INTRODUCTION

Expressions such as problem, discontentment, deep problem etc. can be used to describe a grievance. However
please note that dissatisfaction or discontent per se is not a grievance. They initially find expression in the form of
a complaint. When a complaint remains unattended and the employee concerned feels a sense of lack of justice
and fair play, the dissatisfaction grows and assumes the status of a grievance.
Dissatisfaction: maybe defined as anything that disturbs an employee, whether or nor such unrest is expressed in
word e.g. engineers and technicians may be upset because they are suddenly instructed to observe regular hours.
Complaint: It is a spoken or written dissatisfaction, brought to the attention of the supervisor and the union
leader. The complaint may or may not specially assign a cause for dissatisfaction e.g. "four times this morning I
have had to chase around looking for the pliers".
Grievance: It is simply a complaint, which has been formally presented in writing, to a management
representative or a union official. However for most of the people, the word "grievance" suggests a complaint that
has been ignored, overridden or dismissed without due consideration.
ILO defines a grievance as a complaint of one or more workers related to:
- Wages and allowance
- Conditions of work
- Interpretation of service conditions covering such as OT, Leave, Transfer, Promotion, Seniority, Job
Assignment & Termination of Service"
The National Commission on Labour Observed that "Complaints affecting one or more individual workers in
respect of their workers
- Wage payments, OT, Leave, Transfer Promotion, Seniority, Work Assignment & Discharges
Constitute Grievances".
Let us examine another definition of grievance.
Definition: According to Michael Jucius, " A grievance can be any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether
expressed or not, whether valid or not, and arising out of anything connected with the company that an employee
thinks, believes, or even feels as unfair, unjust, or inequitable."
Let us understand this definition. A grievance means any discontentment or dissatisfaction in an employee
arising out of anything related to the enterprise where he is working. It may not be expressed and even may
not be valid.
It arises when an employee feels that something has happened or is going to happen which is unfair, unjust or
inequitable. Thus, a grievance represents a situation in which an employee feels that something unfavorable to
him has happened or is going to happen. In an industrial enterprise, an employee may have grievance because of
long hours of work, non-fulfillment of terms of service by the management, unfair treatment in promotion, poor
working facilities, etc.
Now let us go a step further by discussing the nature of grievance.
Nature of Grievance: Grievances are symptoms of conflicts in the enterprise. Just like smoke could mean
fire, similarly grievances could lead to serious problem if it is not addressed immediately! So they should be
handled very promptly and efficiently. Coping with grievances forms an important part of any job. The manner
in which a manager deal with grievances determines his efficiency of dealing with subordinates. A manager is
successful if he is able to build a team of satisfied workers by removing their grievances.
While dealing with grievances of subordinates, it is necessary to keep in mind the following points:
- A grievance may or may not be real.
- Grievance may arise out of not one cause but multifarious causes.
- Every individual does not give expression to his grievances.
Please understand that complaints of employees relating to interpretation and implementation of agreements,
labour legislations, various personnel policies, rules and regulations, past practices, code of conduct are very much
grievances.
Another point that needs to be noted here is that the grievances may relate to either one employee (individual
grievances) or group of employees (group grievances). Individual and group grievances are to be redressed
through grievance procedure, which we would be studying in detail a little later in the class. Individual employee
or group of employees concerned and manager concerned play vital role in grievance procedure.
Now let me ask you a question. What do you think is the difference between grievance and conflict? Are they the
same? Can they be used interchangeably?
Now that is more than one question!
Anyway, Please understand that differences between employees and employers relating to various personnel
policies, wage levels and variety of benefits, awards, rules and regulations are conflicts. Conflicts are to be settled

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through collective bargaining. Trade unions and management participate in collective bargaining for settling
disputes. Thus, conflicts have wider policy implications as compared to grievances.
We discussed in the definition of grievance that it may be valid or not. Now don't tell me that you have forgotten
the definition! Let us understand, why we talk about validity.

