216608000 grivance-handling

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INTRODUCTION
1. INTRODUCTION
A grievance is a wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint.
Grievance-handling is a very important and sensitive area of the work profile. It is, none-
the-less, an area that is, at best, taken for granted and, at worst, grossly neglected by the
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service providers as it does not fall into the category of "urgent matters". Its importance is
very often not appreciated by those who ought to recognise the value of grievances in
order to develop a diagnosis of what ails a Department or agency. There is, perhaps, a
reasonable justification for this perception of the grievance-handling mechanism among
the citizens at large. Every grievance points to a missed pulse beat somewhere in the
organisation, and when grievance-prone areas are identified and analysed, it can
frequently prevent "cardiac arrest" or avoid a "moment of truth" for the organisation. One
does not have to await public interest litigations and contempt proceedings in a court of
law before addressing grievances and grievance-prone areas. There are specific factors
that make for a sound complaints-handling system. It should ideally be accessible,
simple, quick and fair. It should also respect confidentiality, be responsive, effective and
accountable. It should provide feedback to management for systemic reform.
Accessibility
Grievance-handling is decentralised and grievances are settled independently by each
Department or agency. There is a provision for accessibility of publicly notified
Grievance Officers to meet the aggrieved persons at specified times and on specified days
of the week. Telephone numbers and contact addresses of the Grievance Officers are
widely publicised. Complaint boxes are placed at or near the reception desks. Information
and Facilitation Counters (IFCs) have been set up by the organisations with a large public
interface.
Simplicity
The streamlining of complaints-handling is essential and, though an outline of the
Company’s requirements to assess a grievance is publicised, no strict proforma for
application is laid down.
Speed
Time limits have to be fixed and notified for grievance-handling and final disposal by
each organisation.
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Fairness
It is not as easy as it sounds, as it requires balancing fairness towards the complainant
with fairness towards the organisation and the individual complained against. Perception
of fairness can vary sometimes even in the face of true impartiality. Transparency on the
part of the decision-making and implementing authority goes a long way towards
ensuring fairness.
Confidentiality
It needs to be maintained in all cases, particularly in matters such as dispute settlement
in land-revenue or police cases. With the increasing use of information technology,
provisions for maintaining confidentiality are being built into grievance software too.
A reply to any grievance must cover all points raised and not address the grievance
partially. Moreover, if an application is rejected, the reasons for such rejection must be
made explicit. If there is any follow-up action, it must be pursued. This is not to say that
such consideration is to be given to frivolous or fictitious complaints or to those which
are persistently repeated, despite a well argued final reply having been sent.
In order to be effective, the grievance redress mechanism should provide specific
remedies. Remedies vary from compensations and refunds to repairs and replacements,
from giving requisite information to tendering an apology. The concept of providing
remedies requires a paradigm shift from an inherently defensive stance to one which is
based on reaching out with goodwill to the aggrieved person. It also requires a degree of
sensitive handling and can differ from case to case. Remedies also work towards ensuring
both organisational and individual accountability.
An accountable grievance-handling system is open to scrutiny by clients, government
and agency staff. Agencies can make their grievance redress mechanism more
accountable by publishing information on the system and service delivery standards, and
reporting on the outcomes of complaints and citizen satisfaction levels in annual reports
and other public documents.
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1.1 UNION LABOR
In a labor union, a grievance is the subject of a complaint filed by an employee to be
resolved by procedures provided in the union contract. Such a grievance may arise from
an alleged violation of the collective bargaining agreement, or violations of law, such as
workplace safety regulations...
Ordinarily, unionized workers must ask their operations managers for time during work
hours to meet with a shop steward in order to discuss the problem, which may or may not
result in a grievance. If the grievance cannot be resolved through negotiation between
labor and management, mediation, arbitration or legal remedies may be employed.
Typically, everyone involved with a grievance has strict time lines which must be met in
the processing of this formal complaint, until it is resolved. Employers cannot legally
treat an employee any differently whether he or she has filed a grievance or not. The
difference between a grievance and a complaint, in the unionized workplace, is whether
the subject matter relates to the collective bargaining agreement.
1.2 HISTORY AND POLITICS
A grievance may arise from injustice or tyranny, and be cause for rebellion or revolution.
The revolt of English barons in the early thirteenth century which led to the Magna Carta
of 1215 was partly motivated by grievances against abuses by King John. This right to
Petition the king, for grievances, was affirmed in the Bill of Rights 1689.
The United States Declaration of Independence is mainly an enumeration of the colonists'
grievances against King George III. The right "to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances" is recognized in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
A grievance is a sign of an employee’s discontentment with his job or his
relationship with his colleagues. Grievances generally arise out of the day-to-day working
relations in an organization. An employee or a trade union protests against an act or
policy of the management that they consider as violating employee’s rights.
One of the effective ways of minimizing and eliminating the source of an
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employee’s grievance is by having an ‘open door policy’. An ‘open door policy’
facilitates upward communication in the organization where employees can walk into a
superiors’ cabin at any time and express their grievances. The National Commission on
Labor suggested a Model Grievance Procedure, which lays down the sequence of steps to
be taken whenever a grievance is expressed.
Conflict occurs when two or more people or parties perceive an incompatibility
in their goals or expectations. There are seven methods for achieving reconciliation of
conflict. These methods are win-lose, withdrawal and retreat from argument, smoothing
and playing down the difference, arbitration, mediation, compromise and problem
solving. Of all these methods ‘problem-solving’ method is most likely to bring about a
win-win situation.
Maintaining quality of work life for its employees is an important concern for the
any organisation. The grievance handling procedure of the organisation can affect the
harmonious environment of the organisation. The grievances of the employees are
related to the contract, work rule or regulation, policy or procedure, health and safety
regulation, past practice, changing the cultural norms unilaterally, individual
victimization, wage, bonus, etc. Here, the attitude on the part of management in their
effort to understand the problems of employees and resolve the issues amicably have
better probability to maintain a culture of high performance. Managers must be educated
about the importance of the grievance 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 productive workplace.
Positive labor relations are two-way street both sides must give a little and try to work
together. Relationship building is key to successful labor relations.
1.3 CAUSES OF GRIEVANCES
Causes of Grievances Among Workers:-
i. Concerning wages
• Demand for individual adjustment; the worker feels that he is underpaid.
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• Complaints above incentives; pieces rates are too low or too complicated.
• Mistakes in calculating the wages of a worker.
ii. Concerning Supervision
• Complaints against discipline
• Objection to having a particular foreman; the foreman ignores the complaints.
• Objection to the manner in which the general methods of the supervision are used;
rules and regulations are not clearly posted
iii. Concerning Individual Advancement
• Complaint that the employees record of continuous service has been unfairly
broken.
• Complaints that the claims of senior persons have bee ignored; that younger
workers have been promoted ahead of older and more experienced employee.
• Charges are made that disciplinary discharge or lay-off has been unfair.
iv. General working conditions
• Complaints about toilet facilities being inadequate; about dirty lunch rooms.
• Complaints about working conditions; dampness, noise, fumes and another
unpleasant and unsafe condition, which can be easily corrected; overtime is
unnecessary.
v. Collective Bargaining
• The company is attempting to undermine the trade union and the workers who
belong to that union; the contract with labour has been violated.
• The company does not .allow the supervisors to deal with, and settle, the
grievances of the employees
• The company disregards precedents and agreements already arrived at with the
workers and or their trade unions.
Employee Grievances may be due to:
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• Demands for individual wage adjustments
• Complaints-about the incentive system
• Complaints about the job classification
• Complaints against a particular foreman
• Complaints concerning disciplinary measures and procedures
• Objections to the general methods of supervision
• Loose calculation and interpretations of seniority rules and unsatisfactory
interpretation of agreements
• Promotions
• Disciplinary discharge or lay-off
• Transfers for another department or another shift
• Inadequacy of safety and health services/devices
• Non-availability if material in time
• Improper job assignment
• Undesirable or unsatisfactory working conditions
Causes of Grievances in the Management:-
• Indiscipline
• Go slow tactics
• Non-fulfillment of the terms of the contracts signed between the management and
the workers of their trade union
• Failure of the trade union to live up to its promises to the management
• Questionable methods adopted by trade union to enlist members
• Trade union rules which conflict with the terms of contract arrived at between the
trade, union and the management
1.4 PRECAUTIONS AND PRESCRIPTIONS
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The management should take care of following aspects to develop a culture of trust and
confidence upon the employees.
1. Always ensure that the managers involved in the grievance handling procedures have a
quiet place to meet with the complainant.
2. Always ensure that managers have adequate time to be devoted to the complainant.
3. Explain manager's role, the policy and the procedures clearly in the grievance handling
procedure.
4. Fully explaining the situation to the employee to eliminate any misunderstanding and
