Antonymuthiani
3 min readFeb 22, 2021

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4 Major Causes of Poor Industrial Relations.
Industrial relations refer to the relationship between workers and their employers in the period of their engagement in industrial organizations. Industrial relations are a broad sector covering specific aspects of industrial life, such as collective bargaining, trade unionism, workers' participation in management, disciplinary issues, and industrial disputes.
While there are different causes of poor industrial relations, different people view these factors from various perspectives both within and outside the organizational context. For example, economists interpret poor IR in terms of demand and supply of human resource factor. Secondly, a leader more so a politician could view poor IR in terms of ideological differences between political parties.
Cause of poor IR include;

1.Nature of Work
The genesis of the employer-employee relationship is the work. The kind of work an employee is exposed to determines the kind of industrial relationship between the two parties. Commonly exciting jobs bring a good IR; therefore, employees remain absorbed in their work, producing more. On the other hand, work that is less interesting breed very poor IR between the workers and their employees. To certain levels, this could lead to a decline in productivity levels.

2. Poor working conditions and low wages
Many employees are driven to work to get compensation for the services they provide. Organizations that provide low wages and salaries while having unfavorable working conditions are likely to experience poor industrial relations. When management fails to honor the above working conditions, they are exploiting the workforce. Since workers demand equitable pay and a better environment to work. Failure to provide such will worsen the relationship between employees and the management.

3. Inactive trade unions.
The main goal and aim of trade unions are to protect the interests of its members. Under no circumstance should trade unions be influenced by political parties or used by political leaders to champion their agendas. If employees lack faith in the trade unions and members get a sense that their interests are not prioritized problems may arise. Some of the possible problems include poor industrial relationships between the management and its employees.

4. Poor organizational climate
Generally, organizational climate refers to the environment of work. Several characteristics define the organization, which makes it unique and positively influence the behavior of workers. Better organizational climate enables workers to interact peacefully with the management and enjoy the confidence of working in such an organization. Contrary to that, the poor climate can create mistrust between employees and the organization. Eventually, it all comes down to poor industrial relations if no action is taken to better the environment.

The effects of poor industrial relation relationships are reflected in the employee’s performance levels, which is minimal. Secondly, workers' morale is often very low; in other cases, poor IR can lead to increased absenteeism, increased turnover rates, resistance to organizational changes, strikes, and other pressure tactics against the management.

Final Thought
Lastly, it is fair to agree that poor industrial relations do not benefit anyone in any way. It is, therefore, essential to develop positive and sound industrial relationships that lead to productivity. It is only possible when organizations have excellent and beneficial nature of work, when organizations avoid dissatisfaction and work conditions, by eliminating inactive trade unions and finally making sure that the organizational climate is always conducive to work.
Antonymuthiani

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Antonymuthiani
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