Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Peer Reviewed – International Journal
Vol-4, Issue-1, 2018 (IJIR)
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
Industrial Relations in Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Limited (BSNL): An Insight
Jagadeesh Kumar.B.1 & Aryasri.A.R.2
1
Research Scholar, JNTU, Hyderabad.
2
Former Director & Professor, School of Management Studies, JNTU, Hyd. and
Professor, School of Management Studies, CBIT, Hyderabad.
Abstract: This article analyses the role of
Industrial Relations (IR) in improving the
organizational performance and how it effects the
changes in the organisational behaviour and
culture. It emphasizes on various key influencing
factors: external and internal, that are needed for
developing better harmonious industrial relations.
The significance of co-operation and coordination
between employer and employee for achievement of
organisational goals is enunciated. A well
established Public Sector Organisation, Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), in Telecom space,
is chosen for case study and the impact of
Industrial Relations contributing for improvement
of the company performance is enunciated. A
conceptual model of Industrial Relations in BSNL
is depicted.
This paper discusses how the BSNL has
improved its performance by means of managing
harmonious relations through IR Techniques. This
paper further elaborates the link between Industrial
Relations Management and company performance
management for achieving the organisational
goals. The Social dialogue at BSNL as a medium
of ensuring effective communication among the
trade unions, executive associations, joint councils,
working committees, etc. is critically evaluated to
analyse how far it is successful in affecting the
contracts and the development of labour issues.
Campaigns such as Service with a Smile (SWAS)
are launched to bring an attitudinal change among
the employees at different cadres and the company
has been finding it as a challenge to address the
ever-mounting employee benefit expenses and
Office and Administration expense. Increasing
productivity is the only way to increase revenue
and accommodate all these expenses.
Based on the detailed study on Industrial
Relations in BSNL, here are select certain areas
identified for improvement of the harmonious
industrial relations: a) Periodical career Progress
b) performance based motivation c) skill
development d) reorient welfare schemes in
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
alignment to employee expectations e) work-place
ergonomics f) enlighten the employees about the
compelling need for organisational performance
g) improvised social dialogue.
Keywords: Industrial Relations, BSNL, Trade
Unions, Executive Associations, Harmony, Social
Dialogue.
1. INTRODUCTION
Industrial relations refer to relationship
between the management and labour/employees
and their organisations that characterize are grown
out of employment. The evolution of industrial
relation (IR) is the impact of economy policies and
certain legendary acts such as the emergence of the
concept IR, Personnel Management, Human
Resource Development. The industrial relation is
an inseparable relation between management and
workers in taking ahead the organisation
achievements. The industrial relation covers all the
aspects of the employment relationship including
HRM, Union Management. The IR includes a
collective bargain of the workers, participation in
decision making, settlement of the disputes and
grievances, and the Conflict Management of
employer versus Trade union. The changing
business environment of an organisation due to
economic, technological, political, legal and social
aspects bring pressure on its work force to respond
to the change. In general, the IR is a multi
disciplinary field, deals with labour relations and
company management. To make changes in any
modalities in the business strategy, IR plays a vital
role. This change in social environment in
industries becomes a big contributor to the
industrial relations in achieving the key object of
the company.
Many external factors like government
policies, competition, social obligations, etc.
having impact on the company performance
particularly in the service sector. To withstand in
the competitive market, the company has to adopt
business process re-engineering (BPR) in order to
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Peer Reviewed – International Journal
Vol-4, Issue-1, 2018 (IJIR)
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
bring certain changes in the dimensions of the
management. For changing its company strategy,
IR plays a prominent role. Unless there is good
cooperation and healthy harmonious relations
between the management and employees, the
In this case study, Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited (BSNL) is chosen being one of the biggest
Government supported organisation having
turnover of Rs. 32,919 crores. It renders multi-facet
telecom services all over India penetrating into
interior areas in India. It has strength of employees
around 1.89 Lakhs, thus it is 3rd biggest
employment provider after Defence and Railways.
In the beginning, the BSNL had experienced heavy
losses. Subsequently, it slowly improved its
company performance and gets the trend of taking
turnaround from losses. The BSNL is dared to face
the external and internal challenges in the
competitive market with its improved IR.
In the era of neck to neck competition, the
constant technological changes have lead the BSNL
in the direction of paramount domain of acquiring
competitive, skilled, loyal and committed work
force. The important organization performance
indices are business outcomes that are to be
measured for comparisons are: productivity,
company growth, profitability, turnover raise, etc..
This paper discusses how the BSNL has improved
its performance by means of managing harmonious
relations through IR Techniques. This paper further
elaborates the link between Industrial Relations
Management and company performance
management for achieving the organisational goals.
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objectives of the study include:
1) To identify the various categories and functions
of Trade Unions and associations in BSNL.
2) To understand the spirit of code of discipline at
BSNL
3) To present the IR Conceptual Model at BSNL
and analyse the impact of various external and
internal factors on Industrial relations in
BSNL.
4) To evaluate the efforts of top management at
BSNL of involving trade unions/associations in
decision making.
5) To suggest ways and means of improving the
Industrial relations at BSNL.
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
There was a day-long nationwide strike on
July 27, 2017 because the most of the employees
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
achievement of the expected improvement in
company performance is not possible in the
changing circumstances and in increasing
competitive market.
and workers were upset for not getting the given
wage hike by the 3rd Pay Revision Committee. The
unions say that BSNL continued to be the loss-
making unit because of the policies imposed by
Government of India but not because of the
employees who are more committed and efficient.
BSNL, for instance, was not allowed to procure 3G
equipment for its mobile network expansion from
2006 to 2012. The tenders floated by BSNL to
procure mobile equipment were cancelled and this
indiscriminate move made a deep dent on the
competitiveness of the telecom giant in the public
sector. BSNL could not take advantage of the
exponential growth witnessed in the mobile
segment during this period. BSNL had an
operational loss of Rs 6,933 crores in the year
2013–14. This lag was enough for its competitors
in the private sector to surge ahead. BSNL could
transform its quality of services from good to better
only after it procured the equipment in 2013 and
this turned around the financial position of the
company also. It reduced the operational loss of Rs
8,234 crores in 2014–15 to Rs 3,888 crores in the
year 2015–16. Despite the cut-throat competition
from Reliance Jio and other leading competitors,
BSNL could add 20 lakhs new mobile customers.
This demonstrates the commitment of the BSNL
officers and workers in bringing the company on
revival path. But, the demand for wage revision
with 15 per cent fitment is yet a dream.
According to Dale Yoder, Industrial
Relations refer to the relationship between
management and employees, or employees and
their organization that arise out of employment.
Teed and Metcalfe observed that Industrial
Relations are the composite approach of the
attitudes and approaches of the employers and
employees towards each other with regard to
planning, supervision, direction and unification of
the activities set up with less friction and more co-
operation with mutual effort for others well-being.
Huselid M.A. (1995) explained how the
management of human resources effectively and
efficiently can lead to improve performance and
thus Strategic Human Resources Management
(SHRM) evolved in the process.
As per Trade Union Congress (TUC) 1984, more
aggressive and assertive management styles were
developed in Britain and certain guide lines were
issued defining the IR objectives as:
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Peer Reviewed – International Journal
Vol-4, Issue-1, 2018 (IJIR)
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
1. Control the work process,
2. Secure cost effectiveness,
3. Re-assert managerial authority,
Thus those objectives were reflected in
management policies and attitudes with regard to:
1. Unions,
2. Collective bargaining,
3. Involvement, consultation and participation,
4. Human resource management and
management style,
5. Flexibility,
6. Levels and methods of remuneration.
According to International Labour
Organisation (2013), Industrial Relations comprise
relationships between the state on one hand, and
the employer and employee of an organisation on
the other, and the relationship among the
occupational organisations themselves. The
following are features of Industrial relations:--
1. Industrial relations are outcomes of
employment relationships in an industrial
enterprise. These relations cannot exist
without the two parties namely employers
and employees.
2. Industrial relations system creates rules
and regulations to maintain harmonious
relations.
3. The government intervenes to shape the
Industrial Relations through laws, rules,
agreements, terms, charters, etc.
4. Several parties are involved in the
Industrial Relations system. The main
parties are employers and their
associations, employees and their unions
and the government. These three parties
interact within economic and social
environment to shape the Industrial
relations structure.
5. Industrial Relations are a dynamic and
developing concept, not a static one. They
undergo changes with changing structure
and scenario of the Industry as and when
change occurs.
6. Industrial Relations include both
individual relations and collective
relationships.
In India, the Planning Commission during
Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961) endorsed an
idea of joint commission that is a step towards the
creation of an industrial democracy and a socialist
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
4. Move towards a more unitary and
individualistic approach.
society. The idea begins the theme i.e. worker
participation in management decisions in the
interest of company progress. Suitable wage policy,
provision for quick settlement of wage and bonus,
disputes, protection and encouragement, adoption
of improved techniques of production with least
labour displacement and discontent, are some of the
problems to be solved through careful planning and
policy implementation.
Gopinath (2016) in his research paper
entitled Industrial Relations Impact with Job
Satisfaction Using SEM Model with Special
Reference to BSNL Employees in Three Different
Secondary Switching Areas (SSAs), analyzed the
Industrial Relations and its impact on Job
Satisfaction with special reference to BSNL, three
different SSAs namely Trichy, Thanjavur and
Madurai. To examine the level of Industrial
Relations, Job Satisfaction is examined using Job
Descriptive Index (JDI) Scale among BSNL
employees. Some of the parameters examined in
this context include Work, Supervision, Pay,
Promotions, and Co-worker relations. The study
reveals that all such employees satisfied on the job
front would make a positive contribution to their
respective job roles in BSNL and this leads to
increase the effectiveness of the BSNL.
G.Brindha (2013) conducted an analytical
study of effect and implication of Voluntary
Retirement Scheme (VRS) proposed in BSNL. It is
observed that most of the organizations rely on HR
personnel to sell the idea of downsizing to the
employees; they have to convince line managers
that a reduced workforce means higher
productivity. The study reveals that voluntary
retirement scheme was more preferred by many
employees and thus made the downsizing strategy
of BSNL more productive.
Sunil Manohar Subbaiah et al (2016)
examined the relationship between overall training
satisfaction and employee development aspect of
job satisfaction with particular reference to BSNL.
Since the vital aspect of the learning experience is
the trainers, majority of the respondents in the
study found the training session to be joint effort
where they were given freedom to express. This
study endorses that training initiatives are a wise
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Peer Reviewed – International Journal
Vol-4, Issue-1, 2018 (IJIR)
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

