Industrial relations are the relationships between employees and employers within organizational settings. The field of industrial relations looks at the relationship between management and workers, particular groups of workers represented by a union. This article explains Industrial Relations by their meaning and different definition; Industrial relation is the interactions between employers, employees and the government, and the institutions and associations through which such interactions mediate. Also learn, Know What is Employee Relations?
Learn and Understand, Do You know what is Industrial relations? Meaning and Definition.
The term industrial relation has a broad as well as a narrow outlook. Originally, industrial relations broadly define to include the relationships and interactions between employers and employees. From this perspective, industrial relations covers all aspects of the employment relationship, including human resource management, employee relations, and union-management (or labor) relations. Now its meaning has become more specific and restricted.
Accordingly, industrial relations pertains to the study and practice of collective bargaining, trade unionism, and labor-management relations; while human resource management is a separate, largely distinct field that deals with nonunion employment relationships and the personnel practices and policies of employers.
The meaning of Industrial relations; IR is a multidisciplinary field that studies the employment relationship. Industrial relations are increasingly being called employment relations or employee relations because of the importance of non-industrial employment relationships; this move sometimes sees as further broadening of the human resource management trend. Indeed, some authors now define human resource management as synonymous with employee relations.
Other authors see employee relations as dealing only with non-unionized workers, whereas labor relations see as dealing with unionized workers. Also know more, Industrial relation studies examine various employment situations, not just ones with a unionized workforce. However, According to Bruce E. Kaufman;
“To a large degree, most scholars regard trade unionism, collective bargaining and labor-management relations, and the national labor policy and labor law within which they are embedded, as the core subjects of the field.”
Definition of Industrial Relations:
After, their meaning they define their definition of industrial relations according to different authors below are;
“Employer-employee relationships that are covered specifically under collective bargaining and industrial relation laws.”
According to Dale Yoder’,
“IR is a designation of a whole field of relationship that exists because of the necessary collaboration of men and women in the employment processes of Industry.”
In the opinion of V. B. Singh;
“Industrial relations are an integral aspect of social relations arising out of employer-employee interaction in modern industries which are regulated by the State in varying degrees, in conjunction with organized social forces and influenced by the existing institutions. This involves a study of the State, the legal system, and the workers’ and employers’ organizations at the institutional level; and of the patterns of industrial organization (including management), capital structure (including technology), compensation of the labor force, and a study of market forces all at the economic level.”
Encyclopedia Britannica defined IR more elaborately as;
“The concept of industrial relations has been extended to denote the relations of the state with employers, workers, and other organizations. The subject, therefore, includes individual relations and joint consultation between employers and workers at their places of work, collective relations between employers and trade unions; and the part played by the State in regulating these relations.”
As the name implies, Industry Relations comprises of two words, Industry, and Relations. Where industry covers the production activity in which the group of workmen engages; while the relations show the relationship between the management and the workers within the industry. IR plays a significant role in today’s working scenario where the harmonious relationship between the employers and employees needs to have an uninterrupted production.
Industrial Relations mainly cover the following:
- Regulatory body to resolve industrial disputes.
- Collective Bargaining.
- The role of management, unions, and government.
- Labor Legislation.
- Worker’s Grievance Redressal system.
- Disciplinary policy and practice, and.
- They give Training.
The relationships which arise at and out of the workplace generally include the relationships between individual workers; the relationships between workers and their employer and the relationships between employees. Also learn, What is the Importance of Employee Relations? The relationships employers and workers have with the organizations form to promote their respective interests; and, the relations between those organizations, at all levels.
Industrial relation also includes the processes through which these relationships express (such as, collective bargaining, workers’ participation in decision-making, and grievance and dispute settlement); and, the management of conflict between employers, workers and trade unions, when it arises.
