Industrial Psychology

Gripe
Session
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Definition
Gripe session is one kind of catharsis program. Gripe session means session
where complaints are made.

It is an open discussion between management and worker. Gripe session is

occurring when there is a major problem in organization. The major prob-
lems which may make down the production of the company and make the
worker hesitate.

Gripe session occurs in most groups at various times, but its existence in the
organization should not necessarily be interpreted as a personal criticism of
management style. If we want to say broadly we can say that gripe session is
used for solving the complex management problem. In organization there
may be a lots of problem but all are may be not the major or complex but for
the complex or major problem the gripe session is really a good things that
can provide the job satisfaction to the workers and can take the organiza-
tion at the highest place.

In the gripe session the manager first listen all problems of the workers at-
tentively and show his empathetic to the workers. Then the manager fosters
an open environment and then turns the discussion around to a problem
identification and solution. But it is a matter of fact that he should not try to
be a close to employees rather, he should focus on motivating and providing
vision for the employees while managing their performance. Then the man-
ager, the employee and the organization will be much better off in the long
run.

In conclusion it is very much clear to us that the gripe session is a process by

which the manager and the employee of the organization can solve the rais-
ing problem which may affect the production flow or create other problems.
In other words the solution process of a complex problem through a open
discussion between the manager and employees is the gripe session. Gripe
session is often occurred in productive organization. Where the job satisfac-
tion is obvious for the company and any kind of major problem may hamper
the production flow.
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The selection field where we can apply the gripe session:

The related field or suitable place for applying the gripe session is impor-
tant. Everywhere it may not be effective. It will be effective where there
is a scope for doing this. The organization of the products, goods, ser-
vices where a lot of people are working. And there various kind of prob-
lem is often occurred. People of this type of organization are very labori-
ous and they want the full independency for their work and if anything
is responsible for the disturbance of their work then they may be made
complex problem for the organization and then may require the gripe
session. In gripe session they will say their problems, reason for this and
also they have the chance to provide their opinion to solve the problem
in their own ways but it does not mean that the workers are the decision
maker the manager has the full authority to decide what should be done
or not but for considering the opinions of the workers.

Use of gripe session in corporate world:

In corporate world the use of gripe session is like the familiar thing. Be-
cause it is often occur for solving the complex problem of the organiza-
tion. And problem is a obvious thing that always happen in the organiza-
tion. Like conflict between the worker and management, the conflict be-
tween those groups are always it can be reduced but not be removed. And
for reducing this better management is always required. And better man-
ager always make gripe session with the workers for better management.

The approach for gripe session is totally depends on some factors like –

 Time and cost

 Number of workers

 The nature of the problem

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 Reasonable problem or not

 Type of organization

 Irrelativeness

 Causes for problem

 Possibility for solving the problem

 The workers views

 The originations positions and conditions

 Effectiveness

Those factors which are shown in above are required for gripe session. If all of
these are not considered into action the gripe session will be only the waste of
time not more than anything.

Preconditions or prerequisites of gripe session:

There are some preconditions or which may be called the prerequisites for the
gripe session program, they are as follows:

 In a gripe session employees are encouraged to say what they want to

say.

 The supervisor accepts the statements without arguing.

 The supervisor does not take the side of the organization or of the side of
management.

 Employees are assured that they will not be punished for these open
views even if they say anything against the management.
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The process of gripe session

Situation

Decision

Hesitation

Gripe session

Solution:

The process of gripe session is described bellow—

Situation:
The gripe session totally depends on particular situation. The situation which
may require the gripe session as follows:
 The workers doesn’t do work properly.
 They do unfair job during the work time.
 If that job seems odd for the manager or for the organizations.

Decision:
Decision may be depend on these factors for that situation:
 The manager do like job which the worker may not like they often
asked why that has done.
 The manager may be gave the order and strictly handle it.
 He ordered to not to do that unfair job.

Hesitation:
 The workers may consider the company getting the awfully cheap.
 They may be wanted to know the overall matter related to the order.
 Even they crushed on the management of the organization.
 They may go for a strike.
They can make such situation that may affect on stopping the organization.

