The role of human resource manager in discipline and grievance
management
Human resource managers are professionals in people management and have an impor-
tant role to play in working together with line managers to ensure that an organisation
remains a peaceful and enjoyable place to work. Some of the important roles are:
- Work with line managers to devise and negotiate the employees the procedural
framework for the management of discipline and grievances. - Work with line managers to provide counselling and problem solving supports
services. - Ensure fair management of grievances and discipline by all parties involved.
- Facilitate the process of reconciliation, where parties are aggrieved, and have to
come to the table to forget about the past and start new working relationships. - Ensure that all employees are aware of grievance and disciplinary matters, how they
affect the organisation and the mechanisms that are in place to handle grievance and
disciplinary matters.
Workers participation in management
Worker participation in management is a mechanism used to control decisions and au-
thority in the workplace. Employees are ‘able to participate directly in decision making
process in an organisation as a way to safeguarding their interests’ (Simon 1983: 55).
Monnapa (2008) has emphasised that in essence, employers cannot do away with put-
ting in place workers participation mechanisms because they fear trade unions and dis-
ruption of work. Through worker participation, employers and employees are able to:
- Improve the quality of workers’ life in the job by helping to humanise it, work
becomes natural and enjoyable, - Jointly put a framework forward for the effective utilisation of the workforce,
- Jointly defend and promote workers interests and
- Jointly improve employers and workers commitment to the organisation’s
performance.
The extent to which workers participate in an organisation will depend on workers’
readiness to participate and extent to which the situation can allow workers to partici-
pate in managerial functions. workers’ participation in management can be achieved
through individual employee integration in the decision making process through sugges-
tion schemes, delegation of power and authority to lower level management and job
enrichment by combining tasks where employees are given certain power and authority
to make certain decisions about their jobs. Worker participation can also take place at
the departmental or section level where employees participate in meetings. The other
mechanism for workers participation is through collective representation by using
workers representatives from their associations or trade unions.
Trade unionism and collective bargaining
Trade unionism
According to Farnham & Pimlott (1992), a trade union is an association of wage earners
for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their work. Trade union-