investment that directly improves job satisfaction,
and commitment among the employees. This has an
appositive impact on the bottom line by motivating
employees, and decreasing turnover.
In 1980s British Industrial Relations were
adversely affected by powerful forces: Political,
Economical and Management Policies. Due to that
the public sector encountered major problems. That
leads to privatisation of monopolies. e.g. British
Telecom, Mercury Communications and Office of
Telecommunications (OFTEL). The British
Telecom (BT) with labour force of around 2,50,000
was privatised in 1984. There were a number of
significant disputes indicating bad industrial
relations.

The bargaining levels were dropped
miserably due to firm management decisions and
imposed financial pressures on unions. There were
no compromise attempts between management
and unions under the influence of firm government
policies. Trade Unions opposed to privatisation
(denationalization), but the government adopted a
divide and rule tactics to overcome their
resistance. On account of disturbed work
environment and strained IR relations, BT
organisational performance led to deterioration
and landed in privatisation. Ultimately
Government support was withdrawn and asked the
company to run on its own resources.
In the third annual Labour Day list
announced by American rights at work, a leading
labour policy and adequacy organisation (2007)
identified certain successful partnerships between
employees and their employee labour unions.
Those companies are practicing fairly
compensating the employees and sharing the
decision making with them through unions. All the
companies have negotiated good contacts with
their employee unions.
They have implemented certain labour
standards as follows--
1. Collaborating as equal partners
with workers and their unions to craft
innovative strategies on compensation,
performance and productivity to meet
business goals and challenges.
2. Providing sustainable wages and
worker- friendly benefits
3. Creation of new jobs and adopting
employee retention strategies
4. Ensure worker safety and health
5. Providing training and development
There has been very scanty literature in
respect of the strategies followed by contemporary
international telecom giants to maintain
harmonious industrial relations. The profiles of
those identified successful companies from
different industries such as telecom, hospitality,
healthcare, paper/Tissue Products, sheet metal and
electrical contracts are tabulated as below with a
purpose of cross learning.

Sl. Organisation Location Industry No. of IR strategy Achievement

no (Head quarters) Employees
1. AT&T, Inc. San Antonio, Tele- 1,80,000 Balancing workers’ Competitive and
TX communications rights and profitable
profitability
2. Double Tree San Jose, CA Hospitality 300 Democracy in the Widened business
Hotel workplace with scope. Best
qualitative customer customer care
service.

3. Montefiore Bronx, NY Health care 12,000 Historic Union Provided best

Medical Centre partnership patient care
enhances patient possible.
care. Highly skilled
health care staff.

4. SCA Tissue Philadelphia, PA Paper manufacturing 2,400 Worker A leading producer

North America (US) and tissue products collaboration of tissue/paper
translates into products.
higher profits.
5. Stromberg Beltsville, MD Sheet metal 440 Empowering builds Competitive
Metal Works, and reputation for business edge.
Inc. success. Developed sound
labour management
practices.

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Peer Reviewed – International Journal
Vol-4, Issue-1, 2018 (IJIR)
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

6. Thompson Munroe Falls, Electrical Contracts 200 Innovative A skilled work

Electric, Inc. OH partnership for force handles
workers safety and challenging
training. projects.