Gripe session:
 Here the manager appoints a supervisor to talk with the employees.
 The supervisor may want to make an open discussion with the work-
ers about his order.
 He may explain why the management gave the order.
 He may collect the opinions from the employees.
 In here he may hear all the things about the problem of the workers.
 He may consider all complains from the workers and may make the
priority list.
 He should not take the side of management or the organizations.
 He may want to know open views of the worker.
 He assured the workers about their free opinion.

Solution:
 Here the supervisor evaluates the opinion of the employees.
 He makes a decision which may useful for both the organization and
employees.
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The problem for gripe session may be as follows

 The cost for gripe session should be considered because it will

convey the type of organization their profits so if it is going so
high the manager should make the priority list according to the
views of the employees.

 If the time is available for making the gripe session it should be

done by considering the organizations valuable time.

 The motivated workers are always remaining happy with their

work or job. But if they fell disturb they may be lost their happi-
ness. So it is important to motivate the worker and if the manager
can motivate them well they will obviously participate in the
gripe session process with a satisfied manner and will say their
problem and provide their views by considering the organization
as their own place.

 Gripe session for irrelevant matter is totally waste of time and

energy any money.

 If any problem becomes the major problem for the organizations

should make the gripe session.

Doing an evaluation:
An evaluation process is a lengthy step of process. Evaluation leads the
program whether it is doing its ultimate job or not. Through evaluation
result it’s easy to identify the feedback. Here the evaluation steps are
narrated in short:-
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Determining causation
Perhaps the most difficult part of evaluation is determining whether the pro-
gram itself is causing the changes that are observed in the population it was
aimed at. Events or processes outside of the program may be the real cause of the
observed outcome (or the real prevention of the anticipated outcome).
Causation is difficult to determine. One main reason for this is self selection bias.
People select themselves to participate in a program. For example, in a job train-
ing program, some people decide to participate and others do not. Those who do
participate may differ from those who do not in important ways. They may be
more determined to find a job or have better support resources. These character-
istics may actually be causing the observed outcome of increased employment,
not the job training program.

If programs could use random assignment, then they could find a strong correla-
tion or association. Causation is not something that can be proved through cor-
relation. A program could randomly assign people to participate or to not par-
ticipate in the program, eliminating self-selection bias. Thus, the group of people
who participate would be the same as the group who did not participate.

However, since most programs cannot use random assignment, causation can-
not be determined. Impact analysis can still provide useful information. For ex-
ample, the outcomes of the program can be described. Thus the evaluation can
describe that people who participated in the program were more likely to ex-
perience a given outcome than people who did not participate.

If the program is fairly large, and there is enough data, statistical analysis can be
used to make a reasonable case for the program by showing, for example, that
other causes are unlikely.

Besides that it’s necessary to evaluate its:

 Reliability
 Validity
 sensitivity
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The shoestring approach:

The ―Shoestring evaluation approach‖ is designed to assist evaluators
operating under limited budget, limited access or availability of data
and limited turnaround time, to conduct effective evaluations that are
methodologically rigorous. This approach has responded to the contin-
ued greater need for evaluation processes that are more rapid and eco-
nomical under difficult circumstances of budget, time constraints and
limited availability of data. However, it is not always possible to design
an evaluation to achieve the highest standards available. Many pro-
grams do not build an evaluation procedure into their design or budget.
Hence, many evaluation processes do not begin until the program is al-
ready underway, which can result in time, budget or data constraints
for the evaluators, which in turn can affect the reliability, validity or
sensitivity of the evaluation. > The shoestring approach helps to ensure
that the maximum possible methodological rigour is achieved under
these constraints.
This approach evaluate:-

 how much it costs to a gripe session program

 how much it takes time to be successful
 evaluation of data is goal oriented or not

Utilization of Evaluation results:

There are three conventional uses of evaluation results: persuasive
utilization, direct (instrumental) utilization, and conceptual utili-
zation. Persuasive utilization is the enlistment of evaluation results
in an effort to persuade an audience to either support an agenda or to
oppose it. Unless the 'persuader' is the same person that ran the
evaluation, this form of utilization is not of much interest to evalua-
tors as they often cannot foresee possible future efforts of persuasion.

