Labor Relations and Unionization
Labor relations have emerged as an important element in the work environment since they help determine labor practices. Regardless of the industry or market where they operate, organizations are required to have policies that contribute to fair treatment of employees as part of ensuring effective labor relations. While organizations and employers understand the significance of effective labor relations, some of them do not ensure suitable labor policies and practices for employees, which results in significant challenges. This tendency has contributed to the emergence of labor unions that adopt various measures and approaches towards promoting effective labor practices and relations in the work environment. The unions utilize the various measures including collective bargaining based on the provisions of The National Labor Relations Act.
It has been said that "a company that deserves a union gets one," suggesting that if proper leadership and motivation techniques are employed and desirable policies devised, the workers will not want to unionize. Either agree or disagree with this philosophy. Support your position and explain what a company could do to create an environment where workers will not want to unionize?
As previously mentioned, labor unions have emerged as organizations that help improve work conditions for employees who work in organizations that do not establish appropriate policies and practices regarding labor relations. As a result, it has been argued that an organization that deserves a union gets one, which implies that workers will not want to unionize if appropriate leadership and motivation tools are utilized as well as desirable policies developed and implemented. In essence, this statement means that unionization only emerges in response to unfair policies and practices employed by the company's or organization's management.
According to Commins (2011), unions arise in a workplace as a result of two major components i.e. leadership and organizational culture. Organizations with leadership that embrace involvement, communication, and leadership development develop a firewall. In most cases, unions can penetrate a company or organization not because of workers' uncertainty but because of unfair treatment of employees by the management. The management can also contribute to unionization of its workers if they contribute to employee disengagement and lack of understanding of what is going on in the working environment. On the contrary, organizations with a clear articulated vision and constant communication and interactions between the management and employees are less likely to experience unionization of their workers. This is primarily because employees in such environments have lesser concerns and less vulnerable to unions.
I agree with this statement on the premise that employees don't organize or unionize in a vacuum. While unions are easily accused of generating unrest in the workforce, it is increasingly evident that union organizers promote unionization following their recognition of discontent existing in a workforce. Even though wages and benefits also play a significant role in unionization, unions generally arise depending on the organizational culture. Employees' actions are largely influenced by the organization's leadership, which implies that an organization or management that deserves a union eventually gets one (Renckly, 2004, p.16).
Since a company that adopts unfair labor practices deserves a union and ultimately gets one, an organization can utilize various measures and initiatives to develop a work environment where employees will not want to unionize. Bruce (2012) states that an organization can create an environment in which workers will not want to unionize through starting at the beginning, being pro-worker rather than anti-union, ensuring a safe, secure, and fair workplace, and establishing effective communication channels. The other important initiative in developing an effective working environment is to establish a suitable grievance procedure.
Starting at the beginning entails ensuring workers understand the management's opinion on unions and why a union may not be suitable for the organization. This process entails including a union position statement in employee orientation materials and employee handbook. Through being pro-worker rather than anti-union, the management enables employees to feel that their views and opinions are valued and are therefore unlikely to look for outsiders like unions to provide them with a voice at work. Being pro-worker instead of anti-union helps the management to establish an open-door policy through which employees can raise their concerns and issues without fear of retaliation (Bruce, 2012). The establishment of a safe, secure, and fair working environment is achieved through conducting an employee survey to obtain their feedback about the issues and responding to their concerns. An effective communication framework promotes better interactions and employee engagement in the decision-making process an effective grievance procedure provides mechanisms for handling employees'...
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