Source: Compiled from several news reports

resulting in heavy losses as a result of intense

competition in the privatizing Indian
telecommunications sector. BSNL has a customer
base of 93.29 million as of June 2015 and it is
India's oldest communication service provider. It
operates all through India, except
for Mumbai and New Delhi, where
telecommunications are managed by Mahanagar
The above review reveals that different components Telephone Nigam (MTNL). BSNL Mobile is a
such as training, downsizing, strikes etc. are major provider of GSM cellular mobile services
covered issue-wise and there are no research under the brand name Cell-one. BSNL provides a
studies that offer an integrated insight into complete telecom services solution to enterprise
industrial relations issue at BSNL and this paper customers including MPLS, P2P and Internet
addresses this gap. leased lines. It provides fixed line services and
landline using CDMA technology and its own
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited extensive optical fiber network. BSNL
(BSNL): The Profile provides Internet access services through dial-up
connections as prepaid NetOne and DataOne as
BSNL Broadband.
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL) was incorporated on 1st October2000 BSNL offers many value-added services
getting transferred the service sector activities from and these include Free Phone Service (FPH), India
Department of Telecom (DOT). It is a government Telephone Card (Prepaid card), Account Card
owned organisation with 100 percent investment. Calling (ACC), Virtual Private Network (VPN),
BSNL AT A GLANCE
Tele-voting, Premium Rate Service (PRM) and
Total Revenue Rs 32,918.70 crore (US$-
5.1 billion) (2016)
Universal Access Number (UAN). BSNL also
Operating income Rs.2844.94 crore (US$- offers the IPTV which enables customers to watch
438 million) (2016) television through the Internet and Voice and
Net Loss Rs.3,879.92 crore (US$- Video over Internet Protocol (VVoIP).
600 million) (2016)
Total assets Rs.70,746.75 crore (US$- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, a Public
11 billion) (2016) Sector Enterprise, also provides fiber plans for the
Owner Government of India home, which are generally known as BSNL FTTH
Customer Base 93.29 million (2016) broadband service. This is the fastest broadband
Number of 2,09,996 (2016) service provided by BSNL, offering speeds up to
employees 100Mbps to home-based Internet users. According
*As per BSNL Annual Report (2015-16) to the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI)
Report dated 19 Feb 2016, BSNL's market share of
BSNL is a telecommunications company the broadband is 14.54% stood at 4th place. As a
with headquarters in New Delhi. It is a 17 year old wireless provider, it ranked 6th with an 8.16%
PSU in the business of providing telecom services share of that market.
and network management in general, and the
services such as fixed line telephones, mobile For administration purpose, BSNL is
phone, broadband, Leased Circuits and IPTV in divided into a number of telecom circles, metro
particular. It has the largest subscriber base in districts, project circles and specialized units. It has
fixed telephony and broadband services with more 24 telecom circles, two metro districts, six project
than 60% market share, and is the fifth largest circles, four maintenance regions, five telecom
mobile service provider in India. factories, three training institutions and four
specialized telecom units.
However, in recent years, the company's
revenues and market share have plummeted

