The Practice Of Industrial Relations In Indigenous Entrepreneurial Organization In Nigeria

Abstract

The paper considers industrial relations as all activities concerned with the determination and enforcement of terms and conditions of employment. The focus is in all aspects of employment relationship. It notes that small and medium scale organizations are the largest employers of labour 70 to 80% of employed people in the sub-sector. The paper reports the practice of industrial relations among studied indigenous entrepreneurial organizations in Nigeria. It noted that most of the conditions and terms of employment with these groups of organization unwritten but that the parties, the employees and employers, however, based their actions on implicit trust. From an empirical evidence of a study there is the practice by the entrepreneurs of accommodating some unusual demands e.g. asking for cash advances, permissions to attend to social functions, and so on, because most employees have some other forms of links with the entrepreneurs, apart from the employment relationship. Consequently rigid adherences to specified conditions do not often work. A number of lapses are highlighted and suggestions for improvement noted, especially with emphasis on aligning the industrial relations practice of the SME with the prevailing circumstance in the business environment.