Abstract

Most privately owned enterprises play significant roles in the society today like Fako Bakery Limbe and Njeiforbi Bakery Buea. Despite the role, they play they do not seem to have interest on the employees as regards their grievances and how they are handled. These organizations have grievances but no laid down procedures for solving and handling them (Manger, 2017). It is against this setting that this study aims at assessing the level of effectiveness of employee grievance procedures and how it impacts organizational performance in Fako Bakery Limbe and Njeiforbi Bakery Buea.

More specifically, the study aimed to identify the types of grievances in these organizations, to examine the level of effectiveness of the grievance procedures, to examine the impact of effective grievance management on organizational performance, and to find out the challenges faced by management in handling these grievances. The study population for this work included workers from both bakeries. The target population of both bakeries was 200. The total population of employees from Fako Bakery Limbe was 124 and that of Njeiforbi Bakery Buea, 76 giving a total of 200 from which the target population of the study was determined, per the table of Krejcie & Morgan (1970) the total population 200 made us arrive at 127 as the targeted population for both bakeries.

However, 127 questionnaires were distributed and 87 were refunded. The study made use of multistage sampling technique by using stratified sampling technique, simple random sampling technique. The data were collected with the use of well-structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that there are three main types of grievances which included union or policy grievance, individual grievance and group grievance. The findings also revealed there are grievances but no laid down procedures for resolving these grievances thus no effectiveness. Comparing both bakeries, Fako Bakery Limbe is better off than Njeiforbi Bakery Buea.

Objective three, shows there has been an improvement in the number of customers, and opening of new branches thus rejecting the null hypothesis. Further, the findings revealed that management face challenges in handling employee grievances such as ineffectiveness of staff. The study recommended that management should have laid down procedures and make known to employees on how to go about their grievances, a trade union should be put in place in order to improve the means of channeling employee grievances and handling them effectively.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides a background to the study and further states the problem of the research. It also states the research objectives and research questions, significance of the study, the scope of the study, description of study area, and organization of the study and definition of key terms.

1.1 Background to the Study

A Grievance is any discontent or dissatisfaction rising from a feeling or a belief of unfairness felt by an employee or a set of employees in connection with the work environment (Opatha, 1994).The progress in collective bargaining for public and private employees has been appealing to public and scholarly attention worldwide. In South Africa, the Public and private Service Commission is, in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996 (Act 108 of 1996),required to investigate complaints of employees in the Public Service regarding official acts or omissions, and recommend suitable remedies.

To give result to this decree the Public and private Service Commission has in relations of section 196 of the Constitution and section 11 of the Public Service Commission Act, 1997 (Act 46 of 1997) circulated the Rules for Dealing with the Complaints of Workers in the Public Service (No. R 1012 of 2003) Government Gazette No, 25209 of 2004 which are referred to as Grievances According to the British academy of management by Benard Walker and Robert T Hamilton, employer- employee conflict is demanding more attention from both managers and scholars. The failure of collective industrial relation and the individualization of the employment relationship has distorted employment relations.

In UK the number of engagement tribunal applications increased between 1988 and 1996 (Burgess et al 2001).In North America there has been a similar effect with the introduction of new federal employment legislation leading to a litigation explosion (Lipsky et al) as employees increasingly filed complaints and lawsuits. There are numerous factors both interior and exterior that influence workers performance in an organization. Grievance is one of the factors which deals with employees and as concerns their working environment (Gupta, 2006).

Organizational effectiveness refers to the degree to which an association as a social system gives certain resources and means, accomplishes its objectives without placing unjustified straight (grievance) upon its members. The most vital element of an organization is its workforces. This is because machines and other technological appliances cannot operate by themselves without the required. Personnel who want to efficiently use these equipment to produce desired results must have the spirit to perform, this means he or she must be pleased. The reverse is true as an unsatisfied worker has grievance which hinders his/her ability to perform well (www.grossarchive.com).