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
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Vol-4, Issue-1, 2018 (IJIR)
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
In the beginning, all the government
privileges, tax holiday and other levy benefits were
enjoyed for 5years. The employees of the BSNL
were en bloc migrated from DOT under certain
promises from the company on their career
prospects. The employees are not changed their
work culture or style, and continued, as if, they are
in government and enjoyed monopoly in the
telecom sector. The company started facing huge
loses to the extent of a few thousand crores after
2007 onwards. At the same time, there is a heavy
competition raised in the telecom sector due to
privatisation and on induction of Multi-National
Companies (MNC).
To improve the company performance, the BSNL
has started reviewing various factors, which
contribute to bring down the losses. It is mainly
concentrated on effectively utilizing the resources
on hand like Man Power, Physical Assets and
Equipment, etc.. It has also consulted certain
Consultant agencies like, Boston Consulting Group
(BCG), Deloitte, Ernst and Young (EY).
The BSNL is one of the biggest Public
Sector Undertakings (PSUs) having high employee
work strength. Its work strength is 1.89 Lakhs. Out
of those, Executives are 45,902 and Non-
Executives- 1,42,700. They are working at different
capacities within BSNL in various fields: technical,
non-technical, commercial, accounting, marketing,
ministerial services spread all over India. To take
care of the employee welfare and to have better
work environment, eight Trade Unions for workers
(Non-executives) and eleven Executive
Associations are recognized and functioning. Their
roles and responsibilities are discussed in this
paper. Apart from that, there are other bodies (Joint
Consultative Machinery) like local councils, circle
councils and national council involving nominated
representation from staff-side and management as a
matter of employee participation in management
decisions.
In an Organization, Social dialogue is one
of the forms of participation of employees in the
matters referring to field of labour or on matters of
mutual interest for socio-economic policy. The
Social dialogue is an effective communication
involving social partners (employees and
employers/ employer bodies) intended to effect the
contracts and the development of labour issues. In
this process of the social dialogue, the participants
are nominated representatives through their union.
Social dialogue is also a common platform on
which employees can participate in decision
making, information and operations of the
company. The main goal of social dialogue is to
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
On the realization of the continuous losses
to the company, the BSNL started thinking of
introducing business process reengineering (BPR)
in all the dimensions of the company functions,
particularly in the technology, operation,
maintenance, finance, HR, marketing, IT, etc.. This
paper mainly concentrated on the study of HR role
especially the industrial relations of the company.
Unless there are proper harmonious relations
between the management and employees, there
would not be any improvement in company
performance.
promote consensus building and democratic
environment to encourage good governance and the
existence of social, industrial peace and stability. It
facilitates better bargaining and set an acceptable
social level and thus promotes prosperity. In this
process, there will be economic and social
development in the company and the feeling of
social security, stability and equality is created
among the employees.
Code of Discipline
BSNL has code of discipline in place. The rights
and responsibilities of employees and workers are
recognized as per the laws and bipartite and
tripartite agreements arrived at all levels from time
to time. All the parties committed their willingness
to discharge their obligations arising out of such
recognition. While every worker/employee has
right to form a union or conduct proceedings, he
/she also plays a significant role in spreading of
positive sentiments, maintenance of cordial
relations, healthy dialogue between management
and unions, constructive approaches and spirit of
mutual co-existence for the overall well-being,
growth, reputation and competitiveness of the
orgnaisation. It is this spirit of bonhomie that forms
the essence of the code of discipline.
The Central and State Governments on their part
agree to arrange to examine and set right any
shortcomings in the machinery they constitute for
the administration of labour enactments.
The management and unions agree that
a) There will not be any unilateral action
with any company matter and disputes
will be settled at an appropriate level.
b) The existing machinery will be utilized
with the utmost expedition.
c) There would be no strike or lockout
without any notice.
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d) Both parties affirm their faith in
democratic principles they bind
themselves to all future differences,
disputes and grievances by mutual
negotiations, conciliation and voluntary
arbitration.
e) Neither party will resort to a) coercion b)
intimidation c) victimization d) go-slow
tactics
f) They will avoid litigation, sit down and
stay in strike or lockout.
g) They will strive to promote for
constructive cooperation among the
representatives at all levels, and among the
workers themselves and abide by the spirit
of agreements mutually entered into
The provisions of this code in local languages will
be displayed conspicuously at all prominent places
in the organisation. The management agrees to
distinguish between actions justifying immediate
discharge and those where warning, reprimand,
suspension or some other form of disciplinary
action is to be taken before the worker/employee is
discharged. Also management allows appeal
against such disciplinary action through normal
grievance procedure. Management will take
appropriate disciplinary action against its officers
and members who are identified, in an enquiry, as
responsible for precipitated action by workers
leading to indiscipline.
The unions agree that they will not engage
in any form of physical duress, will not take part in
demonstrations which are not peaceful, will not
encourage anarchism in demonstrations, will not
engage in any union activity during working hours,
will discourage unfair labour practices such as
negligence of duty, careless operation, damage to
property, interference with or disturbance to normal
work and insubordination. The union further
agrees that it will not endorse any violation of the
terms of code of discipline.
Trade Unions/ Associations in BSNL
In BSNL, there are different forms of
employee representation participating in
managerial activities as a part of IR. Those are
explained in detail below-
1. Non-Executive Unions:
In BSNL, Eight Non-Executives (Trade
Unions) are registered under Trade Union
Act. All the Unions viz., BSNLEU: CITU;
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
h) A grievance redressal procedure will be
established in consultation with each other
so as to have a speedy and thorough
investigation leading to a settlement.
The management agrees that it will not
increase workload unless agreed upon or settled
