. GRIEVANCE HANDLING MECHANISM (GHM): A DEVICE FOR BETTER MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

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1 . GRIEVANCE HANDLING MECHANISM (GHM): A DEVICE FOR BETTER MANAGEMENT EDUCATION Mrs. Chitraekha Kumar Asst. Professor, Prin. L. N. Weingkar Institute of Management Deveopment & Research, Mumbai Abstract The objective of this study is to discuss the reasons for grievances and to check the avaiabiity of grievance handing mechanism in the management coeges. The study is based on secondary and primary data from various sources. SPSS version 20 has been used for various statistica toos for the anaysis and interpretation of resuts. There is great need to have a functiona GHM in every management institution. This heps to ensure the increased efficiency eve of Facuties. The research paper suggests the importance for effective grievance handing mechanism to ensure the cutivation of a favourabe earning environment. Keywords : Education, Management, Grievance Handing, Sustained Growth INTRODUCTION India is home to word's argest number of B-Schoos, i.e. cose to 4000 but the irony is that the quaity of education is questionabe beyond the top 25 B-Schoos in India. One of the critica factors for poor quaity management education erupts from the fact that there is scarce quaity facuty in Management Circes in India. And to add fue to the fire is the heavy poaching of the quaity facuty by competing riva B-Schoos due to poor grievance handing mechanism in many B-Schoos. Long teaching hours, consuting assignments couped with additiona administrative work have contributed in esser opportunity for facuties to express their emotions, which in turn transforms to buiding bocks for stress and burn out. The grievances of the empoyees are reated to the contract, work rue or reguation, poicy or procedure, past practices, changing the cutura norms, individua victimization, etc. The Grievance Handing Mechanism (GHM) in the management coeges ensures that the probems of the facuties are recognized and appropriatey reviewed in a prompt and timey manner. The study has been presenty conducted across a sampe of 12 B-Schoos across the ength and breadth of Maharashtra, India. Grievance may be any genuine or imaginary sign or feeing of dissatisfaction, discontentment or injustice which an empoyee experiences about his job and its nature, his reationship with his coeagues, management poicies, procedures and practices, rues and reguations. As human beings are different there is bound to be grievances among empoyees out of the day-to-day working reations in an organization eading to conficts at the workpace. It must be expressed by the empoyee and brought to the notice of the management and the organization. Grievances take the form of coective disputes when they are not resoved. Aso they wi then ower the morae and efficiency of the empoyees. Unattended grievances resut in frustration, dissatisfaction, ow productivity, ack of interest in work, absenteeism, etc. In short, grievance arises when empoyees' expectations are not fufied from the organization as a resut of which a feeing of discontentment and dissatisfaction arises. Grievance is a matter raised by empoyee to express dissatisfaction with management behaviour and is an attempt to bring out changes (D'Cruz, 1999). Grievance invoves an individua's caiming that he or she has suffered or been wronged, often because of the actions or decisions made by the manager acting on behaf of the organization (Anderson & Gunderson, 1982). In a country ike India, where there are approximatey 4000 B- Schoos, it is important to ensure that the Facuties are free from any kind of grievances. To avert any kind of conficts within the academic institute, there is need for a proper grievance procedure so that the facuties fee that their grievances are addressed and redressed. This woud ensure taent retention in the institutes. One of the effective ways of minimizing and eiminating the source of grievance is by having an 'Open Door poicy'. An Open Door Poicy faciitates upward communication in the organization where empoyees can wak into superiors 'cabin at any time and express their grievances. The Nationa Commission on Labour suggested a Mode Grievance Procedure, which ays down the sequence of steps to be taken whenever a grievance is expressed. In the present study a semi-structured questionnaire was designed to coect responses from the facuties. Ony the core facuty members have been taken as respondents. The tota number of core facuties in these 12 coeges is 327 but ony questionnaires were usabe for the purpose of the research. The researcher has aso interviewed the head of the HR department to understand the GHM prevaiing in those coeges. Ony 8 out of these Voume 3, No.-1, Jan. -Dec