Grievance is an experienced issue that has eaten deep into the cloths of every well-organized business establishments; be it in private and public establishments. Employee grievance suggests that the workers of that organization are not happy with the scheme of things in the said organization.

An aggrieved employee who feels he has a complaint against the manager or administrator is in contradiction with the company as a whole and so, cannot do active work. He becomes unhappy, his morale is low and as a consequence his efficiency drops. Satisfaction at work in terms of all circumstances that surround the job is important to high morale’s. It doesn’t matter how well paid and interesting a job may be, unless the individual performing the job feels that he is being fairly treated his morals is adversely affected..

These complains are strong feelings that a worker has that he or she has not been treated fairly, however not all employees complaints are defensible in that the action complained of may be legitimate behaviour within the terms and spirit of a communal agreement amongst the employee and the management. Grievances happen in every workplace and handling them appropriately is important for maintaining a pleasant-sounding and Creative work environment. Grievance management is all about how well the difficulties are addressed (and solved). It is very important in the present world.

Now-a-days there are many establishments who declare that their human resources are their greatest important assets and it is no more human resources but Human Capital. Hence these statements are to be verified whether it is true or not. This can be completed by measuring how faster the employees difficulties are addressed and Solved. If it is done faster, then it can be concluded by saying that the employee concern is significantly present in the association. The grievances of the workers are linked to the agreement, work rule or regulation, policy or process, health and safety regulation, past practice, altering the cultural norms singly, individual victimization, wage, bonus, etc. Here, the attitude on the part of administration in their effort to know the problems of employees and resolve the issues harmoniously have better chance to maintain a culture of high performance Ohiri A.U (2002:100).

Managers must be educated about the importance of the grievance process and their role in maintaining satisfactory relations with the union. Effective grievance Handling is an essential part of cultivating good worker relations and running a fair, positive, and productive workplace. Positive Labour relations are Reciprocal Street, both sides must give a little effort and try to work together. Relationship building is the key to fruitful Labour relations. Hence these statements are to be verified whether true or not.

This can be done by measuring how fast the employee’s difficulties are talked and solved. If it is done faster, then it can be concluded by saying that the employee concern is significantly present in the organization. Managers must be educated about the importance of the complaint process and their role in maintaining favorable relations with the union. Effective grievance handling is an essential part of cultivating good employee relations and running a fair, successful, and creative workplace. Positive Labour relations are reciprocal streets, both sides must give a little and try to work together. Relationship construction is the key to successful Labour relations.

Grievances in the organization is not an easy thing to perceive, because many grievances go unspoken and unexposed for a long period of time and require only a competent manager to diagnose and properly handle it before it turns to a grave situation. Numbers of organization have set up grievance machinery at their working places and making use of trade union activities that work hand in hand with their respective institutions.

A standard procedure for handling employee grievances also available according to Bhim Chimoriya. The existence of grievance in an association is inevitable because for an organization to have grievance-free relationship, it means that they will have no relationship at all. Consequently, inappropriate handling of complaint leads to disruption of work in the form of protest, violence, strike and resignation which ultimately amount to high Labour turn over, a negative effect on the overall performance of the organization e.g. the case of the wokers at Tole tea who protested because their grievances where not looked into by management. Therefore an organization wishing meaningful productivity and improved Labour management relationship must design a just and equitable grievance handling system. Management is expected to know how to solve grievances and endeavor to treat them on their merits (that is treating them fairly).

Angry people are not given the kind of leadership that matches their needs. They are over supervised whereas over- supervised employees can get very stressed at the work place. The under supervised ones may not be optimally utilized. There are also other possible causes: lack of feedback, lack of recognition, absence of clear performance expectation, unfair standards, being shouted at and blamed, being overloaded with work and or stressed out. (Randolph &

 

Blanchard, 2007). The use of Grievance Procedures are used to serve the needs of both employers and employees (Nurse, 2006). It is necessary for organizations to employ effective grievance settlement procedure to control complaints, grievances and disputes raised by employees in the interest of prompting justice while mitigating disputes. This is basically to ensure a peaceful and conducive atmosphere for mitigating both the interior and exterior grievances for effective Labour management relation.