We can get some insight on that by studying the

Forms of Grievances.
A grievance may take any of the following forms:
- Factual,
- Imaginary,
- Disguised.
Factual: When an employee is dissatisfied with his job, for genuine or factual reasons like a breach of
terms of employment or any other reasons that are clearly attributed to the management, he is said to have a
factual grievance. Thus, factual grievances arise when the legitimate needs are unfulfilled. The problem that he
has is real and not virtual
Imaginary: When an employee's grievance or dissatisfaction is not because of any factual or valid reason
but because of wrong perception, wrong attitude or wrong information he has. Such a grievance is called an
imaginary grievance. Though it is not the fault of management, the responsibility of dealing with it still rests
with the management. So the problem is not real. It is in the mind or just a feeling towards someone or
something. So be careful your grievances could be very much imaginary!
Disguised: An employee may have dissatisfaction for reasons that are unknown to himself. This may be
because of pressures and frustrations that an employee is feeling from other sources like his personal life. I am
sure you will agree that if you have fought at home and come to the institute, you cannot concentrate in the
class. Similarly if you have had a bad day in the institute, that will reflect in the mood at home. We are all
humans and are sensitive to the environment that we operate in!.
The managers have to detect the disguised grievances and attend to them by counseling the concerned employees.
They have to find out the root cause of the problem rather than find quick fix solutions to them

FORMS OF GRIEVANCE

FACTUAL IMAGINARY Disguised

Now that brings us to another important issue that is

Identifying grievances:
- It is so beautifully described that good management redresses grievances as they arise; excellent
management anticipates and prevents them from arising. An effective manager thus has to be proactive. A
manager can know about the problems even before they turn into actual grievances through several means
such as:
- Exit interviews
Suggestions boxes
Opinion surveys
Open door policy.
Let us discuss this on by one in details:
(A) Exit interview: Employees usually quit organizations due to dissatisfaction or better prospects
elsewhere. Exit interviews, if conducted carefully, can provide important information about employees'
grievances. This can help the management to gather feedback and to genuinely incorporate feedback. The
management should carefully act upon the information drawn from such employees .It should be careful
that the discontentment is reduced so that no more employees quit the organization because of similar
reasons.
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 (B) Gripe Boxes: These are boxes in which the employees can drop their anonymous complaints. They are
different from the suggestion boxes in which employees drop their named suggestion with an intention to
receive rewards It is normally said that if you want to progress in life, you should be close to critics. These
gripe boxes can perform the role of critics for the organisation. The management should carefully act upon
the information thus gathered. Now I don't want to sound repetitive by saying that the internal customers
of an organisation should be satisfied if the external customers are to be kept happy.

(C) Opinion Survey: The management can be proactive by conducting group meetings, periodical
interviews with employees, collective bargaining sessions etc. through which one can get information
about employees' dissatisfaction before it turns into a grievance.

(D) Open-door Policy. Some organisation extend a general invitation to their employees to informally drop
in the manager's room any time and talk over their grievances. This can be very effective because it ca n
nip the evil in the bud. That is it can take care of the problem before it gets out of hand. In fact the
management should hold formal and informal get together with the employees. The management should
also remember that the employees might just need a patient hearing at times. They need blow off the steam
as we hear it more commonly.
Summarizing the identification of grievances.

What leads to a grievance?

Let us discuss the causes of grievances
In order to handle the grievances efficiently, it is necessary to find and analyse the grievances of the
subordinates. If a grievance is found to be genuine or real (factual), the corrective action should be taken
immediately. But if the grievance arises due to imagination or disturbed frame of mind of the worker, then it is
necessary to explain and clear up the matter. Before dealing with the grievances, their causes must be diagnosed.
But when the grievances are not given expression by the subordinates, it is manager's job to detect the possible
grievances and their causes. He may realise the existence of grievances because of high turnover, high rate of
absenteeism and poor quality of work. These problems will go on multiplying if the causes of grievances are not
cured.
The causes of grievances may be broadly classified into the following categories:
- Grievances resulting from working conditions
- Improper matching of the worker with the job.
- Changes in schedules or procedures.
- Non-availability of proper tools, machines and equipment for doing
The job
- Unreasonably high production standards.
- Poor working conditions.
- Bad employer - employee relationship, etc.
- Grievances resulting from management policy
- Wage payment and job rates.
- Leave.
- Overtime.
- Seniority and Promotional.
- Transfer.
- Disciplinary action.
- Lack of employee development plan.
- Lack of role clarity.
(3) Grievances resulting from personal maladjustment
- Over - ambition.
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 - Excessive self-esteem or what we better know as ego.
- Impractical attitude to life etc.
Coming on to the effects of Grievances. Some of the effects have been
listed below.
Effects of Grievances:
- Frustration
- Alienation
- Demotivation
- Slackness
- Low Productivity
- Increase in Wastage & Costs
- Absenteeism
- In discipline
- Labor unrest
Establishing a grievance procedure.
This may sound a little boring to you but it is necessary for you to be aware of it as HRM students. It is
advisable to set up an effective grievance procedure in the organization. The procedure should be flexible enough
to meet the requirements of the organization. It should be simple so that an average employee is able to understand
it. Though such a procedure will vary in different organizations, yet the following principles should be observed
while laying down a procedure:
1. A grievance should be dealt with in the first instance at the lowest level: that is, an employee should raise
his grievance with his immediate superior. It may be simple to settle it on the spot and that will be the end
of it. Even if it cannot be settled at that level, the man's superior will know what is happening. This is
necessary not only to maintain his authority, but also to prevent him from being aggrieved, as he will
certainly be, if he is by-passed and hears of the complaint from his own superior.
2. It must be made clear to the employee what line of appeal is available. If he cannot get satisfaction from
his immediate superior, he should know the next higher authority to which he can go.

