Grievance Case Study: Labour Relations and HR Management Report

This report presents a labour relations case study involving an employee grievance against management following termination for misconduct. The employee, hired six months prior, exhibited inappropriate behavior, including harassment of a female colleague, violating the organization's code of conduct. Despite a prior warning, the employee's actions escalated, leading to termination. The report outlines the roles and responsibilities of the manager and HR department in addressing the grievance, including investigation, communication, and application of HR policies. It emphasizes the manager's duty to handle employee issues, the HR manager's advisory role, and the importance of fair treatment and respect for all employees. The report details the HR advisor's recommendations to the manager, including meetings with the grievant and union representatives, and provides a sample response to the grievance. The document highlights key considerations for handling employee grievances, emphasizing the importance of policies, investigations, and fair practices in resolving workplace disputes.

Running head: LABOUR RELATIONS
Labour Relation
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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1. There had been an incident where an employee had produced a grievance against the
management of the organization. This had happened due to a number of reasons. The
employee had been recruited just six months back and had a good profile and showed
very prominent performance. However, he was found o be misbehaving and violating the
code of conduct of the organization.teh policy and the code of conduct involves equal and
respectable behavior towards every employee, irrespective of their caste, creed, gender or
even their race, however, this employee had been often seen to be misbehaving with a
female employee and in presence of who she did not feel comfortable. This had been
noticed by many of the other employees. As per the discussion of Saundry & Wibberley,
(2014), when the behavior became irresistible and much disturbing, the female employee
came up to the management and spoke of her issue. The management had then taken a
decision to give a warning to the employee , not to repeat again. However, in order to
prove his supremacy, the employee ended up showing his anger and also tried to molest
the lady employee sexually. This had been extremely not justified and the management
had decided to fire the employee. The first warning had been as a result of his good
performance in the team, but when it came to the safety of the other female employees of
the organization, the manager had to take the step of terminating the employee due to his
willful misconduct. The employee had in turn raised a grievance against his manager for
the termination that he had received. The manager received an individual grievance in
this scenario since the employee had complained individually against the action that had
been taken against him.
2. A manager has a number of roles and responsibilities as the highest authority of an
organization.

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 According to Saundry, Jones & Wibberley (2015), a manager has to have a
mental strength to deal with situations like this. He should be mature enough to
handle all kinds of grievances coming from the employees or the employers.
Often there are some awkward situations in which the managers need to take
sudden decisions as well a strict decisions. In such scenarios he has to make up
his mind to take the strict actions, even if it hampers the working environment of
the organization.
 Kirk (2018) also discusses that a manager should be listening to all the problems
and the issues of the employees and they should feel free to approach him in any
circumstances.
 A manager should be calm and responsible enough in dealing with the employees
and the subordinates. He should have the positive attitude and the self confidence
in all the decision that he takes.
 Moreover in these situations, according to Bennett (2014), the manager should
have clear insight of the present and the future. He should be taking care of the
employees and their safety. Having a foresight helps the managers to visualize the
future of the organization and what can be the effects of taking a strict decision
(Thomson, Arney & Thomson , 2015).
The roles and responsibilities of a HR of the company are:
 As per the discussion of Karikari, Boateng & Ocansey (2015), the HR manager
should be assigning the HR representatives to look into the matter of grievance.
His prime role is to support the Grievance Manager in such cases and also the
Appeal manager so that they can consider the cases.

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 The HR manager also has a very important advisory role and provides advice to
the Manager, in what decision should he be taking which would be for the
betterment of the entire organization (Mamman & Somantri, 2014). In this case of
grievance, I being the HR manager had adviced the manager to have a discussion
with both the Union and the griever so that the matter can be sorted out.
 Saundry, et.al., (2014) also discusses that his role is also to investigate further into
the validity and credibility of the process as well as the issue and communicate
with the parties involved in such a scenario. He should be talking individually to
the persons who are involved and make sure that the grievance that the employee
is putting up against the manager (Brown, et.al., 2017).
 The HR manager should be clear with all the policies of the organization and
make sure that the employees abide by them. if he sees any problem in the same,
he can be supporting the actions taken against the employee or the person in
context. It had so happened that the HR manager who had been in the post before
me, had no proper knowledge of the policies of the organization. Thus it was
made clear to me to gear up fast and be aware of the employee and the managerial
policies.
 According to Saundry, Jones & Wibberley (2015), apart from the manager and the
management it is also the role and responsibility of the management to ensure that
all the employees of the organization are treated fairly and with respect. They
should be guided and supported by the HR department all through the issue and
the grievance process.

