SHRM

Chapter Six:
Managing Industrial Relations,
Trade Unions and Employee
Participation Schemes
 Managing Industrial Relations

• Industrial relation refers to the nature of relationship

between the employers and employees in an industrial
enterprise.
• IR denotes relations of all those associated in productive
work, including industry, agriculture, mining, commerce,
finance, transport and other services (Encyclopaedia
Britannica).
• IRs are relationship between management and
employees or among employee and their organization
that arise out of employment (Dale).
• In modern usage, the phrase “Industrial Relation”
includes the whole gamut of matters that arise due to the
continuing relationship between the employers and the
workers.
 Industrial Relation (IR)
• It refers to all types of relationship between
all the parties concerned with the industry.
• Example:
– Relationship between employers and workers.
– Collective bargaining
– Trade union
– Settlement of industrial disputes
– Unfair labor practices
– Individual grievance and disciplinary policy and
practice.
– State participation in industrial Relation etc
 Objective of Industrial Relation
• The primary objectives is to improving the economic
condition of workers, increasing productivity and
achieving industrial democracy in industrial enterprise.
• ILO has recognized certain fundamental objectives of
Industrial relations. i.e. To maintain sound and
harmonious relations between employees and
employers.
Other objectives drawn from this objective are the following:
1. Industrial Relation safeguards the interest of labor and
management.
2. To raise productivity of the industry at a higher level.
3. To avoid all forms of industrial conflict
 Objective ….
3. To minimize labor turnover and absenteeism by
providing job satisfaction to the workers and increasing
their morale.
4. To minimize the occurrence of strikes, lockouts and
gheraos.
5. To encourage and develop trade unions in order to
improve workers collective strength and resolving their
problems through collective bargaining.
6. To establish, develop and maintain industrial democracy.
7. To facilitate government control over industries in
regulating production and for protecting employment.
8. To check and ensure a healthy and balanced social order
in the industry.
 Approaches to IR
The popular approaches to IR are: Unitary,
Pluralistic, Marxist and Human relations approach.
1. Unitary Perspective: In unitary, the organization is
perceived as an integrated and harmonious
system, viewed as one happy family.
• A core assumption of unitary approach is that
management and staff, and all members of the
organization share the same objectives, interests
and purposes; thus working together, hand-in-
hand, towards the shared mutual goals.
• Trade unions are deemed as unnecessary and
conflict is perceived as disruptive.
 Approaches to IR Cont’d
From employee point of view:
• Working practices should be flexible. Individuals should be
business process improvement oriented, multi-skilled and
ready to tackle with efficiency whatever tasks are required.
• If a union is recognized, its role is that of a further means of
communication between groups of staff and the company.
• The emphasis is on good relationships and sound terms and
conditions of employment.
• Employee participation in workplace decisions is enabled.
This helps in empowering individuals in their roles and
emphasizes team work, innovation, creativity, discretion in
problem-solving, quality and improvement groups etc.
 Approaches to IR Cont’d
From employer point of view:
• Staffing policies should try to unify effort, inspire
and motivate employees.
• The organization’s wider objectives should be
properly communicated and discussed with staff.
• Reward systems should be so designed as to foster
to secure loyalty and commitment.
• Line managers should take ownership of their
team/staffing responsibilities.
• Staff-management conflicts are seen as arising from
lack of information, inadequate presentation of
management’s policies.
 Approaches to IR Cont’d
2. Pluralistic-Perspective: In pluralism the organization is
perceived as being made up of powerful and divergent sub-
groups - management and trade unions.
• This approach sees conflicts of interest and disagreements
between managers and workers over the distribution of
profits as normal and inescapable.
• Consequently, the role of management would lean less
towards enforcing and controlling and more toward
persuasion and co-ordination.
• Trade unions are deemed as legitimate representatives of
employees.
• Conflict is dealt by collective bargaining and is viewed not
necessarily as a bad.
• Realistic managers should accept conflict to occur.
