Human resource management, trade unions and empowerment

This paper discusses the introduction of schemes aimed at employee empowerment within a context of strong industrial relations in India. The pressure put on profit margins by a competitive business environment is forcing an increasing number of Indian enterprises to view employee empowerment as a serious strategic option. Getting workers to take responsibility for shop-floor decisions over quality, safety, productivity and material use appears, at first sight, an alluring prospect. It would seem that men and women at the bottom of the pyramid cannot but be warmly appreciative of powersharing arrangements from which they have much to gain, but there are forces at work which can actively obstruct or quietly subvert attempts at redistributing power. In this paper the focus is on some of the motives a trade union might have to do so.