From legalism to strategic HRM in India? Grievance management in transition

This study investigates grievance management in India, drawing on data from a survey of 186 managers from companies operating in several different sectors. It examines the changing processes and the role of key institutional actors in the grievance management system. This study reveals varied practices in grievance management in part due to firm history and ownership forms. It highlights the inadequacy of India's public institutions for grievance redressal on the one hand, and the growing space for firms to introduce private and informal practices on the other, leaving employee welfare largely in the goodwill and competence of the management. We argue that future research on grievance management should adopt a finer contextual and temporal approach to uncover processes and the deeper causes of employee dissatisfaction. It should also adopt an interdisciplinary approach to eliminate the demarcation between the existing human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations research domains and provide a more holistic understanding of what HRM practices may be conducive to developing a healthy workplace relationship and productivity enhancement.