 Approaches to IR Cont’d
The implications of this approach include:·
• The firm should have industrial relations and personnel
specialists who advise managers and provide specialist
services in respect of staffing and matters relating to
union consultation and negotiation.
• Independent external arbitrators should be used to
assist in the resolution of disputes.
• Union recognition should be encouraged and union
representatives given scope to carry out their
representative duties·
• Comprehensive collective agreements should be
negotiated with unions
 Approaches to IR ….
3. Marxist Perspective:
Marx argued that:
• Weakness and contradiction inherent in the capitalist system would
result in revolution and the ascendancy of socialism over capitalism.
• Capitalism would foster monopolies.
• Wages (costs to the capitalist) would be minimized to a subsistence
level.
• This perspective focuses on the fundamental division of interest
between capital and labor, and sees workplace relations against
this background.
• It is concerned with the structure and nature of society and assumes
that the conflict in employment relationship is reflective of the
structure of the society. Conflict is therefore seen as inevitable and
trade unions are a natural response of workers to their exploitation
by capital.
 Approaches to IR ….
4. Human Relations Approach: 
• The Human relations approach is propounded by Elton
Mayo, who is a humanist and believes in the positive nature
of the employees.
• According to him, given human initiatives from management,
the employees positively listens and responds properly to
them and hence there is no room left for the conflict to arise.
• But however Marxists and Pluralists did not appreciate too
much stress on the positive nature of the workers.
• Thus, these approaches to industrial relations must be
properly understood by the HR managers as these offer a
solid foundation for much of the role of human resource
management.
 Measures to Improve IR
1. Support of Top Management: Top management action
always be proactive and geared to problem solving and its
action and decision must be in favor of an organization and
employees.
2. Sound Personnel Policies: personnel policies constitute the
business philosophy of an organization and guide it in arriving
at human relations decisions.
Sound policies and rules are of little help unless they are
executed objectively and equitably at all the levels of an
organization.
Positive Attitudes: Both top management and trade union
should adopt positive attitudes towards each other, they help
them to understand problem of each and which can be solved
by collective bargaining.
 ….. to Improve IR
3. Collective Bargaining: Collective bargaining is an instrument
which helps to maintain industrial peace in an organization.
such collective bargaining agreements and association of
employees in decision making process will bring about
cooperation between labor and management.
4. Strong Trade Union and Sound Employers’ Union:
• Industrial relations can be sound only when the bargaining
power of the employees’ union is strong and equal to that of
management.
• Employers’ union should also be sound and well organized.
• Sound management are helpful for the maintenance and
promotion of uniform personnel policies among various
organizations and to protect the interest of weak employers.
 ….. to Improve IR
5. Additional suggestions :
• There should be well established and properly
administered grievance redress machinery, sometimes
which provides an outlet for tensions and frustrations of
workers.
• Job supervisors should be trained thoroughly to ensure
that organizational policies and practices as well as
leadership and communication skill, which help them
too properly, implemented and carried into effect.
• A regular follow up of IR programmed is essential so
that existing practice may be properly evaluated and a
check may be exercised on certain undesirable
tendencies, should they manifest themselves.
 Significance of Good Industrial Relations
1. Industrial Peace: Good industrial relations bring
harmony and remove causes of disputes.
This leads to industrial peace, which is an ideal situation for
an industrial unit to concentrate on productivity and growth.
2. High Morale: Cordial industrial relations improve the
morale of the employee.
• It implies the existence of an atmosphere of
cooperation, confidence, and respect within the
enterprise.
• Consequently, there is higher productivity, higher
income, and increased job satisfaction – all resulting
in higher morale of the workforce.
 Significance …..
3. Mental Revolution: Sound industrial relation completely
transforms the outlook of employers and employee.
This motivates the workers to give their best to the
organization and share the fruits of progress jointly with the
management.
4. Reduced Wastage and Increased Productivity: It helps in
increasing production.
Thus, they will contribute to the economic growth of the
countries.
