Human Resource Management and Labor Relations
The role of today’s Human Resource Manager (HRM) is much more involved than in the past. Human Resources (HR) has ordinarily been referred to as Personnel. Formerly, the manager in this field, whether it was referred to Personnel or HR, held a narrow margin of responsibilities. Today’s HRM has the unique role of looking out for the interests of both the employee and employer. Technology, globalization and outsourcing have added a challenging twist to HRM responsibilities. Adding further to this unique challenge is the fact that many industrial and skilled labor workers as well as professionals and others belong to labor unions.
Employees are entitled to form and join unions or not. Employees with union memberships have certain protected rights within the workplace. Union representatives engage in a bargaining process on behalf of employees for work rules, wage and salary, job security, benefits etcetera. Employees also have union representation in work investigations and during the grievance process. Employees may express concerns and dissatisfaction through union leadership. Labor contracts further protect employees with seniority. Employees with seniority have better opportunities to promote, select job assignments or positions and have first choice in scheduling vacation time. In a unionized organization, the HRM has a key role in working closely with management and union leadership in the labor relations process.
Employees of nonunion organizations may not have the same opportunities and job security as those of unionized organizations. These employees may be classified as at-will workers in which the employer or employee can terminate employment at any time. Al...
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...school district policies as they are a closer fit than university policies. Texas is a right-to-work state therefore there are no unions. McGinnis appeared to be glad about this as she indicated unionization may further complicate her job.
At the conclusion of the interview, McGinnis identified the fact that she enjoys the interaction with employees in her role as human resource manager. Her advice to anyone going into the human resource field is they should follow policy. She explained that following policies can prevent trouble and once a policy is broken it is difficult to turn the table.
Works Cited
Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D. & Cardy, R. (2012). Managing human resources. (7th ed.) Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education
Holley, Jr., W., Jennings, K. & Wolters, R. (2012). The labor relations process. (10th ed.)
Mason, OH: Cengage Learning
Sloane. A. A., Witney, F. (2010). LABOR RELATIONS (13th editions). Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ
...lley, W. H., Jennings, K. M., Wolters, R. S., & Mathis, R. L. (2012). Employment & Labor Relations. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Holley, Jr., W., Jennings, K. & Wolters, R. (2012). The labor relations process. (10th ed.). Fort
Unions have an extensive history of standing up for workers. They have advocated rights of steelworkers, coal miners, clothing factory employees, teachers, health care workers, and many others. The labor movement is based on the idea that organized workers as a group have more power than individuals would have on their own. The key purpose of any union is to negotiate contracts, making sure workers are respected and fairly compensated for their work. “In theory” unions are democratic organizations, resulting in varying inner authority. Workers look for security within a job a...
History shows that there has been conflict of power within the workforce between union and management. This essay will discuss if management should have the right to determine whether a union should operate within their workplace. It is necessary first to discuss the roles of unions and management in the workplace and discuss both points of view on the power distribution between unions and management in the workplace.
Union efforts to improve the lives of workers consistently met with resistance, oftentimes violent, from businesses, police and the government throughout their turbulent history; and yet unions have persevered and were able to improve working conditions. The National Labor...
Labor unions were established as a way for workers’ needs and grievances to be heard by management. According to Fossum (2012), “forming a union creates a collective voice to influence change at work” (p. 7). The collective voice of workers in a union holds much more power than any single employee’s voice. It can loudly draw attention to mistreatment or abuse of workers. The organized collective voice of workers demands to be treated in a fair way by its management in terms of wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.
The disadvantages of union membership are viewed from the employee and employer perspective. Through the employee lens, the disadvantages manifest in the form of fees, loss of autonomy, and less collaborative work environment. As part of the union, you surrender many of your individual rights in exchange for the organized results that can potentially manifest through the collective bargaining process. Therefore, there isn’t any assurance that your individual concern will even be addressed.
Colorado State University-Global Campus. (2013). Module 7 – Labor Relations [Blackboard ecourse]. In MGT 570 – Managing Human Resources (pp. 1-5). Greenwood Village, CO: Author.
Authorizing the NLRB to conduct hearings on unfair labor practice allegations and, if unfair practices are found to exist, to t...
Commission for Labor Cooperation (2002) “ United States Labor Law.” Viewed online on 11/18/2004 at http://www.naalc.org/english/publications/labormain.htm
At this point in time, our company is non-union and believes the disadvantages of unionization to be greater than those benefits which may come from it. Many of the benefits which are supposed to come from unionization are canceled by various disadvantages. Additionally there are several, negative effects brought on by joining labor unions which should make any employee think long and hard before they begin the process of joining a union.
Traditional literature in the field of labor relations has focused immensely on its benefit towards the employer and in the process equating it to working rules. This has been so despite the field being expected to cover the process of, labor management, union formation, and collective bargain; all which are anticipated to create a positive employer-employee relationship. This relationship is said to be positive if there exist a balance between employment functions and the rights of the laborer. Also important to note, is that this relation is equally important to the public sector as it is to the private one. Therefore, to ensure a mutually conducive labor environment exists, effective labor management process and inclusive negotiation program should be adopted (Mulve 2006; Walton, 2008).
Holley, William H, Kenneth M. Jennings, and Roger S. Wolters. The Labor Relations Process. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
John W. Budd & Devasheesh Bhave (2006). Sage Handbook of Industrial and Employment Relations. Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota. Chapter 5.