1.1 Introduction
A grievance is a formal complaint raised by an employee regarding workplace issues such as working conditions, treatment by supervisors, or perceived violations of workplace policies and agreements. Grievances can be related to various aspects of employment, including discrimination, harassment, and wage disputes (Dessler, 2020). Employee grievances are formal complaints raised by employees concerning workplace issues such as working conditions, treatment by management, or violations of company policies. Effective management of these grievances is crucial for maintaining a positive work environment, ensuring legal compliance, and enhancing organizational performance. Proper grievance management involves a structured process that allows for the timely and fair resolution of complaints, thereby fostering trust and transparency within the organization.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The management of employee grievances has long been a critical aspect of human resource management, rooted in the broader principles of organizational behavior and industrial relations. The study of grievance management emerged as a formal discipline in the mid-20th century, influenced by the growing complexity of labor laws, union activities, and the recognition of employee rights.
Historically, grievances were primarily handled through informal mechanisms, often lacking consistency and fairness. The rise of labor unions in the early 20th century brought significant changes, introducing more formalized grievance procedures aimed at protecting workers' rights and ensuring due process. Unionized workplaces typically had well-defined grievance processes, including steps for mediation and arbitration, which set a precedent for non-unionized organizations.
There are three basic things to manage in life and they are human resources, non human resources and time. Organization effectiveness is being defined as the extent to which an organization as a social system give certain resources and means, fulfills its objectives without placing under straight (grievance) upon its members. The most important element of an organization is its employee. This is because, machine cannot operate themselves without human assistance, hence for human being to perform efficiently, he must have the spirit to perform, this means he must be satisfied. An unsatisfied worker has grievance.
The issue of employee grievance is as old as industrial societies, but in recent time the question of management of employee grievance in Nigeria and Enugu State in particular has reached learning proportion. It is a versed issue that been eaten deep into the fabrics of every well organized industrial establishment the problem has also becomes the order of the day in private and public establishment. Generally, the researcher is of the believe that the employee grievance in any establishment, establishes the fact that the employees of the organization are not happy with e scheme of things in the organization.
An aggrieved employee who feels he has a grievance against manager a supervisor is against the company as a whole is an unhappy employee and unhappy employee cannot do effective work. He becomes depressed, his morale is low and as a result his efficiency drops. Satisfaction at work in terms of all circumstances that surround the job is key to high morals. It does not matter how well paid and interesting a job may be, unless the individual performing the job feels that he is being fairly treated his morals will be adversely affected. When workers go on strike, we realized the importance of human element. This is because under such conditions everything comes to a half. Was unit the how throne’s experience was discovered. The fact that there are grievances in the organization is not an easy thing to detect, because many grievances go unexpressed and unexposed for a long period of time and required only a competent anger to handle before it turns it to a critical situation.
Human assets are more valuable than physical assets and should be carried on the organization balance sheet. After all each production employee represents and training add to this, the cost of it would take to find, hire and train someone else to do the same job and you can begin to see the significance of human resources management in periods of economic recessions a firm would be wiser to reduce inventory drastically and sell machinery than to dispose on their most important assists “the employee”, staff, therefore is to create and maintain a high level of morale which will induce full co-operation from his staff to obtain maximum operation and efficiency through out the units of the organization for job satisfaction which reduces grievances and job increase job performance and continuity.
The existence of grievances in organization is inevitable because for an organization to have grievances free relationship means that they will have no relationship at all improper handling of grievances leads to disruption of work in the form of go show work to rule, demonstration, violence, strike and resignation which ultimately amount to labour turnover with its effect on the organization.