5. Programs for Workers Development: New programs for
workers development are introduced in an atmosphere of
peace such as training facilities, labor welfare facilities etc.
 Industrial Disputes
• Industrial Disputes is defined as any dispute or difference
between employers and employers or between employers
and workers, or between workers and workers, which is
connected with the employment or non-employment or
terms of employment or with the conditions of labor of any
person.
• The term ‘dispute’ is characterized by the following factors:
– Dispute mainly relate to the strife between employers and
their employees.
– There must actually be a difference.
– Its work related or industrial matter issues.
– Disputes must be raised by group or class of workmen.
– Disputes between one or two workmen and their employers
are not an industrial dispute
 Forms of Industrial Disputes
1) Strikes:
A strike means a termination of work by a body of
persons employed in any industry acting in combination
or a concerted refusal under a common understanding of
a number of persons who are or have been so employed
to continue work or to accept employment.
Strikes are of several types:
– Economic Strike
– Sympathetic Strike
– General Strike
– Set down Strike
– Slow Down Strike
– Hunger Strike
 ….. Industrial Disputes
2) Lock Out: lock out is the counterpart of strike.
• Lock outs bring psychological pressure on the workers to
agree to his conditions or face closure of the units.
• A lockout is decaled as a trial of strength between the
management and its employees.
• Lockouts means the employer closes down his factory where
his workers are employed because he wants to force them to
agree to his terms and conditions of service during the
pendency of a dispute.
3) Gherao: Its means “to surround”.
• According to National Commission on Labor “ Gherao tend to
inflict physical duress on the persons affected and endanger
not only industrial harmony but also create problems of law
and order”.
 ….. Industrial Disputes
4) Picketing: It is primarily a method of drawing
public attention towards the disputes and it is legal
so there is no violence is involved.
In picketing, workers are dissuaded from reporting
for work by certain persons stationed at the gate of
the factory.
5) Boycott: Boycott aims at disrupting the normal
functioning of an enterprise, through forceful
appeals and negative behavioral acts.
 Causes of Disputes
1. Wages and Allowances: The demand for increase in
wages and allowances is the most important cause of
industrial disputes.
High inflation results in increased cost of living resulting in
never ending demands from unions.
There are some more economic reasons who are the cause
of industrial disputes are bonus, working conditions and
working hours, modernization and automation and demand
for other facilities.
2. Union Rivalry: Most organizations have multiple unions.
Multiplicity of unions leads to inter union rivalries.
If one union agrees to a wage settlement, another union will
oppose it.
 Causes ……
3. Political Interference: Major trade unions are
affiliated to political parties.
• Everywhere trade union have been compelled to
engage in political action to obtain enough freedom
from legal restraint to exercise their main industrial
functions.
4. Managerial Causes: These causes include autocratic
managerial attitude and defective labor policies.
• Failures of recognize the trade union, defective
recruitment policies, irregular layoff and
retrenchment, defiance of agreements and codes,
defective leadership, weak trade unions.
 Causes ……
5. Unfair labor Practices: The following constitute unfair
labor practices:
• To interfere with, restrain from or force workmen in the
exercise of their right to organize, form, join or assist a
trade union.
• Threatening workmen with discharge if they join a trade
union
• Threating a lockout or closure, if a trade union is organized
• Granting wage increases to workmen at crucial periods of
the trade union organization, with a view to undermine
the efforts of the trade union at organization.
• To, dominate, interfere with or contribute support,
financial or otherwise, to any trade union.
 Causes ……
6. To encourage or discourage membership in any
trade union by discriminating against workmen.
7. To discharge or dismiss workmen.
8. To indulge in acts of force or violence.
9. To refuse to bargaining collectively, in good faith
with the recognized trade unions.
10.To insist upon individuals workmen, who are on
a legal strike, to sign a good conduct bond as a
precondition to allowing them to resume work?
 Prevention of Industrial Disputes
1. Collective Bargaining:
– Collective bargaining not only includes negotiation,
administration and enforcement of the written contracts
between the employees and the employers but also
includes the process of resolving labor management
conflicts.