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 Moreover, another important role of a HR manager is to appoint the HR
representative to provide efficient advice to the employee, in the every beginning
of the stage, hearing from both the parties and providing proper (Karikari,
Boateng a& Ocansey, 2015).
3. The advices being the HR advisor, to the manager includes the following steps.
 The Manager should be having a meeting with the griever as well as the union
representative. There should be a proper communication between the manage and
the griever and the meeting should be conducted in a conference room, not
including the other employees. This could help the union and the griever solve
their problem with the manager. Moreover the timeliness of the meeting should be
for not more than one hour, on a weekday. Being the HR advisor, this had been
the second time that the manager had come to take an advice from me. I had tried
my best to advice him regarding the grievance and asked him to have a discussion
with the Appeal manager as well. After the meeting, the manager should be sitting
with the Grievance manager and deal out the issues and try to resolve them. If
they cannot be solved, proper decisions would be taken.
 The manager should speak to the HR manager and also the advisor for proper
investigation of the case. I being the HR manager had a talk with both the parties
and gather the necessary information as well as the validity of the issue. The five
questions that the manager should be asking are,
i. When and how often did you feel molested by the employee?
ii. Do you feel that he had been disturbing you apart from
molestation?

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iii. Has there been any relevant incident that you have observed with
any other female employee of the office?
iv. (To the employee) Do you agree that you have committed such a
misbehavior and made the female employees uncomfortable?
v. Why do you feel you have been charged with such an allegation?
 To,
The Manager,
Subject: Response to the grievance
This is in response to the grievance that have been received from the end
of the employee against you. The HR department has been agreeing to the
incidents that have happened in the organization premises and the strict actions
that have been taken against the employee is justifiable. As an ethical
organization, there is no place for any such misconduct or misbehavior from the
end of any of the employees. The information regarding the issue has been
clarified from both the end and the grievance of termination should be considered
null and void in this context. Thus in response to the grievance you have
received,, the HR department is ready to provide you with all the .advice that is
necessary in order to take actions against the employee.
Thanking you,
Yours truly.

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References:
Bennett, T. (2014). The role of workplace mediation: A critical assessment. Personnel Review.
Brown, M., Kulik, C. T., Cregan, C., & Metz, I. (2017). Understanding the change–cynicism
cycle: the role of HR. Human Resource Management, 56(1), 5-24.
Karikari, A. F., Boateng, P. A., & Ocansey, E. O. (2015). The role of human resource
information system in the process of manpower activities. American Journal of Industrial
and Business Management, 5(06), 424.
Kirk, E. (2018). The (re) organisation of conflict at work: Mobilisation, counter-mobilisation and
the displacement of grievance expressions. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 39(4),
639-660.
Mamman, A., & Somantri, Y. (2014). What role do HR practitioners play in developing
countries: an exploratory study in an Indonesian organization undergoing major
transformation. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(11),
1567-1591.
Saundry, R. A., & Wibberley, G. (2014). Workplace dispute resolution and the management of
individual conflict—A thematic analysis of five case studies.
Saundry, R. A., Jones, C., & Wibberley, G. (2015). The challenge of managing
informally. Employee Relations, 37(4), 428-441.
Saundry, R. A., Latreille, P., Dickens, L., Irvine, C., Teague, P., Urwin, P., & Wibberley, G.
(2014). Reframing resolution-managing conflict and resolving individual employment
disputes in the contemporary workplace. Acas Policy Discussion Papers, 1-21.

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Thomson, R., Arney, E., & Thomson, A. (2015). Managing People: A Practical Guide for
Front-line Managers. Routledge.