INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS (IR) PROBLEMS AT TKM (TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR MOTORS) 1) Examine the industrial relations (IR) problems at TKM. What factors led to the strike and lockout at the company’s plant? What measures, according to you, should the management and employees take to avoid such problems in the future? Discuss. Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), one of the world largest automobile manufacturers, had entered into the Indian market in 1997 through a joint venture with Kirloskar Group; in 2006 employees had been dismissed and suspended by the company, on disciplinary rounds. In response to the company's decision, the employees decided to go on strike which lead to the lockout of its vehicle manufacturing plant at Bidadi located near Bangalore, Karnataka FACTORS LEADING TO STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS Industrial disputes can be majorly because of economic and non-economic causes. The economic causes are issues relating to compensation like, condition for work, working hours, allowances, wages, bonus leave and holidays without pay, unjust layoffs and retrenchments. Whereas the non economic factors are victimization of workers, ill treatment by staff members, political factors, indiscipline, sympathetic strikes, etc. Various Factors that lead to Strikes & Lockouts are: • Wages and allowances • Inter/Intra Union Rivalry • Non-implementation of agreements and awards. • Dissatisfaction with company policy. • Wrongful discharge of workmen • Withdrawal of any concession • Personnel and retrenchment • Indiscipline and violence • Bonus • Leave and working hours etc Following are the steps could have been taken by the management to avoid such problem Conciliation & Mediation Through conciliation and mediation a third party provides assistance... ... middle of paper ... ...heir economic rise. But, it proved as a liability when they are practiced in overseas. Group culture is also one of the major problem, All the decision making is being directed by top management sitting in Japan. It common method of decision making process in Japanese company, but if you impose such structure to the overseas subsidiaries it will debars the Japanese expatriates to take a prompt decision on a particular time till they hear from their head quarters. By the time the decision is taken, the smaller problems may grow into bigger ones, their fragile individualistic confidence debar them to mingle with overseas staff freely. Where Indian culture is way different, Japanese management style is way difficult to implement on Indian labor, So to localize the global production it is very important to understand & adapt to different socio-cultural environment.
David Brody argues that the rise of contractual or collective bargaining relationships during the post WWII era formalized the relationship between employers and unions, but simultaneously began to put a break on shop floor activism. Explain Brody’s argument and, where relevant, incorporate Weber’s theory of bureaucracy.
The development of the current worker has as well changed the functions of unions. The normal concentration of union officials has been working on the behalf of employees when discussing with bosses, however when urbanized economies move away from a dependence on manufacturing, the line separating manager and worker becomes unclear. In addition, mechanization, computers and improved worker efficiency results in lesser number of staffs being required to sort out a similar occupation. Union insists for least pay rises that the management finally approves, if it is impossible due to the current situation then it would be granted. Smallest amount salary increases the work expenses for companies using low-skilled workers. This reduces the breach connecting the earnings proportion of less experienced and more experienced staff; staffs that are more knowledgeable are expected to be epitomized by a union. ...
Due to the labor being stranded whilst industry takes frequent flights, unionism is in stark decline. It brought the end of collective bargaining, as the capitalist found shutting operations and moving somewhere else easier than engaging with collective bargaining.
The main problems that are affecting the company were the high level of labour turnover, below target production rates, high levels of scrap, the employees had little input in the decision making, therefore resulting in low motivation and job satisfaction, and didn't have enough feedback on there performance. Added to this was the conflict between the supervisors and employees in the production and packing areas, and the grading and payment levels wasn't satisfactory to the employees.
Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japan based company, whose headquarters are located in Aichi Prefecture. The company was founded by Kiichiri Toyoda in 1937. Currently the company’s CEO is Akio Toyoda. Toyota is basically into cars and it is one of the top players in the world in this industry. Toyota also owns two other brands namely Lexus and Scion, which gives the company a lot of advantage over it’s other competitors. Toyota manufactures sedans, saloons, suvs, muvs, pick-up trucks and buses. During the year 2013 Toyota had approximately 333,498 employees, who were working globally. In March 2013, Toyota was ranked as the thirteenth biggest organization globally in terms of its revenue. In the following table we can see the financial report of Toyota Motor Corporation in the year 2013-
The 21st Century has witnessed Asia’s rapid ascent to economic prosperity. As economic gravity shifts from the Western world to the Asian region, the “tyranny of distance [between states, will be] … replaced by the prospects of proximity” in transnational economic, scientific, political, technological, and social develop relationships (Australian Government, 1). Japan and China are the region’s key business exchange partners. Therefore these countries are under obligation to steer the region through the Asian Century by committing to these relationships and as a result create business networks, boost economic performance, and consequently necessitate the adjustment of business processes and resources in order to accommodate each country’s employment relations model (Wiley, Wilkinson, & Young, 2005). Cognizant of the fact that neither Japan nor China has given up on its external (protectionism or parity) adjustment tools, it is posited that they can nonetheless coexist since both “produce different things and in different ways” and as such avoid the cited perilous US and Mexico competition; but due to globalization, the operating environment portends a convergence or divergence of Industrial Relation (ER) strategies between China and Japan (Lipietz, 1997; Zhu & Warner, 2004).
