An evaluation of the effectiveness of collective bargaining in building industrial harmony,the case of parastatals in Nakuru

Abstract

The study examined the role of collective bargaining as a tool that promotes industrial harmony within the organization. The main aim of collective bargaining is to institutionalize dialogue and consensus at the expense of conflict and confrontation. The study’s main airn was to find out why there has been an increase in industrial unrest despite the existence of a well defined collective bargaining process in most large organizations in the country and what factors contribute to failures of the process. The objectives of the study were to find whether financial strength of a union brings respect to it from the organization, whether improved productivity increases an organization’s profitability and to establish whether training of negotiators influences the process of collective bargaining and dispute resolution. The hypotheses were, there is a positive correlation between productivity and profitability, positive correlation between union financial strength and industrial harmony and positive correlation between training of negotiators and industrial harmony. The study was carried out in three parastatals with strong union activity. Respondents were stratified into three namely managers, union officials and unionized employees.