otherwise. It will not support or encourage any
unfair labour practice such as a) interference with
the rights of employees to enroll or continue as
union members b) discrimination restraint or
coercion against any employee because of
recognized activity or trade union and c)
victimisation of any employee and abuse of
authority in any form. A prompt action will be
initiated to settle the grievance, implement the
settlements, awards, decisions or orders.
NTTU: AITUC; FNTO: INTUC; BTUE:
BMS are affiliated to certain political Parties.
However, all these Unions strive for restoring
the worker rights, interests and welfare of the
employees. Union Verification (Elections) is
conducted from time to time. Majority Union
has a right to represent the employees and
enjoy certain privileges. They represent the
problems of the field, working condition and
welfare of the employees exclusively the work
force. They participate in social dialogue in
the management in improving the work
environment and also represent the worker
problems for resolution with the cooperation
of the management. They play important role
in attaining industrial peace and improving the
company performance and image in the
public.
2. Executive associations:
In BSNL, eleven Executive Associations
are working for the interest of the officers and
actively involve in contributing to provide
technical and financial solutions to the
management. They also work to improve the
work culture and environment. Their role is
prominent in the organizational change or
implementing any new Business Process Re-
engineering for getting improvement in the
company performance. The executives work as
drivers in any change in the company
environment. They mediate between management
and workers in resolving the issues to ensure the
peace and growth of the company. They also give
advice and feedback to the management in
resolving technical and administrational issues.
They are helping the management to take
decision in policy matters related to HR, Planning
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and Development. They act as conduit in carrying
out the theme of policies down the line for
obtaining effective results. In case of any critical
issues raised in the field, it will be escalated to
management for taking appropriate actions in
right time. Their primary objective is to promote
common service interest, welfare measures for its
members besides inculcating team spirit and to
boost the morale and efficiency of executive
community. They always have proactive
approach towards the company interests and
performance improvement.
In the 3- tier structure of joint council’s machinery consisting of:
Council Level
National At Corporate office
Circle At Circle
Local At District
The BSNL Councils are comprised of the
representatives from the recongised unions
concerned. The councils formed at district/circle
level, also taking a certain share from the elected
recognized unions. In order to utilize the time of
JCM meetings effectively, a committee comprising
of 2 or 3 members each from the management and
staff side under the chairmanship of concerned HR
head. He will review the decisions taken in the
JCM for necessary implementation. These joint
councils mainly concentrate on the issues related to
their basic requirements of working conditions,
safety needs, field problems, etc, and service
benefits, pay anomalies en-mass. They also
represent some field problems facing in operation
and maintenance. They also convey the massive
feedback of customer needs and expectations for
the improvement of service and better customer
satisfaction.
4. Working Committees
The working committees are formed at
functional level (i.e. district and circle) primarily
to ensure growth and development of critical
dimensions in the company. The working
committees are formed by the management to
study various critical areas where special
attention is required to improve. The members
are selected nominated basis from the employees
who are having depth in knowledge and
experience in the particular area to work
constructively to achieve certain desired
objectives in the interest of service. The issues
may be like: increasing the company revenues,
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
3. Joint Councils
Under this scheme of Joint Consultative
Machinery (JCM), a constructive dialogue
platform is open between staff representatives
and management side in order to have a peaceful
resolution of the issues or disputes within their
purview. It promotes a harmonious relations and
securing the cooperation between employer and
employee in the common concern of the objective
to increase the efficiency of the services along
with well being of employees.
Periodicity Headed By
Quarterly Director (HR)
Quarterly Chief General Manger
Bi-Monthly General Manager
improve the market share, enhance the market
spread, ensure quality of service (QOS), attain the
customer satisfaction, etc. These committees
sincerely put efforts in the work assigned to
them, and submit the feedback and
recommendations for improvement. The working
committees help the organisation in resolving
field issues that occasionally raised and ceased on
completion of the assigned activity. The members
will work voluntarily without any additional
remuneration. It is generally observed that the
achievements of work committee are
commendable and result oriented.
IR-Conceptual Model
BSNL realised that the Industrial Relations is
one of the prime contributor to improve the
various dimensions of company performance. In
maintaining the good industrial relations, many
external and internal factors influence the work
culture. The external influences are government
policies, competition and social obligations. The
internal influencing factors are pressure by
management decisions, employee expectations
and trade union / association participation. Under
the influence of those factors, the BSNL bounds
to review its industrial relations between
employer and employees in order to develop
harmonic interactions so as to improve the
company performance. Here is the IR-Conceptual
Model presented based on both the external and
internal influencing factors governing industrial
relations at BSNL
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External influencing Factors
Government Policies
Competition
Social obligations
Customers Industrial Relations
Harmonious
Employer Relations
Company Performance
Fig.1: A conceptual Model on Industrial Relations
These factors are explained below:
A. Influencing Factors (External):
(1) Government Policies: BSNL being the
fully government owned organisation and having
100% stocks borne by the DOT, it shall be abide by
the various rules and regulations imposed.
Sometimes the telecom policies framed by the
DOT / TRAI in lien with government policies and
pressurize the BSNL for implementation thereby
putting it in an irksome position. It is certainly have
influence on BSNL performance. For example:
Rural telecom policy, certain concessions during
disaster rehabilitation times. The TRAI taken
decision in favour of customer convenience and its
directions on maintenance of the quality of service
affects the revenue of the company. Thus, the
expenditure on operations and maintenance may
increase. To compensate those accrued losses, the