promote better acceptance of the situation complained of.
5. Try to let employee present their issues without prejudging or commenting
6. Do use a positive, friendly ways to resolve the crisis than punitive steps, which disturb
the system.
7. Do remain calm, cool, collected during the course of the meeting.
8. Always focus on the subject of the grievance than allied issues.
9. Don't make threats manage the grievances.
10. Never make use of allegations against personalities.
11. Be aware of the staff member's potential concerns to the possible repercussions of
raising a grievance.
12. Don't become angry, belligerent, or hostile during grievance handling procedure.
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13. Do listen for the main point of arguments and any possible avenue to resolve the
grievance.
14. Listen and respond sensitively to any distress exhibited by the employees.
15. Eliminating the source of the irritation or discomfort being complained of.
16. Reassure them that the managers will be acting impartially and that your hope is to
resolve the matter if possible.
17. Don't "horse trade" or swap one grievance for another (where the union wins one,
management wins one). Each case should be decided on its merits.
18. Avoid usage of verbosisms like "it will be taken care of."
19. Ensure effective, sensitive and confidential communication between all involved.
20. Take all possible steps to ensure that no victimization occurs as a result of the
grievance being raised.
21. The investigator or decision maker acts impartially, which means they must exclude
themselves if there is any bias or conflict of interest.
22. All parties are heard and those who have had complaints made against others are
given an opportunity to respond.
23. Try to look upon the problem on different angles for appropriate understanding.
24. Ensuring that there is proper investigation of the facts and figures related the problem
under concern.
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25. Consider all relevant information in the investigation process.
26. Ask the staff member their preferred resolution option, although it is important to
make it clear that this may not be a possible outcome.
27. Be aware of the limits of authority of the person who involved in the grievance
handling procedures.
28. If the manager feels that he/she is not the appropriate person (senior manager) to deal
with the issue refer the complainant to the appropriate person as soon as possible.
29. Try to get a better idea of whether the alleged discrimination or harassment happened
or didn't happen.
30. Tell them exactly what they are supposed to have done, to whom and explain, why
this may be seen as discrimination/harassment or as inappropriate.
31. Grievances are preferably to be settled informally at the level of the employee's
immediate supervisor.
32. Try the level best to involve team members to resolve the crisis at unit level itself.
33. Avoid as far as possible the union involvement in conflict resolution situation
process.
34. Follow documentation the procedures, of all necessary steps taken to resolve the
problem/complaint.
To a great extend the aggravation of industrial problems depends on manager's
approaches and attitude in effective handling of employees grievances. Care should be
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taken in the way managers approaches the problem and perceiving the pros and cons of
the situation. The conflict management approaches include the win-win strategy that help
in the healthy organisational practices and which reflects the strong organisational
culture. The cooperation from both parties is the pre-requisite to handle the problem and
effective settlement of the grievances. Conscious use of professional self can help
managers in the conflict handling situations grievance redressal process.
1.5 GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
Grievance procedure is a formal communication between an employee and the
management designed for the settlement of a grievance. The grievance procedures differ
from organization to organization.
1. Open door policy
2. Step-ladder policy
Open door policy: Under this policy, the aggrieved employee is free to meet the top
executives of the organization and get his grievances redressed. Such a policy works well
only in small organizations. However, in bigger organizations, top management
executives are usually busy with other concerned matters of the company. Moreover, it is
believed that open door policy is suitable for executives; operational employees may feel
shy to go to top management.
Step ladder policy: Under this policy, the aggrieved employee has to follow a step by
step procedure for getting his grievance redressed. In this procedure, whenever an
employee is confronted with a grievance, he presents his problem to his immediate
supervisor. If the employee is not satisfied with superior’s decision, then he discusses his
grievance with the departmental head. The departmental head discusses the problem with
joint grievance committees to find a solution. However, if the committee also fails to
redress the grievance, then it may be referred to chief executive. If the chief executive
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also fails to redress the grievance, then such a grievance is referred to voluntary
arbitration where the award of arbitrator is binding on both the parties.
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE IN INDIAN INDUSTRY
The 15th session of Indian Labor Conference held in 1957 emphasized the need of an
established grievance procedure for the country which would be acceptable to unions as
well as to management. In the 16th session of Indian Labor Conference, a model for
grievance procedure was drawn up. This model helps in creation of grievance machinery.
According to it, workers’ representatives are to be elected for a department or their union
is to nominate them. Management has to specify the persons in each department who are
to be approached first and the departmental heads who are supposed to be approached in
the second step. The Model Grievance Procedure specifies the details of all the steps that
are to be followed while redressing grievances. These steps are:
STEP 1: In the first step the grievance is to be submitted to departmental representative,
who is a representative of management. He has to give his answer within 48 hours.
STEP 2: If the departmental representative fails to provide a solution, the aggrieved
employee can take his grievance to head of the department, who has to give his decision
within 3 days.
STEP 3: If the aggrieved employee is not satisfied with the decision of departmental
head, he can take the grievance to Grievance Committee. The Grievance Committee
makes its recommendations to the manager within 7 days in the form of a report. The
final decision of the management on the report of Grievance Committee must be
communicated to the aggrieved employee within three days of the receipt of report. An
appeal for revision of final decision can be made by the worker if he is not satisfied with
it. The management must communicate its decision to the worker within 7 days.
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STEP 4: If the grievance still remains unsettled, the case may be referred to voluntary
arbitration.
1.6 UNDERSTANDING GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE IN HUMAN
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
If an organization has to move towards excellence, maintenance of harmonious and
cordial relationship is a vital condition. Similar to organization’ expectations from the
employees. The employees do have more expectation in terms what they have
contributed to each other. Failure to meet with each others expectation or the deviations
from what has already been accepted may lead to indiscipline, grievance and stress are of
continuing in nature and often judicial- legal process may not be of much help in
resolving them.
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Managing Discipline:
In the modern management process, discipline should be viewed as a behavioral
modification process. Although there may be many norms fixed for desirable behavior
wherever there are deviations. Appropriate corrective measures should also be taken for
overall effectiveness, of an organization. Promotion, maintenance and strengthening of
discipline will be a continuing affair, only if some of the following conditions are
fulfilled. They are normally
- A shared culture
- Inculcation of positive attitudes
- Scope for problem solving and
- A feeling of satisfaction
(1)Approaches to Deal with Indiscipline:
This approach tends to emphasize the coercive and punitive methods that fall with in the
legal-constitutional framework. It may not always be realistic.
[
(2) Judicial Approach:
This is only an after effect approach. It follows the law of natural justice and provides the
offender all possible opportunity to bring out his side of the case. This is a time
consuming process and conducive climates are not often restored.
(3) Humanistic Approach:
It lays emphasis on a healthy inter personal relationship between the employer and
employee. Corrective steps are taken in helping the employees to get over their
difficulties and to the extent possible, punitive actions are avoided inspite of some
perceived inconsistency that may exist among other workmen.
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(4) Human Resources Development (HRP) Approach:
Keeping in mind the Theory Y and its implications, organizational goals have to be
enhanced through adequate training, motivational patterns and personnel policies. Groups
are used as influences and often made to act as catalysts to emulate norms of behavior.
Likewise, the effectiveness in maintaining discipline is also possible through the process
of leadership. A leader has to exhibit mutuality of interaction, persuation, highly
interpersonal in his relationships and get himself involved and should expect participation
from others to achieve the organizational goals and bear in mind not to indulge in
favoritism while taking appropriate actions.
To avoid displeasure among the employees while enforcing discipline, it would be a
desirable course of action if only one employees his diagnostic skills and intervention
skills. If a change is to be expected in an individuals behavior, some amount of influence
had to be exercised in order to create a congenial atmosphere.
Managing Grievance:
In a democratic set up any employee should be in a position to express his dissatisfaction,
whether it be a minor irritation, a serious problem, or a difference of opinion in the work
assignment or in the terms and conditions of employment. The feeling of discontent or
dissatisfaction becomes a complaint when (a) it has not assumed (b) the matter has been
presented in a highly informal way. A complaint turns into a grievance when (I) there is a
feeling of injustice (II) expressing the feeling formally, either verbally or in writing and
(III) it is related to policies, procedures and operations of the organization. The National
Commission on labour (1969) for example defines grievance in the following way:
“Complaints affecting one or more individual workers in respect of their wage payments,
overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, work assignment and discharge would
constitude grievance. Where the points at dispute are general applicability or of
considerable magnitude they will fall outside the scope of this procedure”.
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Nature and Causes of Grievance:
In an organization a grievance may be presented by an employee or group employees,
