The Hindu Business Line : Pricol incident brings HR professionals’ role to the fore

Bangalore, Sept. 25 The death of Roy J. George, Vice-President - HR, Pricol, who was attacked by company workers in Coimbatore, has brought to the fore the tightrope walking that HR professionals have to do where disputes rage between management and unions on wages and other demands.

While such disputes are not new, only in mid-1990s, human resource development, as an industrial practice, gained significance. Violence and assaults are not unknown but the latest incident has sent shock waves in industrial circles.

“With improved economic and educational background of today’s second-generation workers, incidents of this nature are coming down compared to the late 1970s and early 1980s. But events such as this one and earlier ones in Gurgaon and Assam are unfortunate,” says Mr D.V. Nandakumar, Vice-President (Industrial Relations), Bosch Ltd.

The role of an HR executive is crucial in ensuring a peaceful work atmosphere, but when issues do crop up, it is important to prevent escalation, point out HR experts.

There should be a fair, equitable and legal way of handling HR issues, especially when it involves dealing with labourers. “HR professionals need not always be pro-management. They should understand workers’ needs and advise the management accordingly,” says Mr Ahmed Ali, Chairman – HR and Training Committee, Bangalore Chambers of Industry and Commerce (BCIC).

Mr Nandakumar, an HR professional for 30 years, stresses the need to “have a two-way communication.” Instead of just sending out notices to workers, the management must strengthen the dialogue process in the organisation and “look at employees as partners in the company’s growth. All differences can be dissolved through dialogue. If the culture of dialogue is blocked, that can give rise to tension. Botched up feelings can lead to extreme emotions. If management is sensitive to workers’ needs, things won’t escalate in any organisation,” he says.

Even while dismissing an employee, the management has the responsibility to convey to the worker where he went wrong, he adds.

Proactive role

Some organisations play a proactive role to prevent such violence. In an attempt to understand what the employees think, auto major Volvo conducts exhaustive employee surveys across all its global facilities every year. Based on the feedback received, the company conducts workshops on implementing changes wherever necessary, says Mr Atanu Sengupta, Head – HR, Volvo India, adding, “we believe in diversity and inclusiveness of employees.”

Violence can never be justified, says Mr Nandakumar. “While it’s understandable that loss of job can lead to emotions and insecurity, it can’t justify violence. In the Pricol case, the workmen could have filed a case or gone to the labour commissioner with their grievances. Loss of life does not do any good to anyone. The industrial climate and working atmosphere gets affected,” he says.

In addition to workers’ rights, importance should be laid on workers’ responsibilities too. “Violence has no place in any industry. You are just doing a job for an organisation. In any civil society, people can coexist even with differences and handle differences in a proper manner. You need not resort to violence. I would say this even if the management had beaten up a worker,” he adds.

Any issue can be resolved through a tri-partite discussion — involving the employer, union or workers and the Government, says Mr Ali.

Acts of violence can slur the image of the country at a time when foreign investors are looking for a slice of action here, say industry players.

Says Mr T.R. Parasuraman, Chairman of the industry and manufacturing expert committee of BCIC, “When India is on a growth path, incidents of this nature will dampen investor confidence. We need to reflect this seriously and put in every effort to prevent such happenings in future. When foreign investors are looking at us, this is not a good sign. Industrial growth will get affected and will in turn affect employment.”