company has to work hard with the cooperation of
stock holders (employees, financers).
(2) Competition: On liberalisation in the
Telecom Sector, the private operators and Multi
National Companies (MNC) induction raised
competition in the field. Tariff reduction in
competition hit all companies’ telecom revenues
miserably. Due to that the BSNL company
performance adversely affected. On introduction of
Mobile Number Portability (MNP), the customer
has a chance to move from one operator to another
operator, subsequently affects the market share of
the company. The technology up-gradation so
increases additional capital investment. To with
stand in the competitive market, the BSNL has to
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Internal Influencing Factors
Management decisions
Employee participation
Trade Unions/Associations
Employee
improve its performance for which the employment
support is required.
(3) Social Obligations: Due to
parliamentary policies, social obligations increased
on the BSNL being the government organisation.
Particularly, in Rural Telecom Development, the
BSNL is forced to provide the network &
connections in interior and far-flung areas, while
the private operators deliberately avoid the rural
connectivity. It reduces the BSNL revenue and
increases the operational expenditure. Ex: Public
Telephones, Rural telephony, National Optical
Fibre Network (NOFN) extending to Gram
Panchayats in India. It requires additional fund
allocation in BSNL. It subsequently had impact on
company balance sheet.
B. Influencing Factors (Internal):
(1) Management Decisions: To cope up
with the growing competition in Indian Telecom
Sector, the BSNL is enforced to introduce certain
tariff reduction plans and social obligative
decisions as per National Telecom Policy (NTP),
which ultimately lands on reduction in its telecom
revenue. These may have an impact on company
working environment and work-culture. In
repercussion of the reductions in the budget
allocations and limitations imposed in the other
resources, there will be high impact in the
employees working condition. Their wages
reduction and withdrawal of some facilities may
create unrest in the employees. Austerity measures,
Reduction in tariff, budget curtailment, technology
up-gradation, new services introduction etc. may
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have adverse effect on the employee welfare and
work ergonomics. Stress and strain increased on the
work force in the constrained environment. Under
such circumstances, the company needs to have
good IR through to convince the employees
seeking their cooperation for meeting the
competitive challenges in the market.
(2) Customer Expectations: The
customer satisfaction is most important in retaining
the customer. These days the customer
expectations are increased along with fast moving
world. To meet their demands the service sectors
particularly in Telecom have to maintain quality of
service. Customers have wide options to move to
other operators. To retain the customer, the BSNL
need to offer better tariff plans at affordable cost
besides improving the services. In the way of
attaining customer satisfaction, a lot of pressure is
increased on the employee particularly working at
front-end.
In any service sector, the customer
satisfaction is ultimate goal for sustaining in the
market successfully. The customer
expectation/demands are changing widely in
comparison with the market trend. Any service
organisation has to change its strategy so as to
prepare to meet the needs of the customer and able
to deliver goods in time. Quality of service, taste
and flavor are the essence to attract the prospective
customer and to retain the existing customers. To
sustain in the dynamic competitive market, the
BSNL is always on its toes to get prepared to
upgrade its technology and keep an eye on business
intelligence. It should have its own analysis and
strategy in assessing the changing customer
behavioral expectations. For that the BSNL used its
front-end employees and IT applications. The
perfect periodical interactions are made between
management and employees for the sake of
company development.
(3) Employee Participation: In the new
trend of managerial styles, the employee
participation is giving priority in decision making.
In that process the employee is forced to maintain
certain records / reports to have better
representation in managerial interaction meetings.
The up-to-date information in all aspects is
essential. The BSNL employees are expertised and
experienced in provision and maintain the telecom
service since decades. Their participation and
feedback in the interaction meetings with
management directly or through working
committees shall help to get better results in
improvement of the company performance.
Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
(4) Trade Unions / Associations: The
Trade Unions / Associations play important role in
the industrial relations. IR creates harmonious
relations between the employer & employees. The
trade unions work as a barrier in communication
and representation of the employee views.
Effective bargaining power of unions / associations
improves the work culture and environment. The
management also should mould the organizational
behaviour to create better working conditions. The
pro-active co-operation of trade unions /
associations is essential for maintaining the positive
industrial relationship. Different trade unions and
various executive associations having their own
agenda to have negotiations with management.
However in the interest of organizational
performance improvement, both management and
trade unions have to work together to promote their
mutual interests. A common agenda should be
worked out to take ahead the organizational
interest.
C. Company Performance:
A company performance is generally measured and
compared in the dimensions: Productivity,
Company Growth, Profitability, Turnover raise and
Customer satisfaction. In BSNL, with the help of
improvised IR and mutual harmonious relations
between the Management and Employees, the
company performance is enhanced pro-actively.
In BSNL the productivity means
related to the provision and maintenance of telecom
service. The Management has introduced latest
technology and management techniques to improve
the quality of service (QOS). The employees are
trained and upgraded their technical knowledge to
improve the QOS and further contributed to
improve the image of organization by means of
reduction of the maintenance and operational cost
and other austerity measures.
The BSNL widened its service multi-
fold by introducing new services like New
Generation Network (NGN), latest Information
Technology Solutions, etc. It extended its business
to the rural sector by means of National Optical
Fibre Network (NOFN), Security Services, e-
governance and Defence network. The company
growth is achieved with willful support of the
employees extending services in New Technology
Area.
Initially, the BSNL after inception
got profits due to certain subsidies / relaxations
offered by the government, but later on realised
losses heavily. On changing the modalities and
company culture, taken the employees into
confidence it is succeeded in reducing the cost,
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ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

