You Manage It! 3: Customer-Driven HR When Is a Team a Union?
by Robert L. Cardy, David B. Balkin, Luis R. Gómez-Mejía
Managing Human Resources, Eight Edition
- Full-Circle Learning MyLabTM: Learning Full Circle for Marketing, Management, Business Communication, Intro to Business, and MIS
- Managing Human Resources
- Managing Human Resources
- Brief Contents
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I Introduction
- CHAPTER 1 Meeting Present and Emerging Strategic Human Resource Challenges
- CHALLENGES
- Human Resource Management: The Challenges
- Planning and Implementing Strategic HR Policies
- The Benefits of Strategic HR Planning
- Encouragement of Proactive Rather than Reactive Behavior
- Explicit Communication of Company Goals
- Stimulation of Critical Thinking and Ongoing Examination of Assumptions
- Identification of Gaps between Current Situation and Future Vision
- Encouragement of Line Managers’ Participation
- Identification of HR Constraints and Opportunities
- Creation of Common Bonds
- The Challenges of Strategic HR Planning
- Maintaining a Competitive Advantage
- Reinforcing Overall Business Strategy
- Avoiding Excessive Concentration on Day-to-Day Problems
- Developing HR Strategies Suited to Unique Organizational Features
- Coping with the Environment
- Securing Management Commitment
- Translating the Strategic Plan into Action
- Combining Intended and Emergent Strategies
- Accommodating Change
- Strategic HR Choices
- The Benefits of Strategic HR Planning
- Selecting HR Strategies to Increase Firm Performance
- The HR Department and Managers: An Important Partnership
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- References
- CHAPTER 1 Meeting Present and Emerging Strategic Human Resource Challenges
- PART II The Contexts of Human Resource Management
- CHAPTER 2 Managing Work Flows and Conducting Job Analysis
- CHALLENGES
- Work: The Organizational Perspective
- Work: The Group Perspective
- Work: The Individual Perspective
- Designing Jobs and Conducting Job Analysis
- The Flexible Workforce
- Human Resource Information Systems
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- CHAPTER 3 Understanding Equal Opportunity and the Legal Environment
- CHALLENGES
- Why Understanding the Legal Environment Is Important
- Challenges to Legal Compliance
- Equal Employment Opportunity Laws
- EEO Enforcement and Compliance
- Other Important Laws
- Avoiding Pitfalls in EEO
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 3 Human Resource Legislation Discussed in This Text
- CHAPTER 4 Managing Diversity
- CHALLENGES
- What Is Diversity?
- Challenges in Managing Employee Diversity
- Diversity in Organizations
- Improving the Management of Diversity
- Creating an Inclusive Organizational Culture
- Top-Management Commitment to Valuing Diversity
- Appraising and Rewarding Managers for Good Diversity Practices
- Diversity Training Programs
- Support Groups
- Accommodation of Family Needs
- Senior Mentoring Programs
- Apprenticeships
- Communication Standards
- Diversity Audits
- Management Responsibility and Accountability
- Some Warnings
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- CHAPTER 2 Managing Work Flows and Conducting Job Analysis
- PART III Staffing
- CHAPTER 5 Recruiting and Selecting Employees
- CHALLENGES
- Human Resource Supply and Demand
- The Hiring Process
- Challenges in the Hiring Process
- Meeting the Challenge of Effective Staffing
- Selection
- Legal Issues in Staffing
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- CHAPTER 6 Managing Employee Separations, Downsizing, and Outplacement
- CHAPTER 5 Recruiting and Selecting Employees
- PART IV Employee Development
- CHAPTER 7 Appraising and Managing Performance
- CHAPTER 8 Training the Workforce
- CHALLENGES
- Key Training Issues
- Training Versus Development
- Challenges in Training
- Managing the Training Process
- A Special Case: Orientation and Socialization
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- CHAPTER 9 Developing Careers
- PART V Compensation
- CHAPTER 10 Managing Compensation
- CHALLENGES
- What Is Compensation?