3. Since delay causes frustration and tempers may rise and rumors spread around the work, it is essential that
grievances should be dealt with speedily. As it is said that a stitch in time saves nine, similarly the
problems of the employees should be taken care of by the management least it should become a major for
the management.
4. The grievance procedure should be set up with the participation of the employees and it should be
applicable to all in the organisation. The policies and rules regarding grievances should be laid down after
taking inputs from the employees and it should be uniformly applicable to all in the organisation. It should
be agreed that there would be no recourse to the official machinery of conciliation unless the procedure has
been carried out and there is still dissatisfaction, and moreover, there must be no direct action on either
side, which might prejudice the case or raise tempers while the grievance is being investigated.
5. Can you explain to me that why do we need to take inputs from the employees while framing the policies?
Yes... it is necessary because it is going to be applicable to the employees and not only that; if the
employees have contributed to the policies then their commitment is higher.

6. Have you read something about the Open - Door Policy and the step- ladder procedure of discipline!!

Open door policy:

Under this policy, any employee can take his grievance to the chief boss and talk over the problem. As the
name suggests, the management keeps its doors open for the employees to share their problems. It is said
that this policy can remove the cause of grievance quickly. Though this policy appears to the attractive, it
has some prerequisites.

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 The open door policy is workable only in small organizations. In big organizations, the top management
does not have the time to attend to innumerable routine grievances daily that is the work of lower-level
mangers.
Under this policy, the front-line supervisor who should be the first man to know about the grievances of
his subordinates is by passed. This provokes him in two ways. First, he thinks the man who skipped him is
disrespectful. Secondly, he fears that he will incur his superior's displeasure because of his failure to
handle his subordinates will interpret this.

Step-Ladder Procedure
Under the step-ladder procedure, the employee with a grievance has to proceed step by step unless he is
able to redress his grievance. According to the Model Grievance Procedure, an aggrieved employee shall
first present his grievance verbally in person to the officer designated by the management for this purpose.
An answer shall be given within 48 hours. If he is dissatisfied with the answer, the worker will present his
grievance to the head of the department, who will give his answer within 3 days. If the worker is
dissatisfied with the answer, he may ask that his grievance should be referred to the Grievance Committee,
which shall make its recommendations within 7 days to the manger. The management must implement
unanimous recommendations of this committee. A dissatisfied worker can apply to the management for a
revision of its decision within on week's time.

