UGC NET/JRF EXAM, December-2019* Labour and Social Welfare

The principles of labour legislation have been categorized differently by different scholars. For example, Frank Tillyard, while examining experiments in industrial legislation in Great Britain, highlighted 'protective' and 'regulative' aspects of such legislation.

In 1937, R.K. Das mentioned four major principles of labour legislation:
(i) social justice,
(ii) social welfare,
(iii) national economy and
(iv) international solidarity.

The principle of social justice includes abolition of servitude, freedom of association, collective bargaining and industrial conciliation.

The principle of social welfare covers development of childhood, opportunity of education, conservation of womanhood and improvement of environment.

The principle of national economy is concerned with development of industry, control of working conditions, regulation of wage payment and social insurance.

The principle of international solidarity has been explained in terms of compliance of the provisions of Conventions and Recommendations adopted by ILO.

Although the broad principles enunciated by R.K. Das reflect the considerations behind enactment of a number of labour laws, not all the specific principles covered are commensurate with the broad groups under which they are placed.

Besides, certain principles such as 'social welfare', 'opportunity of education', 'conservation of womanhood' and 'development of industry have broader implications rather than confined only to labour legislation.

Reasons which account for the formation of informal groups are many. A number of theories have been advanced by social and organisational psychologists to explain the formation of informal groups. These are as under.

(i) Propinquity theory: The most basic theory explaining the formation of groups is propinquity. This means that individuals affiliate with one another because of spatial or geographical proximity. In an organisation, employees who work in the same area of the plant or office or managers with offices close to one another would more probably form into groups than those who are not physically located together.
(ii) Similarity theory: According to Theodore Newcombt, "birds of a feather flock together". People with similar attitudes, interests and work-related needs are attracted to one another. Thus, employees may form a union for fighting indiscrimination or unilateral treatment of the employer.
(iii) Complementarity theory: According to Winch, "opposites attract each other", i.e., people with complementary needs and/or abilities are attracted to one another.
(iv) Social comparison theory: An individual joins a group because he suffers from the need for self-evaluation, i.e., he wants to 'test' himself against other members to determine whether or not his opinions, ideas, and judgements correspond to those of others in the group.
(v) Interaction theory: Group formation is the result of activities, interactions and sentiments. The more activities persons share, the more numerous will be their interactions and the stronger will be their sentiments; and the more positive sentiments persons have for one another, the more will be their shared activities and interactions.
(vi) Exchange theory: The approach to group formation, receiving the most recent emphasis is the exchange theory. It is based upon reward-cost outcomes of interaction. A minimum positive level (rewards greater than costs) of an outcome must exist in order for attraction or affiliation to take place. Rewards from interactions gratify needs while costs incur anxiety, frustration, fatigue or boredom.

The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, is a comprehensive piece of labour legislation intended to maintain industrial harmony in the country. The Act is enforced both by the central and state governments in respect of industries in their respective jurisdictions.

It incorporates significant provisions covering several aspects of industrial relations such as machineries for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes, strikes and lock-outs, lay-off, retrenchment and closure, change in the conditions of service during pendency of industrial disputes before authorities, unfair labour practices, and penalties and cognizance of offences.

The authorities for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes under the Act comprise:

(i) Grievance Redressal Committee,
(ii) Works Committee,
(iii) Conciliation Officer,
(iv) Board of Conciliation,
(iv) Court of Inquiry,
(vi) Labour Court,
(vii) Tribunal,
(viii) National Tribunal and
(ix) Arbitrator for voluntary arbitration.

Of these, Labour Court, Tribunal and National Tribunal are adjudication authorities, and Conciliation Officer and Board of Conciliation are authorities for conciliation of industrial disputes.

Works Committee is a machinery mainly for prevention of industrial disputes. The Grievance Settlement Authority is intended to deal with individual grievances.

Court of Inquiry is a machinery for investigating into matters relating to industrial disputes. The Act contains detailed provisions in regard to appointment, composition, powers and functions of all these authorities.

Interpersonal Communication: The communication process begins when a sender encodes an intended meaning into a message. This message is then transmitted through a channel to a receiver. The receiver next decodes the message into perceived meaning.

Finally, the receiver may transmit feedback back to the sender. The communication process is effective when the perceived meaning of the receiver is the same as the intended meaning of the sender.

