Industrial Relations 1 to 30.docx - SESSION 1 INDUSTRIAL...

SESSION 1 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Concept, Perspective and Organization: Human Resource Development in
Perspective – Impact of Industrial Revolution – Industrial Relations
:
Definition of Industrial Relations
The Labour Dictionary defines ‘industrial relations’ as ‘the relation between employers and
employees in industry’. According to Dale Yoder, ‘industrial relations’ describe ‘relationships between
management and employees or among employees and their organizations, that characterize or grow
out of employment’.
In order that the term ‘industrial relations could cover every sector of the labour force in all parts of
the world, the International Institute of Labour Studies has defined it as ‘social relations in
production’. According to John T. Dunlop, ‘Industrial societies necessarily create industrial relations,
defined as the complex of interrelations among managers, workers and agencies of government’.
Today, this term stands for such a wide variety of practices and institutions and has been used in such
divergent contexts, that to define just an essence of it, is an extremely complicated task. However, a
few elements of this term are clear. These are as follows: (i) Originally, the term stood for employer–
employee relations in industry. (ii) Later on, when the workers organized themselves into trade
unions and the latter started dealing with employers, trade union activities also came to be included
under this term. (iii) Still later, when the relations between employers and employees came to be
vested with public importance and ceased to be private, the state had to be involved in such
relations. Therefore, the activities of the state designed to modify, regulate and control relations
between employers and employees also became a part of industrial relations. (iv) The term ‘industry’
is no longer confined to a small segment of economic activity, but has come to include all gainful
employments, including service under the state. The relationship between the state and its
employees has also come to acquire many of the characteristics and features of employer–employee
relationship in the industry. Therefore, employer–employee relationship under public services has
also come to be covered by the term. Considering all the elements mentioned above, the term
‘industrial relations’ can be taken to stand for employee(s)/ union(s)—employer(s)/management—
government relationships in employment.
As the term indicates, industrial relations spring from the contacts between employers, employees
and their trade unions. Such relations and contacts prevail at various levels and in various forms such
as the relations between a single employer and a single union of employees, between a single
employer and more than one union or between many employers organized on one side, and many
unions grouped under federations, on the other. The modern industrial organization is based upon
two large aggregates: (i) accumulation and aggregation of large capital, and (ii) aggregation of large
number of workers organized under trade unions. The availability and supply of a large quantity of