Direct (instrumental) Utilization

Evaluators often tailor their evaluations to produce results that can
have a direct influence in the improvement of the structure, or on the
process, of a program. For example, the evaluation of a novel educa-
tional intervention may produce results that indicate no improvement
in students' marks. This may be due to the intervention not having a
sound theoretical background, or it may be that the intervention is
not run according to the way it was created to run.
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The results of the evaluation would hopefully lead to the creators of the in-
tervention going back to the drawing board and re-creating the core structure
of the intervention, or even changing the implementation processes.[7]

Conceptual Utilization
But even if evaluation results do not have a direct influence in the re-shaping
of a program, they may still be used to conscientalized people with regards
to the issues that form part of the concerns of the program. Going back to
the example of an evaluation of a novel educational intervention, the results
can also be used to inform educators and students about the different barriers
that may influence students' learning difficulties. A number of studies on
these barriers may then be initiated by this new information.

Variables Affecting Utilization

There are five conditions that seem to affect the utility of evaluation results,
namely relevance, communication between the evaluators and the users of the re-
sults, information processing by the users, the plausibility of the results, as well as the
level of involvement or advocacy of the users.

Guidelines for Maximizing Utilization

 Evaluators must understand the cognitive styles of decision makers
 Evaluation results must be timely and available when needed
 Utilization and dissemination plans should be part of the evaluation de-
sign
 Evaluations should include an assessment of utilization

Internal evaluators
Advantages
 May have better overall knowledge of the program and possess informal
knowledge of the program
 Less threatening as already familiar with staff
 Less costly
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Disadvantages
 May be less objective
 May be more preoccupied with other activities of the program and
not give the evaluation complete attention
 May not be adequately trained as an evaluator.

External evaluators
Advantages
 More objective of the process, offers new perspectives, different
angles to observe and critique the process
 May be able to dedicate greater amount of time and attention to
the evaluation
 May have greater expertise and evaluation skills
Disadvantages
 May be more costly and require more time for the contract, moni-
toring, negotiations etc.
 May be unfamiliar with program staff and create anxiety about
being evaluated
 May be unfamiliar with organization policies, certain constraints
affecting the program.

Why do staff meetings morph into gripe sessions? Because

leaders allow it!
If your meetings are characterized by griping and complaining, with lit-
tle being accomplished, then it’s only because you’ve permitted employ-
ees to conduct themselves that way.

Gripe sessions waste valuable time. Gripe sessions are largely counter-
productive—and rarely solve or advance anything. Gripe session’s lower
morale to the cellar.
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I’ve run into a number of managers who quit holding staff meetings because
their meetings had become primarily gripe sessions. I’ve also discovered that
managers may feel unequipped in handling griping and complaining from em-
ployees.

Here are five tips for preventing meetings from turning into gripe sessions:

 Know what you want to achieve with each meeting. Have clear meeting
goals and always prepare an agenda.

 Get people focused on positives early in the meeting. Ask everyone to tell
briefly what’s going on in their area that’s positive.

 Allow time in your discussions to dialogue about challenges or problems.

But, and this is important, turn the discussions toward ―solutions‖ as soon
and as often as you need. Tip: Some employees like “dog piling” on other’s negativity,
this spreads and others join in. Don’t allow it! People behave according to what you allow.

 Ask employees to help make meetings productive by staying focused on

solving issues versus running them in the ground. Ask them to bring some
matters to you privately rather than share it openly.

 Set clear standards or ground rules for your meetings. If you don’t have spe-
cific, written meeting standards or ground rules, ask your people to take
part in creating them.

The most productive meetings occur when we apply the right leadership tech-
niques.
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Practical Example
Company Profile:

Siam Textile & Hosiery (Pvt.) Ltd. Company is a private limited com-
pany. The company is engaged in various types of production those are
related to garments item. The company export its product in the Euro-
pean countries, Middle East countries, Gulf region countries and USA.

This is registered company that has been listed in 2003 to run business
as a private limited company. The company has total authorized capital
of taka 100 cores. Currently, it has net asset of 76 cores taka. The first
company started with a knitting factory but now it has various types of
business such as Dying Sweater Factory, Knitting Factory and lot more.

