Re-thinking Industrial Relations for Enhanced Organizational Performance in Kenya

Abstract

Kenya has in the past had cases of industrial strikes covering virtually all sectors of the country’s economy. In the year 2011, for example, a total of 21 industrial strikes were reported involving 13,499 employees with up to 175,329 man-days lost. The scenario was not any different in 2012. The nationwide strikes by teachers and health workers in 2013 brought paralysis in the social sectors of education and health, while the March 2014 strikes by teaching and non-teaching staff of the public universities undoubtedly aggravated wastage to the nation’s valuable human capital. Industrial strikes have negative effects on organizational productivity, enterprise competiveness, economic growth and overall
achievement of the aspirations of the Kenya Vision 2030. The system and practice of industrial relations in a country has an important bearing on the state of industrial harmony. The system of industrial relations affects four elements in innovation: motive, content, process and outcome. The industrial relations framework as practiced in Kenya tends to be top-down and reactive rather than consultative, participatory and proactive. This does not promote innovation. Employees are seeking more meaningful work along with a voice in the decisions that affect them. Accordingly, corporate managers must re-invent themselves to meet the demand of these new challenges. The paper explores the scope of modern industrial relations and the paradigm shift required in industrial relations practice to promote organizational productivity and competitiveness. The conceptual foundation of this paper is anchored on political theories of pluralism, unitarism and economistic theory of trade unions. Nonexperimental research design and evaluative techniques of analysis have been employed. The paper advocates for adoption of modern industrial relations system, which integrates employee participation and involvement in decision making. It also roots for building of trust and confidence among employees and managers, and social dialogue at enterprise, organizational and national levels.