely through an exit interview, he might be able to

find out the real reasons why ‘X’ is leaving the organisation. To elicit valuable

information, the manager must encourage the employee to give a correct picture so as

to rectify the mistakes promptly. The employee may also be given a questionnaire to

fill up and post the same after getting all his dues cleared from the organisation where

he is currently employed. Exit interviews, if conducted effectively can provide vital

information to improve personnel policies and identify the weaknesses and strengths

of the organisation. Some organisations mail an exit questionnaire three months after

an employee leaves so that he need not fear about a poor reference and give the truth

without fear or favour.

(6) OTHER CHANNELS

Group meetings, periodical interviews with employees, collective bargaining sessions,

and opinion surveys are some of the other channels which may be conducted

periodically to elicit the opinions of employees about the organisation and its policies

and to have information about employee discontent and dissatisfaction before they

become grievances or disputes.

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Each channel referred to above serves the purpose in a different way. It is better to use

as many channels as possible, if the intention is to uncover the truth behind the

curtain. For example, the type of information one can get through a grievance

procedure would be perceptibly different from the one can get from a gripe box or an

exit interview.

2.12 INVESTIGATING GRIEVANCES

Get the facts: Remember the 5W’S and 1H

WHO... is involved? Name(s) of the grievant(s), department, shift, job classification,

seniority, etc. Are they on probation? Have they been disciplined before? Has a

similar grievance been filed on this same issue? Who is the supervisor? Who are the

witnesses?

WHEN...did the incident or the condition occur? Give dates and times as accurately

as possible.

WHERE...did the grievance take place? Give the exact location, department, area

etc.

WHAT...is this a grievant’s story? Management’s position? The reports of the

witnesses? Are there any records that might help support your case? Collect all the

facts you can, always looking for the hard facts, but accepting and weighing “less

convincing evidence” and different versions.

WHY...is this a grievance? Has the contract been violated? What about violations of

the past practice, the law, or health and safety rules. Is the issue one of unjust action

or application of company rules, contract interpretation, etc.

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HOW...should the grievance be settled? What adjustments are necessary to correct

the injustice? You want to return the aggrieved worker to the same condition he/she

would have been in, had the violation not occurred.

2.13 CAUSES OF GRIEVANCES

Overt manifestation of a grievance by an employee taking recourse to the formal

procedure may not in all cases solve the real problem. It is true that in many cases

grievance could be taken care of through the grievance process, but there are instances

and occasions when a much deeper analysis of the systems, procedures, practices and

personalities in the organisation need to be examined for the possible causal

relationship between them and the grievance. It is well known that the formally stated

grievance is not always the real grievance. There may be a hidden reason, such as a

problem supervisor, for instance, or an individual may have difficulty in relating to a

work group with a totally different value system.

The factors contributing to the grievance should be properly studied and analysed to

ensure that in fact the expressed grievance represents the problem stated and not any

other problem. The factors commonly found to contribute to employee grievances are:

management practices, union practices and personality traits.14

1. MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

The style of management followed, be it autocratic at one end of the scale or totally

participative at the other, would need to be related to the socio-cultural orientation of

the workforce. For instance, the workforce may be composed of highly educated

people who may dislike an autocratic style. In the present day context, the

60
participative style is more favoured. Thus, styles and practices would need to be

adapted to the particular situational context.

Many researchers have pointed out the social distance between management and

workers, their class and cultural orientations being widely different. The manager's

attitude to the average worker, as someone who is on a much lower social scale, is

based upon this. The usual Indian pattern is one of deference from the worker to the

manager. In such a case, the grievance machinery would not work in the manner it is

intended to, as worker grievances would not be forthcoming.

Much also depends on the implementation of personnel policies - if the

implementation falls short of the intended policy then the resultant gap could give rise

to grievances. Related to this is ambiguities in personnel policies, which may lead to

grievances. It is often found that there are several instances when personnel matters

are not clearly defined or clarified with the result that decision taken thereon result in

grievances. Matters such as employee compensation, seniority, overtime and

assignment ofpersonnel to shifts are illustrations of ambiguities leading to grievances.

Such ambiguity may be due to a lack ofpolicy, or faulty implementation, thus creating

distortions, which may not be justifiable.

Poor communication between management and its employees is another cause of

grievance. Often it turns out that what appears to be trivial and inconsequential to the

management is important to workers. If workers, or other groups of employees, are

informed about proposed actions, such as new plant location, lay-off and merger, of

far-reaching decisions or about the introduction of new schemes or new ways of

working, the employees will understand the consequences of such action better and,

therefore, the number of grievances due to the lack of awareness may well be reduced.