with respect to any measure or a situation that directly affects the individual or is likely to
affect, the conditions of employment of many workers. If such a grievance is transformed
into a general claim, either by the union, or by a group of employees, then the claim falls
outside the scope of grievance procedure as it is a collective grievance and therefore it
falls under collective bargaining.
In ‘Grievance Procedure, A survey of practices in industries in India’, it’s classified in to
19 causes of employee grievances have been outlined. They are
1. Promotions 2.Amenities 3. Continuity of service 4. Compensation 5. Disciplinary
action 6. Fines 7. Increment 8. Leave 9. Medical Benefits 10. Nature of job 11. Payment
12. Acting promotion 13. Recovery of dues 14. Safety appliances 15. Superannuation 16.
Suppression 17. Transfer 18. Victimisation and 19. Condition of work.
The international labour Organization (ILO), clarifies a grievance as a compliant of one
or more workers with respect to wages and allowances, conditions of work and
interpretation of service stipulation, covering such areas as
overtime,leave,transfer,promotions,seniority,job assignment and termination of service.
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2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Several reviews of grievance procedure research were published in the mid to late
1980s (Gordon & Miller, 1984; Labig & Greer, 1988; and Lewin & Peterson, 1988).
This review article will focus on grievance research published over the decade.
First, the authors of the previous reviews noted the relative scarcity of grievance
procedure research. Given the importance of grievance procedures for facilitating justice
in the workplace, Gordon and Miller note that this neglect is "disturbing."
Second, the grievance research up to the mid-80s was criticized for being largely
descriptive and atheoretical. Most of the early studies on grievance procedures were case
studies of procedures in selected organizations, utilizing an historical and institutional
approach.
Behavioral research grounded in social science theories was lacking. Lewin and
Peterson (1988) noted a shift from the case study and single research site approach
toward quantitative studies and larger data bases.
Third, a related criticism is the lack of common foci. For example, studies of
grievance initiation may approach the decision to file a grievance as if it were entirely an
employee decision, or grievances may be viewed as organizational phenomena.
Several studies have proposed or utilized very general research frameworks or
systems models of the grievance process (e.g., Knight, 1985 and Lewin & Peterson,
1988), but these are very descriptive in nature and do not generate testable hypotheses.
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As Heneman (1969) noted however, every system is embedded in a larger
system, and every system includes partial or sub-systems.
Only Lewin and Boroff (1994) explicitly control for grievable events in a study
of grievance initiation. In their analysis of individuals' probability of exercising voice and
exit behaviors, they censored their sample to include only those employees who indicated
that they perceived themselves to have experienced unfair treatment.
Other studies have attempted to control for grievable events indirectly. Bemmels,
Reshef and Stratton-Devine(1991) and Bemmels (1994a) included measures of
supervisors' behaviors and the stewards' assessment of the supervisors' knowledge of the
collective agreement. The rationale for their inclusion is that the occurrence of grievable
events will be related to the behavior patterns of the supervisors and their knowledge of
the collective agreement. Allen and Keaveny (1985) also included respondents'
"attitudes toward their supervisors" and "feelings of pay inequity" which will likely
reflect the occurrence of grievable events.
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3. COMPANY PROFILE
3.1 ABOUT MILKFED
The Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited popularly known as
MILKFED Punjab, came into existence in 1973 with a twin objective of providing
remunerative milk market to the Milk Producers in the State by value addition and
marketing of produce on one hand and to provide technical inputs to the milk producers
for enhancement of milk production on the other hand.
Although the federation was registered much earlier, but it came to real self in the year
1983 when all the milk plants of the erstwhile Punjab Dairy Development Corporation
Limited were handed over to Cooperative sector and the entire State was covered under
Operation Flood to give the farmers a better deal and our valued customers better
products.Today, when we look back, we think we have fulfilled the promise to some
extent.The setup of the organisation is a three tier system, Milk Producers Cooperative
Societies at the village level, Milk Unions at District level and Federation as an Apex
Body at State level. MILKFED Punjab has continuously advanced towards its coveted
objectives well defined in its byelaws.
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3.2 ORGANISATION
State Govt. & Other Nominees
Principal Secretary (Finance Department)
Government of Punjab
(State Govt. Nominee)
Financial Commissioner (Cooperation)
(State Govt. Nominee)
Financial Commissioner & Secretary (A.H.)
(Director)
Registrar Cooperative Societies
Punjab (State Govt. Nominee)
Registrar Cooperative Societies
Punjab( Director)
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Regional Director,NDDB
(NDDB Nominee)
Mr. V. K. Singh, IAS,
Managing Director,
Milkfed,Punjab
3.3 PROCUREMENT
MILK PROCUREMENT NETWORK:
Working on "Anand Pattern" the process of organizing societies at village level started in
Punjab as early as 1978. Presently, there is strong Network of about 6000 ( as on
31.3.2007) Milk Producers Cooperative Societies organized at village level. About 3.60
Lakh milk producer members are attached to these societies. Fresh milk is procured from
the milk producers twice a day through village level societies directly without the
assistance of any middleman.
INPUT SERVICES:
It is one of the fundamental objectives of MILKFED to
carry out activities for promoting milk production in
the State. In view of this, various technical input
services like veterinary health care, artificial
insemination services, vaccination, supply of VERKA balanced cattle feed and quality
fodder seed etc. are provided for enhancing milk production and economic development
of farming community.
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CATTLE INDUCTION PROGRAMME:
Government of Punjab has identified dairy sector as thrust area for rural development.
Recently, Milkfed Punjab has signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with State
Bank of India, State Bank of Mohali and Oriental Bank of Commerce for providing loan
up to Rs.50,000/- without any collateral security to milk producer farmers for purchase of
milch cattle on soft terms and low rate of interest.
CLEAN MILK PRODUCTION PROGRAMME:
For improving quality of raw milk right from milk producer's level, q massive
programme called "CMP" has been launched under which 125 Bulk Milk Coolers have
been installed in the societies and many more in pipe line. Besides, more than 1000
Automatic Milk Collection Stations have been provided to the societies for bringing
efficiency and total transparency in the system. Traditional manual method of milk
testing at society level is being replaced with Electronic Milk Testers.
WOMEN DAIRY PROJECT:
Household level dairying is largely the domain of women especially in small and
marginal household families. In view of this fact, Milkfed has undertaken Women Dairy
Project in six Milk Unions namely Hoshiarpur, Ropar, Mohali, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and
Amritsar with an objective to empower rural women in the field of dairy. This
Programme is being implemented under Support to Training & Employment Programme
(STEP) with the assistance of Government of India. Under this programme, 390 women
societies with 19860 women beneficiary members will be organized.
SETTING UP OF BIG COMMERCIAL DAIRY FARMS:
In order to enhance the milk production and making the dairy farming a profitable and
sustainable profession, Milkfed has planned to establish at least ten progressive big dairy
farms in each Milk Union by arranging soft terms loans from the banks.
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3.4 PRODUCTS
Milkfed has formulated company specifications for its milk & milk
products to provide standard and quality of products to consumers.
MILK
GENERAL COMPOSITION FOR MILK
Percentage Cow MilkBuffalo Milk
Fat 4.6 6.6
Proteins 3.4 3.9
Lactose 4.9 5.2
Ash 0.7 0.8
Water 86.6 84.2
STANDARD MILK
Milk Fat % (Min) 4.5
Milk SNF % (Min) 8.5
PH (Max) 6.8
MBRT (Min) 5.00 Hrs.
Phosphates Test Ng.
Bacterial Count/ml.(Max) 30,000
Coliform/0.1 ml. Nil
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UHT MILK
FAT 4.6%
SNF 8.6%
pH 6.6
Acidity L.A. 0.130% LA
GHEE & BUTTER
GHEE (AGMARK)
Boudine Test Neg.
B.R.reading(40 degree C.) 40 - 43
RM Value (Min.) 28.0
P.Value 1.0 - 2.0
FFA % Oleic Acid( Max) 0.30
BUTTER
TABLE WHITE
Fat% (Min.) 80.00 82.00
Acidity %L.A. (Max.) 00.15 00.06
Curd % (Max) 01.00 01.50
Salt % (Max) 2.8 -
Coliform/ml. (Max.) 5 5
Y&M (Max)/g 20 20
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CHEESE AND PANEER
ICE CREAM AND SWEETS
PRODUCTS AND PACKING
PRODUCTS PACKING
GHEE POLY PACK/MONO
CARTON
500 gms. & 1 Kg.
GHEE TIN PACK 500 gms., 1 Kg., 2 Kg., 5 Kg &15 Kg.
TABLE BUTTER 10 gms., 100 gms. & 500 gms.
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CHEESE
200/400 gms. Cekatainer, 200 gms. Singles, 400 gms Tin
& 1 Kg. Brick
PIZZA CHEESE 200 gms. & 1 Kg. Pack
VERKA VIGOUR 500 gms. Jar, 500 gms. Refill & 1 Kg. Jar
DAIRY WHITENER 500 gms. Pkt. & 10 Kg. Tin
SKIMMED MILK POWDER
200 gms. & 500 gms. Bottle, 500 gms. Cekatainer
1 Kg. Pkt. & 25 Kg. Bag
WHOLE MILK POWDER 500 gms.Tin, 1 Kg. Tin, 10 Kg. Tin
SWEETENED FLAVOURED MILK 200 ml. Bottle, 200 ml. Tetrapak
SWEET LASSI 200 ml. Tetrapak
MANGO RASEEELA 200 ml. Tetrapak
PINE APPLE RASEEELA 200 ml. Tetrapak
MILK CAKE /PEDA 200 gms Pkt.
KAJU PINNI 50 gms. Pkt.
MILK POUCHES
Full Cream, Standardised, Toned, Double Toned &
Skimmed.
U.H.T. MILK 1 Lt. Tetrapak Standardised & Toned
DRINKS
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MILK POWDER
3.5 MARKETING
MILKFED is serving nation wide consumers through its net work of Regional offices and
very strong Distribution channels. MILKFED markets a wide range variety of Verka
products which include liquid milk, skimmed milk powder, whole milk powder, infant
food, ghee, butter, cheese, lassi, SFM, Ice Cream, Malted food etc. etc. The annual turn
over of MILKFED has crossed Rs.700 crores. Verka is a brand leader in milk powders
particularly in northern eastern sectors and SMP marketed by MILKFED commands a
premium price over powders manufactured by competitors which include multi-national
as well as private trade and other Cooperative Federations. Now Verka is known for its
quality, freshness, purity and of course its home made taste.
EXTENSION OF THE BRAND :
After winning faith of innumerable consumers, Verka did not stop. Changing times
brought new trends, needs, tastes and hopes. Verka, dynamic as ever too acquired
newer forms of adding values to milk and milk products. Apart from introducing new
variants of UHT long shelf life milk and SFM in carry away bottles, Milkfed has a plan to
add more variety of flavours in SFM. VERKA Ice Cream in different flavours and
packagings is available in the market. Many new products are in pipe line.In true sense,
milk had never meant so much before.
30

