GRIEVANCE

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 GRIEVANCE

• Discontent or dissatisfaction with any

aspect of the organization is termed as
Grievance. It can be real, imaginary,
legitimate, stated, written or oral.
• When a complaint remains unattended it
takes the status of the grievance
• Grievance relates to problems of
interpretation or perceived non-fulfillment
of one’s expectations from the organization
 Definition

• Dale Yoder, defines it as “a written complaint,

written by an employee and claming unfair
treatment.”
• Keith Davis, defines it as “any real or imagined
feeling of personal injustice which an employee
has concerning his employment relationship”
• The National Commission on Labour, “complaint
affecting one or more individual workers in respect
of wage payments, overtime, leave, transfer,
promotion, seniority, work assignment and
discharges constitute grievances.”
 Nature of grievance

• Grievance may or may not be real

• It may arise from one cause or
multifarious causes
• It may or may not be expressed
 Causes

• To sum up, employees grievance may be due to (causes)

1. Demands for individual wage adjustments;
2. Complaints about the incentive system;
3. Complaint about the job classifications;
4. Complaint about the particular foreman;
5. Complaints concerning disciplinary measures and procedures; 6.
Objections to the general method of supervision;
7. Loose calculation and interpretation of seniority rules, and
unsatisfactory interpretation of agreements;
8. Promotions;
9. Disciplinary discharge or lay-off;
10.Transfer for another department or another shift; 1
11.Inadequacy of safety and health services/devices;
12.Non-availability of material in time;
13.Violation of contracts relating to collective bargaining;
14.Improper job assignment; and
15.Undesirable or unsatisfactory conditions of work.
 Effects of grievance

• Loss of interest in work

• Poor quality of production
• Low productivity
• Increase in wastage & costs
• Increase in employee turnover
• Increase in absenteeism
• Increase in the incidence of accidents
• Indiscipline
• Unrest, etc.
 Discovery of grievance

• Direct observation
• Gripe boxes
• Open door policy
• Exit interview
• Grievance procedure
 Need for a Grievance Procedure

• Grievance procedure is necessary for any organisation due to the

following reasons.
• Most grievances seriously disturb the employees. This may
affect their morale, productivity and their willingness to
cooperate with the organisation. If an explosive situation
develops, this can be promptly attended to if a grievance
handling procedure is already in existence.

• It is not possible that all the complaints of the employees

would be settled by first-time supervisors, for these
supervisors may not have had a proper training for the
purpose, and they may lack authority. Moreover, there may be
personality conflicts and other causes as well.

• It serves as a check on the arbitrary actions of the management

because supervisors know that employees are likely to see to it
that their protest does reach the higher management.
KEY FEATURES OF A GOOD
GRIEVANCE- HANDLING PROCEDURE

• Fairness
• Facilities of representation
• Procedural steps
• Promptness
• Conformity with statutory provisions
• Unambiguous
 Steps in the Grievance Procedure
• Identify grievances: Employee dissatisfaction or grievance should
be identified by the management if they are not expressed. If they
are ventilated, management has to promptly acknowledge them.
• Define correctly: The management has to define the problem
properly and accurately after it is identified/acknowledged.
• Collect Data: Complete information should be collected from all
the parties relating to the grievance. Information should be
classified as facts, data, opinions, etc.
• Prompt redressal: The grievance should be redressed by
implementing the solution.
• Implement and follow up: The Implementation of the solution
must be followed up at every stage in order to ensure effective
and speedy implementation
 Model Grievance Procedure
GRIEVANT MANAGEMENET

Officer designated by mgmt to deal

Stage I with grievance at this initial stage.
Grievant Conveys verbally To reply in 48 hrs.
Dissatisfied
Head of department (meet at pre-
Stage II allocated time daily for grievance
Grievant + Departmental handling) reply in 3 days
representatives
Dissatisfied
Grievance committee to decide in 7 days and
Stage III report to the manager. If the decision is
unanimous, then it should be implemented by
Grievant + Departmental the mgmt. Time limit for mgmt to accept &
representatives communicate its decision is 3 days

Dissatisfied/decision
Stage IV not in time Appeal to mgmt for revision. A
Grievant + Departmental week for appeal to be considered
representatives

No agreement
Stage V
Voluntary arbitration within a week after
Grievant + Mgmt may refer to decision from stage IV
union