The company is situated in Mirpur-1, Dhaka with a huge compound. The

company imports its machinery equipment mainly from Japan, India and
China.

Here work about 1400 workers and some 75 employees to run the fac-
tory’s whole business activities. Every factory is under separate managers
who are responsible mostly for the events of his department or factory.
The work of every department is divided into some sub-division and
every sub-division has separate sub leader. The department authority
enjoys the greatest authority to his department and he takes most of the
decision himself under the order of the top level Executives. According
to the rules the manager of a department is the head of that particular
department.
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Functions of the company:

The company performs various kinds of activities related to the production of
garments item. Most of its raw materials are collected from India and China. Ba-
sically Siam Textile & Hosiery (Pvt.) Ltd. Company performs the following
functions:

 It collects raw materials from home ground and also import from other
neighboring countries such as China and India.

 It knits thread from natural raw materials and also from artificial ele-
ments. But it has to import most of the chemicals from other countries.

 The company has separated from Dying department to color the thread
for preparing them for making garments item.

 It has two separate department to wave and to cut and to sew the fi-
nalize product.

Beside the main functions the company has to perform other various types of
work to run the organization.

Organization’s Structure:
Here is the organizational structure of top level executives:
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And here is the company map:

Initials of the problems:

Situation:

In recent years the demand of the company product has been increased
greatly because of the high quality product and transaction Goodwill. So
the Company has so many readymade buyers of their product. So the Com-
pany tries their best to increase their production ability day by day.

As a result company store so much ready product into the Store room. But
unfortunately, last Thursday some knit wear ready product cartons were
stolen from the store room. The room is just beside the waiting room. So,
Management is thinking that it must be done by the visitors as the store
keeper reported that way.
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Decision:
Because of Thursday’s incident the governing body of the company go for a di-
rect action. They ruled out ―No visitor is allowed.‖
Agitation:
The new rules create some immediate reaction to the workers mind such as
 The rule is unfair to them.
 They become angry for this kind of decision.
 They feel insulted.
 They want concrete proof that the product cartons were surely stolen by
their visitors.
 They think that the organization is becoming very cheap.
 They think that the decision should be withdrawn.
Reaction taken By the Workers:
As the workers are against the decision so they strike for obtaining their de-
mand. As a result our production level is falling and hampered greatly.
Moreover there is a shipment next week. So it is a crying need to solve the prob-
lem as early as possible. Otherwise it will hamper our goodwill.
Action Taken by the Management:
The problem turns into a complex management problem. And it is threaten the
production and the goodwill of the organization. So the management is thinking
of a gripe session.

Planning for a Gripe session:

The management has to do something as possible to minimize the loss of strike.
So they primarily called for the labour union leader to consult with him.
Firstly he promised that all of their claims will be considered properly and told
them to go back to their work. According to the announcement leader asked
them to go back to their work and they did so.
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Later on the management made a notice asking the labour Union leaders for a
consultation with the executives. Here some more description of the meeting
was also described as follows:
 The leaders are allowed to say anything regarding the strike.
 All of their statements will be heard without any argument.
 The supervisor will judge every matter with the viewpoint of the work-
ers.
 The supervisor will neither take the company nor the management side.
 None of the leaders will be punished for their opinion if their expression
goes against management.
Management also assure that the meeting will hold very closely to the work-
place of the workers. There was only one supervisor and four working leaders as
the leaders do not feel any fear and express themselves clearly.
Gripe Session:
At their friendly discussion the leaders and workers express themselves clearly
and said actually what they wanted.
Here is the Outcome of the gripe session:
 Visitors will be allowed only at the lunch break.
 A new waiting room will be built outside the garments.
 The store keeper will be called for proper explanation and proof.
 The security system will be updated.
And after the end of the meeting, management take every necessary steps to im-
plement these outcome.
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Reaction of the Workers:

After completing the implementation, the worker became very happy.
Conclusion:
Though gripe session has many demerits, we can say that, gripe session
is very effective process for solving complex management problem. It sat-
isfies both management and workers. So in recent years it has got much
popularity.

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