Importance of Employee Grievance Handling In Human Resource Management (HRM)

    

The grievance is defined as “Any dissatisfaction regarding work and workplace expressed in a formal way to his or her immediate supervisor” (Rose, 2004, p.11). Grievances are indications of dissatisfaction of an individual member with the way things are playing out in workplaces. Thus, employee grievances refer to any act of employee dissatisfaction close by his immediate supervisor regarding his work and workplace grievances (Opatha, 2019). It is in any discontent or dissatisfaction on the part of a worker resulting from an act of supervisors or top management. It imagined a real feeling of personnel injustice (Heffernan & Dundon, 2016). George (2000) defined grievance procedure as “A method through which employees make their voice known about management practices and decisions to have them properly reserved” (p. 1028).

Grievance Management

Grievances occur in every workplace and handling them properly is important for maintaining a harmonious and productive work environment. Grievance management is all about how well the problems are addressed (and solved). It is very essential in the present world. Now-a-days there are many companies who declare that their human resources are their most important assets and it is no more human resources but Human Capital. Hence these statements are to be verified whether it is true or not. This can be done by measuring how faster the employees problems are addressed and solved. If it is done faster, then it can be concluded by saying that the employee concern is significantly present in the organization.

When a good grievance management procedure is in place, the organization is more likely to experience employee morale, commitment, an opportunity for reconciliation, and harmonious management (Schuler, 1990). It is vital to prevent the grievance from escalating to the point where it becomes a problem for all the organizational community (Stuhmcke, 2001; Sucharıtha, 2019). A few grievances can be found on the surface of the environment while the majority of them lie beneath the surface. It is a fact that most of the organizations declared that human resources and/or human capital were the most valuable asset of the organization, and to gain the competitive advantage through human capital their grievances need to be addressed properly (Opatha & Ismail, 2001; Thomas, 2015; Kemp & Owen, 2017; Opatha, 2019; Sivanandam & Chaturvedi, 2020; Nyarko & Simons, 2021; Kong & Su, 2021). The grievances of the employees are mostly related to a contract of employment (Hunter & Kleiner, 2004). Capability and a positive mindset with the right attitude on the part of management are very critical to understand the problems of the employees and resolve them in an amicable way (Meyer, 1994)

Benefits of Grievance Handling

Benefits that accrue to both the employer and employees are as follows:

1. It encourages employees to raise concerns without fear of reprisal.

2. It provides a fair and speedy means of dealing with complaints.

3. It prevents minor disagreements developing into more serious disputes.

4. It serves as an outlet for employee frustrations and discontents.

5. It saves employer’s time and money as solutions are found for workplace problems. It helps to build an organizational climate based on openness and trust.

          

               Reference: 

* E. D. Rose - Financial Times Prentice,2004-Comparative Industrial Relations

* H H D N P Opatha -Sustainable Human Resource Management: Expanding Horizons of  HRM University of Sri Jayawardhanapura ,2019

* Heffernan M and Dunton T 2016 cross level Effects of High Performance Work System And employee Well Being.The Mediation effect of Organizational Justice.Human Resource Management Journal

*W Wijesooriya -2021Effects of Grivance Handling Mechanizem on Extra work-University of Ruhuna

* Effective Grivance handdling procedures-Hunter S And Brian H. Kleiner -2004 January- Management Research News .