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

Received: 17 March 2023     Accepted: 2 May 2023     Published: 29 May 2023
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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.

Published in Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 11, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.jhrm.20231102.12
Page(s) 45-56
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Garment & Textile Industry, HRM Practices, Health & Safety, Minimum Wages, Trade Unions, International Managers

References
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[3] Alamgir, F., and Banerjee, S. B. 2019. “Contested Compliance Regimes in Global Production Networkers: Insights from the Bangladesh Garment Industry”. Human Relations 72 (2): 272-297.
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[7] Ashwin, S., Oka, C. Schuessler, E., Alexander, R., & Lohmeyer, N. 2020. “Spillover Effects Across Transnational Industrial Relations Agreement: The Potential and Limits of Collective Action in Global Supply Chain”. ILR Review 73 (4): 995-1020.
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[15] Freeman, R. and Medoff, J. 1984. What do Unions do? New York: Basic Books.
[16] Gegax, D., Gerking, S. and Schulze, W. 1991. “Perceived Risk and the Marginal Value of Safety”. Review of Economics and Statistics 73 (4): 589-596.
[17] Human Rights Watch, 2014. Bangladesh: Protect Garment Workers’ Rights (factory owners use beatings, threats to kill, to stop labour organizer). https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/06/bangladesh-protect-garment-workers-rights [Accessed 4 March 2016].
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[25] Ministry of Labour and Employment in Bangladesh, (2018). http://mwb.portal.gov.bd/site/news/e1fbcb12-8085-4ef5-b70a-82a3c604bffa/site/page/dd0d5638-5303-4869-af41-ea321807408e/Sector-wise-minimum-wages [Accessed 3 October 2018].
[26] Moazzem, K. G. 2018. ‘Changes in Decent Work and Gender-Related Issues in RMG Enterprises: Finding from the Surveys’ Presentation at Conference on Transformation in the RMG Sector in the Post Rana Plaza Period Organised by the Center for Policy Dialogue, 30th August 2018, Dhaka.
[27] Oka, C. 2016. “Improving Working Conditions in Garment Supply Chains: The Role of Unions in Cambodia”. British Journal of Industrial Relations 54 (3): 647-672.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Md Asaduzzaman Khan, Katharine Brymer. (2023). Development in the Garment and Textile Industry in Bangladesh: A Changing Global Environment. Journal of Human Resource Management, 11(2), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20231102.12

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    ACS Style

    Md Asaduzzaman Khan; Katharine Brymer. Development in the Garment and Textile Industry in Bangladesh: A Changing Global Environment. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2023, 11(2), 45-56. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20231102.12

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    AMA Style

    Md Asaduzzaman Khan, Katharine Brymer. Development in the Garment and Textile Industry in Bangladesh: A Changing Global Environment. J Hum Resour Manag. 2023;11(2):45-56. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20231102.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jhrm.20231102.12,
      author = {Md Asaduzzaman Khan and Katharine Brymer},
      title = {Development in the Garment and Textile Industry in Bangladesh: A Changing Global Environment},
      journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
      volume = {11},
      number = {2},
      pages = {45-56},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.20231102.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20231102.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.20231102.12},
      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.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    AU  - Md Asaduzzaman Khan
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    AB  - 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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Author Information
  • School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

  • School of Business & Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

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