Modern-day Context
HR MANAGEMENT AND UNION RELATIONSHIP
Modern-day Context.
Relationship
between unions and management is mainly based on the stronghold of union
leaders and managers (Dhal,2015). This is currently challenged by the modern
human resource practices by the management. Unions have a harder time
encouraging workers to join when HR and other business leaders are responsive
to employees' concerns maintaining a direct affiliation with the employee (Vasil, 2019). Concurring with
the decrease in trade unionism has been an escalation in the use of human
relations practices and new forms of work organisation. These are often
incorporated under labels such as high-involvement, high-commitment, and
high-performance management, or simply human resource management (Machin and Wood, 2005).
Multinational
corporations are heading towards more complex HR practices to counter the
unions for ease of management (McGraw & Harley,2003). Four main ways of
doing this identified by John Bartton & Jeff Gold (2017) are
Individualisation of employment contracts, Demise of union representation,
Intensification of work and undermining of union solidarities through
organisation commitment.
Unions
have been slow in embracing strategic outlook on human resources and adopt
practices that could improve effectiveness and rejuvenate the movement
(Rau,2012). This is evident in modern day unions that membership is not
motivated to participate in union activity, figure 1 explains how union
membership decreased through time.
Figure
1. Union memberships decrease with time.
(Sources: U.S. Bureau of labour statistics, Gallup 2019)
Union
leaders must understand the new HR management approach and modernise their attitude
to HR. The unions need to revitalise themselves and extend beyond their present
constituency to stay relevant (Visser, 2019). Due to change in
the industrial relations climate has open up the possibility of genuine
partnership between employer and unions (Prosser,2001). Unions must become more
adaptable and responsive, also need to recognise and meet the challenges of a
developing but more competitive marketplace and global economy (Hyman, 1969). In the modern
context it is advantageous to both unions and management to work in harmony.
Union-Management collaboration is not just a passing trend nor is it recent.
However, interest in this way of doing business has been expanding.
Union-management collaboration is a term that has been used to illustrate
cooperative activities between unions and employers aimed at enhancing
organisational performance and reduce costs. As a result of this cooperation both
labor and management will gain more from their relationship than they could
achieve without it (Korshak, 2005). Specifically, this
cooperation will enhance efficiency, productivity, and profits in the longer run
benefitting both employer and employee (Lazes et al,2012). This correlation
between unions and management was proven to be effective in practice by the “Tool
factory” Norwegian manufacturing company when its numbers of employees and
annual sales increased during companies fifteen years of close partnership (Rolfsen,2011).
In
video 1, It is explained that unions and management need to work together than
working against each other in the current state to achieve common goals. Key element
in a good partnership is explained as clear communication between both parties.
It is evident that industrial relations system has passed through the age of
conflicting and is moving towards an era of cooperation (Dhal,2015).
Video
1, Relationship between HR and Unions.
References:
Bartton, J. and Gold, J.
(2017) Human resource Management and Industrial Relations. Bloomsbury, London.
Dhal, M. (2015) HR
Practices & Union Management Relationship on JSTOR. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24547011?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_ contents.
Hyman, R. (2002) ‘the Future of Unions’, Just Labour,
1, pp. 7–15. doi: 10.25071/1705-1436.182.
Korshak, S. R. (2005) ‘Union-management
cooperation : can a company move from an adversarial relationship to a
cooperative relationship and is interest-based bargaining a necessary condition
to do so ? University of Rhode Island, Kingston.
Machin, S. and Wood, S.
(2005) ‘Human resource management as a substitute for trade unions in British
workplaces’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 58(2), pp. 201–218.
doi: 10.1177/001979390505800202.
McGraw, P. and Harley, B. (2003). Industrial Relations
and Human Resource Management Practices in Australian and Overseas-Owned
Workplaces: Global or Local? The Journal of Industrial Relations. 45. 1
- 22. 10.1111/1472-9296.00069.
Prosser, M. (2001) “The Future of Trade
Unions and Industrial Relations in Great Britain and Germany”. University
of Birmingham, Hanover.
Vasil, R. (2019) Trade
unions, The Management of Success: The Moulding of Modern Singapore.
doi: 10.4324/9781843143710-23.
Rau, B. (2012). The diffusion of HR practices in
unions. Human Resource Management Review - Human Resource Management.
22. 10.1016/j.hrmr.2012.06.001.
Visser, J. (2019) Trade
Unions in the Balance, International Labour Organization.
Agree with what you have stated, according to Truss et al (2006: ix) stated that: ‘Put simply, engagement means feeling positive about your job.’ They went on to explain that: ‘The engaged employee is the passionate employee, the employee who is totally immersed in his or her work, energetic, committed and completely dedicated
ReplyDeleteYes Lakshan, employee engagement will also have a direct connection with job satisfaction (Stangrecka & Bagieńska, 2021). And when communicating with employees, use of upward communication will adding value to the relationship (Handel & Levine, 2004).