Collective bargaining offers the following benefits:
– It helps increase economic strength of both the parties at
the same time protecting their interest.
– It helps resolve disputes when it is occur in the organization.
– It also helps to establish uniform conditions of employment
with a view to avoid occurrences of industrial disputes.
– It lays down rules and norms for dealing with labor.
 Prevention…..
2. National Arbitration Promotion Board:
• Arbitration is a procedure in which a neutral third party
studies the bargaining situation, listens to both the
parties and gathers information, and then makes
recommendations that are building on the parties.
3. Grievance Redresal Procedure:
• A grievance may be understood as an employee’s
dissatisfaction or feeling of personal injustice relating to
his or her employment relationship.
• A grievance is generally well- defined in a collective
bargaining agreement. Code of discipline should develop
which is ratified by the trade union and employers’
organization.
 Prevention…..
4. The Implementation Machinery:
• The main function of consultative machinery is to bring the
parties together for mutual settlement of difference in a spirit
of co-operation and goodwill.
• Consultative machinery operates at the plant, industry,
national and state levels.
• At the plant level, there are works committees and joint
management councils. Being essentially bipartite in character,
Work committee are constituted
• At the industry level, there are Wage Boards and Industrial
Committees.
5. Workers Participation in Management:
• It is a method whereby the workers are allowed to be
consulted and to have a say in the management of the unit.
 Prevention…..
6. Tripartite Bodies:
• Tripartite bodies composed of employer, employee and
government have been set up for consultation and discussion
on problems of labor to solve it out.
7. Model Standing Orders:
• Government enacted the Industrial Employment to avoid
frictions amongst employers and workmen over the terms of
employment.
• This Act is requiring employers in the establishment to defuse
with sufficient precision, the condition of employment under
him and to make them known to all the workers.
• Such conditions include conditions of recruitment, discharge,
disciplinary action, holidays, leave etc of the workers.
 Settlement of Industrial Disputes
• If dispute could not be prevented on voluntary basis and
do arise, steps have to be taken for their settlement.
The followings are method of settling industrial disputes:
1) Arbitration:
• It is a procedure in which a neutral third party studies the
bargaining situation listen to both the parties and gathers
information and then make recommendation that are
binding the parties.
• It is effective because established by the parties
themselves and the decision is acceptable to them and
relatively expeditious when compared to courts or
tribunals.
 Settlement ….
2) Conciliation: It is a process by which representatives
of workers and employees are brought together before
a third party with a view to persuading them to arrive
at an agreement by mutual discussion between them.
3) Collective Bargaining: it is a process by which
employers on the one hand and representative of the
employees on the other, attempt to arrive at
agreements covering the conditions under which
employees will contribute and be compensated for
their services.
4) Code of Discipline: settle conflicts on the bases of
duties and responsibilities of employers and workers.
 Settlement ….
5) Grievance Procedures: A grievance may be
understood as an employee’s dissatisfaction or
feeling of personal injustice relating to his or her
employment relationship.
There are some condition which may give rise to a
grievance are like a violation of law, a violation of
the intent of the parties as stipulated during
contract negotiation , a violation of company rules,
a change in working conditions or past company
practices and a violation of health and /or safety
standards.
 Settlement ….
6) Adjudication: it is means a mandatory
settlement of an industrial dispute by a labor
court or a tribunal.
Whenever an industrial dispute remains
unresolved by the conciliation officer and the
board of conciliation, the matter is referred in a
court of inquiry.
7) Consultative Machinery: It is set by the
government to resolve disputes.
The main function of this machinery is to bring the
parties together for mutual settlement of
differences in a spirit of co-operation and goodwill.
 Collective Bargaining
• Collective bargaining is the process by which a labor union and
employer negotiate over the terms of the employment
relationship.
