Development in the Garment and Textile Industry in Bangladesh: A Changing Global Environment

Abstract

The reason for writing this paper is to identify the development in the garment & textile (G&T) industry in Bangladesh after the Rana Plaza distaster on 26th April, 2013. This paper charts the development of Human Resource Management (HRM) / Industrial Relations (IR) practices within the G&T industry in Bangladesh after the Rana Plaza disaster. The changes in HRM / IR are arguably rooted in the so-called Rana Plaza disaster, which left 2500 people injured and 1,134 dead. The study has adopted a triangulation technique (structured and open-ended interviews) to validate the data collected. The entire process of data coding was done manually. With regards to health & safety issues, the findings suggest that Western international managers show a higher level of awareness than non-Western international managers. In line with HRM practices, the Multinational Companies (MNCs) provide an exemplar of the introduction of corporate HRM policies in the G&T industry in Bangladesh. The study also found that Western international managers follow different HR policies but they have limited presence compared to the non-Western international managers. The study used a questionnaire in the ‘Bangla’ language for factory workers. This was because the workforces are generally not educated. The trade union officials and government officials also had a limited capacity in the use of language other than ‘Bangla’ and preferred to communicate in their native language. The suggestions that is driven from this research include a) the international managers could provide support for trade union officials to improve the workers capability through a workers education programme, b) the MNCs could encourage their workers to form a trade union, c) the non-Western international managers may benefit from a special training program for health & safety issues within a multicultural setting. The findings of this research would benefit a number of stakeholders that consist of employers, employers’ associations, government, country policy makers, international organisations and NGO’s.

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