EXPORT OF MILK PRODUCTS:
After carving a niche in the national market, Verka brand has reached in foreign market
also. MILKFED has established its Ghee market in Middle East . Verka Ghee reaches all
the emirates and is available almost in all super markets. The penetration is so deep that
Verka ghee is available even in far off labour camps. In addition to Dubai, Saudi
Arabia, Muscat, Australia and Japan, Verka Ghee is exported to Newzealand and
Malasia also.
3.6 ACHIEVEMENTS
On the basis of quality with efficient administration, MILKFED has not only established
new mile stone of providing services to Dairy farmers but scaled new heights in
delighting esteemed customers also. This has resulted into tremendous achievements in
all fields.
TURNOVER:
The annual turnover of Milkfed which was Rs.585 crores in the year 2003-04 has hit the
level of Rs.725 crores in the year 2006-07.
31

EQUITY PARTICIPATION:
The paid-up equity of Milkfed as on 31.3.2007 was to the tune of Rs.47.15 crores which
comprises of Rs.29.02 crores from the cooperative members and balance Rs.18.13 crores
from State Government.
MILKFED GROWTH AT A GLANCE
PARTICULARS UNIT 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06
06-07
FUNCTIONAL
SOCIETIES
CUMMU.NOS. 6643 6445 6104 6101
5989
MEMBERSHIP
CUMMU.NOS
IN LACS
3.79 3.76 3.56 3.63
3.60
AVG. DAILY MILK
PROC
LKG SPD 10.01 7.45 7.81 7.82
7.78
PEAK MILK PROC LKG SPD 15.01 10.04 11.64 11.37
11.54
A.I. CLUSTER SOCS. COOMU.NOS. 305 323 341 388
433
FODDER SEED
SUPPLIED
M.Ts. 517.40 444.10 400.30 430.00
500.00
CATTLE FEED SOLD M.Ts. 71743 73724 66970 66750
73577
AVG..DAILY CITY
SUPPLY
LLPD 4.68 4.97 5.27 5.67
5.81
32

SALE OF SFM LAC PKTS/BTLS 29.61 30.32 35.85 42.49
41.92
SALE OF LASSI LAC PACKETS 10.10 10.54 12.20 16.89
19.16
SALE OF ICE-CREAM LAC LITRES 7.63 9.17 10.23 12.18
15.61
EXPORTS RS.IN LACS 953.52 698.17 1142.28 713.67
11.50
TURNOVER RS.IN CRORES 670.00 585.00 653.00 682.00
725.00
3.7 DEPARTMENTS
Inception
Milk Production is a very important part of the agricultural economy in the State of
Punjab. Punjab is one of the smallest States in Indian Union with a total area of 50,362
Sq. Kms., which is 1.5% of the Indian landmass. Dairy Farming is an age-old subsidiary
profession in the rural areas of Punjab. Punjab is the second largest milk producing state
in India, producing around 10% of the countrys Milk Production i.e. 8 million tones
annually.
1. First Milk Plant, of the State was setup at Verka near Amritsar.
33

2. The brand name of Milk and Milk Products was adopted as Verka.
3. The Foundation stone of Milk Plant, Ludhiana was laid by Hon. S. Parkash Singh
Badal, the then Chief Minister of Punjab in 1970.
4. Commissioning of the Plant was done by Punjab Dairy Development Corporation
in 1974.
5. Inauguration was done by Late Smt. Indira Gandhi the then Prime Minister of
India.
6. The capacity of the plant was 1.00 lac. Litre per day, Including powder plant of 7
MT.And now the milk handling capacity is 4.00 Lac Liter perday.
Objectives
1. To strengthen dairy sector, Milkfed came into existence in 1978 and
Simultaneously Distt. Milk unions were formed.
2. Village level cooperative societies were also formed on "Anand Pattern". The
system was run by the farmers, of the farmers and for the farmers.
3. To give remunerative prices to farmers and to ensure permanent market for the
whole year.
4. To provide technical inputs like artificial insemination,to improve the breed of
animals,animals health services,preventive disease treatment andawareness
regarding farm management etc.
5. To provide ISI marks good quality balanced Cattle feed and fodder seeds to the
farmers.
Necessity for Production Enhancement
1. Milk production in the area increased manifold with the result. Resultantly started
receiving daily 2.50 LPD of milk.
2. To increase the participation of women 120 exclusively women societies are
organized with 15300 women members. through Punjab Women Dairy Project a
Central Govt. sponsored scheme.
3. Milk Production in the area increased manifold with the result. Resultantly started
receiving daily 2.50 Lac LPD of Milk and Peak procurement 4.5 Lac LPD.
4. To cater to the increased demand, necessity of expansion of milk plant arose.
34