• According to an ILO Manual in 1960, the Collective Bargaining is
defined as: “Negotiations about working conditions and terms of
employment between an employer, a group of employees or one
or more employers organization on the other, with a view to
reaching an agreement.”
• The primary goal of collective bargaining is the achievement of
a collective bargaining agreement between the union and
employer.
• A typical bargaining agreement will contain the general terms
governing the employment relationship, including, but not
limited to, wages, benefits, hours, promotion, and grievance
procedures.
 Essential Pre-Requisites for Collective Bargaining:

Effective collective bargaining requires the following pre­

requisites:
i. Existence of a strong representative trade union in the
industry.
ii. Existence of a fact-finding approach and willingness to use
new methods and tools for the solution of industrial
problems.
iii. Existence of strong and enlightened management.
iv. Agreement on basic objectives of the organization
between the employer and the employees and on mutual
rights and liabilities should be there.
v. Unfair labor practices must be avoided by both the parties.
 Essential Pre-Requisites ….
vii. Proper records for the problem should be
maintained.
viii.Collective bargaining should be best conducted at
plant level.
ix. There must be change in the attitude of employers
and employees. They should realize that differences
can be resolved peacefully on negotiating table
without the assistance of third party.
x. No party should take rigid attitude.
xi. When agreement is reached after negotiations, it
must be in writing incorporating all term of the
contract.
 Main Features of Collective Bargaining:
1. It is a Group Action:
• Collective bargaining is a group action as opposed to
individual action.
• Both the parties of settlement are represented by
their groups.
• Employer is represented by its delegates and, on the
other side; employees are represented by their trade
union.
2. It is a Continuous Process:
• Collective bargaining is a continuous process and does
not end with one agreement.
• It is a process that goes on for 365 days of the year.
 Main Features ….
3. It is a Bipartite Process:
• It is a two party process. Both the parties—
employers and employees— collectively take
some action.
• There is no intervention of any third party.
4. It is a Process:
• Collective bargaining is a process in the sense
that it consists of a number of steps.
• The starting point is the presentation of charter
of demands by the workers and the last step is
the reaching of an agreement.
 Main Features ….
5. It is Flexible and Mobile and not Fixed or Static:
• It has fluidity.
• There is no hard and fast rule for reaching an agreement.
• There is ample scope for compromise.
6. It is Industrial Democracy at Work:
• Collective bargaining is based on the principle of industrial
democracy where the labor union represents the workers
in negotiations with the employer or employers.
7. It is Dynamic:
• It is relatively a new concept, and is growing, expanding
and changing.
• In the past, it used to be emotional, turbulent and
sentimental, but now it is scientific, factual and systematic.
 Main Features ….
8. It is a Complementary and not a Competitive
Process:
• Each party needs something which the other
party has, namely, labor can put greater
productive effort and management has the
capacity to pay for that effort and to organize and
guide it for achieving the enterprise’s objectives.
9. It is an Art:
• Collective bargaining is an art, an advanced form
of human relations.
 Importance of Collective Bargaining:
1) From Management Point of View:
• To get the work done by the employees at work at
minimum cost and thus earn a high rate of profits.
• Maximum utilization of workers is a must for the
effective management. For this purpose co-operation
is required from the side of the employees and
collective bargaining is a device to get and promote co-
operation.
• The labor disputes are mostly attributable to certain
direct or indirect causes and based on rumors, and
misconceptions. Collective bargaining is the best
remedial measure for maintaining the cordial relations.
 Importance of …..
2) From Labor and Trade Union Point of View:
• Individually a worker has no existence because labor is
perishable and therefore, the employers succeed in
exploiting the laborers.
• The working class in united form becomes a power to protect
its interests against the exploitation of the employers.
• The collective bargaining imposes certain restrictions upon
the employer.
– Unilateral action is prevented.
– All employees are treated on equal footings.
– The conditions of employment and rates of wages as specified in
the agreement can be changed only through negotiations with
labour.
– Employer is not free to make and enforce decisions at his will.
 Importance of ….