2 12 coeges provided the permission to conduct interviews from the HR department. A tota of 18 peope were interviewed from the HR department. LITERATURE REVIEW Literature reviews that for a rea grievance to have occurred there must have been a vioation of an empoyee's rights on the job. Aso, it must have been the empoyer or one of his/her agents -- ike a supervisor or manager who has vioated these rights, directy or indirecty. If an empoyee makes a compaint that doesn't invove the empoyer in some way, you may sti have to dea with it, but it won't be a grievance (Trotta, Maurice S., 1976). In order to adjust the empoyees' concerns, there are recognized procedures that are appied by the organization in detaiing every inch of the probems. The grievance procedures are part in the specified area of abour in which the main concept is to impement the system regarding the various concerns and compaints. Peope are important for the business eaders and managers, and to minimize the conficts and other probem within the workpace, they have to hande the issue with fair treatment. Historicay, the grievance procedures can formuate the positive outcomes and contribute to for the effectiveness of the management. This can be another too for the management to maintain the reationships within the workpace. The grievance procedures provide the means of identifying the appropriate practices, procedures, and administrative poicies that can cause the empoyee's compaints be considered (Bohander, 1989). The creation of the grievance procedures began through the various conceptuaizations of the peope and their access in resoutions. The comparison of the femae and mae empoyees has difference means of grievance procedure. Mosty, women are anticipated in seeking justice but are acked in the access in networks that are necessary towards the resoution. Meanwhie, the men are hesitant to embrace the formaity of the grievance procedures for they were reuctant to damage their reationships with other peope (Hoffman, 2005). Legisation now compes empoyers to refer grievance procedures in their statement of terms and conditions. They must aso grant empoyees the right of accompaniment to certain hearings (Jackson, Tricia., 2000). There are recognized steps in handing the grievance which can be aso appied in the process of the organizations. Firsty and maybe the most important, is to et the person or the peope stand up and speak on what are the things they beieved is wrong. Everybody has a right to be heard, and with the open communication, the probem can be easiy resoved (Hardeman, 2004). For many years universities have enjoyed a strong position at the heart of the goba economy of knowedge, and business schoos have been one of the major success stories in higher education over the ast 40 years. But, in the view of imited quaity facuty poo in the Management Circes in India, itte has been done to keep them engaged through an effective Grievance Handing Mechanism (GHM) (Ivory et a. 2006:5, and Mintzberg 2005:377). OBJECTIVE OFTHE STUDY: The study was panned with the foowing objectives: i) To identify the reasons for facuty grievances ii) To check the avaiabiity of grievance handing mechanism in the management coeges. iii) To identify the roe of HR department towards facuty-grievance handing. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Looking at the importance of management education, there was a fet need to address the issue of grievance handing procedure for facuties in the B-Schoos. Both primary and secondary data has been used for the research purpose. Secondary data was coected from various sources incuding internet and books. A state-wide survey was designed to coect data on grievance handing mechanism in the management coeges from the state of Maharashtra, India. A tota of 12 management coeges were approached. The questionnaire was distributed to 327 facuties. 18 facuties refused to be the part of the survey and 11 of them gave incompete response. usabe questionnaires were coected back after a rigorous two day foow up to ensure that a surveyors understand the rationae of the survey and use the questionnaire effectivey. Eight of the coeges approached by the researchers aowed the interaction with the empoyees of the HR department. A tota of eighteen peope were interviewed. A semi-structured interview protoco was used, which incuded the foowing topics: grievance communication pattern, frequency of facuty grievances, grievance handing procedure, baancing the confict etc. The respondents were encouraged to iustrate their experiences of managing this phase of grievance handing. The respondents described the chaenges that they faced and they aso made suggestions as to how this process coud become more effective. Teephonic interview and exchange of emais was aso done in some cases for foow up questions to carify their point on the matter. The responses from the HR department were noted on paper on extensive manner and transcribed at the eariest possibe time after the interviews. Various tactics were used to draw meaning from the data, contrast and comparisons, checking resuts with respondents. The resut of this entire process is presented in the section on data anaysis and interpretation. Voume 3, No.-1, Jan. -Dec

