Impact of Industrial Relations on Employee Productivity

Abstract

In India, the payment of bonus to the industrial employees of the Government of India has been linked to productivity. While clamour is made for productivity­linked wage increase in the management and official circles, trade unions are equally vociferous in resisting such a linkage, not only because they do not treat the existing distribution of income as sacrosanct, but also because they fear that linking wage and bonus payments to productivity is a device to cheat them of their legitimate claim to a living wage. Though there is so much of talk of the importance of growth in productivity for speeding up economic growth, there is little analysis of the concrete situation which can facilitate or hinder improvements in productivity. They gains of the ‘green revolution’ are reflected in the improvements in productivity. But there has not been any reference to the quality of human inputs, as if it does not have much to contribute. In the industrial field, also, new technologies are being introduced and additional capital input of improved quality is being provided to increase production. Larger inputs can give larger returns but that does not necessarily mean improvement in productivity. In all economic organizations, apart from the quality and the quantity of material input, it is recognized on all sides that the quality of the human input is the crucial factor in promoting productivity, consequently in economic growth and development.