3) From Government Point of View:
• If any person violates the rules and laws, the
government enforces them by force.
• Labor problems shall be minimized through
collective bargaining and industrial peace shall be
promoted in the country without any force.
• Collective bargaining promotes industrial peace
and higher productivity resulting an increase in
the Gross National Product or the national
income of the country.
 Main Hindrances for Collective Bargaining
1) Competitive Process:
• Collective bargaining is generally becoming a
competitive process, i.e., labor and management
compete each other at negotiation table.
• A situation arises where the attainment of one
party’s goal appears to be in conflict with the
basic objectives of the other party.
2) Not Well-Equipped:
• Both the parties—management and workers—
come to the negotiation table without doing their
homework.
 Main Hindrances ….
3) Time to Protest:
• In a period of recession, when demand of the product
and the profits are falling, it is very difficult for the
employer to meet the demands of the workers, It
might even resort to retrenchment or even closure
collective bargaining is no answer to such a situation.
4) Where Prices are Fixed by the Government:
• In industries, where the prices of products are fixed by
the Government, it becomes very difficult for the
employer to meet the demands of workers which
would inevitably lead to a rise in cost of the products
produced.
 Main Hindrances ….
5) Outside Leadership:
• When trade unions are led by outsiders who are not the
employees of the concerned organizations. Leader’s interests
are not necessarily to be identical with that of the workers.
6) Multiplicity of Trade Unions:
• In a multiple trade union situation, even a well recognized,
union with long standing, stable and generally positive
relationship with the management, adopts a militant attitude
as its deliberate strategy.
7) Appointment of Low-Status Executive:
• Such executive has no authority to commit anything on behalf
of the management.
• It clearly indicates that the management is not at all serious
and the union leaders adopt other ways of settling disputes.
 Main Hindrances ….
8) Statutory Provisions:
• The constraints are also imposed by the regulatory and
participative provisions as contained in the Payment of Wages
Act, the Minimum Wages Act, and Payment of Bonus Act etc.
• Such provisions are statutory and are not negotiable.
9) Fresh Demands at the Time of Fresh Agreement:
• At the time when the old agreement is near expiry or well
before that, workers representatives come up with fresh
demands.
• Such demands are pressed even when the industry is running
into loss or even during the period of depression.
10) Agreements in Other Industrial Units:
• A prosperous industrial unit in the same region may agree with
the trade unions to a substantial increase in wages and other
benefits whereas a losing industry cannot do that.
 Employee Participation Schemes
• Employee participation is the process
whereby employees are involved in decision making
processes, rather than simply acting on orders. 
• Employee participation is part of a process of
empowerment in the workplace
• The important forms in which workers can participate in
management are- collective bargaining, joint
administration, joint decision-making, consultation and
information sharing.
• The direct participation of staff to help an organization
fulfill its mission and meet its objectives by applying their
own ideas, expertise, and efforts towards solving
problems and making decisions.
 Ways of Participation of Employees in Decision Making
• Participation of workers in decision-making process has
resulted in successful value creation in many
organizations.
• Though the extent to which employees should participate
in organizational decision making is still a matter of
debate.
• Some say that workers’ union should participate with
management as equal partners while some believe in
restricted or bounded participation, that is, participation
of employees or workers to a limited extent.
• However, there are a number of ways through which
employees can participate in decision-making process of
any organization.
 Ways of Participation ……
1. Participation at the Board Level: 
• Representation of employees at the board level is
known as industrial democracy.
• This can play an important role in protecting the
interests of employees.
2. Participation through Ownership: 
• Making employees shareholders of the company.
• Inducing them to buy equity shares, advancing
loans, giving financial assistance to enable them
to buy equity shares are some of the ways to
keep them involved in decision-making.
 Ways of Participation ……
3. Participation through Collective Bargaining: 
• This refers to the participation of workers through
collective agreements and by deciding and following
certain rules and regulations.
• This is considered as an ideal way to ensure employee
participation in managerial processes.