3 RESPONDENTS PROFILE The respondents incuded 37 percent mae and 63 percent femae facuties. With regard to the marita status 67 percent facuty respondents were married and 33 percent were unmarried. This shows a reativey higher percent of married facuties in the 12 coeges under study. In terms of teaching experience 50 percent respondents had ess than 5 years of teaching experience, 30 percent respondents had 5-10 years of teaching experience and 20 percent of the respondents had more than 10 years of teaching experience. encouraged the facuties to bring their grievances to the HR head instead of switching their jobs due to grievances. Drop boxes were kept in the open and reachabe areas to the facuties, and they coud drop in their grievances in the written form. This practice was foowed in 5 coeges under study. The Genera Manager of HR departments agreed to this fact that most of these were compaints rather than grievances. In some cases where there was high attrition rate, the HR department took the initiative of introducing e-portas to address the grievances of the facuties; however these methods were not found to be much effective. DATAANALYSISAND INTERPRETATION Objective 1: To identify the reasons for facuty grievances Tabe 2 refects the response on identification of the reasons of facuty grievances. The researchers first tried to identify the reasons for facuty grievances through continued discussions and consutations with the HR head of 4 B-schoos. Based on the frequency of occurrence, nine reasons were identified. The respondents were asked to write yes/no against each of these nine reasons mentioned in the questionnaire. The anaysis of the data reveas that 71% of the respondents agreed that ack of independent decision making was a reason of their grievance. 68 % said that saary/ rewards/ incentives were the reasons for their grievances. 67% facuties found workoad and 66% found that additiona administrative work was the reason for their grievances. Lack of support from the institute towards research was a reason for grievance by 53% of the facuties. 48% found HOD i.e Head of the department and 34% found the work environment to be their reasons for grievances. 34% facuties found work cuture and 14% found socia injustice as reasons for their grievances. Objective 2: To check the avaiabiity of grievance handing mechanism in the management coeges. SUGGESTEDGRIEVANCEHANDLINGMECHANISMS: As an outcome of the present research it is suggested that there must be a specia grievance handing ce or a committee for the facuties. The manager in- charge shoud be capabe to identify a grievances and must take appropriate steps to eiminate the causes of such grievances so that the facuties remain oya and committed to their work. For effective grievance management the managers shoud adopt the foowing approach to manage grievance effectivey- 1. Quick Action- As soon as the grievance arises; it shoud be identified and resoved. Training must be given to the managers to effectivey and timey manage a grievance. This wi ower the detrimenta effects of grievance on the facuties and their performance. 2. Acknowedging Grievance- The manager must acknowedge the grievance put forward by the facuties as manifestation of true and rea feeings of the facuties. Acknowedgement by the manager impies that the manager is eager to ook into the compaint impartiay and without any bias. This wi create conducive work environment with instances of grievance reduced. Through the survey it was found that in a the 12 B- Schoo's under study, there was no Grievance Handing Committee for the facuties. Through the interview with the HR department empoyees it was found that the HR department addressed the grievances of the facuties and in some cases it was taken to the director of the institute. We defined separate grievance handing mechanism or department was not avaiabe in the coeges. Objective 3: To identify the roe of HR department towards facuty-grievance handing. In order to identify the roe of HR department towards facuty-grievance handing, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 18 empoyees in the HR department. The interviews highighted that the HR department Gathering Facts- The managers shoud gather appropriate and sufficient facts expaining the grievance's nature. A record of such facts must be maintained so that these can be used in ater stage of grievance redressa. Examining the causes of grievance- The actua cause of grievance shoud be identified. Accordingy remedia actions shoud be taken to prevent repetition of the grievance. Decision Making- After identifying the causes of grievance, aternative course of actions shoud be thought of to manage the grievance. The effect of each course of action on the existing and future management poicies and procedure shoud be Voume 3, No.-1, Jan. -Dec

