Grievance: in An Employee Arising Out of Anything Related To The Enterprise Where He Is Working

Grievance
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.”
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.
Nature of Grievance
Grievances are symptoms of conflicts in the enterprise.
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.
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.
 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.
 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.
Identifying Grievances
 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 .
 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. The
management should carefully act upon the information thus
gathered.
 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.
 Open-door Policy. Some organizations 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 can 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.
Grievances Classification (Causes)
 (1) 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.

(2) 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.

Grievances Classification
 (3) Grievances resulting from personal
maladjustment
 (i) Over – ambition.
 (ii) Excessive self-esteem or what we better

know as ego.
 (iii) Impractical attitude to life etc.

Effects of Grievances:
􀂃 Frustration
􀂃 Alienation
􀂃 De-motivation
􀂃 Low Productivity
􀂃 Increase in Wastage & Costs
􀂃 Absenteeism
􀂃 Indiscipline
􀂃 Labour unrest
Establishing a Grievance Procedure
 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.
 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.
 Since delay causes frustration and tempers may rise and
rumors spread around the work, it is essential that
grievances should be dealt with speedily. A stitch in time
saves nine.
 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.
Guidelines for Effective Grievance Handling
 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.
 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.

ESSENTIALS OF A GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
3. Simplicity: The procedure should be simple
enough to be understood.
 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.
 4. Promptness: Speedy settlement of a
grievance is the cornerstone of a sound
personnel policy. This can be achieved by
incorporating the following feature in the
procedure:
 As far as possible, grievances should be settled
at the lowest level

 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.

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Grievance

According to Michael Jucius, “ A grievance can be any

A grievance means any discontentment or dissatisfaction

It may not be expressed and even may not be valid.

While dealing with grievances of subordinates, it is

 A grievance may or may not be real.

 Grievance may arise out of not one cause but

 Every individual does not give expression to his

 Factual: When an employee is dissatisfied with his job,

 Disguised: An employee may have

 Gripe Boxes: These are boxes in which the employees can

 Non-availability of proper tools, machines

 Poor working conditions.

 Bad employer – employee relationship, etc.

 Seniority and Promotional.

 Lack of employee development plan.

 Lack of role clarity.

 (i) Over – ambition.

 (ii) Excessive self-esteem or what we better

 (iii) Impractical attitude to life etc.

􀂃 Increase in Wastage & Costs

 Reasonable exercise of authority to the manager, and

 Adequate participation of the union.

 Channels for handling grievances should be

at the lowest level

should be rigidly followed at each level.

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