One of the very important facets which need to be considered before studying the process of collective bargaining is “Understanding and developing of a good Bargaining relationship”.

This step consists of these activities mainly;

1. Recognition of the Bargaining Agent: In those organizations where there is a single trade union, that union is generally granted recognition to represent the workers. But where there is more than one union, any of these criteria may be used for identifying the representative union, namely:

• Selection of the union by a secret ballot. 
• Selection through verification of membership by some government agency if required. 
• Bargaining with a joint committee of all major unions. 
• Bargaining with a negotiation committee in which different unions would be represented in proportion to their verified membership 
• Bargaining with a negotiation committee which consists of elected representative of every department of the organization selected by secret ballot, irrespective of their union affiliations. 

2. Levels of bargaining.

Collective bargaining is possible at all levels, such as:

• At the level of the enterprise, 
• It may be at the level of the industry in a particular region. 
• At the level of the entire industry in the country, that is, at the national level.

From the point of view of an individual establishment, enterprise-level bargaining is generally useful in the sense that the settlement is tailored to the conditions of that organization.

3. Scope and Coverage of Collective Bargaining: Though in many organizations bargaining is struck only by specific issues like wage increase, bonus, or seniority, promotion, etc., yet it is considered advantageous, both for the management and the trade unions, to cover as many issues of interests to both parties as possible. Now a days the orientation of collective bargaining is changing from conflict to cooperation and there by building an atmosphere of trust, progress and social welfare. For example: union must strive for larger scope and coverage like wages and service conditions for contract labor, temporary, part time employees, trainees etc.

4. Process Variation of Collective Bargaining: The negotiation process has been visualized in different ways. Collective bargaining procedure can be compared with the similar to an exercise in politics where the relative strength of the parties stems from decisiveness and that it resembles with a debate. They are also of the view that both the parties on the bargaining table become entirely flexible and willing to be persuaded only when all the facts have been presented. However with the increasing maturity of collective bargaining, there has been enlargement of the rational process. In addition several other factors also influence the negotiation process.

Among these factors some are mentioned below:

• Objectives of the parties. 
• Kind of experience, knowledge the parties have. 
• The Industrial legislation of the concerned country. 
• The personalities and training of the negotiators. 
• The history of the labor relations in the enterprise. 
• The size of the bargaining unit and 
• The economic environment.

Although several negotiators may attempt to bluff or outsmart the opposite group, others seldom think of using these tactics. While some bargainers may attempt to dictate the contract on a unilateral ground, others visualize that this process is eventually self defeating. While some negotiators may come together with excessive unrealistic proposals, others may have quite realistic ones. In some negotiations, there may be in each side implicit faith in the counterpart while in others there may prevail a climate of mutual distrust, suspicion and even hatred, in view of the past adverse labor relations. Moreover if the objective is to obtain solution to their mutual problems, the parties are likely to conduct the negotiation on the ground of rationality and fairness. However if the objective is to “put management in its place” or to “weaken or to even destroy the union”, the process of negotiation may take quite different forms. Thus several factors operate causing variations in the conduct of collective bargaining negotiations. “Militant unions vs. irrational management”, “Rational unions vs. oppressive management”, “Progressive union and progressive management”-There can be many permutations and combinations and results of the bargaining process would vary depending on these