Ohiri A.U (2002:100) asserts that employee grievance in organizational or industrial relation context as a state of dissatisfaction or discontent on the part of either labour or management. He also said that grievance is negative feelings which commonly find expression in various forms ranging from complaint to strike action or destructive reactions. This research will go to the root in examine the various methods in handling grievance as an inevitable sign of a healthy relationship of organizational members. Considering the desirable effect of healthy human relations on productivity in any organization, a study and careful labour turnover of the effect of grievance handling and labour turnover becomes necessary by the researcher for the purpose of isolating their individual or respective contributions to dividing productivity.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that many organizations do not adequately train managers and employees on grievance procedures. This lack of awareness can lead to misunderstandings and mishandling of grievances, resulting in unresolved issues and increased dissatisfaction among employees (Diboye, 2002). Also, when grievance procedures are not applied consistently, it can lead to perceptions of unfairness and bias. Employees may feel that some grievances are taken more seriously than others, leading to a lack of trust in the system (Colquitt et al., 2019).
Additionally, grievance procedures that are overly complex and bureaucratic can discourage employees from filing grievances. Lengthy and convoluted processes can lead to frustration and a sense that the effort is not worth the potential outcome (Budd & Bhave, 2008).
Furthermore, grievance in the organization if not resolved or of properly handled creates ineffective workers and consequently undermine efficiency which would result into high labour or employee. The researcher has observed that in Nigeria improper or unsatisfactory handling of grievance in many organizations caused high labour or employee turnover, repeated training of new staff, strike and down tool, poor human relation and in effective communication of objectives. Assumptions are made that all organization irrespective of their locations and other environmental factors have the same characteristics.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to investigate the various methods organizations employ in handling and resolving staff grievances and the effectiveness of such matters. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To investigate the primary factors that affect the effectiveness of grievance management, including management practices, and employee perceptions;
- To determine how effectively managed grievances contribute to reducing workplace conflicts and enhancing productivity;
- To examine existing grievance management procedures in various organizations and their strengths and weaknesses;
- To evaluate the consistency and fairness of these procedures across different sectors and organizational sizes; and
- To study the correlation between grievance management practices and employee outcomes such as job satisfaction, retention rates, and overall morale.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does grievance among employees contribute to workplace conflicts reduction and enhancing productivity?
- Is there any need for grievance in government organization in the study area?
- What are the primary factors that affect the effectiveness of grievance management, including management practices, and employee perceptions?
- How effective does grievances contribute to reducing workplace conflicts and enhancing productivity?
- What are the existing grievance management procedures in various organizations and their strengths and weaknesses?
- What is the consistency and fairness of these procedures across different sectors and organizational sizes?
- What is the correlation between grievance management practices and employee outcomes such as job satisfaction, retention rates, and overall morale?
1.6 Significance of Study
The importance of this study is in many folds, this study will reveal to management of organizations the various methods of handling grievances in a manufacturing out fit and the effect of such methods on labour turnover. This study will also reveal to management organizations the types of employee grievances.
The fact that some grievances in the organization do not arise out of frustration which in turn is a result of an amalgamation of factors which can only be isolated by patient and skillful management, this study will be used to leads of departments of human resources of various organizations in handling grievances that arises is their organizations and in checking labour turnover as a result of such grievances.
Finally recommendations made from the research study findings would lead to a better handling of grievances when they occur in the organization, which would therefore reduce labour turnover.
1.7 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Effective Management of Employee Grievances in Enugu State.
1.8 Limitations of the study
During the course of this study, there were some problems encountered which stood as limitations to the research work. Some of the limitations include:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
- Initial Cooperation Delay from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.
1.9 Definition of Terms
Grievance:
A grievance is a formal complaint raised by an employee regarding workplace issues such as working conditions, treatment by supervisors, or perceived violations of workplace policies and agreements. Grievances can be related to various aspects of employment, including discrimination, harassment, and wage disputes (Dessler, 2020).
Grievance Procedure:
A grievance procedure is a systematic process established by an organization to address and resolve employee grievances. This procedure typically involves multiple steps, including the submission of a grievance, investigation, resolution, and follow-up. The goal is to ensure that grievances are handled fairly and promptly (Noe et al., 2019).
Employee Relations:
Employee relations involve the management and maintenance of the employer-employee relationship. This includes addressing employee grievances, fostering positive interactions, and ensuring compliance with labor laws. Effective employee relations are crucial for a productive and harmonious workplace (Dessler, 2020).