Employers favor and consider the unitarist approach rather than the pluralist approach. The unitarist approach includes common interests between employers and employees and refer to the responsibility of management to control and manage conflict (Moore&Gardner, 2004, p. 275). The unitarist approach indicates that employees should have loyalty to only one authority that is management (Ross & Bamber, 2009, p.25). The unitarist approach discusses legitimacy on managerial authority to prevent third party involvement from unions and treat them unnecessary. Trade unions play a key role in the employee relationships, although the membership of trade unions have been declined because of the unitarism approach. The pluralist approach recognizes that the organizations are made up of “sectional groups that interest may agree or may conflict with rival sources of leadership and attachment” (Geare, Edgar& McAndrew, 2006, p.1191). The Industrial relations explain the relationship between the employees and management which arise from either directly or indirectly from union-employer relationship (Saif, 2013, p. 34- 35). Saif (2013) states that “it is in the interest of all to create and maintain good relations between employees (labor) and employers (management) (p.34).industrial relations covers the aspect of trade unionism in collective bargaining, industrial disputes and employees participation in management. Employees’ associations and trade unions appear to have developed a ‘protest movements’ against the working condition in the
The vehicle manufacturing plant is located at Burnaston in Derbyshire, the engine manufacturing plant is located at Deeside in North Wales.(Toyota Manufacturing UK 2006 ) the company has, since production began in 1992, grown to its current size with 5,500 members are employed. As ...
In an effort to address the burred and rough spots found by Quality Control on several defective panels, upper management uncovered several poor managerial decisions and employee relations issues. In order to stay competitive within the automotive industry, the company must make some major decisions. A decision to support one of their line supervisors’ decisions of disciplining an employee could cause a potential strike. Although, a decision of not supporting their line supervisor could potentially avoid a strike and paint a positive image in the company.
Industrial Relations is a multidisciplinary field dealing with the study of employment relationship in union and non-union organizations. There have been various theories of industrial relations in place, but the first and most influential theory was put forward by John Thomas Dunlop. Dunlop, as a labor economist, remodelled the work of sociologists and developed a framework of industrial relations system. He developed the System’s Theory which stressed on the interrelationship of institutions and behaviors that enables one to understand and explain industrial relation rules.
...04). The theory which in my opinion is the ‘best’ or most appropriate theory of industrial relations is the Pluralist theory. This theory has been in pole position in western societies for over thirty years. In today’s environment it is the most realistic theory as it assumes conflict is inevitable and recognizes that both employees and employers will have different objectives unlike the unitarist theories beliefs. It is now recognized that better managed industrial relations programmes and cooperation with trade unions can seriously impact on the prevention of disputes, increase productivity, quality and the motivation of workers within organisations and help to align employee objectives with the organisations objectives.
The role of the government on industrial relations is very important as it sets the legal framework that industrial relations operates in. Appropriate industrial relations legislation should recognize the requirements of both employers and employee’s. Both the employee and the employer want to profit from each other but are also reliant on each other. This means that the equal bargaining power of employers and workers must be recognized (Peetz, David. 2006). Appropriate industrial relations laws should address any imbalance of power and give both groups an equal degree of control. Appropriate industrial relations should not only allow a mixture of both collective and individual bargaining but also facilitate employee participation in day to day workplace decisions. After all it’s the structure and framework of the employment relationship, which is governed by legislation that leads to good Industrial Relations.
The theory holds work to be governed by a wide range of formal and informal rules and regulations, which cover everything from recruitment, holidays, performance, wages, hours, and a myriad of other details of employment. It asserts that these rules are what industrial actors try to determine, that their establishment is influenced by the wider environmental context in which the actors operate, and that the actors themselves share an interest in maintaining the processes of negotiation and conflict resolution. On the back of these assertions four elements are held to make up the system of industrial relations rule-making. The first is industrial actors, which consists of employers and their representatives (i.e., employer associations), employees and their representatives (i.e., trade unions), and external agencies with an interest in industrial relations (i.e., government departments and labour courts). The second is the environmental context, which
We will look at the employment relations and employment conflict and analyze this complex topic from different points of theory and practice.
The Marxist approach looks at industrial relations from a societal perspective. It views industrial relations as a small-scale version of a capitalist society. This approach surrounds itself with the assumption that industrial relations under capitalism are unavoidable, and thus would be a source of conflict. According to Marxist, industrial conflict is central to industrial relations, however actual altercations are uncommon. The approach also sees this as a form ...