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Dear Friends,
Almost disappeared the most unwanted scenario of labour unrest during last two decades has again gradually acquired centre stage in past five years specifically in manufacturing sector of the country. The issue of industrial relations has been largely quiescent, but under the seemingly calm waters, there has always been a simmering discontent in blue collar class.
If one goes by figures of labour bureau of the Government, the story seems to be different. In 2005 Indian industry faced 227 strikes and 229 lock outs and suffered 300 lakh man days losses. By 2010 this had declined to 79 strikes, 20 lock outs and only about 17 lakh man days losses. Even though the decline trend is clear, the spectre of labour unrest has again started haunting the manufacturing sector. Contrary to it, as per latest available ASI reports in the decade between 1998-2009 net value added by workers in the industry increased from Rs. 2 lakh per worker to 6 lakh. In the same period wages as a proportion of net value added declined from about 18% to 11%. Recent figures of labour ministry's annual report show that productivity of Indian worker was growing at over 7% in 2007 compared to just short of 4% a decade earlier.
The purpose of mentioning these data is not to question the employer's commitment to encourage employee partnering in business growth but to understand the mystery of sudden increase in labour management stand offs.
BM decided to study and analyze the issues responsible for polluting industrial relations climate of the manufacturing sector during last 5 years which posed serious people management problems arising from a wide range of minor issues. The reasons surfaced were like political interference in workers unions, too much legalistic attitude, irresponsible and negative trade unionism and employer's vindictive and aggressive attitude. The science of people management is entirely different. Having no universal formulas to deal with, plenty of wisdom exists on how to manage people. How do managers deal with people issues in the context in which they find themselves with skills and attitude? The answer lies in necessity of learning and understanding the actions, reasons and unionized worker psychology which cumulatively turn minor IR issues in to a crisis. Certainly, this can be done through case studies.
In this issue of Dec. 2011 Business Manager presents four such stories - a work of fiction added with some live situations and analyses done by Dr. Viren. P. Singh, Dr. Manju Nair, I.S. Singh, V.P. Mathur, Dr. Tanjul Saxena, Piyush Agarwal, Dr. Rajendra kaushik, Chinmay Podder, Surendranath, Indranil Banerjee, L.K.Gupta and Rajiv Vishnoi, renowned HR Experts and academicians who provide us an opportunity to learn and explore various options and anticipate their consequences.
regds,
Anil Kaushik
Chief Editor,Business Manager-HR magazine
B-138, Ambedkar Nagar, Alwar-301001 (Raj.)
09829133699
www.businessmanager.co.in
The attachment file can be viewed at Knowledge Center >> Human Resource Management >> BM Dec-11.pdf |