Discovery of Grievances: Grievances can be uncovered in a number of ways. Gossip and Grapevine
offer vita! clues about employees grievances Gripe boxes, open door policies, periodic interviews exit surveys
could also be undertaken to uncover the mystery surrounding grievances These methods are discussed below
1). Observation: A manager/supervisor can usually track the behaviours of people working under him. If a
particular employee is not getting along with people, spoiling materials due to carelessness or recklessness,
showing indifference to commands, reporting late for work of is remaining absent-the signals are fairly obvious
Since the supervisor is close to the scene of action he can always find out such unusual behaviours and report
promptly
2) Grievance Procedure; A systematic grievance procedure is the best means to highlight employee
dissatisfaction at various levels. Management, to this end, must encourage employees to use it whenever they have
anything to say. In the absence of such a procedure, grievances pile
up and burst up in violent forms at a future date. By that things might have taken an ugly shape altogether,
impairing cordial relations between labour and management if management fails to induce employees to express
their grievances, unions will take over and emerge as powerful bargaining representatives
Gripe Boxes: A gripe box may be kept at prominent locations in the factory for lodging
anonymous complaints pertaining to any aspect relating to work Since the complainant need not
eveal his identity, he can express his feelings of injustice or discontent 'ankly and without any fear ot victimization
4) Open door Policy: This is a kind of walk-in-meeting with the manager when the employee can express his
feelings openly about any work related grievance. The manager can cross-check the details of the complaint
through various means at his disposal
5) Exit interview: Employees usually leave their current jobs due to dissatisfaction or belter prospects outside. If
the manager tries sincerely through an exit interview he might be able to find out the real reasons why 'x 1 is,
leaving the organization To elicit valuable information, the manager must encourage the employee to give a
correct picture so as to rectify the mistakes promptly If the employee is not providing fearless answers, he may be
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given questionnaire to fill up and post the same after getting all his dues cleared from the organization where he is
currently
6) Opinion Surveys: Surveys may be conducted periodically to elicit the opinions of employees about trie
organization and its policies
It is better to use as many channels as possible, if the intention is to uncover the truth behind the curtain
Approaches to the Grievance Machinery: Various approaches have been documented
reflecting the attitude of management and employees to the grievance machinery. Management could take a
legalistic view and follow the negotiated contract, or it need not have a contract but have a grievance machinery
oriented towards a human relations approach to its workers. Or, alternatively, management could, with or without
a contract, have an open-door policy. We shall now examine some of these approaches.
1. The labour contract approach is a wholly legalistic approach. The management and the worker, categories
covered by the contract, follow the provisions therein Grievances are those defined by the contract, and the process
for dealing with the grievance is clear to all concerned and specified with the time span for each stage The
provisions and the interpretations thereon of the contract are of paramount importance, more than concern for
specific exceptions depending on the circumstances of the case.
2. The human relations school is the antithesis of the legal contract school. The employee anil specific problem is
the major concern. The concern is for understanding and doing something help overcome the individuals' problem,
the fundamental assumption being that individuals' more important than production targets. It is quite likely that
understanding their -Leeds are grievances will help in attaining production targets, but primarily individuals are
the end rather than a means to the end.
Obviously, these are two extreme situations; many organizations have practices some-where in between It is
possible to envisage a contract with a human relations approach, intact, in the final analysis, it amounts to the
"spirit'' in which the grievance procedure is implemented in an organization involving both managerial and worker
attitudes.
MODELS GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE: The Model
Grievance Procedure was formulated in pursuance to the Code of discipline adopted by the 16th Session of the
Indian Labour Conference in 1958. Most of the grievance procedures now a day are built around the Model
Grievance Procedure with certain changes to suit the size and special requirements of an enterprise. The model
Grievance Procedure provides for five successive time-bound steps. These are as under:
1. An aggrieved employee shall first present his grievance verbally in person to the officer
designated by the Management for this purpose. An answer shall be given to him within 48 hours of the
presentation of the complaint.

2. If the worker is not satisfied with the decision of this officer or fails to receive an answer within
the stipulated period, he shall in person or by his departmental representative, if required, present his
grievance to the head of the department designated by the management for this purpose. And he will get
the answer within 3 days of the presentation of his grievance.

3. If the decision of the departmental head is unsatisfactory, the aggrieved worker may request the
forwarding of his grievance to the Grievance Committee, which shall make its recommendations to the
management within 7 days of the worker's request. The final decision of the management shall be
communicated to the worker within the stipulated period (3 days) by the Personnel Officer.

4. A revision of his grievance can be done if the decision is not satisfactory. The management shall
communicate its decision within a week.

5. If no agreement is possible the union and the Management may refer the grievance to voluntary
arbitration within a week from the date of receipt by the worker of the management's decision.
In the above-mentioned procedure the following points should be noted:
• Calculating the various time intervals under the above clauses, holidays shall not be included.
• The Management shall provide the necessary clerical and other assistance for the smooth functioning of
the grievance machinery.
• During the working time, the concerned person may go for enquiry with the Labour/personnel Officer,
provided the he has taken permission from his supervisor. Hence he may not suffer any loss of payment.
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In the case of any grievance arising out of the discharge or dismissal of a worker, the above procedure shall not
apply. If it is so, he may appeal wither to the dismissing authority or to a senior authority within a week from
the date of dismissal or discharge.
Elements of a Grievance Procedure: The basic elements of a grievance redressal procedure are
i) The existence of a sound channel through which a grievance may pass for redressal if the previous stage or
channel has been found to be inadequate, unsatisfactory or unacceptable this stage may comprise three, four or five
sub-stages.
i) The procedure should be simple, definite and prompt, for any complexity or vagueness or delay may lead to an
aggravation of the dissatisfaction of the aggrieved employee. -
iii) The steps in handling a grievance should be clearly defined.
These should comprise:
a) Receiving and defining the nature of the grievance.
b) Getting at the relevant facts, about the grievance.
c) Analysis the facts, after taking into consideration the econcmic, social, psychological and legal issues involved
in them.
d) Taking an appropriate decision after a careful consideration of ail the facts e} Communicating the decisions, to
the aggrieved employee
iv) Whatever the decision, it should be followed up in order that the reaction of the decision may be known and in
order to determine whether the issue has been closed or not.