Tuckman's sequential theory: The way in which people come together in a group can be understood as involving stages. Tuckman (1965) analysed around 50 studies on group development and concluded that groups generally go through a process of development that can be identified as four stages: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.

In 1977 Tuckman and Jensen identified a fifth stage of Adjourning in order to describe the process of ending a group. Tuckman's stage (sequence) theory is one of the best known and most quoted theories.

Johnson and Johnson (1997) state, 'Of all the sequential stage theories Tuckman's emphasis on forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning still seems the most useful and creates the most interest."

Governing Body: is the principal bodies of the International Labour Organisation. It is a non-political, non-legislative, tripartite body. It carries out the decisions of the conference with the help of the International Labour office.

The Governing Body functioning as the Executive Wing of International Labour Organisation. It is composed of 28 Government members, 14 Employer members and 14 Worker members. Ten states of Chief Industrial importance have permanent Government representatives and the others are elected every three years by the conference.

The criteria laid down for the selection of members of Chief Industrial Importance is the strength of its total industrial population. India is one of the ten states of chief Industrial Importance. The period of office of this body is 3 years. It meets several times in a year to take decisions on the programmes of the International Labour Organisation.

Main functions of the Governing Body

1. Holds three sessions a year at Geneva.
2. Draws up agenda of each session of the conference
3. Decide the specific action to be taken on the resolutions adopted.
4. Examines the implementation by Member States of its conventions and recommen-dations.
5. Coordinates the activities of the organisation with those of other agencies of the UNO and other regional and international organisations.
6. Coordinates work of the organisation.
7. Draws up an agenda for each session and subject to the decision of the International Labour Conference, decides what subject should be included in the agenda of the International Labour Conference.
8. Appoints the Director General of the Office.
9. Scrutinizes the budget.
10. It follows up the implementation by member states of the conventions and recommendations adopted by the conference.
11. It fixes the date, duration and agenda of the Regional Conferences.
12. It has the power to seek advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice with the consent of the International Labour Conference.
13. Constitutes the following six committees-
(i) Programme, financial administrative structure
(ii) Freedom of Association
(iii) Legal issues and International Labour Standards
(iv) Employment of social policy
(v) Technical co-operation
(vi) Sectorial and Technical meeting and related issues.

Human Resource Planning (HRP) refers to the estimation of the number and the type of people needed during the ensuing period. HRP is significant as it helps determine future personnel needs; ensures protection to weaker sections; acts as a basis for other personnel functions; helps overcome resistance to change; and so on.
HRP is influenced by several factors, such as the type and strategy of organisation; environmental uncertainties; time horizons: type and quality of information; and type of jobs being filled.

The HRP is a five-step process. The steps are:
1. Defining organisational objectives and policies,
2. Forecast of personnel needs and supplies.
3. HR programming.
4. HRP implementation, and
5. Control and evaluation of programmes

The earliest studies of human relations in management focused on "scientific" methods for allocating authority in business organizations.

They did not address "social" issues. In fact, human relations in business did not become a subject of precise sociological analysis until the late nineteenth century when Max Weber (1947) provided an astute description of bureaucratic organizations.

At the same time, scholars of what was known as the "scientific management movement" prescribed a rigid set of administration principles that they believed were applicable to all organizations.

Using time-and-motion studies, the proponents of scientific management developed practices for improving the operation of many line jobs that required technical skills, including some management activities related to job skills.

This approach stressed the improvement of organizational efficiency through the increased technical competencies of administrators and subordinates. The most common means to this goal was the establishment of clear patterns of authority.

Gradually, as it became evident that numerous skills could not be routinized through time-and-motion studies, the "universal" principles of organization gave way to more flexible, human-interaction guidelines.

In retrospect, the academic study of human relations grew out of management principles and practices during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Two men, Frederick Taylor (1916) and Henri Fayol (1949), stood above all others.

Taylor, the father of scientific management, was the first person to use a precise analytical approach to the problems of productivity. Fayol, the father of management, was the first person to state and widely publicize principles of management.

However, it was in 1927 that а true human relations emphasis emerged. Elton Mayo's Hawthorne researches (1927 to 1932) earned him the label father of the human relations approach to management.

The final cornerstone of the human relations foundation was laid by Kurt Lewin (1951) in the late 1930s. Lewin, who developed the concept of field theory, was the father of modern grouр dynamics.