4 anaysed and accordingy decision shoud be taken by the manager. 6. Execution and Review- The manager shoud execute the decision quicky, ignoring the fact, that it may or may not hurt the facuties concerned. After impementing the decision, a foow-up must be there to ensure that the grievance has been resoved competey and adequatey. An effective grievance procedure ensures an amiabe work environment because it redresses the grievance to mutua satisfaction of both the facuties and the managers. It aso heps the management to frame poicies and procedures acceptabe to the facuties. It becomes an effective medium for the facuties to express the feeings, discontent and dissatisfaction openy and formay. addresses empoyee's concerns before they deveop into disputes. They aso hep to identify areas for improvement to strengthen empoyee morae and satisfaction. The reasons of facuty-grievances as identified by this survey must be ooked into with greater concern as they may become a major probem if ignored. Facuties must be free from these stress boosters as it may damage their quaity and performance in their ectures. The management shoud take active roe in this process. The cooperation from both parties is the pre-requisite to hande the probem and effective settement of the grievances. Conscious use of professiona sef can hep managers in the grievance handing process. Utimatey, the above contribute to the deveopment of a committed and motivated workforce. A S A M P L E G R I E VA N C E H A N D L I N G MECHANISM PROCEDURE 1. Forma academic grievances must be submitted in writing to the Registrar/ Manager. Receipt of the grievance wi be acknowedged within five working days. 2. The Registrar/ Manager wi then, if necessary, seek to carify the academic outcome that the compainant hopes to achieve. 3. When such carification occurs in a face-to-face interview with the compainant, they canask another person to accompany them. 4. The Registrar/Manager wi then endeavour to resove the academic grievance and provide a written report to the compainant within fifteen working days on the steps taken to address the grievance. 5. A written report of the reasons and a fu expanation of decisions and actions taken during stage one of this procedure wi be made avaiabe to the compainant or respondent, upon request. A copy of the report must be sent to the director's of respective B-Schoos. LIMITATIONS OF STUDY The imitations of the study were that the surveys were competed by the facuties working in 12 B-Schoo and ony 18 peope in the HR department coud be interviewed. Another imitation was the area of research as it was confined to the State of Maharashtra ony; the resuts may vary in different regions. REFERENCES: Academic Grievance Handing and Resoution Poicy & Procedure, Internationa Coege for Management, Sydney. Bohander, G.W., Pubic Sector Independent Grievance Systems: Methods and Procedures, Pubic Personne Management, Vo. 18, No. 3. Hardeman, T., Compaint, Grievance, Whiste- Bowing Administrative Reguation. Personne Management, Vo. 18, No. 3. CONCLUDING RECOMMENDATIONS The present study reveas that the Grievance Handing Mechanism is average in the 12 B-schoos as none of these have a separate ce/committee to address facuty grievances. Thus, taent retention becomes a probem and attrition rate becomes high. The organization shoud recognize the importance of satisfying the facuties and retaining them. Further improvements can be made so that a facuties are highy satisfied with the management. Care shoud be taken in the way managers approaches the probem and perceiving the pros and cons of the situation. Proper procedures for handing empoyee grievances within the broader context of empoyee engagement deveops the trust of empoyees in the organisation and Hoffman, E., Dispute Resoution in a Worker Cooperative: Forma Procedures and Procedura Justice, Law & Society Review, Vo. 39, No. 1. Ivory, C., Miske, P., Shipton, H., White, A., Moesein, K. and Neey, A. (2006) The Future of Business Schoos in the UK.Advanced Institute of Management research. Jackson, Tricia., Handing Grievances, Institute of Personne and Deveopment Mintzberg, H. (2005) Managers not MBAs: a hard ook at the soft practice of managing and management deveopment. San Francisco: Berrett-Koeher Pubishing. Ozaki (1987), 'Labour Reations in the Pubic Service,' IL Review, Juy Aug. Schrege J (1991)'Workers Participation in Decisions Within Undertaking' IL Review Jan Feb. Trotta, Maurice S., Handing Grievances: a Guide for Management and Labour, Bureau of NationaAffairs. Voume 3, No.-1, Jan. -Dec

5 Annexure: Tabe 1: Respondents Demographic Profie Demographic Variabes Gender Marita Status Teaching Experience Demographic characteristics Mae Femae Married Unmarried Less than 5 years 5-10 Years More than 10 years Frequency percentage 37% 63% 67% 33% 50% 30% 20% Tota Tabe 2: Reasons for facuty grievances Reasons for grievances Number (Response- Yes) Frequen cy (%) Rank Number (Response- No) Frequen cy (%) Tota Work Environment Saary/ Reward/ Incentives Head of Department Socia Injustice Lack of support towards research Work Cuture Workoad Additiona admin Work Lack of Independent decision making Voume 3, No.-1, Jan. -Dec

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