61
Lack of awareness creates uncertainty, causes tension and suspicion in the minds of

workers consequentially breeding grievances.

Supervisory practices are a major source of grievances. Much depends on the

supervisor's attitude and behaviour towards the workers. Supervisory styles which

result in inconsistency in the application of personnel policies, partiality in applying

rules and decisions, and laxity in condoning unions or employees to bypass him on

issues, it is his contracted responsibility to deal with, e.g. regarding job standards,

grievance processes, etc. all these could build up pressures on individuals and could

result in grievances if not an explosive industrial relations situation.

2. UNION PRACTICES

In firms where there are multiplicities of unions, many of whom may have political

affiliation; there is constant jostling and lobbying for numerical strength and support.

Where unions are not formed on the basis of specialised crafts but are general unions, the

pressure to survive is great and, hence, there is a need to gain the support of workers.

Under such circumstances the grievance machinery could be an important vehicle for

them to show their undeniable concern for workers' welfare. The fact that a union can

provide a voice for their grievances is a vital factor in motivating employees to join a

union. Realising that members expect action and only active unions can generate

membership; unions sometimes are inclined to encourage the filing of grievances in order

to demonstrate the advantage of union membership. It makes the union popular by

proving that it is a force to be reckoned with and headed by the management.

There are also situations when unions, because they are unsure of their strength vis-a-

vis both management and workers, may want to encourage the filing of several

grievances in order to assert their presence. This is especially so just before contract

62
negotiations are to take place and the various unions are lobbying to represent the

workers.

3. INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY TRAITS

An individual's personality also has a bearing on the usage of the grievance

machinery. Some are basically predisposed to grumble and find fault with every little

matter, seeing and looking out only for faults. Sometimes mental tension, caused

perhaps by ill health, also contributes to this, in the sense that a tense mind finds an

outlet in voicing a spate of grievances. On the other hand, there are employees who

are willing to overlook minor issues and discomforts and get on with the job.

Notwithstanding personality traits, the atmosphere or the culture that prevails could

also contribute to this phenomenon. An antagonistic atmosphere could result in even a

trivial matter being blown out of proportion, which in more cooperative times would

not even have been noticed.

2.14 TYPICAL GRIEVANCES AND THEIR CAUSES

Often, grievances appear to be simple interpersonal or interpretational problems.

Though it is true in most cases, many a time grievances are a manifestation of a

deeper systemic or cultural malaise in an organisation. In such cases, resort to the

formal grievance procedure may not provide solution to the real problem.

Therefore, in order to locate the casual roots of grievances we may have to make

an analysis of systems, procedures, policies, practices etc. This will help us to

identify the actual reasons for the occurrences of grievances. A manager with a

professional approach would always like to make a systematic analysis of the

factors that cause grievances.

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Analysis of grievances reveals that they normally fall into certain patterns. The U.S.

Department of Labour has listed the typical grievances found to occur most frequently

among employees, together with the common causes of each.15 Working culture,

industrial climate and per capita income of Indian workers are much different from

that of USA. Hence, these findings may not be fully applicable to India. Following are

the broad classification of grievances and their causes identified by the US study,

which in many respects, are also applicable to India as shown in Table 2.1

TABLE 2.1

TYPICAL GRIEVANCES AND THEIR CAUSES

TYPE OF GRIEVANCE COMMON CAUSES

A. Wages
1. Demand for individual wages He is not getting what he is worth.
adjustment. He gets less than others doing work
requiring the same degree of skills.
2. Complaints about job His job is worth more than it pays
classification. and should be reclassified.
3. Complaints about incentive The method of figuring his pay is so
systems. complicated that he does not know
what his rate really is.
His piece rates are too low.
His piece rates are cut when his
production increases
4. Miscellaneous Mistakes are made in calculating pay.
Methods of paying off are not
considerate.
B. Supervision
1. Complaints against Foreman dislikes him and picks on
discipline. him.
Company has it in for him because he
is active in union.
His mistakes are due to inadequate
instruction.

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 2. Objection to a particular Foreman is playing favorites.
foreman. Foreman is trying to undermine union.
Foreman ignores complaints.

3. Objection to general method There are too many rules and

of supervision/ regulations.
Rules and regulations are not clearly
posted.
Supervisors and/or time-study men
do too much snooping.