- Designing a Compensation System
- Job Versus Individual Pay
- Compensation Tools
- Job-Based Compensation Plans
- Skill-Based Compensation Plans
- Special Compensation Issues in Small Firms
- The Legal Environment and Pay System Governance
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- CHAPTER 11 Rewarding Performance
- CHALLENGES
- Pay for Performance: The Challenges
- Meeting the Challenges of Pay-for-Performance Systems
- Develop a Complementary Relationship Between Extrinsic and Intrinsic Rewards
- Link Pay and Performance Appropriately
- Use Pay for Performance as Part of a Broader HRM System
- Build Employee Trust
- Promote the Belief That Performance Makes a Difference
- Use Multiple Layers of Rewards
- Increase Employee Involvement
- Stress the Importance of Acting Ethically
- Use Motivation and Nonfinancial Incentives
- Types of Pay-for-Performance Plans
- Designing Pay-for-Performance Plans for Executives and Salespeople
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- References
- CHAPTER 12 Designing and Administering Benefits
- CHAPTER 10 Managing Compensation
- PART VI Governance
- CHAPTER 13 Developing Employee Relations
- CHALLENGES
- The Roles of the Manager and the Employee Relations Specialist
- Developing Employee Communications
- Encouraging Effective Communications
- Employee Recognition Programs
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- CHAPTER 14 Respecting Employee Rights and Managing Discipline
- CHAPTER 15 Working with Organized Labor
- CHALLENGES
- Why Do Employees Join Unions?
- Labor Relations and the Legal Environment
- Labor Relations in the United States
- Labor Relations in Other Countries
- Labor Relations Strategy
- Managing the Labor Relations Process
- The Impact of Unions on Human Resource Management
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- CHAPTER 16 Managing Workplace Safety and Health
- CHAPTER 17 International HRM Challenge
- CHALLENGES
- The Stages of International Involvement
- Determining the Mix of Host-Country and Expatriate Employees
- The Challenges of Expatriate Assignments
- Effectively Managing Expatriate Assignments with HRM Policies and Practices
- Developing HRM Policies in a Global Context
- Human Resources Management and Exporting Firms
- Summary and Conclusions
- Key Terms
- Discussion Questions
- CHAPTER 13 Developing Employee Relations
- Appendix
- Concise Dictionary of HR Terminology
- Company, Name, and Product Index
- Subject Index
- Pearson’s MyLab™
You Manage It! 3: Customer-Driven HR When Is a Team a Union?
Amalgamated Tool, a nonunion manufacturer of auto parts in Michigan, suffered such significant financial losses in 2006 that it froze the pay of all its employees to conserve cash. The company also asked its employees to pay a larger share of their health insurance costs. The employees were extremely upset by these actions, and both morale and productivity declined.
To improve morale, Amalgamated’s management decided to form several problem-solving employee teams. After meeting to discuss the problems at Amalgamated, the teams presented management with suggestions on how to provide pay raises and health insurance to employees fairly and efficiently. Each problem-solving team had a leader elected by the other team members to present the team’s suggestions, but only about 20 percent of Amalgamated’s employees were asked to serve on a team. The teams’ suggestions were largely adopted by management, and morale and efficiency went up the next year.
On behalf of some dissatisfied Amalgamated employees, a local union filed an unfair labor practice claim stating that management had illegally used the problem-solving teams to form a management-dominated union, in violation of a provision of the Wagner Act that states: “It is an unfair labor practice for an employer to dominate or interfere with the formation of any labor organization or contribute financial support to it.”
The National Labor Relations Board sustained the union’s position and ordered Amalgamated to cease and desist using its problem-solving teams.
Critical Thinking Questions
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15-18. Why did the local union object to the way Amalgamated’s management used problem-solving teams?
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15-19. What is the difference between a team and a union?
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15-20. To avoid the NLRB’s cease-and-desist order, what should Amalgamated’s management have done differently in using problem-solving teams?
Team Exercise
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15-21. Students form into groups of four to six members and role-play National Labor Relations Board members. Each group discusses whether Amalgamated violated the Wagner Act’s prohibition of a company “dominating a union or providing financial support to it.” Compare conclusions and arguments across groups.
Experiential Exercise: Individual
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15-22. In the United States, company-dominated unions, called company unions, are prohibited under federal labor law. Until the 1930s, companies organized these unions to let employees experience belonging to a union, with the expectation that the employees would then not have a need for an independent union to represent them and make demands that management did not want to fulfill. As indicated in this chapter, company unions are the major form of union representation within Japan, and they function effectively within the context of the Japanese economic system. Do you think a company union could represent your interests to management in the same way an independent union could? Would it make sense for employees to have a choice between a company union and an independent union? Be prepared to share your answers to these questions with the class.
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