Impact of Employee Relations on Decent Workplace and Employee Engagement: A Study on Indian Power Sector Undertakings

Abstract

Indian power sector has significant contribution towards the economic growth and welfare of the nation. Power is the core industry and the enabler of financial development in various sectors of India. In such a challenging business scenario, it becomes imperative for power sector undertakings to drive their human resources by stimulating employee satisfaction, engagement and proactive participation in organizational doings. This reciprocal exchange of obligations and rights between the employers and employees is the prime promoter of employee relations. Ultimately, a harmonious climate of employee relations is established as the most indispensable and integrated approach that synthesizes human capitals and diverse resources to reinvigorate organizational growth and prosperity. Social Exchange Theory (SET) is the prevailing approach adopted for explaining the relationship between employers and employees by developing a conceptual framework in the Indian perspective. The need for effective employee relations is therefore obligatory which would support the organizations to build up a decent workplace and increase the employees’ level of engagement.
Employee relations (ER) is one of the most widely researched phenomena that attracts considerable attention of both academicians and practitioners in the national as well as international perspectives. Seminal works on employee relations are researched in the Western literature considering organizational justice, employee empowerment, and conflict management as the antecedents and employee engagement as the outcome. However, empirical investigation on employee relations in the Indian power sector is sparse. Although power utilities are equipped with good employer-employee relations, proactive strategies, policies, and practices are required to be implemented effectively. The importance of decent workplace and its influence in uplifting the level of employee engagement in power sector is scant. Therefore, this study was undertaken to explore the impact of employee relations towards developing decent workplace and encouraging employee engagement in the Indian power sector. The study primarily focuses on evaluating the perception of the power sector employees on drivers of ER, employee relations, role of actors, decent workplace, and employee engagement to establish logical relationship among these variables.
In order to validate this research model, a questionnaire survey was administered among the executives and non-executives of four public power sector undertakings to accumulate both primary and secondary data. Nationinal Thermal Power Corporation Ltd., Talcher; Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd., Bhubaneswar; Odisha Power Generation Corporation Ltd., Bhubaneswar; and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Ltd., Bhubaneswar are the four power units selected for this study. A structured questionnaire consisting of 115 items was distributed to a total of 940 respondents using a simple random sampling method to collect the primary data. Based on the perception of the respondents, 652 useful responses were retrieved corresponding to a response rate of 69.36 percent. The responses congregated were further analyzed using SPSS 20 and Amos 20 software. The preliminary analysis of the data was conducted using descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis. The statistical tools such as exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were adopted to validate the hypothesized research model.
The findings of the study demonstrated that drivers of ER (interpersonal relationship, healthy work environment, employee compensation, organizational justice, employee empowerment, and conflict management) have a positive and significant relationship with employee relations. Furthermore, employee relations was found to be positively and significantly related to decent workplace and employee engagement. Subsequently, the study established that decent workplace positively and significantly influenced the encouragement of employee engagement. The role of actors including role of employee, role of employer, and role of government were the significant moderators strengthening the relationship between employee relations and decent workplace, except role of trade union. Additionally, the results divulged that decent workplace played the role of a partial mediator in the relationship between employee relations and employee engagement.
Hence, this research furnishes a holistic framework which could support the power sector undertakings to assess and develop cordial employee relations, decent workplace, and employee engagement. Further, this study provides necessary suggestions and implications to the theorists and practitioners to implement effective strategies for flourishing better employee relations climate. An organization with healthy employee relations could develop a decent workplace and enhance the degree of employee engagement. Finally, this research work advocates the significance of decent workplace as a critical constituent of the power sector undertakings.