4. Participation through Suggestion Schemes: 
• Encouraging employees to come up with unique ideas can
work wonders especially on matters such as cost cutting,
waste management, safety measures, reward system, etc.
• Developing a full-fledged procedure can add value to the
organizational functions and create a healthy environment
and work culture.
 Ways of Participation ……
5. Participation through Complete Control: 
• This is called the system of self management where
workers union acts as management.
• Through elected boards, they acquire full control of
the management.
• In this style, workers directly deal with all aspects of
management or industrial issues through their
representatives.
5. Participation through Job Enrichment: 
• Offer freedom to employees to exploit their wisdom
and use their judgment while handling day-to-day
business problems.
 Ways of Participation ……
6. Participation through Quality Circles: 
• A quality circle is a group of five to ten people who are
experts in a particular work area.
• They meet regularly to identify, analyze and solve the
problems arising in their area of operation.
• Anyone, from trade unions, who is an expert of that
particular field, can become its member.
7. Others:
• Such as financial participation, Total Quality
Management, participation through empowered teams
and joint committees and councils through which they
can contribute their share in making the organizations a
better place to work.
 Marketing Knowledge Workers
• Knowledge is always embodied in a person; carried by a
person; created, augmented, or improved by a person;
applied by a person; taught and passed on by a person;
used or misused by a person.
• The shift to the knowledge society therefore puts the
person in the center
• Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital
is knowledge.
• Examples include programmers, physicians, pharmacists,
architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public
accountants, lawyers, and academics, and any other
white-collar workers, whose line of work requires one to
"think for a living".
 …. Knowledge Workers
knowledge worker retention is best promoted when:
a) The organization’s leadership recognizes and expressly
values the strategic importance of knowledge
management
b) When it cultivates an active learning culture
c) When its HR programs and practices support KM
processes.
• knowledge work is often the source of new ideas.
• To get the most from your knowledge workers, and to create an
environment where new ideas can flow and flourish, follow some
of these basic leadership and management practices.
• They will help you build trust, and improve the link between the
work your knowledge workers do and your organization's success.
• This may help to create the competitive advantage you need.
 Link Technology to Knowledge
• Knowledge workers have to use technology to keep track
of everything they need to know.
• They don't have to create everything themselves, or
waste time looking for information that may or may not
exist.
• As a manager, make sure your knowledge workers have
access to appropriate technology. This could be
something as straightforward as providing them access to
the Internet.
• Find ways to provide the right technology, and make sure
knowledge workers use it.
• This is the first way for managers to improve their
knowledge workers' performance.
 Managing knowledge
• Knowledge management is the conscious process of
defining, structuring, retaining and sharing the
knowledge and experience of employees within an
organization.
• The main goal of knowledge management is to
improve an organization's efficiency and save
knowledge within the company.
• Often it is referring to training and learning in an
organization or of its customers.
• It consists of a cycle of creating, sharing, structuring
and auditing knowledge, in order to maximize the
effectiveness of an organization’s collective knowledge.
 Benefits of knowledge management
• More efficient workplace
• Faster, better decision making
• Increased collaboration
• Building organizational knowledge
• Onboarding and training process is optimized
• Increased employee happiness and retention, due
to the valuing of knowledge, training, and
innovation
• Knowledge management is an important tool in
any company that wants to increase their bottom
line and market share.
 Knowledge Management Process
1. Discovery
How will knowledge inside the organization be discovered?
• In this step of the process, the sources of knowledge are
identified, as well as where critical knowledge is kept, what can be
learned from this knowledge and if there are areas in which
knowledge can be lost during the process.
• The discovery process is helped by a solid understanding of the
knowledge flow of the organization.
2. Capture
How will new and existing knowledge be stored?
• By creating a system that is mapped and categorized, knowledge is
more easily accessed and the organizational structure is increased.
• This can include scanning documents, using metadata and
indexing.
 …. Process
3. Process
How best can this knowledge be synthesized and incorporated?
