Effect of Grievance Handling Mechanism on Extra-Work Performance of Shop Floor Employees

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the effect of the Grievance Handling Mechanism (GHM) on the Extra-Work Performance (EWP) of shop floor employees in the Sri Lankan biscuit manufacturing industry. The deductive reasoning deployed the quantitative approach to test the theoretical arguments. Key attributes of an effective grievance handling system, namely, top management commitment, perceived justice, informal procedure, simplicity, and prompt actions were tested for their capacity to influence the EWP of employees. Pre-tested instruments quantified the independent variables while the average extra production volume of an individual employee measured the EWP. A representative sample (n = 156) of shop floor employees of three leading Sri Lankan biscuit brands was surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire in which the responses are scaled on a five-point Likert scale. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings discovered that all predictors possess a statistically significant capacity to impact the EWP, among which perceived justice and top management commitment found the leading predictors of shop floor employees’ EWP. Addressing the contextual gap and the confirmation of the existing findings of identical nature are believed to be the theoretical implications of the study. Additionally, it revealed that the weights of each aspect of the GHM over the EWP of operational-level employees. The practical implications highlight the necessity for maintaining an effective grievance managing mechanism to ensure sustainable business performance and to tailoring the GHM of shop floor workers because of the weights of different aspects of it to affect the EWP.