IMPORTANCE OF GRIEVANCE HANDLING IN AN ORGANIZATION

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 INTRODUCTION

Every employee has needs and expectations. These needs and expectations differ from employee to employee. Their expectation is to satisfy their needs. If these needs are not fulfilled, it makes dissatisfied employees. Having dissatisfied employee means organisation is unable to fulfil their objectives. Organisation face difficulty of addressing this situation. Employees will start complaints, protest grumble, criticism and objection all the time(Sukhdani, 2016),Therefore, organisation should pave the way to employees to air their grievances. Grievances cause the negative impact on employees which may create hazardous situation on productivity. Organisation should establish grievances handling procedure and take immediate action to remove the sad feeling of employees.

 

DEFINITION OF EMPLOYEES GRIEVANCES

The feeling of dissatisfaction and injustice in relation with the work situation which need to be addressed by the management known as employees grievances(Sumalatha & Sucharitha,)

 

 IMPACT OF GRIEVANCES

Employees grievances effect the morale badly. Hence the performance of the employees will be down considerably. This could happen to the top performance employees too. Outcomes of the grievances are listed below(Vidhya, n.d.)

* The employees will lose interest in their duties.

* The employee will lose morale and commitment

* Quality of the production will be poor

* Wastage Wii be increased

* The employee turnover will be high

* Employees will be indiscipline

* Overall organisational cost will be high

 

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NEED FOR GRIEVANCES HANDLING

Considering the impact of employees ‘grievances, proper system to be establish to maintain the industrial harmony and maintain industrial peace. The employees’ dissatisfactions and grievances could be utilised by external social forces encroaching them. Sometimes the employees have not identified the actual reasons grievances but they feel dissatisfied. Hence they forward their grievances on something else. Therefore, systematic grievances handling procedures to be develop which is known as grievances handling procedure(Sumalatha & Sucharitha, n.d.)

MAJOR TYPES OF GRIEVANCE HANDLING METHODS

(Godbless et al., n.d.) stated Six major types of grievance handling methods which are discussed below

*  Open Door Policy

 This open door policy provides the access to grieved employee to meet the top executive of the organisation and get the immediate answer to his dissatisfaction or injustice. This seem to be very good and immediate solution are given. However, this type of method is suitable for small organisation having few employees. This method cannot be implemented in big organisation due to the fact that top management has no time to spare.

 *  Step Ladder Policy

 This method consists of many ladders starting from the employee’s immediate supervisor to the top management or voluntary arbitration depends on the organisation and the individual how they pursue the case.

 *  Grievant-Supervisor

 First of all, immediate supervisor discusses with grieved person. He notes down the factors presented by the grieved person which are orally presented to him. Then he analyses the situation and provide the answer to the grieved person according to the power vested on him. If the employee is happy, the problem is considered as settled. If the grieved person disagreed with answer given by the supervisor, then he will forward the case to his next level superior.

*   Grievant- Departmental Head

 Unsatisfied grieved person will reach the next level. He will meet he department head who is senior to his immediate supervisor. Similar situation applies here too. Department head provide answer to the situation base on the power vested on him. If grieved person satisfied the case is over if not, he has the freedom to go to the grievance committee.

 *  Grievant-Grievance Committee

 The grievance committee comprises of the staff member and management persons who are outside of the incident of discontentment took place. Small organisation selects the committee member from other departments. There are well experience staff members who are expert on handling employees’ problem. Sometimes department heads are not having suitable experience to deal with these problems.

*  Grievant- top management

This is the final stage within the organisation. Top management put their entire effort to solve this situation to benefit both grieved person as well as the organisation. sometime though the employee willing to accept the solution offered by the top management they reject it due to the trade union influence. This brings to the final stage of grievances handling.

In unionised grievant may seek external arbitration when they are not satisfied with the internal solutions.

 

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STEPS IN GRIEVANCE HANDLING

Grieved employees may cause hazardous action without informing to the management. Therefore, management attention to the present situation is very important. The employees must feel that their grievances are primly handled by the management so they get the necessary sense of satisfaction. Grievances handling steps are as follows.

*  To avoid incorrect complaints, the environment of grievances should be well-defined, communicated and described clearly as early as possible.

*  After collecting the related proofs, understanding the real situation of the grievances is important and alternate answers should be prepared.

* Answers to the employees’ grievances to be communicated to them in a clear and undisputable terms.

*  Last step should be the follow up action which is very important to find out whether the grievances are properly handled or not.

 It is advisable to establish unit (department) level grievance handling by the management. Each unit(department) superior to be trained to handle the grievances. These unit(department) level superior are able to deal with the grievances of the employees as soon as they are occurred. Immediate action could be taken to eliminate the grievances. These superiors are able to get feedback from the employees immediately. Alternatively, organisation could establish some committees to attend to these grievances and make them efficient and effective. All these efforts are taken to eliminate the unwanted dissatisfaction of employees by removing the probe at the budding stage. All divisions of the employees should be equally embodied to take part in the grievance handling committee

 

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Maintaining a sound grievance handling system to an organisation is essential. This assist the organisation to build up harmonious environment within the organisation. Management must develop proper positive culture of trust and confidence among employees(Sukhdani, 2016).

Following aspect to be considered to develop trust and confidence,  

* Every department must display the brochures of grievances handling procedures

* Concerned department should submit the report of the inquiries to the personnel department

* Find the suitable quiet place to discuss the grievances with the employee

* Management need to allocate adequate time to listen to the grievances

    * It is essential to deal grievances with curtesy, and fairly and quickly with given time frame

     *  Employees should be informed the time period required to completes the complaint

 

CONCLUSION

Mainly employees’ grievances originate due to management conduct. These grievances to be immediately redressed to avoid unnecessary disputes among employees and the management. The outcomes of grieved employees are increased rate of absenteeism, high turnover, lees commitment, indiscipline less productivity lees morale etc. which are damaging the organisation success. So management must be very careful regarding their decisions which affect to the employees. At the same time establish the proper grievances handling system shorten the grieved period and find the way to remove at the bud.

 

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REFERENCES

Aktar, S. (2021). Workers’ Satisfaction with Grievance-Handling Procedure: A Study on the Selected Garment Factories in Bangladesh.

Ashwin, S., & Paul, J. (2021). A STUDY ON SIGNIFICANCE OF  GRIEVANCE HANDLING SYSTEM  TOWARDS EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY. 9.

Godbless, E. E., Goddey, A. E., & Solomon, E. (n.d.). ORGANIZATIONAL GRIEVANCE HANDLING PROCEDURES AND CONTEXTUAL PERFORMANCE OF EMPLOYEES OF NIGERIAN MONEY DEPOSIT BANKS.

Kumar, M. C. (2013). . GRIEVANCE HANDLING MECHANISM (GHM): A DEVICE FOR BETTER MANAGEMENT EDUCATION. 3(1).

Makwana, V. (2022). A Study on Grievance Handling and Management Process in an Organization. 3(2).

Ngetich, P. K., & Nairobi, U. O. (n.d.). Perceived effect of grievance handling procedure on employee performance at the.

Sukhdani, M. (2016). EFFECTIVENESS OF GRIEVANCE HANDLING PROCEDURE-A STUDY OF “BHILAI JAYPEE CEMENT LIMITED.” 3(2).

Sumalatha, K. N., & Sucharitha, D. M. M. (n.d.). A STUDY ON GRIEVANCE HANDLING. 10(9).

Vidhya, M. R. (n.d.). Grievance Handling Procedure in ITES Companies. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science.