Which of the following contributes to a more effective grievance procedure

Grievance may be any genuine or imaginary feeling of dissatisfaction or injustice which an employee experiences about his job and it’s nature, about the management policies and procedures. Grievance is any discontent or dissatisfaction whether expressed or not, whether valid or not, arising out of anything connected with the company which an employee thinks, believes or even feels to be unfair, unjust or inequitable. To understand what a grievance is, it is necessary to distinguish between dissatisfaction, complaint, and grievance:

1. Dissatisfaction is anything that disturbs an employee, whether or not the unrest is expressed in words.

2. Complaint is a spoken or written dissatisfaction brought to the attention of the supervisor.

3. Grievance is a complaint that has been formally presented to a management representative.

Grievances take the form of collective disputes when they are not resolved. Also they will then lower the morale and efficiency of the employees. Unattended grievances result in frustration, dissatisfaction, low productivity, lack of interest in work, absenteeism, etc. In short, grievance arises when employees’ expectations are not fulfilled from the organization, as a result of which a feeling of discontentment and dissatisfaction arises. This dissatisfaction must crop up from employment issues and not from personal issues.

Grievance may result from the following factors:

1. Improper working conditions such as strict production standards, unsafe workplace, bad relation with managers, etc.
2. Irrational management policies such as overtime, transfers, demotions, inappropriate salary structure, etc.
3. Violation of organizational rules and practices

Causes of Grievances: Grievances may occur due to a number of reasons:

1.      Economic: Employees may demand for individual wage adjustments. They may feel that they are paid less when compared to others. For example, late bonus, payments, adjustments to overtime pay, perceived inequalities in treatment, claims for equal pay, and appeals against performance- related pay awards.

2.      Work environment: It may be undesirable or unsatisfactory conditions of work. For example, light, space, heat, or poor physical conditions of workplace, defective tools and equipment, poor quality of material, unfair rules, and lack of recognition.

3.      Supervision: It may be objections to the general methods of supervision related to the attitudes of the supervisor towards the employee such as perceived notions of bias, favouritism, nepotism, caste affiliations and regional feelings.

4.      Organizational change: Any change in the organizational policies can result in grievances. For example, the implementation of revised company policies or new working practices.

5.      Employee relations: Employees are unable to adjust with their colleagues, suffer from feelings of neglect and victimization and become an object of ridicule and humiliation, or other inter- employee disputes.

6.      Miscellaneous: These may be issues relating to certain violations in respect of promotions, safety methods, transfer, disciplinary rules, fines, granting leaves, medical facilities, etc.

Effects of Grievance: Grievances, if not identified and redressed, may adversely affect workers, managers, and the organiza­tion. The effects are the following:

1.      On the production:

a.         Low quality of production

b.         Low 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.         Increase in the rate of absenteeism and turnover

b.         Reduction in the level of commitment, sincerity and punctuality

c.         Increase in the incidence of accidents

d.         Reduction in the level of employee morale.

3.      On the managers:

a.         Strained superior-subordinate relations.

b.         Increase in the degree of supervision and control.

c.         Increase in indiscipline cases

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

Effective Grievance Management:

The Manager should immediately identify all grievances and must take appropriate steps to eliminate the causes of such grievances so that the employees remain loyal and committed to their work. Effective grievance management is an essential part of personnel management. The managers should adopt the following approach to manage grievance effectively:

1.      Quick action- As soon as the grievance arises, it should be identified and resolved. Training must be given to the managers to effectively and timely manage a grievance. This will lower the detrimental effects of grievance on the employees and their performance.

2.      Acknowledging grievance- The manager must acknowledge the grievance put forward by the employee as manifestation of true and real feelings of the employees. Acknowledgement by the manager implies that the manager is eager to look into the complaint impartially and without any bias. This will create a conducive work environment with instances of grievance reduced.

3.      Gathering facts- The manager should gather appropriate and sufficient facts explaining the grievance’s nature. A record of such facts must be maintained so that these can be used in later stage of grievance redressal.

4.      Examining the causes of grievance- The actual cause of grievance should be identified. Accordingly remedial actions should be taken to prevent repetition of the grievance.

5.      Taking Decision- After identifying the causes of grievance, alternative course of actions should be thought of to manage the grievance. The effect of each course of action on the existing and future management policies and procedure should be analyzed and accordingly decision should be taken by the manager.

6.      Execution and review- The manager should execute the decision quickly, ignoring the fact, that it may or may not hurt the employees concerned. After implementing the decision, a follow-up must be there to ensure that the grievance has been resolved completely and adequately.

Need for a Formal Procedure to Handle Grievances:

A grievance handling system serves as an outlet for employee frustrations, discontents, and gripes like a pressure release value on a steam boiler. Employees do not have to keep their frustrations bottled up until eventually discontent causes explosion.

The existence of an effective grievance procedure reduces the need of arbitrary action by supervisors because supervisors know that the employees are able to protect such behavior and make protests to be heard by higher management. The very fact that employees have a right to be heard and are actually heard helps to improve morale. In view of all these, every organization should have a clear-cut proce­dure for grievance handling.

Conclusion:

An effective grievance procedure ensures an amiable work environment because it redresses the grievance to mutual satisfaction of both the employees and the managers. It also helps the management to frame policies and procedures acceptable to the employees. It becomes an effective medium for the employees to express t feelings, discontent and dissatisfaction openly and formally.

What is an effective grievance procedure?

What are the five 5 key factors which make grievance procedure more effective?

What are the three types of grievances?

How can such grievances be addressed effectively?