Handling Workplace Grievances: Roles of Managers and HR Advisors

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INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
IDENTIFYING THE TYPE OF GRIEVANCE WITH ITS RESULTS RECEIVED TO THE MANAGER.............3
THE SITUATION OF THE GRIEVANCE..........................................................................................3
TYPE OF WORKPLACE GRIEVANCE RECEIVED TO MANAGER.....................................................4
OUTLINE THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN HANDLING THE GRIEVANCES................................4
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MANAGERS...................................................................4
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HR ADVISOR..................................................................5
OUTLINE THE ADVICE PROVIDED BY HR ADVISOR TO THE MANAGER...........................................6
MEETING WITH THE GRIEVOR AND THE UNION REPRESENTATIVE...........................................6
INVESTIGATION AND GATHERING THE EVIDENCE.....................................................................7
PREPARATION OF RESPONSE OF THE GRIEVANCE.....................................................................8
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 10
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
This assignment underlines the grievances happening within the organization related to the
misconduct and inequality issues in between the employees. Grievances are concerned with
the employment relationship which includes working practices, rules and policies, working
relationships, health and safety, or fair treatment at the workplace (Bhuiyan & Abedin, 2015).
This assignment highlights the roles and the responsibilities of the manager and the HR advisor
to lay emphasis on handling the grievances. It will also include the procedure to solve the
grievances by investigation and gathering the information for preparation of the responses of
grievances by meeting the grievor and the union representative.
IDENTIFYING THE TYPE OF GRIEVANCE WITH ITS RESULTS RECEIVED TO
THE MANAGER
THE SITUATION OF THE GRIEVANCE
According to Noe (2017), an organization is facing many problems in between the employees
within the workplace. Grievances are problems, complaints or concerns that employees raise
with their manager or employer. It may be connected with the employment relationship which
includes working practices, rules and policies, working relationships, health and safety, or fair
treatment at workplace etc. (Noe, 2017) The organization is having the grievance by the
employees which comes under group grievance where a group of individuals gets affected by
misconducting by an employee at the workplace. The organization facing the serious problem
conducted by an individual where he is misbehaving continuously and not obeying rules and
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policies within the organization and has been warned for his misbehaviour and not doing
proper work (fraud) by the groups and HR advisor 3-4 times. The groups were getting affected
by his doings and not following the rules and the policies of the organization.
TYPE OF WORKPLACE GRIEVANCE RECEIVED TO MANAGER
The manager has received the problem of willful misconduct of an employee for the first time
in the organization. The problem is that the groups of individuals were facing difficulties in
doing work at workplace cause of an individual by his misbehaviour, fraud and not obeying the
rules and policies (Noe, 2017). The manager got to know about his doing within the
organization and after giving him warnings for many times he is just the same and continues
with his misbehaviour and not doing proper work which affects the working of the other
employees. The effect of not taking any crucial decision by the manager and the HR advisor
provoke the issues between the employees regarding inequality which results in conflicts within
the organization (Noe, 2017).
OUTLINE THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN HANDLING THE
GRIEVANCES
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MANAGERS
A manager is a person who is responsible for the administration and controls the groups and
staffs in the organization (Tjosvold, 2016). The groups are having grievances due to misbehaving
and fraud conducted by an employee within the organization that must be emphasized by a
manager, some roles and responsibilities are as follows (Bhuiyan & Abedin, 2015):
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 A manager should provide training and supervision to the employees to work and
perform well within the organization to attain the objectives for handling grievances
 A manager should ensure the provisions and access of the facilities provided to the
employees at the workplace for avoiding the misconduct and handling grievances
 To handle the grievances, a manager should respond to the emergency plans to take
action towards the grievance (Tjosvold, 2016)
 For handling the grievances, a manager’s responsibility is to maintain decorum and treat
employees equally within the organization which also helps in neglecting the conflicts
 A manager has the authority to hire and fire any employee, for handling the grievance
he can take an effective decision which is in favour of the employees and the union
(Tjosvold, 2016)
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HR ADVISOR
HR advisor works with the business human resource department by actively supporting the
employee’s needs and the organization.
 The HR advisor writes job descriptions and analyzes CVs for conducting interviews and
helps in any disciplinary or grievance situation (Rockett, 2017)
 The HR advisor takes action in concern of the employees to exclude the conflicts and
make harmony within the organization (Rockett, 2017)
 To handling the grievances, HR advisor conducts the formal meeting to clear the
misconduct and fraud of any employee and employees are expected to collect the
evidence in context to prove the employee guilty (Rockett, 2017)
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 The HR advisor provides the advice in respect of the application of the process and
supports the manager in making a fair and reasonable decision for handling the
grievances (Bhuiyan & Abedin, 2015)
 The solution to handle the grievances is either to terminate the employee or give him
last chance by providing equal treatment and training and development practices
(Rockett, 2017)
OUTLINE THE ADVICE PROVIDED BY HR ADVISOR TO THE MANAGER
The HR advisor has provided some advice to the manager to handle the grievances.
