Industrial relations may be defined as the relations and interactions in the industry particularly between the labour and management as a result of their composite attitudes and approaches in regard to the management of the affairs of the industry, for the betterment of not only the management and the workers but also of the industry and the economy as a whole.

Employer relation refers to companies’ effort to manage the relation between employer and employee.

Nature of Employee Relation
1. Employer-employee relations are the outcome of the employment relationship in industry. These relations cannot exist without the two parties-employer and employees.” It is the industry which provides the setting for employer-employee relations.

2. Employer-employee relations include both individual relations as well as collective relations. Individual relations imply relations between employer and employees. Collective relations mean, relations between employers’ associations and trade unions as well as the role of the State in regulating these relations.

3. The concept of employer-employee relations is complex and multi-dimensional. The concept is not limited to relations between trade unions and employer but also extends to the general web of relationships between employers, employees and the Government. It covers regulated as well as unregulated, institutionalized as well as individual relations. These multi-pronged relationships may be in organized or unorganized sector.

4. Employer-employee relations is a dynamic and developing concept. It undergoes change with changing structure and environment of industry. It is not a static concept. It flourishes or stagnates or decays along with the economic and social institutions that exist in a society. The institutional forces give content and shape to employer-employee relations in a country.

5. Strictly speaking a distinction can be made between human resource management and employer- employee relations. Human resource management deals mainly with executive policies and activities regarding the human resource aspects to the enterprise while employer-employee relations are mainly concerned with employer-employee relationship. Human resource management refers to that part of employment relations which is concerned with employees as individuals, collective or group relationship of employees and employers constitute the subject matter of employer-employee relations.

6. Employer-employee relations do not function in a vacuum. These are rather the composite result of the attitudes and approaches of employers and employees towards each other. Employer-employee relations are an integral part of social relations. According to Dr. Singh (Climate for Industrial Relations, 1968) the employer-employee relations system in a country is conditioned by economic and institutional factors. Economic factors include economic organizations (capitalist, socialist, individual ownership, company ownership, and Government ownership), capital structure and technology, nature and composition of labour force, demand and supply of labour. Institutional factors refer to state policy, labour legislation, employers’ organizations, trade unions, social institutions (community, caste, joint family, and religions), attitudes to work, power and status systems, motivation and influence, etc.

7. Several parties are involved in the employer-employee relations system. The main parties are employers and their associations, employees and their unions, and the Government. These three groups interact within the economic and social environment to shape the employer-employee relations system.

8. The main purpose of employer-employee relations is to maintain harmonious relationships between management and labour. The focus in these relationships is on accommodation. The parties involved develop skills and methods of adjusting to or cooperating with each other. They also attempt to solve their problems through collective bargaining. Every employer-employee relations system creates a complex set of rules, regulations and procedures to govern the workplace.

Objectives of industrial relations are given below:

• To safeguard the interest of labor and management by securing high level of mutual understanding and goodwill between all sections in the industry which are associated with the process of production.
• To raise productivity to a higher level by arresting the tendency of higher labor turnover and frequent absenteeism.
• To avoid industrial conflicts and develop harmonious relations between labor and management for the industrial progress in a country.
• To establish and maintain Industrial Democracy, based on labor partnership, not only by sharing the gains of the organization but also by associating the labor in the process of decision-making so that individual personality is fully recognized and developed into a civilized citizen of the country.
• To bridge government control over such units which are running at losses or where production has to be regulated in the public

Discipline is the backbone of healthy industrial relations. The promotion and maintenance of employee discipline is essential for the smooth functioning of an organization. Employee morale and industrial peace are linked with the proper maintenance of discipline.

Disciplinary action can also help the employee to become more effective. The actions of one person can affect others in the group. Discipline is the orderly conduct by an employee in an expected manner. It is the force or fear of a force that deters an individual or a group from doing things detrimental to accomplishing group objectives.

Violation of rules, regulations, procedures, and norms is considered as misconduct, that is, any act that is inconsistent with the fulfillment of the expressed and implied conditions of service—or is directly linked with the general relationship of the employer and the employee—has a direct effect on the contentment or comfort of men at work or has a material bearing on the smooth and efficient working of the organization concerned.

Objectives of Employee discipline:

• To obtain a willing acceptance of the rules and regulations or procedures of an organization so that organizational goals may be
• To develop among the employees a spirit of tolerance and a desire to make
• To give direction or
• To increase the working efficiency or morale of the employees so that their productivity is stepped up the cost of production is brought down and the quality of production improved.
• To create an atmosphere of respect for the human personality or human