ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an industrial relations policy and how it relates to organizational strategies. An industrial relations policy has been defined as: ‘A set of proposals and actions which establishes the organization’s approach to its employees and acts as a reference point for management.’ A company in the engineering industry switched its stock control and order processing to a computerized system on line to its major customers. A travel company launched an advertising programme mid-way through the summer in an attempt to attract last-minute holiday makers to its unfilled holidays. A general understanding of the context of industrial relations is important but insufficient in the design of industrial relations policies. The maintenance of procedural and substantive elements in a way which secures a trouble-free industrial relations climate is becoming of necessity less important than achieving business objectives associated, for example, with reducing unit costs through increased productivity.