raising the revenues. It has managed to reduce the
losses, in comparison with previous year losses.
The trend indicates that company is leading
towards profits in future. BSNL expected to take
around in the year of 2021. Turnover of the
company also started to increase progressively.
Besides, introducing latest technology in external
field as well as in switch and transmission, the
management changed its work culture by
improving customer relations and their satisfaction
by means of organizing door-to-door canvassing,
road shows, etc. The employees have come forward
voluntarily to face the competitive environment by
maintaining good customer friendly relations, thus
they are able to retain the old customers and getting
new customers.
Thus BSNL is able to improve its
company performance successfully by adopting the
IR as depicted in the conceptual model. The
improved industrial relations in the BSNL had
contributed a lot in steering the company
performance towards growth.
Impact of Harmonious IR on Financial
Performance
According to BSNL Annual Report 2015-16, a
comparative chart with reference to FY 2014-15 is
depicted below for certain available company
performance indicators:
As on March 31st 2016, Market Share of the
Company's telephone (both wire-line and wireless)
stood at 9.59%. The Company, while retaining its
No.1 Position in Landline segment with a market
share of 58.52% also leads in the Wired Broadband
segment with 9.94 Million customers. The
Employee benefit expenses and Office &
Administration expenses remained major
contributor to the expenses, which have shown an
increase of 2.82% and 5.09%, respectively.
BSNL started a campaign named
as "Service with a Smile (SWAS)". Through this,
all classes of employees have taken a pledge to
connect with the customer and render 'service with
a smile'. The response of the initiative has been
positive.