5. Capacity of Milk Plant enhanced from 1 lac to 4 lac litres with additional powder.
Plant of 30 MTs .
6. Plant is having latest State of Art Technology with MVR (Mechanical Vapour
Reprocesses) along with a drier with fluidized bed through which agglomerated
Powder is manufactured.
7. This improved the socio- economic conditions of marginal and poor farmers.
8. The profitability of the plant and turnover of the plant improved a lot.
9. No. of societies increased from 94 to 751 and its membership from 5400 to
78000.
10. All the societies are in net profit and distributing bonus to its members.
Quality of Milk and Milk Products
1. To improve the quality of raw milk, Clean Milk Production program started in
650 villages and resultantly the quality of products increased.
2. Milk Plant, Ludhiana was the First in India in Dairy Sector to get ISO
Certification.
3. Under ISO Certification and HACCP (IS 15000) Milk Union started export of
Ghee, SMP to Gulf Countries Philippines, Manila, South Africa, Singapore,
Bangla Desh etc. The export is more than 5.5 crore during the last year.
4. To further improve the quality of Raw Milk, Milk Union started 365 Automatic
Milk collection Stations at village level.
5. To meet the Challenges of WTO Milk Union started TIFAC program with the
help of Ministry of information.
6. 22 Bulk Milk Coolers have been installed at village level to chill the milk on this
spot and to check bacterial count.
7. 28 model dairy demonstration farms have been established including milking
machines in distt. of Ludhiana which has encouraged the farmers to adopted dairy
on large scale.
8. Milk Union, Ludhiana is first in India which has installed Bectoscan worth 70 lacs
and Somatic cell count machine have been installed at milk plant, Ludhiana,
9. Further 23 BMC has been approved under central govt. Scheme on 75% grant to
be installed in societies.
35

Present Status/ Achievements of the Plant
1. No. of societies increased from 94 to 751 and its membership from 5400 to
78000.
2. Milk Procurement has increased from 10200 LPD to 2,50,000 LPD.
3. Highest milk price is being paid to the milk producers as compare to other plants
in the states
4. Products being manufactured by Ludhiana Plant are sold at premium rates
through out of the country and in the International Market.
5. City supply has increase from 66000 LPD to 1,60,000 LPD.
6. Turnover the plant touched to 180 crores Profit of the union has increased
manifold.
7. Capacity utilization of the plant is more than 80%.
8. Milk products like Ghee,Table Butter,Skimmed Milk Powder,Whole Milk
Powder,Curd,Paneer,Milk Cake etc are being manufactured by Milk Plant
Ludhiana.
Milk Union, Ludhiana is further progressing by leaps and bounds and it is hoped that in
the years to come, it will achieve excellent results and will help improve the social and
economic condition of the people at large.
3.8 ACTION PHOTOGRAPHS
36

4. THE GRIEVANCE HANDLING SYSTEM AT VERKA
MILK PLANT
4.1 GRIEVANCE POLICY IN VERKA MILK PLANT
• It is the policy of the company that the worker should
• Be given a fair hearing by their immediate supervisor / executive concerning any
grievances they may wish to raise.
• Have a right to appeal a more senior manager against a decision made by their
shift executive
4.2 GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE IN VERKA MILK PLANT
The main stages through which a grievance play be raised are as fol1ow:-
1. The workers raises, the grievance to their shift executive the executive tries to
address the issues raised within the shift and records action taken by him, in the
format.
2. If the worker is not satisfied with the decision of the shift executive, he may
approach his unit incharge. He then tries to address the issue raised within two
days and records action taken by him, in the format.
3. If the worker is not still satisfied with the unit-incharge, he may approach his
H.G.D. who tries to address the issue raised within two days with the aid of the
HR manager and records action taken by him, in the format
4. The worker may appeal to .General Manager for the final settlement, of the
grievance.
46

4.3 THE PRESENT GRIEVANCE SYSTEM
47

All grievances that are recorded can be classified into 4 categories:
• Inter-relationship related matters
• Wages
• Uniform
• Working
Working conditions
For the latter, normally the supervisor of the concerned department is contacted.
For shift change requests, HR is contacted. For temporary workers tl1.e main issue for
grievances are overtime, wages, etc. for to be the can approach the time office or any of
the representatives directly involved in the issue.
Some grievances are that are brought in by workers are quite easily resolved as
they arise out of certain system errors. e.g some time wages are deducted when a worker
takes a holiday on the last day of the month. This is because the system calculate it as a
leave without pay rather than a paid one. When the worker reports the error an adjustment
is made in the wages for the next month. These are some issues, however, that need
further looking into. This could be a complaint of one worker against his supervisor or
about the change in the shift timings.
All grievances are presently handled by the Employees ~elation Manager- this
thus become the responsibility of one person only. Since he has total ownership, other
department does not respond as readily to provide immediate services to help him to
resolve the issue. Since he is the one directly in charge of the grievances, there is a
tendency to look only to him for resolving all such issues. The workers as well as the as a
tendency to look directly approach him with their respective issues.
48

The unwritten policy at present is that all grievances be given immediate relief.
Unfortunately this doesn’t ensure that the grievance be totally removed. Many grievances
remain pending for long periods, are repeated after and after the point builds up to a
collective grievance.
Why Do Grievances Rise At All?
Due to certain inter -departmental hitch has and avoidable delays, the basic
necessity of workers that need to be catered to are not fulfilled on time. Since, they are
genuine in nature, this leads to a barrage of complaints and gives the worker a chance to
arise the issue, which try to undermine the management strength.
Presently, only the HR department is held accountable for delays in redressed of
grievances. Whereas all departments should work in conjunction to ensure that these
grievances don’t even arise in the first place. Several departments have to provide
essential services so that to be workers get what is due to then as a Inerter of right. Thus
purchase needs to procure on time, store& needs to raise the demand and dispersed on
time and finance needs to render payments on time.
There is no involvement of the line function in the system. This is essential since
the workers after all belongs to that department and they should be concerned about the
well being of their men. At present some of these departments are not even aware of
certain sensitive issues and only get to know about it when the issue intensify into a
Industrial Relation matter.
WHY SHOULD THE LINE FUNCTION BE INVOLVED?
• If there is line connecting an important purpose would be served that of creating a
personal rapport with the workers. This would lead to closer ties being frilled
49

between the mother department and its worker which would only help during the
negotiating period.
• And again there would be a speedier redressed if the department got involved and
there was departil1ental pressure to sort out the issue
4.4 THE PROPOSED GRIEVANCE HANDLING SYSTEM IN
VERKA MILK PLANT
• There needs to be a part decentralization of the grievance handling machinery
from the HR department to the line departments, so that this a shared
responsibility of both the departments. The line function so, because they have
a. first line responsibility and HR so, because they are the services
department.
• Grievances need to be classified into individual and collective grievances.
• Collective grievances are to be further classified into department related and
factory related matters.
• All individual grievances are to be addressed first to the line department and
then routed by them to the HR department.
• All collective grievances and those routed through the union should be
handled by either the department head or the HR department.
• All department heads nominate one executive or manager to take charge of
individual grievance handling. In this he should be given full support from the
HR team. Enough empowerment should be given to these nominees for
redressing to grievances and the top management should support a genuine
efforts on their part.
• Handling grievances should form a part of his key result areas for these to be
accountability on this count.
50