MEETING WITH THE GRIEVOR AND THE UNION REPRESENTATIVE
By meeting with the grievor and union representative who is raising and having a concern with
the grievance provides the reason of the grievance and the detailed information about the
employee who has conducted the fraud and misbehaviour with the employees at the workplace
(Bhuiyan & Abedin, 2015).
 According to the law, every company should have a formal and written procedure for
grievances, where employees can share their issues in an informal discussion and the
manager can easily solve the grievance (Lawless & Trif, 2016)
 A manager should listen to the grievor and the guilty employee before taking an action
towards the misconduct which develops trust and avoids conflict (Lawless & Trif, 2016)
 A manager can take help of the employees as they can actively engage in the procedure
and can assist in resolving the grievances under the collective agreement
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 The union representative supports the employees and may request a suspension during
the meeting with the manager if it is required in resolving the grievances (Lawless & Trif,
2016)
INVESTIGATION AND GATHERING THE EVIDENCE
The manager needs to take some time to think and investigate the grievance (Hess, 2016).
 The grievor has given a chance to explain their situations and give their own evidence
to the managers and the HR advisor for selecting the best decision for the employees
working in the organization (Hess, 2016)
 Once the manager has completed the investigation, he permits all to make their own
preparations and arrange for the grievance hearing (Hess, 2016)
 On this grievance hearing employees have rights to come along with their union
representatives and colleagues and are allowed to explain the issues and how to get
resolved (Hess, 2016)
 The manager can collect the evidence by himself or by employees by the process of
investigation to take the final decision to the misconduct (Hess, 2016)
INVESTIGATION QUESTIONS
1. Was the employee warned before about his behaviour and fraud?
2. Were the rules are reasonable for the employees? (Lawless & Trif, 2016)
3. Was the investigation conducted reasonably? (Currie, 2017)
4. Did the investigation turn up considerable evidence of misconduct?
5. Does the punishment fit the “misconduct” and the previous record of the employee?
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PREPARATION OF RESPONSE OF THE GRIEVANCE
Preparation of the grievance response on the basis of:
 A formal and written procedure for grievances, where employees can share their issues
in an informal discussion and the manager can easily solve the grievance in context to
the favour of the employees and the benefit of the organization (Currie, 2017)
 The support of a suspension by a union representative and the groups of individuals
during the meeting with the manager in resolving the grievances which build the trust in
between the managers and the employees (Currie, 2017)
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DRAFT LETTER
1 April 2019,
Private and confidential
20 Wood Street, Canada
Dear XYZ,
Further to your grievance hearing on 30th March 2019, I write to summarize our discussion and
confirm my decision. You were accompanied at the meeting and information about the
grievances also have given us the evidence in the meeting.
I have given careful consideration to the issues you raised and have decided that your grievance
has been upheld, in reaching my decision. I have taken into account the reason for
misconducting and fraud of the employee.
The action for the remedy to the situation is decided to fire the employee for not obeying the
rules and policies of the organization.
In line with the company procedures, you have the rights to appeal against the decision if you
wish to appeal. Please write to ABC at 20 Wood-street, Canada, within 5 days of working of
receiving this letter, stating the grounds for your appeal.
Yours sincerely
ABC
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CONCLUSION
This assignment has concluded that the manager and HR advisor plays an important role in the
organization to avoid the conflict and make harmony within the organization. This assignment
has carried the internal grievances of the employees and the groups of employees which was
creating many problems related to issues of inequality and conflicts between the employees.
The roles and responsibilities of the manager and the HR advisor helped in handing the
grievances by focusing on investments and the evidence related to the grievance.
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REFERENCES
Bhuiyan, M., & Abedin, R. (2015). Grievance handling procedure of Scandex Knitwear Ltd.
Currie, D., Gormley, T., Roche, B., & Teague, P. (2017). The management of workplace conflict:
Contrasting pathways in the HRM literature. International Journal of Management Reviews,
19(4), 492-509.
Hess, K. M., Orthmann, C. H., & Cho, H. L. (2016). Criminal investigation. Cengage learning.
Lawless, J., & Trif, A. (2016). Managing interpersonal conflicts at work by line managers. The
Irish Journal of Management, 35(1), 74-87.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource management:
Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Rockett, P., Fan, S. K., Dwyer, R. J., & Foy, T. (2017). A human resource management
perspective of workplace bullying. Journal of aggression, conflict and peace research, 9(2), 116-
127.
Tjosvold, D., Wan, P., & Tang, M. M. (2016). Trust and managing conflict: partners in developing
organizations. In Building trust and constructive conflict management in organizations (pp. 53-
74). Springer, Cham.
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