DeleteTrade union transformation is in practice in the new normal and globalized world, moving away from traditional depiction, unions come as victims of globalization. Since the digitalization labor movement is under attack and political and conservative backlashes are highly available in market, so union has to powerful with modern day context of actions(Herberg, 2018). Commitment base approaches also suffer by HRM with multiple factors in the social processes obtain in nowadays(Vermeeren, 2014 & Purcell & Hutchinson, 2007).
ReplyDeleteAgree with you Thushari, The industrial relations system has passed through the age of conflicting relations and is heading towards an era of cooperation. Trade unions are not able to protect the workers’ interests and are considered a hindrance in business. They have failed to identify themselves as a strategic partner to business. Unions have been slow to embrace many HR practices that could improve union effectiveness, rejuvenate the union movement and sustain it in long run (Rau, 2012).
DeleteAgreed with you, Union can we call it the voice of employees. Usually, employees and employers bargain often end up without solutions. HRM and union collaborations improve organizational productivity and performance (Zeitoun and Pamini, 2021).
ReplyDeleteExactly Amila, With traditional approach unions not gaining anything. Only way forward for both parties is to work in collaboration (Dhal 2015).
DeleteAgreed some extent & The traditional workplace role of the unions in building membership strength and then campaigning on industrial issues has come under challenge from neo-liberal economics driving public policy. Union movements around the world have had to engage in soul searching as their memberships have declined (Fairbrother and Webster, 2008; Frege and Kelly, 2004; Lambert, 2013; Robinson, 2000). The globalisation of production processes poses further challenges for low paid workers and the unions (Miller and Williams, 2009) and while workplace organising may be regarded as necessary for union renewal (Heery, 2015) it is no guarantee of success (Hickey et al., 2010).
ReplyDeleteChandana, the collaboration may not work 100%, but in order for unions to survive the new normal workplace with most of the workforce being younger generation they will have to adapt to this (Stanberry, 2011).
DeleteGood view on modern day context in HR and union relationship. According to Willock (2007), it is
ReplyDeleteexpected that unions need to redefined themselves to match with the today’s society. There also has to be diversity when comes to the representation. This diversity can be based on gender, race, culture, etc. There is a new types and roles such as union learning rep role to ensure the quality on the issues.
Thank you Sumeera. I agree with you in diversity, with open market concept more and more mixed workforce will be prominent in current organizations. If the union leadership dose not identify the mixed requirements of their membership they will continue to lose in numbers (Rivers, 2014).
DeleteYes and since employees treat unions as their organizations, unions can
ReplyDeletebetter shoulder the responsibility in order to motivate the human resources (Mital,2001)
Jayashi, This is true in the traditional workforce. With the younger workforce and their perception of unions they tends to approach HR on their own. That is the main obstacle unions have nowadays (Stanberry, 2011).
DeleteAgree with you.During negotiations and the implementation of a final agreement, labour unions and human resources collaborate. Employees are generally represented by labour unions, whereas HR represents the corporation, but this does not mean that they are at odds in the same way that employees and employers are (Prosser, 2001).
ReplyDeleteYes Menupa, Even though Unions and HR represents two different sides of an organization, they still can work together to achieve a common goal (Rau, 2012).
DeleteUnions and union–management relations are also of special importance in that, through collective bargaining and other formal and informal means of interaction, unions and employers establish the wages, hours, and working conditions of large numbers of workers (Chron, 2020).
ReplyDeleteExactly Nuwan. In collective bargaining when you have a good relationship with the other party the results also turns out to be productive. This contributes to satisfaction of employees and directly linked to productivity (Abun, 2018).
DeleteYes, according to (Robert, 2019), today, we live in a world where workers have assumed great importance. The employers have started to realize the importance of workers. The employees too have started to form Trade Unions to protect their interests. The employees have realized that to protect themselves from exploitation, unity is very important. This is one of the reasons why trade unions have become so important today.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you, Unions are important because they help set the standards for education, skill levels, wages, working conditions, and quality of life for workers. Union-negotiated wages and benefits are generally superior to what non-union workers receive. Most union contracts provide far more protections than state and federal laws (IUOE, 2021).
DeleteAgreed on the content that explains the Union-management collaboration. It is mentioned in your post that enhancing organizational performance is an aim of the present day unions. Noe (2010) states that, company’s extent of unionization has an influence in organizations' training function.
ReplyDeleteYes Shanil, Unions will push HR to improve their membership standards. This will also help the organization directly, When the workforce is well trained the productivity also increases. It is a win-win situation (Eilerman, 2007).
DeleteWith agreement to you Nimna, Lambert (2010) also said the direct connection between labour relations and labour market helps organisations to productively move forward.
ReplyDelete