Amity Business School

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND

LABOUR LAWS
• INTERESTS- LIKE WHAT SHOULD BE THE WAGE,
OR WAGE INCREASE-AMENABLE TO COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING

• RIGHTS-LIKE MINIMUM WAGE,-REGULATED BY

LAW
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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS-DEFINITION

• Relations between management and Union, or

between representatives of employees and
representatives of employers about all aspects of
employment.
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Dunlop’s Model of IR

• IR is a subsystem of society, overlapping with other

subsystems involving :
• Certain Inputs
• Certain Processes, and
• Certain Outputs
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Inputs

• Certain Actors
• Certain Environmental Contexts
• Certain Ideology
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Processes
• Collective Bargaining
• Conciliation
• Arbitration
• Adjudication
• Lawmaking
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Outputs

• Rules for running the workplace

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Rules for running the workplace - actors

• Employers, or their Representatives-managers

• Workers, or their organizations- Unions
• Specialized Government or other agencies, created by
the first two Actors, who are concerned with workers,
enterprises and their relationships
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Environmental Contexts

• Technology, and technology changes

• Product and factor Markets and changes taking place
in these markets, budgetary constraints
• Locus and distribution of power in the society
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Ideology
• Ideology is a set of ideas and beliefs commonly held by
Actors. These ideas define the role and place of each
actor and his attitude
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Rules

• Standing orders of the work place

• Agreements, Collective Bargaining Settlements
• Awards
• Customs and traditions of the work place
• Rules can be written, oral, or just practices
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CHOICES IN IR
• Coerce-only one side gets what it wants
• Conflict-both sides spend energy in fighting, and only
one side usually has a marginal gain
• Compete-One party wins and the other looses
• Compromise-No one gets what he wants
• Co-opt/cooperate-the initiator may walk away with a
larger slice of the cake
• Collaborate-both parties work out options for mutual
gain
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Limitations of Dunlop Model

• Consumers and community are also Actors, alongside,
employers, workers and specialized government and
other agencies concerned with enterprises and their
relations
 Limitations of Dunlop Model (Contd.)
Amity Business School

• Dunlop had focused mainly on ‘Conflict

Resolution’ related ‘Industrial Relations
Processes’ in his model. He had missed out on
conflict prevention and conflict minimization
processes like ‘grievance procedure’; harmony
oriented industrial relations processes, like-
consultation, participation, cooperation seeking
and partnership building processes. These
constitute the elements of ‘Sound Labour
Management Relations’; and constitute some of
the ‘best practices’ in industrial relations.
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INDUSTRY

• All forms of economic activity, such as agriculture,

manufacturing and services etc are being carried out
with the cooperation of employers and employees.
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Ideology-Approach- theoretical
Perspectives
• Unitary
• Pluralist/ Democratic
• Radical/ communist
• Trusteeship/ Gandhian-Business enterprises are
Trustees of the interests of consumers, workers,
shareholders and the community- Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR)
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APPROACHES TO IR, THEORETICAL

PERSECTIVES
• Unitary-Dictatorial, Based on the view that it’s the
Management’s prerogative to take decisions.
• Pluralist-All interest groups have their say, and they
need to be consulted to resolve conflict
• Radical-Marxian perspective, profit motive, class
conflict is inevitable. In this view Trade Unions are
transformed into revolutionary organizations
• Trusteeship-Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of industry
being held in trust for the benefit of consumers,
workers, share holders and the community.
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CONFLICT IN IR INEVITABLE

• Due to:
• Wage-work bargain
• Managerial system-Supervision, work governance
• Fundamental division between capital and labour class
• Conflict of interest-higher wage eats into a potential
higher profit.
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RULE MAKING-THE OUTPUT OF IR

• Unilateral-employer calling the shots

• Rule making through Collective Bargaining (Bipartite)
• Tripartite agreements, with Government as a party
• Multipartite social codes, with consumers intervening,
for instance.
• Rule making by a third party-arbitration/adjudication