Guidelines for Effective Handling: Grievance

While dealing with grievances, a manager cannot depend upon some ready-made, solutions. Every case has to be
dealt with on merit. The following guidelines may help to deal effectively with the grievances:
- The complaint should be given a patient hearing by his superior. He should be allowed to express himself
completely. The management should be empathetic.
- The superior should try to get at the root of the problem. It should be remembered that symptoms are not
the problems. It should also be noted that if there are symptoms, there would be a problem as well.
- The management must show it anxiety to remove the grievances of the workers. The workers should feel
that the management is genuinely interested in solving its problems.
- If the grievances are real and their causes located, attempts should be made to remove the causes.
- If the grievances are imaginary or unfounded, attempts should be made to convince the workers.
- Every grievance must be handled within the reasonable time limit. I am sure you will agree with this.
Imagine you have a genuine problem and you share it with the authorities. You will also expect immediate
action taken to take care of your problem.
- All grievances should be put into writing. Some proofs required as well..
- Relevant facts about the grievance must be gathered. The management should not haste!
- Decision taken to redress the grievance of the worker must be communicated to him.
- Follow up action should be taken to know the response of the forced employee. This is to make sure that he
is happy or not! At the end of the day the satisfaction of the aggrieved party is necessary.
ESSENTIALS OF A GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE:A grievance procedure should
incorporate the following features:
1. Conformity with existing legislation: The procedure should be designed in conformity with the
existing statutory provisions. Where practicable, the procedure can make use of such machinery as the law
might have already provided for.
2. Acceptability: Everybody must accept the grievance procedure. In order to be generally acceptable, it
must ensure the following:
- A sense of fair-play and justice to the worker,
- Reasonable exercise of authority to the manager, and
- Adequate participation of the union.
3. Simplicity: The following points should be noted in this regard:
- The procedure should be simple enough to be understood by every employee.
- The steps should be as few as possible.
- Channels for handling grievances should be carefully developed.
- Employees must know the authorities to be contacted at various levels.
- Information about the procedure should be thoroughly disseminated among all employees through
pictures, charts, diagrams, etc.
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 4. Promptness: Speedy settlement of a grievance is the cornerstone of a sound personnel policy. It should
be remembered that justice delayed is justice denied. The procedure should aim at a rapid disposal of the
grievance. This can be achieved by incorporating the following feature in the procedure:
• As far as possible, grievances should be settled at the lowest level
• No matter should ordinarily be taken up at more than two levels, i.e. normally there should be only
one appeal.
• Different types of grievances may be referred to appropriate authorities.
• Time limit should be placed at each step and it should be rigidly followed at each level.
5. Training: In order to ensure effective working of the grievance procedure, it is necessary that supervisors
and the union representatives should be given training in working of the grievance procedure. All the
policies should be conveyed to the concerned parties.
6. Follow-up: The personnel department should review the working of the grievance procedure periodically
and necessary changes should be introduced to make it more effective. This is generally ignored by the
organizations. A regular follow up of the system increase the faith of the people in the system. Therefore it
is necessary that the grievance procedure should be reviewed whenever it is so required.
Please note that there can be a shortcut to handling Grievances. Let us study this in the form a checklist.

Checklist for Handling Grievances:

1. Let the Employee Talk

- Put the employee at ease

- Listen him in private
- Listen with sincere interest
- Do not argue
- Probe for the real grievance
- Get all the details
- Check the employees story
- Take notes
- Repeat the grievance in your own words.
- Tell the employee when he will get an answer.
1. Check the Facts
- Consult others
- Refer to the written policy
- Consider the employee's view point
- Look at the employee's record
• Telling the Employee
- Be willing to admit mistake
- Give the benefit of doubt
- If the employee's grievance is unfounded explain
- Keep your cool
- Prepare the case for appeal.
4. Follow Through
- Take prompt action to correct the cause of the grievance
- Check with employer