• The nominated- executive or a manager will lease with HR or any other
function as he sees fit for the redressed for his workers grievances.
• Once every week, all nominated persons should meet the HR team and sort
out all issues recorded that week and sort out all outstanding grievances that
couldn't be resolved at the first instance. If required the workers lodging the
complete can also be called to this forum for this inputs.
• After every meeting the minute shall be circulated to the department heads
and to the HR manager, so that they are kept informed of the grievances in the
department/factory.
• A computerized system whereby there is an automatic and speedy redressed
of grievances needs to be incorporated so that the lead time on grievance if
decreased.
• Everyday the department head will receive an MIS of the grievances for more
than 4 day an immediate act upon it.
• Every fortnight, the GM receives a monthly report of outstanding grievances
so that he is kept informed of matters with in the factory.
• The ultimate responsibility for the resolving of the grievances should lie with
the department head concerned, jointly with the HR manager.
• This should also form a part of their key result areas No grievance should be
outstanding beyond 10 days (individual) – 15 days (collection).
• Once a month, the GM should meet with all the HODs to discuss either some
outstanding collective grievances or discuss pro-active measures to prevent
certain anticipated grievances.
4.5 THE COMPUTERISED GRIEVANCE HANDLING PACKAGE
This package should contain the following information and be installed with the
nominated executive and the employee relation manager:
51

• The date the grievance is lodged.
• By whom the grievance .is lodged.
• Nature of grievance.
• Date by which it has to be sorted
This option should automatically be updated by the system to be 4 days. After 2 days
it should generate a reminder that the grievance has not yet been sorted. On the 4th day it
should automatically update the SORTED or NOT field as saying NOT SORTED.
An MIS should be generated every day for all grievances for the departments head
information and essential action. A fortnightly MIS should be generated sent to the GM's
office for his perusal:
• Responsibility
• Corresponding responsibility of which service or line function i.e. support
• Whether sorted or not
• Action taken
• What follow up action is required
4.6 INDIV1DUAL GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE IN VERKA MILK
PLANT
1. At the first instance the worker should report the grievance to the shift supervisor
who could inform the production executive nominated for this purpose with or
without the aggrieved worker. He should get immediate redressed within 4 days.
2. Incase after 4 days solution is still not provided the worker should take the matter
up with the concerned department head. The department head should sort out the
grievance within 2 days. Since as per the system, he is already aware of the
problem’ logged by the workman. If essential he could take .the help of HR
manager or the HR executive to sort out the issue.
52

3. If the grieval1ce is still not sorted then the worker should approach the HR
manager or executive directly and should get immediate relief and the grievance
should be sorted within 2 days.
4. If still not sorted, then he can take recourse to Union Aid and fill a written
application to the HR manager for the redressed or his grievance.
5. The HR manager should arrange a meeting with the worker and the union
representative within 3 days to sort out the grievance in the best possible manner
to the satisfaction of the party.
6. In case the worker still doesn't get a suitable response to his grievance, he along
with union representative can directly approach the GM for the redressed of his
grievance.
4.7 COLLECTIVE GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
53

1. As and when the scope of the grievance is larger than that of an individual
workman that issue shall be addressed as a collective grievance.
2. The workmen should formulate the committee of not more than 6 people and
directly approach the concerned head (if the metter concern a particular
department) for the redressal of their grievance.
3. The department head should liase with the HR&A. manager for a resolution of the
grievance within a week.
4. If the issue is not suitable addressed, this committee should approach HR manager
the should manager should arrange a meeting with the union representatives
within a week in order to sort out the grievance in best possible manner to the
satisfaction of the party.
5. If the grievance extends to the whole of the factory then this worker’s committee
can directly approach the HR representatives with the grievance.
6. The HR representative .should be, given a period of one week for the redressal of
the grievance in best possible manner. In this he should be given full support from
the concerned line / staff function/nominated executives.
7. Same as point 3.
8. If the issue is still not sorted out, the workers can approach the (1M to seek
redressal. The GM would then arrange a meeting with the committee at a time
suitable for both the parties at earliest.
9. The workers can seek third party intervention only· after all the avenues for the
redressal have been exhausted.
54

THE LINE FORUM:-
• The line forum would have to meet twice a week to discuss outstanding
grievances that for same reason or other couldn't be solved during the
allocated 4 days.
• This forum would comprises of all the nominated executives as well as the
HR representatives who are associated with the matter at hand.
• This forum should ideally be on Wednesday or Saturday so that all issues
could be discussed and settled well in time so that no grievance remain
pending after; the allocates 4 days.
• The minutes of the meeting are to be recorded and distributed for the
perusal of all dept: heads.
• This forum is actually a check on the grievance handling process since all
attempts to solve the grievance should be made as soon as the grievance is
logged and this forum should only be the last resort for the nominated
executives in resolving grievances.
• All the nominated executives and the HR representatives should undergo a
joint Grievance Handling - Team Building workshop so that they can
function well in collaboration as well as identify which gremmies are
genuine and which are not.
THE GM's FORUM:-
The GM's forum comprises of all the department heads and the session is presided
over by GM.
In case there are any outstanding collective grievances then the GM can call the
workers committee to this forum for a discussion on grievances.
55

4.8 MOTIVATION AND REWARDS
To motivate and to give facilities to their employees, the company gives several
financial and Non-financial awards to their employees. If such awards are given to the
employees, then they can motivate their skills and also resolve their grievances in much
extent. Several awards are as follow:
Financial Awards:
• House Rent Allowance
• Leave Travel Allowance
• Bonus
• Performance Bonus
• Salary payments
• Employees Provident Fund
• Employees Pension Scheme
• Gratuity
• Insurance
• Merit Scholarship Scheme for Employee's kids
Non-financial:
Chairman's Award for Excellence:-
This new initiative aims at recognizing particular achievements of team work
within consumer healthcare. Awards will be made annually to the teams, judged by
executive committee, to have made an outstanding contribution to consumer healthcare
based on Simply Better values. Any group of employees (2-10) who have worked
together to achieve something exceptional and eligible for this award;
56

Long Service Award:-
On completing 10, 20, & 25years of service in the organization, the company
presents an employee with a award. Presently the awards range from a cross pen to a
gold-coated quartz watch, depending upon the number of years of service.
Simply The Best Awards :-
These awards were instituted to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions
to the business by utilizing process improvement teams from around the world. This
program was designed focus not only on what accomplishments were made relative to the
business, but just an importantly, on how the simply better tools and methods were used
to attain these improvements: Any Verka Milk Plant employee regardless of job, grade or
location, can nominate a team for one of the awards.
A part from this discussions should be focused on preventing anticipated
grievances and strategizing on means to tackle any collective grievance which can be a
matter of concern.
MINUTES OF THE MEETING:-
• It was suggested that the time limit for resolving the issue / grievance should be
reduced to sort out issue/grievances speedily. As a measure to it, the time lag at
the initial stage was reduced from 4 days to 2 days.
It was also felt that the proposed, level 3 of department head and 4 of HR&A
manager should be merged and they should collectively s9rt out of the issue /
grievance.
Unit Incharge/HOD-HR
• It was informed that in case HR support was required in the shifts, the HR officer
would provide all information to sort out the issue/grievances so that the same
could be sorted out within the shift itself.
Concerned Shift Officer /Time Officer
57

• The unit incharge would be nominated executive for, the production whereas all
other depts. would nominate one executive preferably in the general shift, who
would liase with concerned dept to sort out the .issue/ grievance within 2 days
time.
Prod. / Engg/Stores/ HR/ MPD
• Incase the grievance is not sorted out within the specific time period, the unit in
charge would forward the grievance to this department head who independently
or consulted will HR&A manager would sort out the grievance with in 2 days. If
still required, the grievance would be forwarded to G M.
Unit Incharge/HOD/HR&A manager
• All unresolved grievances would be every month in the GM’s office.
GM/ Concerned HOD
• It was decided that HR&A would make a format in which all unresolved issue
grievances, are recorded.
HR&.A
• It was decided to arrange a training programmed for concerned staff member for
effective grievance handling.
HR&A
It was reaffirmed that the ownership for sorting out all grievances of the workers
is of concerned department and workers should first contact the dept. for sortilege out all
the issues and grievances. It was agreed that this system shouldn't be implemented
abruptly. HR & department will slowly education the workers on the new issue
grievances resolution system and advise them to approach the shift inchrage concerned of
his department for the resolution of the same all concerned.
58

