Roles of Management in Creating Industrial Harmony

As a management function, Industrial Relations aim at creating industrial harmony or industrial peace by managing, analyzing and coordinating various relationships at the workplace. These relationships are concerned with how employers and employees get on together, what difficulties arise between them, and how such difficulties are resolved. It also involves how wages and working conditions are regulated, and how conflicts are resolved when they arise.

Before the industrial revolution, industries were largely characterized by simple processes of manufacture, small scale investments, local markets and small number of employees. Workplace relationship was direct and personal as the employees were small in number and mostly friends and family members. It was easier to secure cooperation of the workers and any grievance or misunderstanding could be promptly resolved. Under this set-up, industrial relations were simple, direct and personal, and so it was easy to create industrial harmony.

But today, it is a completely different setting. Sizes of businesses have increased requiring investment of enormous financial and human resources, also a new class of professional managers has emerged separating ownership from management. Therefore, relations between employers and employees are now multifaceted and convoluted. This new set-up has given rise to a complex, indirect, and impersonal industrial relations, thus requiring concerted and well-guided action plan to create and maintain industrial harmony.

The Roles of Management:

Management plays a major role in maintaining smooth industrial relations within the organization. For a positive improvement in their relationship with employees and maintaining sound human relations and ultimately creating industrial harmony, management of businesses can adopt the following strategies:

• Evolve means of ensuring that employees have a feeling of being treated with ‘dignity and respect’. A participative attitude on the part of management, which encourages employees to make input in the affairs of the organization generally and in the decision-making process wherever possible, tends to give an employee a feeling that he is an important member of the organization – a feeling that encourages a spirit of cooperativeness and dedication to work.

• Make genuine efforts to provide congenial work environment. This simply means a friendly and affable atmosphere where relationships with employees go beyond the official working relations to personal issues like staff’s health concerns, family matters, personal financial problems etc. Employees should feel free to discuss their personal concerns with their bosses, who also should pay attention to such problems of employees irrespective of whether they arise out of job environment or are of personal nature. Social interactions can be improved via get-togethers, parties and group functions with superiors. 

• Maintain good communication system in the organization to pass on information, get feedback from employees, and utilize appropriate machineries for speedy redressal of employees’ grievances. The underlying principle is that management listens to their employees at all times, and addresses issues raised. This engenders confidence in the employer’s management style.

• Delegate authority to their employees commensurate with responsibility, and also provides adequate opportunities for appropriate training programmes required for organizational effectiveness and good industrial relations. Salaries, wages and incentive plan can be structured to match employees’ efforts, position and responsibility.

Summarily, management should always strive to provide enlightened leadership to the people in the organization. These actions will help improve relationships at the workplace, and ultimately help create industrial harmony.