Industrial Relations

and
Technological Change

Contents

Industrial Relations (IR)

Definition
Changing Patterns

Concepts of Technological Change

Impact of Technological Change on IR
Trade Union Response
Rationalization & Automation

Definition
Response in India

Industrial Relations

Definition:
A particular set of phenomena associated with
regulating the human activity of employment.
The making and administering of the institutions
and rules of work regulation.
Socio - Industrial conflict (in all its forms) and its
resolution.
Explicit and implicit
employees and employers.

bargaining

between

Contd...

Changing Pattern:
A degree of Regulated Labour market

Free and Unregulated Labour markets

Concepts of Technological Change

Technological change (TC) is a term that is

used to describe the overall process of
invention, innovation and diffusion of
technology or processes.

Technology
is
development.

It affects various aspects of economic and

social life.

an

instrument

of

Contd...
Types of Technological Changes
Scientific
Management
or

Changes

Time &
Motion
studies

Location of
Plants

In

Shift in
Product
Demand

Change
in
Machinery

Automation

Impact of Technological Change

on Industrial Relations
The two major concerned factors are :
The impact of technological change on
levels of employment and the nature of
skills.
The growing resistance of trade unions to
technological changes .

Contd..

Trade Union Response

Fear of Unemployment
Redundancy and Problems of Retraining
Major Benefits of Improved Technology
Workers Hardest Hit by Modernization
Negotiated Change
Appropriate Training
Accent on Team Work
Supportive Management Practices

Rationalization & Automation

Rationalisation
implies a basic change in the structure and
control of industrial activities. Its techniques
can be applied to methods, material and
men.

In Automation,
technology itself controls the operations. The
machine provides data from its operations
and feeds it back to its own controls which
governs the production process.

Response in India

Cotton-textile- Workers accepted it.

- Introduced in the form of efficiency

measures.
-Additional strain & Inadequate increase in
earnings.

Jute- International Competition

- Progress slow, Dependence on foreign

country for Raw Material

Coal- Rationalization in larger mines, old

methods in small mines