The term ‘industrial Relations’ refers to all type of relationships between all the parties concerned with industry. The parties related to industry are the workers and management representing owners. Thus, industrial relations connote a vast complex relationships obtaining between management and employees, union and management, union & employees and between employees themselves. Both parties to industrial relations have a common interest in industry but many a time, they are found to be pulling in different directions which leads to industrial unrest. Therefore, it has become necessary to secure the cooperation of both workers and management to achieve good industrial relations.

According to DaleYoder, “ The term ‘industrial relations’ refers to the relationship between management and employees or among employees and their organisation that arise out of employment.”
Its scope includes three rarely distinct areas:-

1. Relations between managers and individual workers.
2. Collective relations between employers and labour unions and.
3. The role of government in the regulation of these relationship. These three closely associated areas are often referred to respectively as personnel management, collective bargaining and labour legislation.