5. NEED AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY
As a part of acaden1ic curriculum of M.B.A. degree course, I analyzed "The
Grievance Handling System" in Verka Milk Plant. The principle aim of all economic
enterprises is the satisfaction of human wants & whenever it is ignored industrial relation
tend to be strained enduring up in indusial unrest and strike.
The success of an organized industry largely depends upon the management can
reduce the grievances of the workers is of great importance to the success of an industry.
Grievances causes major losses generally so to know their causes and to suggest
some measures the study was conducted and some causes were revealed on the basis of
some available data and personal interviews. The study is conducted in GSK which is a
pharmaceutical unit. In this 24 hrs production system, Grievances are very harmful
because it can cause losses and quality maintenance and in achieving the target. Without
an analysis of their nature and pattern, the causes of employee dissatisfaction cannot be
ren10vcd. For this the administrator of an organization should go into details of the
grievances and find out the best possible methods to settle them. For this there is need to
study the policies, programmers and procedures, which would best enable them to handle
employee grievances.
Managing Job Satisfaction - Employees with higher job satisfaction typically believe
that their organization will be satisfying in the long run eliminating grievances.
Employer of Choice - Fairness - Prudent organizations will carefully manage
grievances. They will understand that there are different factors related to fairness.
This will not only create a more satisfied workforce, but will make genuine
contributions to the bottom-line while positioning organization as an Employer of
Choice without any grievances.
Employer of Choice - Opportunity - The level of opportunity within an organization
directly affects satisfaction (a response to current job conditions) and expectations
not grievance about job conditions in the future. What else can be done to increase
employee satisfaction? An employee satisfaction survey can help your company
make this important assessment.
60

6. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The objectives of study are as follows:
Primary objective
Primary objective of study is to determine the grievance handling among Verka Milk
Plant employees
Secondary objective
Besides the primary objective other objectives of study are as follows:
• To find out the grievances rate among the employees.
• To find out the reasons and causes for the grievances
• To find out the effects of grievances
• To find out the remedies to cure grievance
62

7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Plan
The research study is exploratory in nature. The established objectives were kept in mind
during the study, however no hypothesis was formed as the study was more in the form
of descriptive design attempting to analyze the attitude of respondents towards the
project.
Literature Survey:
In order to be familiar with the topic and to know the views of various experts of
marketing, a literature survey done. The intention behind this will to get full knowledge
about the topic.
Data Collection:
The Core finding of the study will be based upon the information collected through
primary data i.e. information will be collected from respondent with the help of
structured questionnaire.
Measurement Technique:
A structured questionnaire will be administrated for the purpose of obtaining information
from the respondents. Much care been taken to put the related to the subject, the
questionnaire will contain closed ended logical questions.
MODE OF DATA COLLECTION
The study is based on both Primary and Secondary data which includes
a) Primary Data
The Primary Data will be gathered through the direct personal interviews with technical
and as well as marketing persons of the concerns.
b) Secondary Data
Secondary Data will be gathered from books and journals on Grievance Handling in
Human Resource.
64

c) Sample Size
Due to time and resources shortage only 100 Samples had taken.
• 100 Employees
Measurement Technique:
A structured questionnaire is administrated for the purpose of obtaining information from
the respondents. Much care was taken to put the related to the subject the questionnaire
contains closed ended logical questions.
Sample Plan
Universe:
The universe of the study will be Mohali City of Punjab. Reasons for choosing this
particular city as universe for the study are:
1. Checking Grievances Among Verka Milk Plant Employees.
2. Ways to Improve Grievances.
Sample Size:
The sample consists of Milk Plant namely Verka Milk Plant of Mohali.
And on whole 100 Employees will be taken for the survey.
Sampling procedure:
In the study the sample will be chosen on the basis of Random Sampling as well as
convenience sample.
Contact Method:
The respondents sampling personally and a structured questionnaire was got filled from
them. a report questionnaire will be prepared to interview the employees.
65

DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION:-
The statistical tools used by me are mainly average, Percentage, & comparisons etc. I
would like to give brief points about :-
1. Questionnaire :- The questionnaires are given to respondent with no
pressurization at all, i.e. he/she is free to provide the information whatever the
concern is. One thing to be kept in mind that personal questions apart from name,
address etc. should not be included.
2. Direct Interviews :- The direct interviews are one up against all the data
collection tools just because one can judge that what a person is telling to the
surveyor. Although it is time consuming but the information gathered is of much
more weightage than others.
3. Sampling design, Procedure & Sample Size:- A sample is always a part of the
desired universe and it should represent each and every aspect of the study being
conducted. The only thing is that the sample being chosen is of relevance and
accurate source of information. My sampling design is based on random sampling
because each element gets probability to be included & all choices made are
independent of each other.
EXTERNAL GUIDE
Name : Mr. Balbir Singh Bajwa
Company : Verka Milk Plant Ltd.
Designation : Deputy Manager (Admin)
66

DATA
INTERPRETATION
& ANALYSIS
67

8. DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS
Q1) According to you what are the causes of grievance among the workers?
Table 1:
Working Conditions 26
Management Policy 22
Company Rules and Regulations 36
Alleged Violation of Laws 12
Alleged Violation of Collective Bargaining 4
Graph 1:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 26% says that working
conditions is the cause of grievance among the workers, 22% says that management is the
cause of grievance among the workers, 36% says that company Rules and regulations are
the cause of grievance among the workers, 12% says that alleged violation of law is the
cause of grievance among the workers, and the rest 4% says that alleged violation of
collective bargaining is the cause of grievance among the workers.
68

Q2) What steps are taken by the management to know the grievances of the
employees?
Table 2:
Exit Interviews 18
Opinion Surveys 38
Open Door Policy 34
Gripe boxes 10
Graph 2:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 18% says that exit interviews
are taken by the management to know the grievances of the employees, 38% says that
opinion survey are taken by the management to know the grievances of the employees,
34% says that open door policy are taken by the management to know the grievances of
the employees and rest 10% says that gripe boxes are taken by the management to know
the grievances of the employees.
69

Q3) What type of grievances are you facing at large in your organization?
Table 3:
Oral 37
Written 63
Graph 3:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 37% says that oral grievance at
large in the organization and rest 63% says that written grievance at large in the
organization.
70

Q4) What do you think a company should face the grievance or not?
Table 4:
Yes 33
No 41
Can't Say 26
Graph 4:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 33% says that Yes a company
should face the grievance, 41% says that No a company should not face any grievance
and rest 26% says that they can’t say anything whether yes or no.
71

Q5) How much time your organization takes to solve a grievance case?
Table 5:
2 Days 29
2-4 Days 23
4-8 Days 37
More than 15 Days 11
Graph 5:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 29% says that 2 days time can
take an organization to solve a grievance case, 23% says that 2-4 days time can take an
organization to solve a grievance case, 37% says that 4-8 days time can take an
organization to solve a grievance case and rest 11% says that time can take an
organization to solve a grievance case.
72

Q6) What do you think that the workers should discuss their grievances directly
to the management or through a media?
Table 6:
Directly 19
Union Leader 37
Supervisor 44
Graph 6:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 19% says that directly the
workers should discuss their grievances directly to the management or through a media,
37 % says that the workers should discuss their grievances with union leader to the
management or through a media, and the rest 44% says that the workers should discuss
their grievances with the supervisor to the management or through a media
73

Q7) What is the attitude of the management towards the workers in grievance
handling ?
Table 7:
Positive 41
Negative 17
Neutral 23
Biased 19
Graph 7:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 46% says that the management
should show positive attitude towards the workers in grievance handling, 14% says that
the management should show negative attitude towards the workers in grievance
handling, 22% says that the management should show neutral attitude towards the
workers in grievance handling, and the rest 18% says that the management should show
biased attitude towards the workers in grievance handling.
74

Q8) Does your Organization have a well defined procedure for grievance
handling?
Table 8:
Yes 63
No 37
Graph 8:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 63% say that yes the
Organization have a well defined procedure for grievance handling and the rest 37% says
that no the organization does not have a well defined procedure for grievance handling.
75

9) Does your organization reviews the grievance procedure from time to time?
Table 9:
Sometimes 21
Always 69
Never 10
Graph 9:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 21 % says that sometimes
organization reviews the grievance procedure from time to time, 69% say that always
organization reviews the grievance procedure from time to time and rest 10% says that
never ever organization reviews the grievance procedure from time to time.
76