C. Seniority, Discharge, etc.

1. Loss of seniority. He has been unfairly deprived of

seniority.

2. Calculation of seniority. He has not received all the seniority

due to him.

3. Interpretation of seniority. Clause in contract has been unfairly

interpreted by company (clause often
vague).

4. Disciplinary discharge or He has been penalised unfairly or too

layoff. severely.
Company wanted to get rid of him
anyway for union activity or other
reasons.
5. Promotions Seniority clause has been violated.
Company will not promote him
because of union activity.
He does not have a chance to
advance himself.

6. Transfers to other departments He has had more than his share of

or shifts. dirty work or graveyard shifts.

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D. General Working Conditions

1. Safety and health. Toilet facilities are inadequate.

Dampness, noise, fumes and other
unsafe conditions could be corrected.
He does not have enough time for
personal needs.

2. Miscellaneous He has to lose too much time waiting

for materials.
Overtime is unnecessary.
He is being unfairly denied an
employment release (certificate of
availability).
Lunchroom facilities are inadequate.

E. Collective Bargaining

1. Violations of contract. Company is stalling or putting

obstacles in the way of grievance
settlements.

2. Interpretation of contract. Company will not give supervisors

authority to grant any concessions.

3. Settlement of grievances Company has disregarded precedents

and agreed upon interpretation.
Company fails to discipline
supervisors where disciplinary action
is necessary and has been promised.

This catalog of grievances and their causes represents an extremely useful guide for

organisations interested in a sound program to combat problems in this area. Awareness

of the causes makes it relatively simple to take steps to eliminate them. For example,

noting the causes for grievances in the area of supervision, the company can provide a

program of supervisory training embracing the causes of supervision grievances and

indicating how to avoid them. The same is in order for all the causes; sound planning, for

effective training can do a good deal to reduce antagonisms.

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In a survey conducted in India, as reported by Rudrabasvaraj, analysis of causes of

grievances are ranked in the following order:

Problems related to housing and accommodation 23%

Problems on medical treatment and ESI coverage 21%

Problems on leave 8%

Problems of financial nature 7%

Problems on transfer 1%

All causes of grievances are to be analysed in depth to find out the root cause.

Basically causes can be identified under the following three dimensions:

• Organisational aspects.

• Informational aspects.

• Human aspects.

Organisational aspects consist of organisation structure, policy plans and procedure.

Informational aspects consist of ignorance on company rules, regulations, promotion

policies, career prospects, transferability etc. Human aspects cover a variety of

reasons like poor mental health and alienation.

Rensis Likert suggested three-part diagnostic analysis in which the reasons are to be

analysed under the following three levels:

• Output reasons.

• Intervening reasons.

• Causative reasons.

All causes of grievance are to be analysed and the root causes are also to be analysed.

Identification of root causes (causative factors) alone can suggest long standing remedial

67
steps. For example, suppose an employee is absent for a day, and supervisor may ask an

explanation either in oral or written form. The person my give apparently a convincing

reason like he was sick. He may even produce a medical certificate from a medical

practitioner. In another occasion, the same man may be involved in quarrelling with his

colleague. He will have a veiy good reason to explain his behaviour, which may be

convincing or not. Reasons advanced by him are ‘output reasons’. In either case if

supervisor take action against them based on the reasons mentioned by the workers, such

action may not, in the long run, become a remedial step to correct his erratic behaviour.

On the contrary such corrective actions like fine, reprimand etc. might aggregate the

situation and chances are that the worker might become more aggrieved and alienated. A

good supervisor, on the other hand would like to go behind the “reasons” advanced by the

worker and study his behaviour pattern and company he keeps outside his working hours.

Quite possibly, he might be influenced by the company he maintains. They might often

meet on cards game or drinking sessions or gossiping long hours or staying awake in the

night might be the real reason for the absence the next day, for which he might have

fainted sickness. Adverse influence of bad companions is the ‘intervening reason

Hence solution of his problem does not lie in fine or reprimand, but isolating him from

bad companions. Too many workers attending to intervening reasons provide permanent

solutions. There are some others, where the causes/reasons go even beyond ‘intervening

reasons’. In the given example, suppose an attempt is made to isolate him from the bad

company and yet he has not shown improvement in behaviour, this matter must be further

investigated. He may be suffering from poor mental health, in which case, he himself is

responsible for the bad influence on his friends, rather than his friends influencing him

adversely. This is the ’causative reason Counseling in such cases is a better course of

action instead of fine or reprimand or even isolating from his “bad companions”.

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