Monday 16 November 2015

Maintaining Good Industrial Relations at Work Place


Introduction
Industrial harmony is achieved in the workplace only when the leaders (management) determine what they want their organization culture to look like and the strategy to make it reality.  Where there is no vision people will throw off restraints. There will be no discipline; thus leadership has to establish vision, mission, values, direction, create the organisational culture through personal discipline, respect for others  and follow development plan. However, there are a number of reasons why some workplaces are more harmonious than others.
·        Encouraging open communication (Frequent and effective communication).
 One of the best ways to foster good relationship within the workplace is to encourage  dialogue and effective  communication. This should not just amongst colleagues but between staff and management also.  Encouraging the workplace to express ideas  and views  as well as suggesting  improvements is a great  way of achieving  this. Gaining feedback on performance  either  as a team or in 1 to 1  session as well as giving  workers  clearly defined and realistic targets  and deadlines. Remember  also who, what; when; where  & how guideline question. Meetings  with  planned  agendas, clear and concise  communication to keep it simple, meaningful,  deliberate and planned and last  build  interpersonal communication skills.

·        Establishing  a good work/life  balance
Work  can become  unbearable if  employers  are only  interested  in themselves  and making as much profit  as possible  without  giving  any regard  to the needs of their staff, its also important  to recognise that they have life outside  of the workplace  too. Creating  a family  friendly  environment  is a very positive step.
This is achieved by creating flexible working practices, compassionate leave, staff domestic as arrangements i.e attached the institutions with financial institution (guarantor). Like Banks and  SACOSS. Also  by having  a well  planned  arrangement  on how to handle  staff issues  like death, wedding  arrangements and disasters . Sometime a company may even insure their employees with a limited  number of their families. 


 
·        Training  and Development
No matter how much an employee enjoy their current role,  most career  minded  people  will ultimately hope  that the job they are  doing  now will be a stepping  stone towards  the next phase  of their  career.  To retain valued  members of staff a company  can provide them with the right  platform in order to develop. This might  include on – job training , study  leave  or even  paying for the cost of  external educational  courses to  have a career  development programme.  Rule 30 G.N 42 /2007 provides  for the same.

·        Provisions of Incentives /bonus or awarding good employee.
Payment of bonuses to staff for performance  that  have  exceeded  institution  expectation, the same  applies to award  good worker for a certain  categorised  achievement  can not only  increase productivity  but also increase  a sense  of belonging  with the company  or institution.
However,  money  alone is rarely  enough  of a motivation for staff to remain  loyal   and to feel  happy in their  work. Other means are:   
-          Institutions  bonanza
-         Institution  family day
-         Institution day out /corporate responsibility etc.

·        Leadership skills, innovation and creativity
(a)  First leaders should be held accountable model and demonstrate behaviour they expect. They should establish and drive clearly defined standards of performance. Practice of discipline and restraint , coach  and mentor.  They should  focus  on goals, clear , actionable  measurable and specific goals. 

(b) Clearly defined  roles for sub group  (Depts, sections or unit)
To have  them with  a clear job descriptions,  performance  assessment ,  clerly defined expectation, set clear  standards  to these sub groups  up to an individual  who will know very clearly  what the  organisation /institution will expect  from him/her  in a specified  period of time.
(c) Shared resources
Both hard resources  (like working  tools) and soft  resources  (cash) together  with workers  themselves  (Human Resources) ought to mingle  for the purpose  of furthering  organisational objectives . When  resources  are not clearly /equally  shared  there will  arise grievances which may be translated  into disputes.
It should be clear  that  people (both management and other staff) are resources  who can share ideas,  experiences  and build  partnership and  by having  common access  to resources.

Organization tips towards creating good industrial relations
(i)                Consistent, United  and enthusiastic  effort
-         Set  standards 
-         Focus on goal (s)
-         Communicate  the strategy
-         Communicate the benefit
-         Encourage, inspire and motivate
-         Reward and recognition
-         Share  success stories
-         build  a win culture
-         Take time to build relationship  on and off the job
-         Career  planning

(ii)              Periodic and temporary  suppression of the “ego”
-         Leaders don’t have all the answer
-         Shut up! listen, listen and listen some more 
-         Seek personal  development
-         Learn from others
-         Failure  is not fatal
-         Forgiveness
(iii)           Measure,  assess, and face  reality
- Employee surveys
- Customer survey
- Feed  back
- Focus  groups
- Round  tables
- Benchmark

(iv)           Build a solid  foundation…….
-         Recruit and hire  the right  people
-         Enforce fair  and equitable  employment  practices
-         Share  organization vision
-         Help employees to achieve  their goals
-         Build  an eager  want
-         Promote from within  when  possible
-         Establish  a talent  pipeline

INDICATORS OF GOOD WORKING CONDITIONS AT A WORKING  PLACE           
(i)                Labour Turnover:  The more high labour turnover  ensrihed that the workplace  is not conducive  and vice  versa.
(ii)             Number of displinary  issues noted, attended or normally  observed within a specified  period of time  (punctuality) and how problems  are dealt with.
(iii)           Existence  or non existence  of communication  barrier. i.e  process, procedure  and its effectiveness.
(iv)           The type  of organization  culture exisitng  in the institution i.e degree of strictness flexibility, team  working spirit  or not etc.
(v)             The way internal and external clients  internet , communicate, perpetuate  etc.

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