Labor Relations, Research Paper Example

Introductions              

In the US, most employees are either members of a union or are in the process of organizing a case is not their employers’ cup of tea as the employers know the impacts of such unions in the work place. Employees are human beings who are always in the lookout for a better life through empowerment. The employees always feel the need for freedom so that they can be in apposition to select jobs, negotiate for pay, ask for better benefits and negotiate for better working conditions. In this paper we seek to discuss the impacts of labor relations in organizations with a special emphasis of it impacts in the US corporations. “”  (Noe, Wright, & Gerhert, 2009, p. 2).

Unions           

Union is an organizations  formed by members in a working in an employment set up to represent the interest of these members in liaison with employers to achieve those interest, “” (Noe, Wright, & Gerhert, 2009, p. 2). The roles of most unions are to look at the conflicts that arise between the employees and employees in an organization. Such conflicts do arise when employees feel that their rights are not well taken care of, the right may be pay package, working condition sexual harassment and such like concerns. In most occasions, the employees may raise these concerns to the employers but the employers may be adamant to give enough considerations to the concerns. In such situations unions in those organizations are formed to negotiate for better conditions and if possible pressurize the administration to deliver on their promises to employees or even develop a working relationship that accommodate the concern of the employees within the organizations “” (Schwind , 2005, p. 134).

Labor Relations

Labor relations have been defined as the relations involving the management a company and its staff. In some countries, labor relations are referred to as industrial relations. In the modern industrial set up, personnel or employees of an organization are represented buy an umbrella body called a trade union”” (Colliver, 2005, p. 15).. Though the concept of labor relations can be formed at various levels; such as national level, regional level or even the international level, labor relations has been facing challenges in the modern job market. For example, labor relations have been very slow to adapt to the dynamic of the labor market.

The rate of technological development in the work market is very high, so the relationship between the employee and employers should also follow suit so as to accommodate these changes, lest it end up being redundant. The concept has been considered by human resource gurus like Adam Smith and Henry Fayol as; the management skill used to effectively minimize the level of expenses arising from conflicts such as go slow, strikes somas to accomplish a win-win situation for any groups   of people having a disagreement “” (Noe, et al, 2009, p. 2). In each and every organization, leaders are seeking for the best modus operandi for meeting the interest of the employees in a most cost effective way.

Impacts Labor Relations and Unions in Organizations

Just like in any organizations concept, Labor relations and unions are both concepts that arise out of decisive situations intended for the betterment of the working conditions of the parties’ involved and so may not lack some of the inherent characteristics of organizations concept like advantage and disadvantages. The impact of labor relations and unions are manifold, the major impacts of labor relations are the cost the organizations incur in trying to deliver to the demands of the employees. Most organizations in the US are reported to have avoided such kinds of unions in their organizations by meeting the interest of the employees long before the employees even ask for them. Union are viral, this is so considering the nature of their infections in the organization, most unions once formed, are reported to spread to all part of the organizations and management of the organization has little or no control to the extent of the union in the entity.”” (Belcourt, 2004, para. 6).

Changes in Strategies of Employee Relations, Policies, as Well as Organizational Performance

Some of the major changes in the employee relation strategies include the in house decision making whereby most lobar related concerns will be addressed within the organization without involving their union leaders. Organizations will develop new policies and procedures to accommodate the changes in the labor requirements and foster their policies goals and objectives. If the organization realize that the activities of a union will affect their performance and profit margin, the organization will most likely avoid such unions by restructuring their policies to be more accommodative of the new development in the labour market “” (Noe, et al., 2009, p. 9).

“Are the Unions and Labor Relations Still Relevant in the United States?”

The above topic has been on every debate that involves the employee and their employer, .  In the United States, the fork force has always been looking for improved conditions in all aspects of life, whereas the management is looking for ways of providing these improved conditions on a limited budget. The most unlikely situation being reported in the modern workplace about Unions in the us work place is the fact that most employees do not support the formation of unions in their organizations and would do anything to keep such groups out of the work place.

Most unions are reported to hold elections in the organizations for their leadership, and this is done with the aim of choosing the most suitable candidate to champion for the right of the employees”” (Schwind, 2005, p. 4).

The relevance of unions in the organizations is also evidenced by the achievement of the unions such as contract negotiations on the pay structure, work rules and regulations job security and working conditions. Both employees and employers are bound by these contracts and so failure to discharge their contractual obligations might lead to adverse reactions such as strikes, a better example of these adverse reactions was reported by a journalist in the US when the employees of San Francisco California Pacific Medical Center went on a rampage when the management violated their contract on the guidelines of a settlement. The strike went on until civic leaders mediated in the agreement between the unions and organization parties (Colliver, 2005).

Conclusion           

All unions are formed with the interest of the employees at heart. Most unions are formed to create a healthy working relationship between the management of the organization and employees. Once formed, unions are hard to control and the largest part of the innate thing to consider is to allow the employees have an umbrella body to help min managing their labor issues. Unions are still very relevant in the United States.

References

Belcourt, M. et al. (2004). Managing Human Resources. 4th Ed: Thomson Nelson.

Colliver, V. (2005). Hospital Workers set day to go on strike at St Luke’s. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved Nov 25, 2005, from http://labour relations.com

Patrick M. W., (2009). Trends in Human Resources Management. (3). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Schwind , H. T. (2005). Canadian Human Resources Management: A Strategic Approach (7th Ed). Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.