• This step involves a deep analysis of the knowledge gathered in the
previous two steps.
• This step is when an organization should be establishing and promoting
a cultural shift toward knowledge sharing and developing employees to
be innovators.
4. Share and benefit
How best can individuals within the organization access this
knowledge?
• Building a system that works is the first step, but individuals need to
understand how to use that system.
• Implementing training programs can help increase the understanding
of knowledge management systems.
• Once the system is being used, the company benefits from increased
efficiency, better decision making, and more innovative employees.
 knowledge Management Systems
• Knowledge management systems are IT solutions that allow for the
storage and retrieval of the information stored within the company,
allowing for better collaboration and more efficient problem-
solving.
Examples of knowledge management systems are:
A. Feedback database - Everyone involved in a product, from
designers to salespeople to customers, have the ability to share
their feedback with the organization.
All stakeholders are able to access the feedback, and thus can quickly make
key changes armed with information.
B. Research files - In developing projects and ideas, a company does
market and consumer research to find out what is needed, what
niches are yet to be filled in the market, and what trends can be
forecasted.
The files are then shared within the organization to allow all departments to
benefit from the research conducted.
 Manage Knowledge Workers
• Develop a strategy to manage knowledge  within
your company.
• Create a wiki  containing organizational
knowledge, along with systems that support and
encourage the sharing  and retention of
knowledge in your workplace.
• It also helps to provide workspaces where
knowledge workers can share and collaborate
with their colleagues.
• They often need space where they can go to think
privately, without distractions.
 1. Be a 'Coach,' Not a 'Boss'
• Knowledge workers like autonomy.
• They usually don't want someone closely overseeing and
supervising their work.
• Instead, they probably prefer managers to clear the way
for them to work productively.
• As a manager, you're responsible for things like budgeting
and planning, and this takes you further away from
'doing' things yourself.
• To maintain knowledge workers' trust and respect, stay
aware of the work they're doing, and coach them as
needed.
• Bosses of knowledge workers are often knowledge
workers themselves.
 2. Explain the Big Picture
• Knowledge workers often need to know 'why' as much, if
not more, than they need to know 'what.'
• Don't ask knowledge workers to improve a product's
design without telling them why it needs improving – and
how the improvements will benefit the performance of
the company. 
• This deeper insight often leads to an increase in
'connectedness.' The more connected knowledge workers
feel to a project, the more motivated they're likely to be.
• Find out what their interests and goals are, and then aim
to align those to the work they do within the organization.
• Be willing to customize projects to a knowledge worker's
interests.
 3. Get Creative With Performance Metrics
• Knowledge work is mostly unseen, and therefore difficult
to measure.
• You can't watch knowledge being created in the same way
as a physical, tangible product.
• With knowledge work, it's the final output that matters,
and the steps along the way are often less important.
• It's impossible to measure the inputs, look instead at the
outputs, and decide which results are most important to
your organization.
• By looking at what's most valuable in terms of output, you
can usually identify some key performance indicators.
• Remember to make sure these indicators are tied to the
'big picture' that you communicated earlier.
 5. Treat Knowledge Workers as Individuals
• Different people use their knowledge in different ways.
Some people like to sit and think in a quiet space, while
others like to have roundtable discussions to generate ideas.
• When you treat all of your knowledge workers alike, you
may miss opportunities to discover what motivates them
individually and what each one needs to be more creative
and productive.
• Everything can be personalized, the technologies you make
available, the work environment, the work schedule, and so
on.
• Your knowledge workers get results in ways that are very
different from traditional workers, so be open and flexible
with their work resources, terms, and conditions.
 Key Points
• Knowledge workers are usually responsible for
exploring and creating ideas, rather than
implementing and managing existing processes.
• knowledge workers are expected to produce
results that are different from traditional workers,
you should also manage them and measure their
performance differently.
• Have an open mind, and recognize the different
needs and motivations of knowledge workers.
• This will make it much easier to find creative and
effective ways to keep their productivity high.
Thank You !!