Sl. Company performance FY (2014-15) FY (2015-16) % increase/

no (in cr.) (in cr.) decrease

1 Revenue from services 27242.23 28449.42 4.43

2 Other income 1402.97 4469.28 317.00
3 Total Revenue 28645.20 32918.70 14.92
4 Enterprise Business 3495 4103.00 17.40
5 Energy saving 115 131.00 13.91
6 Employee benefits expenses 14963.50 15386.49 2.82
7 Administrative, operating 10839.59 11392.35 5.09
and other expenses
8 Total Expenditure 37292.10 36742.72
9 Profit /(Loss) 8234.09 3879.92 ( 47.12)
for the year

Recommendations quality service. Here are select recommendations

On the lines of AT&T,
BSNL has to balance its workers’ rights and
profitability so as to achieve competitiveness and to
improve the company performance. Despite the
fact that it has widened its orbit for business
activities and deployed strategies for better
customer care, there is still more scope for
enhancing its productivity. This can be achieved
through efficient and more engaged workforce
through democracy in workplace. Innovative
partnership for workers’ training and safety can be
explored so that the workforce is empowered with
necessary skills to handle challenges in delivering
for improvement of the harmonious relations:
1) Periodical career Progress: To attain the
employee empowerment, the management should
prepare promising periodical promotions in all the
cadres.
2) Performance based motivation: To
withstand in the competitive market it is essential
to introduce performance based pay and incentives
schemes as done in the private sector to have better
outcome from the employees. Cadre wise Awards/
Rewards can be identified based on the
performance.
3) Skill Development (Training &
Development): To adopt new fast moving
technology and get tuned to it, necessary

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Vol-4, Issue-1, 2018 (IJIR)
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professional trainings should be given. And the
management has to take necessary steps to retain
the talented workers in the critical areas.
4) Welfare Schemes: To create confidence
in employees about their family and self welfare,
certain welfare schemes like group insurance
schemes, death benevolent funds, post retired
medical care, etc. can be improved.
5) Workplace Ergonomics: An elegant,
healthy and hygienic work environment has to be
created to increase morale of the employees and
made them participate actively in the company
interest activity.
6) Improvised Social Dialogue: To improve
industrial relations in BSNL, it is felt that the
existing work committees, joint councils etc.
should be organized in a fair and transparent
manner to invite the feedback from the bottom to
top, so that the recommendations can be best
utilized by the management to improve the
company performance.
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