Ir And Tech Changes.docx

Q5. How are technological changes influencing the IR-Climate? Ans. New, advanced technologies offer opportunities and pose threats. Enterprise strategies introducing advanced / new technologies impact the whole range of problems concerning human resources, including those relating to employment, occupational profiles, training, working arrangements, managerial styles and attitudes, and industrial relations. Most advanced technologies have three kinds of impacts on people: (a) replacing routine, repetitive, unskilled, dirty, dangerous and drudgerous jobs and deskilling skilled jobs; (b) shifting control over work away from workers to management; and (c) technological determinedness (the imperatives of using advanced technologies in certain sectors) minimizing the scope for sovereign decision-making at the enterprise and economy level. Technological advances cause the following concerns among people: 1.

Employment Issues

The key question / controversy concerns whether or not technology creates or destroys jobs. It creates new jobs that are different from the old jobs either in terms of the skills required or in their sectorial and or geographical location. New technologies are usually less labour intensive and result in workforce redundancies. In the long- term, new technologies can have a positive effect if they vastly improve the demand for the products/ services.

2.

Changes in Occupational Profiles

Technology works in two ways: de-skilling in certain occupations / jobs and re-skilling in others. The institution of new and improved technology affects the size and composition of the work force and the network of social relations among employees. Technology is also facilitating new forms of international division of labour in the form of outsourcing and offshoring of jobs. This is resulting in the shifting of routine, repetitive and less value-adding jobs.

3.

Education and Training

Advanced technology requires not only more literacy, but also numeracy because workers become responsible for quality control using statistical quality control methods. To become flexible and adaptive, they need to learn to perform multiple tasks and move beyond the narrow areas of work and specialization.

4.

New working arrangements and Managerial Attitudes

New technologies have necessitated work round the clock and throughout the year, blurring the distinction, in some cases, between work and home. Multi-tasking takes away the built in idle time with complaints about people being made to work as robots. There are two types of work-rule changes that result from the introduction of new technology: (a) those that leave the existing organization of work intact, while making it more efficient, and (b) those that change the system itself. The former category of changes, which seek to combine duties and eliminate superfluous jobs, would be conducive to higher productivity and greater efficiency and, as such, should not be resisted.

5.

Industrial Relations

New and advanced technologies have implications for trade unions and labour- management relations. The union that represented manual workers was different from that which represented mechanical workers. Inter-union rivalry created hurdles because the change was perceived as a personal loss for one union and a gain for the other. When workgroups are dismantled and new groups are formed, the changes in the social system affect the dynamics of trade unionism and industrial relations system in the company.

New and advanced technology brings: i.

Knowledgeable and skilled workforce

ii.

Direct participation to indirect / representative participation

iii.

Issues open to negotiation and collective bargaining

Management Strategy / Approach The strategic options available to managements when implementing new technology could be classified into either of the following two: a) The market situation influences the firm’s human resource strategy. For instance, if a company operates with in stable product market characterized by mass production, and if labour is abundantly available and weakly organized, then a strategy of de-skilling and downgrading may be unproblematic. On the other hand, in situations where products change

rapidly, where small batches are the norm, and where the labour market is tight, longer term employment and flexible deployment are the more appropriate strategies. b) In situations where societies have become more democratic and the workforce more educated, managerial ideology has focused on new, more humane and democratic forms of work organization and worker participation / involvement. Management usually seeks to attain one or several of the following objectives through technological changes: •

Reduction in production cost

•

Reduction in labour input in work processes

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Greater efficiency of operations through better management control over production

•

Higher quality of products / services

•

Adapting production to the changing demands of customers

•

Getting a comparative advantage

When management seeks to introduce technological changes mainly to cut labour costs, trade unions naturally resist. Instead of cutting cost, if the focus is on value addition, labour does not automatically become redundant. It may require up gradation of skills. If technologies are used to cut non-labour costs, trade unions will be less and confined mainly to issues such as gain sharing. Management must communicate clearly the objective of the proposed change(s), its likely impact on jobs and people. Along with this initial communication / information sharing, management must also invite employees and their unions to come with alternative proposals / suggestions concerning the subject. The dominant trend, however, is to adopt a participatory approach in labour- management relations before introducing changes and new technology in the workplace. Such cooperation covers several aspects, such as the following: •

Information sharing

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Consultation

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Management commitment to avoid/ minimize adverse effects on workers

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Worker’s skills training and up-gradation

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Measures to ensure worker’s health and safety

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Sharing the gains with employees

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Trade union participation

The reasons why trade unions resist technological change are as below: Fear of Unemployment A major cause of resistance to technological change is the fear of unemployment that results from such change. Through the problem largely concerns the unhired employee - since, in the Indian context, lay-off and retrenchment generally arise due to industrial sickness and not rationalization or automation or technological change of one or the other type - trade unions insist, perhaps as a survival strategy in the long run, that they are deeply concerned about the generation of employment potential and the removal of unemployment. Lack of identification of major Benefits of Improved Technology

By and large, in the Indian industry, the capital-intensive new technology has not contributed to cost reduction to the desired extent. The database is so poor and inadequate that management has usually not been able to identify separately the contribution of labour, technology and capital to the productivity increase wherever they occur and analyze the effect of technology on cost of production, earnings of employees, and return on capital.

Workers Hardest Hit by Modernization

If a firm is not performing well and if its modernization is considered inevitable it is generally made out that surplus labour therein should be dispensed with or redeployed. The realization among workers that the process of modernization would affect them alone prompts them to resist such a process.

Negotiated Change

Management tends to consider the introduction of new technologies as their prerogative. The management’s main interest is to make work organization lean, flexible, adaptive, competitive and viable. They are usually willing to give guarantees against redundancies through attractive

voluntary separation packages; skill training for continued employability, and redeployment with or without retraining

Appropriate Training New technology by itself will not step up productivity. The use of new equipment and technology is a function of human skills coupled with dedication and commitment to work. Hence, appropriate training in the use of new technology and employees’ participation becomes essential for the successful introduction of technical changes. Unless those closest to the technology are trained to recognize the problems and have the authority to take prompt remedial action, mishaps can occur and destroy costly equipment.

Accent on Teamwork

Highly automated technology, such as that for the continuous processing of oil refining, paper and pulp mills, and food processing functions, is best in enterprises where the accent is on teamwork at the lowest levels and there is a minimum of hierarchy. Fuller involvement of employees at all levels in introducing technological changes is vital to reap the fruits of technological changes.

Supportive Management Practices

Technological changes bear fruit if they are accompanied by supportive management practices and a congenial climate for union- management cooperation. There is a need for a joint effort by unions and management to scientifically study various aspects of technological changes.

The 15th session of the Indian Labour Conference observed, in its resolution on technology without tears, that three principles should guide technological progress: (a)

Protection of employment and wages of employees

(b)

Equitable share of gains among members of the community, employers, and employees.

(c)

Proper assessment of workload and working conditions.