There are various aspects that inspire the employees to work for an organization and make them engaged in the organization for a longer period of time. There are factors that will exhibit whether the employees’ grievances are addressed and solved properly or not. The aspects considered here include the awareness of the problem, the awareness of the employees on whom to report, the availability of the concern person, discussion of the problems, causes and effects, methods to avoid such problems in future, directions and instructions regarding how to deal with a problem, awareness programs to avoid them for fresh employees. Most employers believe that the only way to motivate employees and increase their performance is to pay them high wages and on a regular basis.

Very few employers include their employees in decision making procedures. A high number of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) such as Fako Bakery Limbe and Njeiforbi Bakery Buea do not seem to have put in place policies and procedures that permit employees to discuss or channel their grievances or suggestions to Management.

However, in addition to pay cheque, most employees will love to work in organizations where they can contribute to the growth and welfare of the entity. They will therefore like to be consulted on issues affecting their jobs and the company as a whole. In addition they want to have a direct relation with management so that when they have issues affecting their job, they can easily dialogue with management and have a solution

According to John Gennard and Grahan Judge Employees grievance on a wide variety of issues (including discrimination, harassment and bullying) arise even in the best managed organizations. If grievances are not dealt with, or handled quickly, they are likely to aggravate and harm the employment relationship. In every organization, there are bound to be problems related to employees and their respective functions in the organization. . When they occur, they should not be swept under the carpet but looked into immediately as failure to do so could result in employee dissatisfaction and grievances.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Grievance is one of the factors dealing direct with employees and all that concerns their working environment (Gupta, 2006).Grievance occur and are natural in any organization although there are many factors which can influence the work performance and productivity in organizations. Therefore the effective grievance management can help reduce discontent or dissatisfaction experienced by employee and improve work performance of the organization. Also effective grievance handling can help increase level of satisfaction of the employees, remove or reduce the absenteeism, accident, late coming, lack of cooperation, and insubordination.

A high number of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) such as the Fako Bakery Limbe and Njeiforbi Bakery Buea do not seem to have documented policies and procedures in place that give workers the chance to discuss or channel their grievances and suggestions to Management (manager 2017). Besides, overtime work is hardly paid; even when it is paid, the overtime wage rate is usually far lower than the deduction for absenteeism. Also, employees’ social and family urgencies are hardly taken into consideration. Lack of conducive and safety measures during work such as ventilation from heat during baking, lack of fire extinguishers during any fire outbreak at the production department, unfair management, and managers now are out for profit making and maximization that they don’t register their workers under the social insurance fund which leads to no insurance compensation for the damage caused on the employee during work.

This divide between employee’s expectations and the current policies used by employers in these enterprises often results in frustration, which often leads to low productivity, winding up of businesses, poor customer service, dissatisfaction, high turnover rates and bad image reputation of the enterprise, consequently the researcher is being prompted to undertake this Study which is to investigate how the effective management of employee’s grievances impacts organizational performance.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1.3.1 Main Objective

The main objective of this study is to assess the effective management of employee grievance and how it impacts organizational performance in Fako Bakery Limbe and Njeiforbi Bakery Buea.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

1. To identify the types of employee grievances in Fako Bakery Limbe and Njeiforbi Bakery Buea and how it affects their performance.
2. To examine the level of effectiveness of the grievance procedures in Fako Bakery Limbe and Njeiforbi Bakery Buea.
3. Examine the impact of effective grievance management on organizational performance in Fako bakery Limbe and Njeiforbi Bakery Buea
4. To find out the challenges faced by management in handling employee grievances in these organizations and its effects on organizational performance.

Check Out: Human Resource Management Project Materials