Q10) Are you given a chance to communicate your grievances to the management?
Table 10:
Always 9
Sometimes 23
Never 68
Graph 10:
Interpretation- Out of 100 Verka Milk Plant employees 9% says that there is always a
chance to communicate your grievances to the management, 23% says that there is
sometimes a chance to communicate your grievances to the management and the rest
68% says that they never had chance to communicate grievances to the management.
77

SUGGESTIONS
&
RECOMMENDATIONS
78

9. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• By spending a lot of time in the research project of Grievance Handling System in
the Verka Milk Plant, following are my suggestions to the Company.
• HR should identify those departments which support it for the procurement and
disbursement of certain articles say Purchase, Stores, Finance, etc.
• They should work out a yearly itinerary so that all articles are procured well in
advance.
• There should be an adequate time for quality checks and in case the consignment
is rejected there should time enough foe changes to be made so that only the right
articles are issued to the workers.
• All suppliers need to be re-evaluated since the quality of several articles of IR
importance have been found wanting.
• Verka Milk Plant Management has to take care about the working conditions of
the employee and has to check the rules and regulation criteria time to time in the
company itself.
• Opinion surveys are the best technique to know and rectify any grievance
handling in the Verka Milk Plant company.
• The trend of written grievance has to be maintained as it is the most beneficial for
the employees to know any grievance handling in Verka Milk Plant.
• The time limit to solve the grievance handling should have to be reduced so that
working of the Verka Milk Plant organization continue without any hesitation.
• Supervisor of the Verka Milk Plant management has to check any grievance
handling issue time to time and with proper techniques.
• Verka Milk Plant Management should show positive attitude towards the workers
in grievance handling
• Verka Milk Plant Organization should have a well defined procedure for
grievance handling.
• Verka Milk Plant Organization should have to reviews the grievance procedure
from time to time.
79

10. CONCLUSION
• Working conditions, management and Company Rules and regulations are the
cause of grievance among the Verka Milk Plant workers.
• Opinion survey and open door policy are taken by the management to know the
grievances of the Verka Milk Plant employees.
• Oral grievance and written grievance at large in the organization. Verka Milk
Plant company should face the grievance from time to time so as to achieve
• No more than a week time taken for an organization to solve a grievance case.
Verka Milk Plant workers discuss their grievances with the supervisor to
the management or through a media
• Verka Milk Plant management show positive attitude towards the workers in
grievance handling. Organization have a well defined procedure for grievance
handling.
• Organization reviews the grievance procedure from time to time. There is always
a chance to communicate grievances to the Verka Milk Plant management.
81

From the above discussion and study of Grievances Handling System in Verka
Milk Plant, we can say that the most popular causes of the grieva.t1ces in, the company
are canteen and uniform. To resolve these problems the company has adopted two
methods. These methods are individual and collective grievance procedures. According
to these procedures the grievance can be resolved by step by step via Supervisors and
HODs. But the grievant can also approach the GM directly if there is a big issue.
The most of the workers are satisfied with the present grievances redressal
procedure of the company. They all know the procedures very well and they are' satisfied
because this company has resolved their, problem and grievances very well in short time.
This company offers financial and non-financial rewards to their employees, if the
company gets advantage due to their grievances and to motivate their employees e.g. SB
awards, long service awards, suggestion scheme, etc.
All the workers and the employees in Verka Milk Plant are satisfied with the
company's policies and procedures. That is why they are punctual of time and
hardworking. The result of their hard work is that the company wins ISO certificate in
efficient quality due to mutual relations of the employees. Due to these reasons, today
Verka Milk Plant is not only India's best Milk Cooperation, but it is one of the top most
brand in the market.
82

SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT Analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat)
Strengths :- The key strengthening elements of Verka Milk Plant are:
(a) Healthy amount of respect & reputation all over the nation.
(b) Extensive network distribution coverage.
(c) The infrastructure is world class.
(d) Better Environment, Good Marketing Strategy and Latest Developments
Weaknesses :- The weaknesses coming out to be:
(a) Losing Market share, i.e. unable to retain customers.
(b) Weak & unprofessional Advertisement Network.
(c) Inappropriate pricing strategy.
(d) Lack of feedback & continuous interaction with retailers.
Opportunities :- The future gains can be from:
(a) Putting classified vouchers of different denominations.
(b) Consumer is educated one & demands quality not the quantity.
(c) The customer is ready to pay more to receive the quality service.
(d) The advertisement can be a collective one for all its products.
Threats :- The major threats are :
(a) Stiff competition from other textile industries.
(b) Verka Milk Plant should see to competitor’s market strategies.
84

LIMITATIONS
The main limitation encountered during the project course was the responding error
by Management Executives, but the approximate figures of data & facts are sufficient for
the purpose of this project regarding grievance handling.
Nothing is perfect in this mandate world and this study is no exception. Given below are
the limitations of the study related to grievance handling in Verka Milk Plant so that the
findings of the study may be understood in their right perspective.
• The day of transition was a sad day for many people in India, especially “Brand
Watchers” who have lived with the brand Hutch for so many years.
• People experienced great service, terrific advertising, and personally felt a huge
sense of pride, thanks to the brand - both as consumer of its services, and an
Indian communication professional. They were not sure if Verka Milk Plant
would cater to all this.
• The immense cost of this exercise - both in terms of money and customer
relationships. The effect and the effort to manage the two is mind-boggling.
• Visitors will still probably look for Hutch and end up in official dead-ends
(instead of redirects).
• Visitors looking for Verka Milk Plant now, will probably not find much to help
them out (unless Verka Milk Plant has done a damn good job).
86

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS AND JOURNALS
• Gordon, M.E. & Miller, S. (1984). Grievances: A review of research and
practice. Personnel Psychology, 37:117-146.
• Labig, C. Jr. & Greer, C. (1988). Grievance initiation: A literature survey and
suggestions for future research. Journal of Labor Research, 9: 1-27.
• Lewin, D. & Peterson, R. (1988). The modern grievance procedure in the United
States. New York: Quorum Books.
• Knight, T. (1987b). The role of the duty of fair representation in union grievance
decisions. Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 42: 716-733.
• Heneman, H.C., Jr. (1969). Toward a general conceptual system of industrial
relations: How do we get there? Pp. 3-24 in G. Sommers (Ed.), Essays in
industrial relations theory. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
• Lewin, D. & Boroff, K.E. (1994). The role of loyalty in exit and voice: A
conceptual and empirical analysis. Paper presented at the Fourth Bargaining
Group Conference, University of Toronto.
• Bemmels, B. (1995b). Shop stewards' satisfaction with grievance procedures.
Industrial Relations, 34: 578-92.
• Allen, R.E. & Keaveny, T. (1985). Factors differentiating grievants and
nongrievants. Human Relations, 38:519-534.
WEBSITES
88

• www.google.com
• www.yahoosearch.com
• http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC338/fc338.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievance
• http://www.management-hub.com/hr-grievance.html
ANNEXURE
89

ANNEXURE: QUESTIONNAIRE
Q1) According to you what are the causes of grievance among the workers?
Working conditions Management Policy
Company rules and regulations Alleged violation of laws
Alleged violation of collective bargaining
Q2) What steps are taken by the management to know the grievances of the employees?
Exit Interviews opinion surveys
Open door policy Gripe Boxes
Any other
Q3) What type of grievances are you facing at large in your organization?
Oral Written
90

Q4) What do you think a company should face the grievance or not?
Yes No Can't say
Q5) How much time your organization takes to solve a grievance case?
2 days 2-4 days
4-8 days More than 15 days
91

Q6) What do you think that the workers should discuss their grievances directly to the
management or through a media?
Directly Union Leader Supervisor
Q7) What is the attitude of the management towards the workers in grievance
handling?
Positive Negative Neutral Biased
Q8) Does your Organization have a well defined procedure for grievance handling?
Yes No
Q9) Does your organization review the grievance procedure from time to time?
Sometimes Always Never
Q10) Are you given a chance to communicate your grievances to the management?
Always Sometimes Never
92

APPENDIX
GRIEVANCE LOG FORM
93
Name of Employee EC No.:
Dept: Shift: Date:
Issue/Grievance
Signature of Shift Executive: Date
Action Taken/date
Forwarded to Incharge Date
Action Taken/date
Forwarded to HOD/HR manager Date
Action Taken/date
Forwarded to GM Date
Comments/date

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