Industrial Relations

Psychological attitudes to work and

working conditions
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Psychology means science of mind. i.e., accurate and
systematic knowledge about the mind and its work.
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Industrial psychology is concerned with the study of
human behaviour in different aspects of industry and
business.
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Industrial psychology (application of principles of
psychology to industry) is mainly concerned with
human happiness and welfare.
 Industrial Relation
Industrial relation can be defined as the relationship that exists
between employers and the employees and also between the
industry and the public.
If these relations are strained, leads to industrial disputes and
industrial progress suffers. The employer suffers losses, the
workers do not get wages and a shortage of goods and services
for community.
Hence, it is in the interest of both employees and employers as
well as the society in general that industrial relations should be
co-ordial and harmonious.
 Industrial Relation
The primary objective of industrial relations is to
maintain and develop good and healthy relations
between employees and employers or operatives and
management.
 Objectives of Industrial Relation

1) Establish and foster sound relationship between workers

and management by safeguarding their interests.
2) Avoid industrial conflicts and strikes by developing
mutuality among the interests of concerned parties.
3) Keep, as far as possible, strikes, lockouts and gheraos at
bay by enhancing the economic status of workers.
4) Provide an opportunity to the workers to participate in
management and decision making process.
 Objectives of Industrial Relation

5) Raise productivity in the organisation to curb the employee

turnover and absenteeism.
6) Avoid unnecessary interference of the government, as far as
possible and practicable, in the matters of relationship between
workers and management.
7) Establish and nurse industrial democracy based on labour
partnership in the sharing of profits and of managerial decisions.
8) Socialize industrial activity by involving the government
participation as an employer.
 Psychological attitudes to work and
working conditions
Stress is primarily a psychological reaction to certain
threatening environmental events.
Worker stress would simply refer to the stress caused by
events in the work environment.
 Psychological attitudes to work and
working conditions
Sources of Worker Stress
Situational stress: stress arising from certain conditions
that exist in the work environment, or in the worker’s
personal life.
Stressful Occupation: It is generally believed that certain
occupations, such as air traffic controllers, physicians,
and other health care providers, police officers, and
firefighters, are particularly stressful.
 Organizational Sources of Work Stress
1) Situational Stressors
2) Work Task Stressors
1) Work overload
2) Underutilization

3) Work Role Stressors

1) Job ambiguity
2) Lack of Control
3) Physical work conditions
4) Interpersonal Stress
5) Harassment
6) Organizational change
4) Individual Sources of Work Stress
 Job Satisfaction
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When people speak of employee attitudes, they usually
mean job satisfaction, which describes a positive feeling
about a job, resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics.
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A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive
feelings about his or her job, while a person with a low level
holds negative feelings.
 Job Involvement
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Related to job satisfaction is job involvement, which measures the
degree to which people identify psychologically with their job and
consider their perceived performance level important to selfworth.
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Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly identify with and
really care about the kind of work they do.
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Another closely related concept is psychological empowerment,
employees’ beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work
environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and
their perceived autonomy.
 Fatigue
Human capacity to work is limited.
Every work requires care, attention and concentration.
A person cannot work continuously for longer periods.
The work output will be more in the morning and it goes on
decreasing with passage of time as a worker will feel tired,
mentally and physically, in the evening.
The decrease in efficiency of working due to longer working
periods is known as fatigue.
 Fatigue
Fatigue can precisely be explained as follows:
1) It leads to loss of efficiency.
2) It results in more or less complete loss of
responsiveness of tissue.
3) It may be termed as the reduced capacity of work
resulting from work itself.
4) It is considered as state of “lack or interest‟ in not
only work but in other activities too.
 Types of Fatigue
1. Physical fatigue
Physical fatigue is caused either by continuous work for long
periods or the nature of work like the work may be heavy and
requiring lot of physical excursion. The physical capacities of
workers are limited and they may feel tired after a continuous work
for longer periods.
2. Mental fatigue
A worker utilizes has brain for doing a job for a longer period. The
doing of same work again and again will result in mental fatigue of
the worker.
 Types of Fatigue
3. Nervous fatigue
When work needs the use of mental and physical capabilities for a
continuous period, it will result in nervous fatigue.

4. Industrial fatigue
When a worker continues to work the job for longer periods, his
efficiency and productivity will result in nervous fatigue.
 Causes of Fatigue
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Longer hours of continuous work without rest pauses may cause
fatigue because muscles will be tired after long work.
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Unsatisfactory working environment like insufficient light
insanitation, congestion, noise, elevated temperatures etc.
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Fatigue may also be caused by personal reasons such as family
tension, bad health etc.
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There may be faulty design of machines and equipment which
leads to wastage of energy of workers on them.
 Causes of Fatigue
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The complexity or production process may also put more load on
workers resulting into fatigue.
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The workers may not be properly placed on jobs as per their skill
levels.
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The harsh attitude of supervisor may also result in fatigue of
workers.
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Inconvenient and awkward posture of worker (required for some
particular jobs) i.e., standing or bending for longer periods may
also be the cause of fatigue.
 Methods to reduce Fatigue
A fatigued worker will not be able to work with his original rhythm. Every
industrial enterprise is expected to devise ways and means of reducing
fatigue so that production does not suffer for longer periods.
1. Rest Pauses
2. Less hours of work
3. Proper lightening
4. Improving environmental conditions
5. Reduction of noises
6. Proper selection of the employees
7. Job rotations
8. Counseling of employees
 Effect of Communication in Industry
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Effective communication is a basic prerequisite for the attainment of
goals. No organization, no group can exist without organizational
communication.
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Co-ordination of work is impossible and the organization will collapse
for lack of communication. Co-operation also becomes impossible
because people cannot communicate their needs and feelings to others.
 Effect of Communication in Industry contd...
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Every act of communication influences the organization in some way
or other. It is a thread that holds the various interdependent parts of
an organization together. When it stops, organization activity ceases
to exist. An idea, however great it is, is useless until it is transmitted
and understood by others.
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When communication is effective, it tends to encourage better
performance and job satisfaction. People understand their jobs better
and feel more involved in them.
 Effect of Communication in Industry contd...
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Communication is a means whereby the employee can be properly
motivated to execute company plans enthusiastically. It is the means
by which behavior is modified, change is effected and goals are
achieved.
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Communication is also an intra-management problem. It is the force
that binds the people of an organization together. Through
communication they can attain a common viewpoint and
understanding and co-operate to accomplish organizational
objectives.
 Effect of Communication in Industry contd...

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Good communication presupposes a two-way flow of information
from the top down and from the bottom up. It can be compared to a
mighty river on the banks of which business life is built.
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Communication plays a major role in dealing with employer employee
relation problems, employee productivity, in short, with all human
relations matters. Bad communication is often the root cause of
many problems.